thumb|250px|right|TS 2068 with open [[ROM cartridge port and a cartridge]]

The Timex Sinclair 2068 (T/S 2068), released in November 1983, was Timex Sinclair's third and last home computer for the United States market. It was also marketed in Canada, Argentina, Portugal and Poland, as Timex Computer 2068 (TC 2068).

History

Following Timex's ZX81-based T/S 1000 and T/S 1500, a new series of ZX Spectrum-based machines was created. Initially named T/S 2000 (as reflected on the user manual), this early version featured a case and keyboard very similar to that of the ZX Spectrum and was exhibited at the early 1983 CES show where Creative Computing gave it a positive reception.

This model machine evolved into the T/S 2048 prototype, and was eventually released as T/S 2068, with the name chosen mainly for marketing reasons.

Advertisements described the T/S 2068 as offering 72K of memory, color, and sound for a price under $200. Like the T/S 1500 was announced as a 40K memory machine (16K RAM + 24K ROM), so the 2068 was announced as a 72K machine (48K RAM + 24K ROM).

Although Timex Computer Corporation folded in February 1984, the independent Portuguese division continued to sell the machine in Portugal as the Timex Computer 2068, and Poland until 1989, as the Unipolbrit Komputer 2086. Although the Portuguese-made TC 2068 was also sold in Poland, only the Komputer 2086 was actually made there.

Timex of Portugal sold 2 versions of TC 2068: the silver TC 2068 version came with a ZX Spectrum emulator cartridge and a black TC 2068 version sold with TimeWord word processing cartridge plus the Timex RS232 <!-- should this really be capitalized? Was "Interface" really part of the name? --> Interface to use TimeWord with a RS232 printer. Strangely the black version came with a silver keyboard template with TimeWord commands to be used with the program. It can be removed because it is not glued to the black keyboard template.

The 2048 model number was the intended model number for what finally got named Timex Sinclair 2068. In an interview with Lou Galie, Senior Vice President of Technology at Timex, he tells what he claims to be the real story. Danny Ross, Timex Computer Corporation president, was giving a speech. Lou points: "When Danny announced what was supposed to be the 2048, he mis-spoke and called it the 2068. When I called him on it, he laughed and said: - Rename it. 2068 is better than 2048.".

Although the T/S 2048 was cancelled, the Timex Computer 2048, based on the T/S 2048 prototype and released in 1984, was sold in Portugal and Poland.

Timex Computer 2068

For the TC 2068, Timex of Portugal made some changes the original T/S 2068 hardware, in order to improve compatibility with the original ZX Spectrum. It also created a Spectrum emulator cartridge that would auto-boot. This cartridge was larger, so the TC 2068 casing was changed to accommodate it.

Main hardware changes:

  • Replaced the bus buffers with resistors like ZX Spectrum
  • Changed the I/O connector to be ZX Spectrum compatible (not requiring the Zebra Twister board)
  • Changed the cartridge slot top casing to accept bigger cartridges (for example "Spectrum emulator" and "Timeword" cartridges)
  • Uses 9V instead of 15V

Unipolbrit Komputer 2086

thumb|Unipolbrit 2086

A variant of the T/S 2068 was sold in Poland after 1986 under the name Unipolbrit Komputer 2086 (or UK 2086).

The machine was based on the TC 2068, with further changes introduced by that company:

  • Modified ROM
  • Replaced a joystick port with a parallel printer interface

Technical specifications

The T/S 2068 was a more sophisticated device, compared to its UK ancestor, the ZX Spectrum. Arguably one of the first Sinclair clones to significantly improve on the original design, it added a number of new features:

  • an AY-3-8912 sound chip, as later used by Sinclair in the ZX Spectrum+ 128K (but mapped to different I/O ports and thus incompatible)
  • twin joystick ports
  • a slightly better "chiclet keyboard" with plastic keycaps
  • a cartridge port to the right of the keyboard for ROM-based software
  • Timex SCLD chip instead of the Spectrum's ULA, offering additional Extended Color, Dual Screen and High Resolution screen modes:
  • Text: 32×24 characters (8×8 pixels, rendered in graphics mode)
  • Graphics: 256×192 pixels, 15 colours (two simultaneous colours - "attributes" - per 8×8 pixels, causing attribute clash)
  • Extended Color: 256×192 pixels, 15 colors with colour resolution of 32×192 (two simultaneous colours - "attributes" - per 8×1 pixels)
  • Dual Screen: (two 256×192 pixels screens can be placed in memory)
  • High Resolution: 512×192 mode with 2 colours (Four palettes: Black & White, Blue & Yellow, Red & Cyan, Magenta & Green).
  • improved T/S 2000 BASIC, that extends Sinclair BASIC with new keywords to address new hardware and bank-switched memory, allowing ROM cartridges to be mapped in.

However, these changes made the machine incompatible with most Spectrum machine-code software, which is to say virtually all commercial titles; less than 10% would run successfully. In an attempt to remedy this, many TS users built a cartridge with a Spectrum ROM for emulation.

T/S 2000 BASIC

T/S 2000 BASIC

Magazines dedicated to Timex Sinclair machines were published in the US, like SYNC (from 1981 to 1984) and Timex Sinclair User (1983), and dozens of fanzines and group newsletters also exist.

See also

  • Komputer 2086

Footnotes

  1. The "2086" in the name was not a corruption of "2068". The "86" derived from the year the computer was first made.