Notes and Frequently Asked Questions on the TS2068
General
When was the TS2068 produced and sold?
-It was released in the fall of 1983.
How many TS2068 were made for the U.S. market?
- There is mention that there were 80,000 made.
How much did a TS2068 cost at its introduction?
- The suggested retail price was u$s 199.99
What are the techincal specifications of the Timex Sinclair 2068?
-Please refer to the techincal specs page.
Who was actually involved with the production and design of the TS2068?
(Those known at this time:)
-Den Ross, Vice President of Timex Computer Corporation
-Maggy Bruzelius, of Sinclair USA
-Bill Skyrme, Head of Research and Development of Timex Computer
-Bob Skye, Engineer
Where were the TS2068's made?
-Interesting question. Louis Florit's has a "Made in Korea" decal on it, but does not know if they were manufactured elsewhere.
What patents cover the TS2068?
-links to Sinclair Patents in US. (Adobe Acrobat PDF- First page only).
- US
4460908 A - ZX PRINTER
- David Southward's ingenious printing device for ZX81 and Spectrum.
- US
266848 D - ZX 80 COMPUTER
- Rick Dickinson's design for the first in the ZX range.
- US
272349 D - ZX 81 COMPUTER
- Rick Dickinson's award-winning design for the successor.
- US
285307 D - Interface 2 Cartridge
- Roger Clarke's ROM cartridge for Spectrum and TS2068.
Who or what was the "Silver Avenger"?
-The Silver Avenger was the TC2068 Imported to the United States by Timex Portugal.
Hardware Hacks
Was/Is there a faster modem available for the TS2068 than the Westridge 2050?
- No. However, the Westridge 2050 can be modified and turned into a serial port that then can be connected to a faster and more modern modem.
Is the TS2068 the same as a Spectrum computer?
-No, there are differences. The Basic commands are a superset of the Spectrum's; there are more details on the peripherals page, where there is a Spectrum cart that you can plug into the TS2068 and make it 99% compatible.
Does the TS2068 have the ability to use Floppy or Hard drives?
-Not on its own; there have been a few aftermarket disc drive units available; these usually include some sort of revision of the rom that includes support for the drives. Check the peripherals page for those that are/were available.
What is the difference between a Timex Sinclair 2068 and a Timex Computer 2068, and which is better?
TS2068 - US machine, extra video modes, TS1000 expansion bus, NTSC. TC2068 - Portugese machine, same video modes, Spectrum expansion bus, PAL.
-Johnny Red points out that the TC2068 uses a 9 volt 1 amp power supply, while the TS2068 uses a 15 volt 1 amp power supply.
-Alvin Ronald Albrecht writes from comp.sys.sinclair:
Depends on what you mean by better. The ts/tc2068 have the ay chip and two joystick connectors that are not compatible with any spectrum hardware. The tc2048, ts/tc2068 all have the same video hardware. The ts2068 has an expanded ts1000/zx81 compatible expansion bus. The tc2068/tc2048 have a spectrum bus. The tc2048 has a near copy of the spectrum rom and a kempston joystick built in. The tc2068/tc2048 use resistors to decouple the ula and z80 as in the spectrum while the ts2068 uses a tristated buffer.
The result is the tc2048 is close to 100% compatible with the
Spectrum, the tc2068 + emulator is about the same, then followed by the ts2068
w/ emulator at about 97%. The tc2048 has the built in kempston
joystick while the tc/ts2068 can only make use of their
joysticks and ay chip in spectrum software via hacking.
The Portuguese machines can attach spectrum peripherals
directly while the ts machine needs a "twister" board.
Can the extra hardware on the TS2068/TC2068 be accessed while in Spectrum mode?
-Johnny Red writes: "In Spectrum mode, the extra hardware can be used with machine code. I have a
ST Player that works on TC2068+emulator and plays the ST tunes in TC2068 AY.
I use it in Spectrum mode because of the FDD interface."
Vaporware
What is/was the BEU?
-The BEU was to be the Bus Expansion Unit, it was to be the killer add-on, giving the TS2068 the ability to use microdrives, and adding a centronics parallel port for a 80 column printer. The former head of the Research and Development department of Timex Computer Corporation, Bill Skyrme, mentioned that it was completely engineered and ready for production. With an internal floppy disk interface built in, Timex would have sold external 3.5" drives (in little silver boxes) for as little as $49.95. This plan was far along enough that Timex even had a supplier lined up for the drives.
It was never produced because of Timex exiting out of the personal computer market.
What would the BEU have looked like?
-There is some promotional art here:
Did the microdrives for the TS2068 ever exsist?
-Not on the market. They would have been known as the TS2065. Click here to see a close-up of them.
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