Timex Sinclair 1000 Update and Questions - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

16 Jun 2002

Hey Doc --

...
  From: Doc Shipley &lt;doc(a)mdrconsult.com&gt; 
...
    Well.  I was roaming yesterday and found a very nice
old Macy's dress
 box.  In it was a TS-1000 with the TS-1016 16k memory cartridge, manuals
 cables, and around 10 tapes, including PIM apps & games.  After
 soldering a broken joint on the m/b [1], running to WallyWorld at 2:00am
 for a 300ohm-to-75ohm converter, and finally figuring out that I needed
 to turn the brightness all the way up on the TV, the little booger
 works. 
Cool!  Welcome to the international ZX81/TS-1000 community.  There are LOTS
of us out here still finding new applications for these things.

...
    This is the first computer I've had that was in
need of board-level
 repair to start with, simple enough to ID the problem (and not too
 densely populated), and common and cheap enough to "risk" non-essential
 modifications. 
Which makes it darn near perfect, IMHO.  If only it were just a little tiny
bit faster ;>)

...
   Texas Instruments trained me as a "Certified
Solder
 Sucker" or whatever in 1982, but I really haven't done any electronics
 work since.  I build cables, solder all the joints on auto work, and
 stuff, but till last night had truly forgotten the joys of eutectic
 solder.  Also till last night, I had truly not realized how much worse
 my eyesight has gotten.... 
Yeah, that sucks.  I need a really bright light about eight inches away
...
 from the work and a super-fine tip to do anything
intricate anymore.  It's hell getting old but it sure beats the alternative . .
.

...
    The card-edge cartridge connector is worn nearly
through the traces on
 the m/b.  If the computer is jostled much at all, it loses the RAM and
 its little mind.  Next mod will be to do some (cheesy, yes I know) wire
 patching to the finger traces. 
Or, you can make a cable to run between the computer and the RAM pack.  Or,
you can make supports for both so that each is stable.  Or, you can adapt
or buy a full-size keyboard so that the vibration from typing doesn't
disturb the components.

...
    I joked last night about just going to the thrifts
for a $5 B&W TV,
 but my experience with tuning and brightness matches Jeff Hellige's
 comments, and I may do exactly that if I keep this.  What I'll more
 likely do is try Glen Goodwin's idea and tap the composite signal off
 the motherboard. 
Yeah, I sent you the schematic earlier.  Hope it helped.  If you run some
wires from the pcb to the empty forward part of the shell, and use an
in-line female RCA jack, everything fits nicely inside (except the jack)
and the wires connected to the RCA jack will easily pass through the shell
near the "earphone" jack.

...
    The major question concerns the program tapes.  I
tried hooking up to
 my stereo, the only cassette player I have anymore, and at any volume,
 it just blows the Timex away.  The display goes to hell, it doesn't seem
 to "read" the program, and the display stays scrambled even after the
 cassette stops.  The manual states that a "Hi-Fi" tape deck, as opposed
 to a cheap battery-driven portable, may be the source of problems.  Does
 anybody have a suggestion or solution?  My instinct is that my cheap
 stereo does enough EQ (not optional) to "blur" the signal. 
Finding an appropriate cassette recorder can be a challenge, so I would
suggest that you don't hunt for one using tapes of unknown quality.  First,
try SAVEing a one line program onto a good-quality (doesn't have to be
great, just good) new blank cassette.  Then re-LOAD the program.  Try
different volume levels.  This is the only way to verify that the recorder
is suitable for both operations.  Then try LOADing your other tapes.

Last time I had to hunt for a suitable cassette machine (four years or so
ago) I went through several, including a nice Sony, before I found that the
best match was a Radio Shack (can't believe I'm writing this) Optimus. 
Cost about $40, but worth it if you plan on using the TS-1000 very often.

...
    One of the websites I found last night quotes the
promo for the 16k
 cartridge - something like "With the addition of 16 kilobytes of memory,
 the Timex Sinclair 1000 could conceivably store a program of 960 lines,
 but of course. no programmer would ever need to..." 
ROFL!  Which site?  The payroll program I wrote and used at Consolidated
Electronics was well over 960 lines so I had to use a 64KB pack.

For tons of info, links, etc. please visit our ZX-TEAM website at:

http://home.t-online.de/home/p.liebert/zx-team.htm

For a nice listing of available hardware, try Jack Boatwright's site:

http://www3.outlawnet.com/~jboatno4/

Of course, I'll be glad to help you as much as I can, so if you have any
questions please don't hesitate.

Later --

Glen
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