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HistoryThis section consists of excerpts from different places on the internet such as web pages, usenet, and a few other places."Uncle" Clive Sinclair, inventor of the handheld pocket calculator, digital watch and small screen TV pioneer, founded Sinclair Research and developed the ZX80 microcomputer in March of 1979. Within a year, he had the ZX80 in the British market, selling for about 100 British pounds. In 1981, Sinclair Research developed and marketed the improved ZX81. Both computers were available in kit form, and had a dramatic effect on prices of computers that were available to home and hobbyist users. Other computer manufacturers were forced to lower prices drastically, which put more computers in more homes in a shorter span of time. Indeed, the Sinclair line of computers, nearly forgotten by all except a dedicated remnant of hobbyists in this Pentium era, were a catalyst that accelerated the placement of computers as a common household and business item. ... The T/S2068 is the American version of the Spectrum. Has an additional 8K extension ROM, cartridge port, two joystick ports and AY-3-8912 sound chip with extra Sinclair BASIC commands to support these devices (STICK, SOUND). Packaged in a hard plastic silver case with nonstandard plastic keys.
The TS2068 is Timex's re-engineered 48K Spectrum. It was released in Fall 1983
just before Timex Computer Corp folded in Spring 1984. A rogue arm of Timex in
Portugal continued to sell TC2068s (same as TS2068) and TC2048s (an improved
Spectrum - more on this in a sec) until 1989. They, of course, were only
allowed to sell in non-Sinclair controlled marketplaces.
Timex recognized that a 48K Spectrum would not continue being competitive in North America for long without changes being made. They developed two computers that were to be North America's debut of the Spectrum. One was called the TS2048 and the other the TS2068. The TS2048 was basically a 48K Spectrum w/ Kempston joystick and the advanced video modes of the TS2068 (see below). The TS2068 was a completely different computer with the Spectrum as its roots. Timex decided to only sell the TS2068. When sales over Christmas 1983 were disappointing, they pulled the plug. Timex of Portugal, no doubt encouraged by the Spectrum's popularity in Europe, continued to sell the TS2068 and the TS2048 (a 16k version of the TS2068) and offered a Spectrum clone as the TC2048 in parts of Europe, notably Portugal and Poland (got this info from two fellows from each of those countries who mentioned that the Timex computers were very popular there). The TS2048 was a 16K version of TS2068 and TC2048 is a Spectrum clone. When Timex pulled the plug, they dumped all their surplus TS2068s in Argentina. As for the number of TS2068s manufactured, I remember hearing a figure of 60,000 (but I'm not too sure). I have no idea about how many were sold by Timex of Portugal in Europe. Maybe someone from there will enlighten us?
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| Excerpted from "The Sinclair Computer Hardware Factsheet" by Bob.Johnson @ pdsig.com |