OOOOThe Boston Computer Society
SINCLAIR-TIMEX USER GROUP NEWSLETTER
Volume 3, Issue 1
GETTING MORE F' Fc O M
EACH KEYSTRO K E
by Cliff Danielson
If you haven't already done
so, add a large keyboard to your
2X— SI or T/S 10GC! The external
keyboard will greatly improve, not
only the speed and accuracy of
data entry, but also your
confidence in the computer. You
may either purchase a new keyboard
designed for the Sinclair or
modify one found in an electronics
junk store. The junk store
approach is cheaper, but choose
the keyboard carefully. Select
only a keyboard with metallic
closure switches — usually
recognized by the presence of only
two contacts on the rear of each
switch. Make sure that the
previous circuitry is exposed such
that it can be easily removed or
modified. Also, choose a keyboard
with more than 40. keys. The extra
keys can be used to add new
features .
Wiring of the salvage
keyboard is easy. There are eight
address lines and five data lines
to the keyboard. Each address
line connects with the anode (the
end that is not banded) of a diode
and is thus easily identified.
Normally, pressing a key causes a
switch closure between one address
uine and one data line. Wire each
switch of the new keyboard in
parallel with the corresponding
switch of the original keyboard.
This can be done by duplicating
the circuit on the Sinclair
keyboard. Now for those extra
keys .
KEYSTROKES oage 4
January 1984
DECEMBER
M X CHI _ X GHTS
Boy were there a lot of Sinclair
-Timex Group meetings in
December !
Because of some confusion in
scheduling and co-ordination
with the BCS main office our
group’s general meeting was held
twice last month. The first of
the two was on Wednesday
December 14.
Sue Mahoney began the meeting
with some opening remarks and
presided over a discussion of
the state of the Timex Computer
community and Timex Corp’s
marketing strategy.
This was followed by a
demonstration by Sue of The
Wordsinc TS1000 Word Processor.
It is a simple but useful tool.
Sue indicated that she was
pleased with its performance.
Charles Warner of Games To Learn
By (GTLB) and Marty Warner of
Timex were there to tell about
their resepctive products.
GTLB demonstrated a couple of
its educational and recreational
game programs. Parti cul ar 1 y
interesting was their TS206B
HIGHLIGHTS Daae3
1 O REM
Phew !
I went to a Sinclair-
Time>: meeting on three out o*
the -four Wednesdays last month.
What’s kind of frightening is I
enjoyed it. It could become
habit forming. It’d be nice but
what my life needs right now is
fewer meetings not more.
The continueing adventures at
Timex Computer Corp. continue,
sort of. A good source within
Timex reports that, "The Timex
Computer Corp. is no longer."
The source explains that
the TCC has been essentially
dissolved and all it’s functions
absorbed into the Timex parent
corp. With the departure of TCC
Vice President Dan Ross the
hierarchy now seems to be: Timex
VP Kirk Pond in charge with
three more-or-l ess equal
leutenants: Doug Smith, Bill
Skirm, and Dick Longc.
Charles Warner of Games
to Learn By, a Timex retailer,
after a meeting with Timex
higher-ups, says that he senses
a new, positive feeling there.
"I’m very encouraged by their
new atti tude. "
Warner says Timex told
him they planned to start moving
forward again. That they had a
renewed sense of the value of
their products and were going to
start promoting them more
aggressi vel y.
If all this is so, then
it’s good.
A Final Note:
Listen, don’t blame it
on the Post Office, this
newsletter is late this month
for other reasons. I’m sure
vou’ll be able to find something
else to blame on the Post
Office.
OIhe
Q Boston
O Computer
O Society
This newsletter is produced to
inform group members of the
agenda and logistics of future
meetings, as well as to recap
and amplify the information
provided at the meetings. It
also provides a forum for
members and interested parties
to communicate what thay have
learned or developed relating to
Si ncl ai r and Timex computing.
Meetings are open to the public
(non-member admission is $3);
however attendees are encouraged
to join the Boston Computer
Society (BCS) This newsletter
is free to members. Back issues
are one dollar each.
DIRECTIONS TO MEETING: The S-T
User Group meets in the Large
Science Audi tiorium (Room 8/2/
009) of the University of
Massachusetts, Boston Harbor
Campus. It is located only 3
miles from downtown Boston and
easily accessible by public and
private transportation. From
the north or west, take the
Southeast Expressway to Exit 17.
Turn left onto Columbia Road.
Follow construction signs to get
to Morrissey Boulevard in the
direction of UMASS and the
Kennedy Library. Bear right on
traffic island, get in the right
two lanes, following UMass/
Boston signs. Turn left at the
light into Campus. From the
south, take Morrissey Boulevard
northward to the campus. On the
MBTA, take the Red Line (Ashmont
Train) to Columbia Station.
Transfer to the free University
shuttlebus in the T parking lot.
n\
The Sinclair Timex User Group
Sue Mahoney
Di rector
c/o BCS Office
or 203-755-2699
Jack Hodgson
Publ i sher/Edi tor
P.0. Box 526
Cambridge, MA 02238
617-354-7899
John Kemeny
User Group Correspondent
284 Great Road, Apt. D5
Acton, MA 01720
Beth Elliot
Group Librarian
c/o Sinclair Research
50 Stanif ord Street
Boston, MA 02114
617-742-4826
A1 lan Cohen
Meeting Coordinator
617-961-3453
Jeff Parker
Adverti sing Manager
c/o P0 Box 526
Cambridge, MA 02238
617-354-7899
The Si ncl ai r Timex Newsletter is
publ i shed monthly by the
Sinclair Timex User Group of the
Boston Computer Society.
Membership in the BCS is #24 per
year which includes a
subscription to its magaz i ne
"The Computer Update" and
subscription to two of its group
newsletters (such as this one) .
Advertising space is avai 1 abl e
in this pub 1 i cat i on on a
limited, first com# first served
basis. The rate is *60 per
quarter page . At this time no
other ad sires are available.
For detailed rate and discount
information contact the
Advertising Manager or the
Pub 1 l sher .
HIGHLIGHTS continued
hi— res drawing and painting
program, "Art for All Ages".
With this program the user can
create all sorts of high
resolution images on the Timex
Col or Computer. These images can
be edited, saved and
incorporated into other
programs. It sells for *16.95.
Call GTLB at 413-268-7505.
In addition to programs from
GTLB we were shown some upcoming
games from another source. We
saw "Cycle Path", a motorcycle
chase game with terr i f i c
animated graphics; "Crazy Bugs",
a F'acMan look-a-likes
"Androids" , a maze adventure;
and cartridge version of "FI ight
Si mul ator " .
Part Two of the December Meeting
was held the foil owi ng Wednesday
downstairs in the small science
auditorium. Co-chairs Will
Stackman and Jack Hodgson met
with about twenty attendees and
demonstrated Simulusion's
"Marvelous Music Machine"
reviewed here a few months ago,
and the British Sinclair ZX
Spectrum Computer, the
predecessor of the TS2068.
MACHINE l_ «=* fNi <3 LJ f-\ C5- EE
AND HARDWARE DESIGN
SUB — C3 FC O U F*
by Dick Forsyth
The major presentation at the
December meeting of the Machine
Code sub-group was a
demonstration of "Hot Z" bv Jacl
Hodgson. A complete and powerful
editor and di ssassembl er program
for machine code programmers.
"Hot Z" most impressed this
writer with its ability to
single step through a program,
displaying the status of the
registers and flags at each
step .
continued next page
continued from previous page
Two candidates -for "Project
Dazy" were presented, dulv
appreciated, and returned -for
modification. "Project Dazv" is
a -forum -for the presentation of
short machine language displav
programs written by group
members. You can get details on
participating in "Project Dazy"
from group leader Bob Heath.
The January meeting of the
machine language sub-group tool
place as usual on the 1st monday
of the month at Itek Optical in
Lex i ngton .
Bob Heath demonstrated his home
budget program. Written
entirely in machine code, it is
very user friendly, with well
thought-out prompts and
displays. The integer arithmetic
system is space efficient and
allows fast cal cul ati ons. I t is
an impressive effort.
The first "dazy" program to meet
project specif ications was
incorporated into the overall
program and tested. Several
modi f i cat ons to improve program
operation were made in an
interesting session.
Thw Machine Language and
Hardware Design Sub-Group meets
on the first Monday of the month
at Itek Optical in Lexington.
For details and directions call
Bob Heath davs at 276-2424.
are explained. The first uses
only passive components, namely
diodes, and allows EDIT,
T"' TJ' T ^ M7 ^ rn \ i ii — p ? * » * /— « pi— ^ j
~ ~ ~ , Di’jr , , r U w 1 j. U i\! , aiiL w
uhe Brit is!
version
single switch closure. The second
circuit uses active components,
but can generate any shifted
function. (Note that these
circuits are not new. Two years
ago they were discussed during
User Group meetings. Henry April
expanded upon the diode approach
to also allow : , ; , ? , and / .
Henry implemented his design with
the E— Z Key keyboard. The active
circuit approach was first
described in Syntax in March
1981 . )
The circuit for the diode
approach is given below. The
ft,
Address
"KH
NEW
a
anode of two diodes is connected
to an extra switch. The cathode
end of one diode is connected with
address line AS, the address line
going to the shift key, and the
free end of the second diode is
connected to the address line for
the desired function. The other
side of the switch is connected to
data line DO, the same data line
as are the shift and other
possible functions for the diode
approach .
KEYSTROKES continued
With the addition of simple
circuitry, it is possible to
obtain shifted functions, such as
EDIT or the cursor controls, with
a single keystroke. Normally, the
shifted functions require both the
shift key and
be depressed ,
requiring two
two hands. Tw
the single key
the function key to
an operation
fingers — really
o circuits pro v i d n c
str o k e canal i 1 i t v
The active component approach
uses two chip types: the
74LS125A, tristate buffer, and the
74LS21, dual 4- input AND. The
number of chips required depends
upon the number of function keys
implemented. (Dave Wood
implemented 23 functions with 10
chips.* Diode logic can be used,
in some cases, in place of the
V
OT (it'll
Fu'.vC HcfUS
Fewer to«o
KeVi
Normally, the buffer is in an high
impedance state — an open switch.
When a level signal, such as a
switch closure to ground, is
applied to the control for the
buffer, the buffer repeats its
input signal — a closed switch,
ihe AND is used to detect the
closure of any of the function
switches and control the tristate
suffer corresponding to the shift
key. Thus, with the closure of
c**e switch, two buffers are
enabled and the computer will
sense two switch closures.
fA BASIC
bv Dave Wood
ERASER
The -following 5-line BASIC
program demonstrates several
useful machine language concepts.
One; it shows the idea o-f
entering machine code as decimal
character triplets, which are
translated into decimal numbers
by the VAL instruction using
three characters at a time. Two:
it shows the use o-f the print
butter at 16444 -for temporary
storage of a short machine code
program. Three; the program
itself shows the application of a
number of ROM routines
TFAST (02E7h) will temporarily
place the computer in FAST mode.
LINEADDR (09D8h) will locate the
memory address of a BASIC line,
given its line number in the HL
regi ster .
ZAPDIF (0A5Dh) will erase memory
from where HL points up to, but
not including, where DE points.
RMODE (0207h) will return the
computer to the original mode (
FAST or SLOW) .
RST 8 goes to the system error
return.
This BASIC/machi ne code program
will erase a block of BASIC
program extending from where the
cursor is pointing to the end of
BASIC. To use the program, simply
set the cursor and enter GOTO
100. By using the error exit (
RST 8) rather than return, the
erase program is oblivious to
self destruction - it can erase
itself with no ill effects. Do
make sure that line 100 is
correct before you run it. The
string should contain 63
characters with no blanks.
100 LET X$=" 20523 10020420 10064
2052 1 60092350420 1 20642050930 1 0
205007002207255"
110 FOR 1=0 TO 20
120 POKE 16444 + 1, VAL X$ <3* 1 + 1
TO 3* ( 1+1 ) )
130 NEXT I
140 RAND USR 16444
The machine code in statement 100:
CD E7 02 CALL TFAST Go to temporary FAS7’
_A 0A 4o LD HL . (E— F'F'C) Fetch line no. of cursor
CD D8 09 CALL LINEADDR Get address of that line
EB EX DE.HL Move addr. to DE
2A oC 40 LD HL , (D-FILE)Get addr. past BASIC end
CD 5D 0A CALL ZAPDIF Erase BASIC
CD 07 02 CALL RMODE Return to original mode
EE EST 9 Return control to svstem:
FF DEFP FF and provide "0" return code
WHAT DO YOU WANT
FOR YOUR
copyright 1983 IrvfoWorld
reprinted with permission
TIMEX SINCLAIR?
• Applications
• Utilities
• Games
• Expansions
• News and Reviews
• Practical Advice
Get all this every month with SYNTAX newsletter.
Everything you need to get the most from your ZX/TS
computer. Just $29 for a full year of SYNTAX,
devoted to your computer.
Order yours today.
817/458-3661
MC/VISA/AMEX/DINERS
SYNTAX RD 2 Box 457,
Harvard, MA 01451
The Boston Computer Society helps make sense
out of personal computers. If you’re interested m
computers for home, business or education, come to
The BCS for objective information and support. The
BCS is the largest nonprofit personal computer asso¬
ciation in the United States; our goal is not to pro¬
mote any particular brand of computer, but to help
computer users and people who just want to know
what a computer could do for them.
Sign me up for these user/interest groups:
□ Apple/Boston (Apple)
□ Atan User Group
□ Business User Group
□ Consultants & Entrepreneurs Interest Group
□ Database User Group
□ Displaywnter User Group
□ Educational Resource Exchange
□ 80/Boston (TRS-80)
□ Family Home User Group
□ Logo User Group
□ IBM User Group
□ North Star User Group
□ Osborne User Group
□ OSI/Boston (Ohio Scientific)
□ Pascal User Group
□ PET/CBM/VIC User Group
□ Robotics Interest Group
IS Sin clair /Tim ex User Group
□ Telecommunications User Group
Review: Timex 2068
Color Computer
BY MICHAEL WEISENBERG
Contributor
The Timex/Sinclair 2068 Personal
Color Computer resolves many of
the complaints users of its prede¬
cessors — specifically the T/S 1000 and
T/S 1500 — have lodged. It has real keys;
its larger size is easier to work with; it has
a better tape interface; it even has an
on/off switch. We believe that this ma¬
chine, designed to compete with the
Commodore 64 and the Radio Shack Color
Computer and priced at under $200, offers
many desirable features usually found on
more expensive machines.
The 2068 is a more convenient size
than its tiny brothers, measuring
14V2 X 7V2 X IV2 inches. Its keys actually
click when you press them — with this
machine, you can touch-type.
Instead of the puny 2K of RAM offered
on the T/S 1000 and the 16K of RAM that
comes with the T/S 1500, the T/S 2068
comes with a respectable 48K of user
memory that, according to the company, is
expandable by bank switching to 16
megabytes.
Responding to complaints from users of
other Timex systems, Timex has given the
T/S 2068 color. The user can select
border, background and character colors.
Graphics were primitive on the two
simpler machines. The 2068 can address
separately any of 512 X 192 pixels and, in
its Extended Color Mode, give each row of
8 pixels — the width of one character —
its own color.
Although some users and third-party
vendors have devised tricky ways of
adding sound to the 1000 and 1500, the
computers are not designed for such
usage. The 2068 has sound capabilities
that make it rival the best synthesizers,
controlled programmatically with key¬
boards that are part of the BASIC. The
Beep command generates tones that span
more than ten octaves, with frequencies
varying by as little as one thousandth of a
tone and durations up to ten seconds in
steps as small as one thousandth of a
second. You can generate tones much
lower and higher than the human ear can
hear.
The Sound command generates three
simultaneous channels, enabling you to
compose music in harmony. You have very
sophisticated control over this synthesiz¬
er, permitting not just the composition of
music, but also the development of
interesting sound effects for your pro¬
grams. And — if you know what you’re
doing — you can generate speech.
The quality of the built-in speaker is
the only complaint we have about the
2068. Clicks and beeps sound fine, but
synthesized speech is pretty raspy. You
can, however, easily connect an external
speaker.
Tape saving and loading on the 2068
considerably more flexible than on earlier
Open £. Close #, Move, Cat, Erase and
Reset commands make evident.
The 2068 is fast compared to its “baby
brothers.” The 1000 and 1500 spend 60%
of their time maintaining the screen
display in software. The two machines
have a Fast mode that turns off the display
during calculations, blanking the screen. If
you want the screen display to remain in
place, the computer has to run in Slow
mode, making programs run painfully
slow. A program that executed on the
2068 in 2.8 seconds, on the 1500 in Fast
mode took 1 1.5 seconds and in Slow mode
required an agonizing 1 minute, 10.5
seconds.
The 2068 is easy to set up. You plug its
power supply into the wall and into a
socket at the rear of the computer marked
“Power.” You attach a switch box to the
VHF terminals on your TV and connect
and the like for the T/S 2068.
The excellent users’ manual is aimed at
beginners, taking them from no know
ledge of computers to being able to write
extensive programs for the 2068. The
manual was obviously written by a writer,
not a programmer. The manual starts with
the basics of setting up the machine. The
book includes much information for ad¬
vanced programmers on using machine
code, accessing system variables, how
memory is mapped and how variables are
stored. The table of contents and index are
extensive, and the appendices are filled
with useful tables and advanced
information.
Timex’s 2068 Personal Color Comput¬
er is an excellent product, which
compares well with computers costing far
more. It has features that make it
attractive to a wide audience, from
beginners to assembly-language program¬
mers. For under $200, you get a lot of
computer. #
The Timex/Sinclair 2068, priced
at under $200, offers many desirable
features usually found
on more expensive machines.
models. In addition to being able to save a
program on tape, you can save a program
so it will begin executing at a certain point
when loaded. On the 1000 and 1500,
loading a new program also removed the
current program from memory, but the
2068’s Merge command leaves the old
program in memory. On the earlier
machines, you had no way of knowing a
program did not load until the tape ran out.
The 2068 displays different loading pat¬
terns, depending on whether it is search¬
ing for a program, has found it or is
actually loading it; and displays the name
of each program it finds. After saving a
program, you can use the Verify command
to make sure the program was correctly
saved.
Commercial programs are available on
tape, which take about two minutes to
load, or on plug-in cartridges, which take
about two seconds to load. The tiny {2xh
inches by 23A inches by less than xh of an
inch) cartridges fit into a slot normally
concealed under a small door next to the
keyboard.
Timex obviously plans to offer storage
devices other than tape. The BASIC
language supplied wth the machine con¬
tains certain commands that currently do
not do anything and are listed in the
manual under the heading, “Commands
for Future Peripherals.” Disk drives
should become available, as the Format,
the other end to the 2068, You set a
switch on the bottom of the 2068 to 2 or 3,
whichever channel isn’t used in your area.
Turn on the computer, and it waits for you
to begin programming or to load a
program from tape. If the program is on
cartridge, you must switch off the
computer first. When you turn it back on,
the auto-loading program begins running
almost instantaneously.
Once you get used to the single-stroke
entry of keywords possible on this
machine’s keyboard, the 2068 is easy to
use. Each key has five different symbols on
it. In case you find any of this process
tricky, Timex supplies an excellent tutorial
on cassette. It demonstrates the use of
every key, all the modes and how to
produce each of the five or more possibili¬
ties on each key. At the end of the
extensive introduction to the keyboard,
the tutorial tests you, asking how to
produce each of the possible symbols and
keywords and giving you hints if you
respond incorrectly.
The demonstration package also in¬
cludes a simplified form of turtle graphics
and a home-accounting program.
Just as an entire submarket sprang up
for developers of software and peripherals
for the T/S 1000 and T/S 1500, look for
many developers to jump in with word
processors, assemblers, other languages,
expanded memories, disk drives, printers
InfoWrold
Timex 2068
Color Computer
Setup
a.
□
u.
□
□
ML»
B
Ease of Use
□
□
□
b
Performance
□
□
□
b
Documentation
□
□
□
B
Serviceability
□
□
□
B
m
■
■
_
■
Summary: Timex’s 2068 Personal
Color Computer is an excellent
product that compares well with
computers costing far more. It has
features that make it attractive to a
wide audience, from beginners to
assembly-language programmers.
Product details: List price, $199.95.
Equipped with Z80 CPU; Sinclair
BASIC; 48K RAM; 24K ROM for
system and BASIC; television
adapter; cables and connectors;
demonstration tape, output port for
printer and other peripherals;
joystick socket. Manufactured by
Timex Computer Corporation,
Waterbury, CT 06720; (203) 574-
3331.
T S U S El Ft
The independent newsletter
- with no ads. 16 Pages a month
All of Volume 2 is now
available for $10.95
HIGH SPEED
INTERFACE
SUBSCRIBE BEFORE FIRST OF MARCH
TO AVOID NEW PRICE! !!!!!!!!!!! !
- until then it is still only
$16.95 a year for 12 issues! ! ! !
(single copy $2.95)
VAGSEE (send check or M/0)
P0 BOX 155
FAST MODE / CONTINUOUS DISPLAY
PICTURE THIS —
• CONNECTING THE HS-1 INTERFACE TO A SPARE
TS1000 CREATES A COMPUTING SYSTEM THAT IS QUICK
AND RESPONSIVE LIKE MANY OF THE HIGHER PRICED
PERSONAL COMPUTERS
• FAST MODE FLICKER NO LONGER OCCURS WHEN
ENTERING PROGRAM LINES AND DATA
• SCREEN DISPLAYS OF PROGRAM LISTINGS AND OUT¬
PUT APPEAR AT AMAZING SPEEDS
KIT BUILDERS:
ASSEMBLY IS MADE EASY WITH A SOLDER-MASKED
SILKSCREENED PC BOARD HIGH QUALITY 1C CHIPS (WITH
SOCKETS) AND GOLD PLATED CONNECTORS PROVIDE
RELIABILITY AND LONG LIFE OTHER TIMEX/SINCLAIR
PERIPHERALS MAY BE ATTACHED VIA A REAR CARD-EDGE
CONNECTOR INSTRUCTIONS AND SOFTWARE (<1K) ARE
INCLUDED
MAIL ORDERS TO
Vick sb ur g
MICHIGAN 49097
• SOFTWARE LIKE FLIGHT SIMULATOR WILL HAVE
RESPONSE TiMES LIKE A FIGHTER JET'
TECHNICAL SUMMARY:
THIS UNIQUE SYSTEM USES DIRECT MEMORY ACCESS TO
COPY THE DISPLAY FILE FROM A FAST MODE COMPUTER
TO A SLOW MODE TSlOOO WHICH THEN PRODUCES THE
DISPLAY THE RESULTING SPEED GAIN IS AN IMPRESSIVE
5 5 TIMES FASTER THAN A SINGLE COMPUTER IN SLOW
MODE
INTERFACE DESIGN
PO BOX 151
REXFORD. NY 12148
HS-1 KIT $78
HS-1 WIRED AND TESTED $98
CABLE (9 INCHl $19
SHIPPING $ 4
NY STATE RESIDENTS ADD TAX
PAYABLE BY CHECK OR MONEY ORDER
GO T ne Boston
GO Computer Society
Three Center Plaza
Boston, MA 02108
617-367-8080
Nonprofit
U.S. Postage
Paid
Permit 1138
Boston, MA
Circle Chess Group
A. F. Stanonis
P.0. Box 63
Des Plaines, IL 60017
