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T/S 2068 CoCo Summary - (nf) [message #128078] Fri, 11 October 2013 18:11
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: bsouther@uok.UUCP
Message-ID: <3655@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 2-Nov-83 23:30:53 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.3655
Posted: Wed Nov  2 23:30:53 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 6-Nov-83 11:59:38 EST
Lines: 100

#N:uok:10700003:000:5247
uok!bsouther    Nov  1 00:56:00 1983

For those of you who are interested, here's a summary of an article found
in the November '83 "Computers & Electronics".....


	First Look at Timex/Sinclair's New Color Computer

  The Timex/Sinclair 2068 (formerly called the T/S 2000) has been
released to the general market, and for those who have had experience
with the T/S 1000's shortcomings -- membrane keyboard, memory
wobble, slow and unreliable cassette loading, limited BASIC, no
color, no sound, etc. -- great things are to be experienced with
the under-$200 basic computer setup.
  When Sinclair came out with the Spectrum in mid-1982, it was
assumed that Timex would soon bring it to North America.  In
January of this year, Timex did show a very close copy of the
Spectrum to dealers and the press, but delivery was delayed and
rumors abounded.  Finally, in June, Timex unveiled the Timex
2068, a 48K RAM/24K ROM color computer with a suggested retail
price of $199.95 (there are already plans to offer it - mail
order - for $148.32).  A 16K version of the computer was introduced
in June, but it appears that only the 48K version will be
available.
  The Timex 2068 comes in a grey plastic case whose upper surface
is painted with a dull aluminum finish.  The full-sized keyboard
uses light greyy keys with black lettering on the keys and above
and below.  It's a relatively large computer (comparatively),
measuring about 15" by 7.5" by 2", and weighs about 4 pounds.
  The keyboard has the same type of keys as the Brother EP-20
Personal Electronic Typewriter, with QWERTY layout and full-
travel keys.  The F and J keys (home keys to touch-typists) have
raised finger-bumps for easy locating, and several of the top-row
keys have colored legends above them (corresponding to the colors
they control -- how convenient!).  There are 42 keys, including a
SPACE bar and a CAPS SHIFT on each end of the keyboard.  As per
previous computers, all keys have multiple functions.  There are
single-key accesses to 16 graphics blocks and 21 hi-res, user
defined (64 pixel) graphics characters.  They have added a
copyright symbol, @, an English "pound" sign, and (hold on to
your hat) an exclamation point!
  There are two industry-standard (Atari-type) joystick ports,
one on either side of the computer, and there's a 64-finger gold
plated edge card on the back--the main computer bus.  There are
also five jacks, marked MONITOR (yep!), EAR, MIC, POWER, and TV.
The TV channel is selectable 2 or 3.
  The T/S 2068 uses a Z80A, but by using a neat little thing
developed by Timex up to 256 "banks" of 64K memory can be
accessed in 8K chunks, giving a full-system banked access of over
16Mbytes!  The ROM is 24K (16K + 8K banked), and contains a
powerful BASIC interpreter and operating system.  There is an
opening on the T/S 2068 for cartridges similar to Atari software
cartridges.
  The display is software-selectable in many aspects.  There are
eight colors available for PAPER, INK, and BORDER.  Each color
has two BRIGHTness levels, and FLASHing is available for each
character.  INVERSE VIDEO is also available.  There are also four
display modes, as compared to the one mode of the Spectrum.
    Mode 1 (normal) is 22 lines of 32 characters, plus two for
  entry, editing, etc.  Also available in this mode are 16 pre-
  defined graphics characters.
    Mode 2 is 64-column mode, with 22 lines of 64 characters each.
  There will be some trouble in using this mode, though, as the
  computer uses two 32-character pages with characters appearing on
  alternating spaces.
    Mode 3 is another "normal" mode, like Mode 1.  It can be used
  for fast graphics by switching between Modes 1 and 3.
    Mode 4 is called "Ultra-High Color Resolution" mode.  It has
  the same resolution as Mode 1 (32 character lines, 256 pixels per
  line), but there's an important difference -- each row of pixels
  in a character space (a space is 8 rows of 8 pixels each) can be
  assigned the various color parameters.  The frontiers in
  programming that this opens are immense, but of course require
  great programming skills.

  The BASIC adds 50 commands/statements/functions that are not
available on the Timex 1000/1500, such as FREE, STICK, SOUND, ON
ERR, and RESET.  Other currently unused features include FORMAT,
OPEN, CLOSE, and ERASE (for the currently unavailable disk drive).
Three great additions to the Timex BASIC are DATA, READ, and
RESTORE -- three commands which have been sorely needed.
  The T/S 2068 has a complex three-voice sound generator and a
channel for the BEEP command (which can produce 130 semitones).
The cassette operates at 1500 baud, and reportedly is very
reliable over a broad range of volume settings.  The printer's
COPY command faithfullyy replicates the INK part of the screen
while ignoring the PAPER color dots.
  The power supply is rated 17.5V @ 1 amp, which would give a
rather high 17.5 watt consumption.  However, in use the T/S 2068
draws only 215 ma at around 21 volts, so it actually used less
than 5 watts.

Thus ends the C&E report on the Timex/Sinclair 2068 Color
Computer.  Personally, I think it sounds like a nice thing to
look in to, and at $150-$200, it's not a bad deal at all!

		Brad Southers
		University of Oklahoma
		uok!bsouther
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