Timex Sinclair 2068
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The Timex Sinclair 2068 (TS2068), released in November 1983, was Timex Sinclair's fourth and last home computer for the U.S. market. It derived from the 48K ZX Spectrum, and followed Timex's ZX81-based TS1000 and TS1500, and a 16K 2068 version TS2048.
The TS2048 was a 16K version announced as a 40K memory machine (24K ROM + 16K RAM) like 2068 was announced as a 72K machine (24K ROM + 48K RAM).
The TS2068 was a more sophisticated beast, significantly changed from its UK ancestor. 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 128 (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
- an improved ULA offering additional screen modes:
- The standard Sinclair 256×192 mode with a colour resolution of 32×24
- An "extended colour mode", 256×192 pixels with colour resolution of 32×192
- A monochrome 512×192 mode
Sinclair BASIC was extended with new keywords (STICK, SOUND) to address the new hardware and the machine offered 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.
Although Timex Computer folded in late 1983, the independent Portuguese division continued to sell the machines in Portugal and Poland until 1989.
It is worth noting that although the TS2068's main improvements over the original Spectrum were in areas that had come in for widespread criticism (graphics, sound, keyboard and- to a lesser extent- the lack of joystick ports), it was not used as the basis for the Spectrum's successors. The Spectrum+ (1984) improved the keyboard only, and even the Spectrum 128 (announced in May 1985, but not released until February 1986) retained the original machine's graphical limitations. However, unlike the UK models, the TS2068 was not burdened by the requirement of compatibility with previous models.
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