Timex Sinclair's final try a successful home computer.

[@DennisSantos]

I had the Portuguese one and used it with a monochrome composite monitor. Had loads of game cassettes and wrote my own basic programmes. Used it with the emulator all the time as all the software I found was for the Spectrum. Good little computer for the time.

[@thomashynes4042]

Timex also had the TS 2090 Joystick Control...Never seen one in person only in photos on the internet. I created a CASH REGISTER program for the 2068 for use in the store I worked in, it was a great little computer, I am sorry I sold mine several years ago.

[@kumbah2006]

Do you ever plan to get another one?

[@thomashynes4042]

@@kumbah2006 I have looked into getting another one, however, the market for them is competitive and working T2068's are a bit out of my price range for what the computer can do...but who knows I may come across one for the right price and get another one. At the time I worked for a small mom and pop pet shop, and actually wrote a basic computer program to substitute the cash register. Great computers to learn on for sure.

[@grabtharshammer]

Such a crying shame, what Timex did to the Speccy. I have (still) about 4 or 5 Spectrums and a ZX81 (with ancillaries). Speccy 16k, 48k & 128k Grey (128k +2a) model and a black one which I think may be a +2b (though it could be a plus3). Haven't looked at them in about 10 years. A massive box of tapes and books, and magazines. You can tell I was into Sinclair computers. Wrote my first programs on one. When it was my only computer, I had a Saga? Keyboard (proper keyboard into which you fitted the motherboard) and both an MGT Drive and a Discovery drive. One of the first programs I wrote (apart from educational stuff for my young daughter) was a program to Defrag the Floppy Drive - if I remember correctly it was one of my first written in Z80 machine code. Also wrote one that got published in a magazine that "predicted" Lottery numbers based on previous results and frequency of each number occurring. I don't think anyone ever won the jackpot, I certainly didn't. In later years on the 128k, I wrote a Stock Control programme. At one time I also actually owned a Sinclair QL which was a damn good machine at the time but Sinclair was crap at marketing and sold it all to Amstrad who killed it off. Also have Acorns, Commodores and an MSX ... and buried in my "stuff" somewhere is an Acorn Communicator. Slightly newer stuff, I have loads of Raspberry Pi's now but still need to get a Pi5. Yet I still had time to have two daughters

[@kumbah2006]

I wonder if I can find that program (T-Type?) on WoS (World of Spectrum)? Also, there's a shortcut to tape loading - just use LOAD " " - it's 2 of the double quotes, with no space in between. I put in the space, so you can see it's 2 actual quotes. :) Cool video, and would you mind posting the names of the programs on the included cassette? There might be a way to revitalize what's there, but it would require some emulation and re-digitizing. I also have a TS-2068, and I have at least one emulator that I can coax into making tape files "audible" again. The cool thing about the TS and Spectrum was that the tape format is essentially identical so you can load most Spectrum programs (without machine code) into the 2068, and - as a bonus, if you had UPLOAD2000, you could convert some TS-1000 or ZX-81 stuff as well. I just hope I can find my copy of the "upload" program before bit-rot sets in ! lol Thank you so much for the history lesson and the added backgrounder on the machine that I'm so fond of, even to this day. (Edited, obvs)

[@drueking]

The programs are Turtle Graphics, Home Accounting and Keyboard Tutorial.

[@kumbah2006]

@@drueking Thank you. :)

[@iangear9943]

It also had two extra screen modes - A mono high res mode of 512x192 & a high colour mode with 1x8 colour attributes to reduce colour clash (instead of the normal 8x8), but unfortunately I don't think anything ever used them which is a shame because colour clash was one of the major things people notice when they look at Spectrum games now.

[@BollingHolt]

There's something about that computer I really like, particularly the aesthetics. My first computer was a Timex Sinclair 1000 my grandfather got for us when I was only two years old (replaced by a CoCo 2 for my fifth birthday), so I do have some memories. Something like this would have been a major step forward and would have been a lot of fun if it had stuck around and got those peripherals. Can you imagine calling BBSes on that machine? LOL

[@drueking]

It was fun to work with, and my first computer was a CoCo 2 also.

[@BollingHolt]

@@drueking Very cool! I have a CoCo 3 in my collection now. It's a neat little machine.

[@kumbah2006]

The MC-10 was quite an adorable little machine, also. :)

[@FrancisFjordCupola]

The Acorn Electron also has keyboard shortcuts. As in just a single key to type a whole BASIC command. Actually worked wonderful for programming the system... but of course, the Electron had real keys.

[@drueking]

I haven’t gotten any UK computers yet. But I always thought the Acorn had a really nice look to it.

[@solsburian]

@@drueking You might like the ARM based Acorn Archemeaies and later machines. They have pretty impressive graphics capabilities, and RISC OS is unique in it's own way too.

[@andygozzo72]

@@drueking the one touch keywords on the electron is optional, though, not so with the TS or spectrum UNLESS you replace the rom with one of the many 'detokenised entry' roms people have made for the spectrum, you then have to spell out the keywords and functions like most other computers 😉 .. (you wont then get so easy access to the extra capabilities of the TS , though) ...

[@jgharston]

Also, you weren't *forced* to use single-key entry. You *chose* to use single-key entry by using function-keypress, or you could *choose* to type normally.

[@spinnetti]

I bought one new. Was my second after the TS1000. Shame it wasn't code compatible with the speccy, because it had many improvements.

[@drueking]

It really did, that’s why it caught my eye over the last couple of years. It has a nice look for the time.

[@kumbah2006]

If you saved pure BASIC, it was compatible with the Spectrum, machine code was another thing, but how did PSION Flight Simulation work on both, then? I've managed to load up a few Spectrum tapes, so only the BASIC and "screenshots" would load, but not the machine code. There's a fair bit more out for the 2068 now, but back then, we just had conversions. Still, there was a decent amount of stuff to play around with. :)

[@jgharston]

The different ROM wouldn't have been a problem if not for the HUGE fundamental flaw - no defined code entry points. ALL access to ROM routines were by calling essentially random addresses direct into the middle of the ROM. If there was a defined entry block, like any sane system, it would not have mattered, you would have just called the entry block and have been dispatched to wherever the routine happened to be in that particular lump of silicon.

[@kumbah2006]

Would a ROM-dissembly help in that regard? There's a lot of info out for it. :)

[@WhatALoadOfTosca]

10:18 At the bottom of each screen it says "Press Z to copy". What does that mean? Oh and btw, just LOAD "" would do the same without the need for the program name.

[@drueking]

I can't get to the unit right now, I've been in TN dealing with the tornado damage, but I think it was to print out the detail of that screen on paper.

[@alhartman66]

The Spectrum Emulator cartridge will not fit into a TS2068. It was meant for the Timex Portugal version, the TC2068. The TS2068 has a different expansion port than the ZX Spectrum so many Spectrum peripherals won't work without an adapter called a Twister. Twisters coe with a Spectrum Emulator chip on board, so there's no need for the cartridge.

[@drueking]

I'm using the wrong photo. Zebra Systems made one for the TS.

[@spinnetti]

I had one that plugged into the normal 2068 cartridge port, not on the back with a twister - and that was back then. Worked fine.

[@alhartman66]

That hadto be either a TC2068, or the Spectrum Emulator cartrige was made by a third party. The Timex Portugal cartridge would not fit into a TS2068 without modification.@@spinnetti

[@kumbah2006]

You could also get a TS-2068 with something called "Spectrum ROM switch", and the Spectrum ROM could be "mapped in" or out via a side-mounted switch. The TS-2068 was internally modified, by the way - that's what I ended up getting. I'd say: "twice as useful!" :) Power off, slide the switch, and you're running a Spectrum ROM, switch off and slide the switch to the opposite direction, and it's back in TS-2068 mode. A Twister board would allow you to use a DIVMMC - SD for storage, and the possibility of using snapshot files from emulators. No tapes, unless you wanted to snapshot something for later. I am so glad I invested on those. :)

[@kumbah2006]

Not sure the Twister had an emulator chip. Mine was just a "bus fixer", is that other oen something new in the last few years?

[@elmariachi5133]

Home computers where the best era of computers forever! PC and consoles are boring crap!

[@zxspectrum16KB]

Have you seen the atari 8bit running a zx spectrum emulator? Think she needs rapidus maybe vbxe pity no one makes a 128k emulator! Maybe the ay is on the wrong port!

[@drueking]

No I haven’t , sounds pretty interesting

[@zxspectrum16KB]

@drueking there's nearly 30k software on the archive some of its great!

[@alhartman66]

One reason for the TS1500 was to use up the cases and keyboard made up for the original version of the TS2068, the TS2000.

[@timexsinclairfans]

The 1500 case idea came from Timex Portugal. There were not cases nor keyboards made for the Spectrum-like version. In fact, when Timex was showing a Spectrum-like version Gary Grimes was designing the 2068.

[@thomashynes4042]

I purchased all three the Timex Sinclair 1000, 1500, and 2068 - the 1500 was awkward with the rubber chicklet keys

[@another3997]

It's madness that Timex made it completely incompatible with the ZX Spectrum. The huge selection of software, books, magazines and peripherals available for the Spectrum were redundant, making it far less appealing to buyers. Sinclair's keyowrd entry took a bit of time to become familiar with, but after a while it became quite intuitive. I believe Timex made it somewhat more complicated than the original, which meant some quite convoluted extra keypresses. Today we scoff, but back then, for most people a Sinclair would be their first computer with little experience of computer keyboards or programming in BASIC, so it would be a combined learning process. As a really cheap intro to computing, Sinclair hit the jackpot. Timex... not so much.

[@drueking]

I agree, and although I don't yet have any UK computers yet, I really have an eye for the ZX Spectrum +2, it looks good with the integrated cassette.

[@timexsinclairfans]

Timex did not change the input method: it is as Clive created it. The Spectrum did not pass the recent FCC regulations nor could it compete with other computers that had sound, joysticks, etc. That is why Timex created to 2068z

[@andygozzo72]

@@drueking its not completely incompatible with the spectrum, a pure basic program should work 'as is' as long as it doesnt use sound or try to do rom calls or poke system variables, if the rom is changed to a spectrum rom, its far more compatible, for some reason the expansion slot on the TS uses pinout more like a zx81 so you cant use most add ons designed for a spectrum directly, but an adaptor could be made i actually have a TS2068, got it posted to me in the UK from the US in the early 2000s but not done anything with it yet, also got a timex portugal TC2048 which is almost directly compatible with a spectrum, this one 'boots' but has no response from the keyboard

[@kumbah2006]

@@andygozzo72- Doesn't the Spectrum 48k have a BEEP command? Last I looked - all my emulators have it, plus the TS-2068 has it, so I think the sound commands (between the two) are compatible. The SOUND and AY stuff is a whole different matter. The AY chip might be a similar one in the 128k, but mapped to a different address. Other than that, the BASICs are quite similar, also. If it wasn't for emulation, I think quite a few of the programs I wrote would've been lost. :(

[@andygozzo72]

@@kumbah2006 it does, but there are other incompatibilities as i mentioned, and the TS AY port is not the same as the spectrum 128 and later AY port, unfortunately

[@jasoneverett]

They shoulda called it the 20X6. Woulda been a best seller.

[@ErazerPT]

My first computer... Fun times. And yeah, the compatibility issues wo/ the rom cart were bad, and even with it wasn't 100%. Guess they could have added all the new stuff while keeping it compatible, but time pressure or something. Try getting a TC2048, while it's a "downgrade" it actually ended up being what the TS/TC 2068 should have been but wasn't.

[@stuartford5556]

I bought a 2068 in '83, loved it, but then it died and was replaced by an Atari 800xl

[@drueking]

Got one of those recently too.

[@jasejj]

Those cartridges are actually pretty huge compared to the Spectrum ones... I wonder if they have the same 16k banking limitation the Speccy ones had (and which assured their failure in the marketplace as nearly all the good games were 48k). Nice diplomatic way of avoiding the "zee/zed" argument there as well 😉

[@drueking]

Are they? I haven't seen one yet myself.

[@jasejj]

@@drueking Yeah the interface 2 carts are barely any wider than a 32-pin ROM, and not much taller. Typical Sinclair minimalist design.

[@timexsinclairfans]

The Timex cartridge could address all but one 8k chunk of memory.

[@jasejj]

@@timexsinclairfans Which would make sense, that 8k would, I assume be the lower 16-24k block that is used on the Spectrum for screen and system variables? Does sound like they ironed out a lot of the Spectrum's limitations, and with a switchable ROM a Spectrum+ with these enhancements might have seen off the like of the Amstrad CPC in the UK. What a shame then that it bombed in the US.

[@SuneSalminen]

He did say "a zee-eighty" processor so you can guess where that argument would have gone.

[@volo870]

I paused at 1:03 - it is the most hilarious text I've ever read! Please tell me if this is a real ad. This is bonkers!

[@drueking]

Oh it’s real 😃

[@volo870]

I now want Windows on my Speccy!

[@skorpyo331]

I had one, don't know what happened to it.

[@andrewdunbar828]

My try a grammatical comment.