Timex Sinclair

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Timex Sinclair 2068.

Timex Sinclair was a joint venture between the British company Sinclair Research and Timex Corporation in an effort to gain an entry into the rapidly-growing early-1980s home computer market in the United States. The choice of partnership was natural; Timex was already the main contractor for manufacture of Sinclair's ZX81 and ZX Spectrum computers at its Scottish plant in Dundee.

They released four computers, all of them based (to some extent) on Sinclair Research's existing machines:-

The TS 1000, essentially a modified ZX81 with 2 KiB RAM
The TS 1500, a TS 1000 with 16 KiB RAM and a Spectrum-like case and keyboard
The TS 2048, a 16K RAM TS2068 version. Not sold in the US.
The TS 2068, a Spectrum-based machine with major enhancements which unfortunately resulted in poor compatibility with the original.

In July of 1982, Timex/Sinclair introduced the first computer touted to cost under $100 marketed in the U.S. (TS 1000). In spite of the flaws in the early versions, half million units were sold in the first 6 months alone, surpassing the sales of Apple, Tandy, and Commodore combined.

Overall, the machines were nowhere near as successful as their UK progenitors; in contrast with the Spectrum which was the best-selling computer in Britain at the time, the TS 2068 was a relative failure. Timex Corporation withdrew from the home computer market in late-1983.

Timex of Portugal later continued to manufacture hardware including:

TS1000 boards
The Timex Computer 2068 (TC2068), a modified TS2068 featuring improved compatibility with the ZX Spectrum
The Timex Computer 2048 (TC2048), a cut down version of the TS2068

Timex of Portugal even continued to develop computers under the Timex Computer name. The next computer, TC3256, was the third generation of Timex Computer Technology, but it vanished when the computer production lines were transferred to the Dundee Timex plant.

Timex of Portugal also produced a Z80-based CP/M-compatible computer, the Timex FDD or FDD 3000. Most people only know it as a floppy disk drive controller but in fact, it is a computer without graphics circuitry. The FDD or FDD 3000 could be used in three different ways:

as a disk drive controller for a TC2048/2068 or ZX Spectrum, running TOS (Timex Operating System)
as a CP/M system, using a TC2048/2068 computer running the Timex Terminal Emulator as a console.
as a CP/M system, using the Timex Terminal 3000, a terminal keyboard, as a console.