Products
Timex Sinclair released four computers, all of them based (to some extent) on Sinclair Research's existing machines. In chronological order:
- TS1000, essentially a modified ZX81 with 2 KiB RAM
- TS1500, a TS 1000 with 16 KiB RAM and a ZX Spectrum-like case and keyboard
- TS2068, a ZX Spectrum-based machine with enhancements, namely a cartridge port to make it compete with videogame consoles, which resulted in poor compatibility with software developed for the original. Its European sibling, the TC2068, featured improved compatibility with the ZX Spectrum.
- TC2048, a ZX Spectrum-based machine with a TS 2068-like keyboard. Not sold in the US.
In July 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.
Overall, the machines were nowhere near as successful as their UK progenitors; in contrast with the ZX Spectrum, which was the best-selling computer in Britain at the time, the TS2068 was a relative failure.
Timex Corporation withdrew from the U.S. home computer market in February 1984 but Timex of Portugal continued to manufacture, sell and develop hardware in Portugal and Poland for another ten years.
The next computer, the TC3256, was the third generation of Timex Computer Technology, but it vanished when Timex of Portugal shut down its production line.
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.
Read more about this topic: Timex Sinclair
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