| Name | TIMEX Sinclair 1000 |
| Made by | - TIMEX Computer Corporation
- this past-1985 machine was made by TIMEX Portugal Lda., which continued the production although TIMEX Corp. had alread retreated from the US computer-market
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| Released | - June 1982
- this machine must have been produced after 1985, because before, TIMEX Portugal didn't produce any computers
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| Serial-No. | none |
| Additional info | FCC ID: CEC8E4TS1000R1
TIMEX Computer Corporation
Made in Portugal |
| Board-info | |
| CPU | NEC D780C- the NEC D780C is a fully-compatible Z80A-derivate and thus also an 8080-descendant
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| Speed | - 3.25 MHz
- since in the TS1000 the CPU also does the video output, it runs at about 900 KHz effectively ('SLOW mode'). There was a dedicated 'FAST mode', in which display output was disabled and the CPU could execute code at full speed
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| RAM | 2 KBytes in one 6116 (2Kx8) CMOS RAM- the CMOS RAM used here consumes less power than the NMOS RAMs used in the ZX81
- expandable to 56 KB, see note below
- the board can also be configured for other RAMs, such as 1Kx4 (as in the ZX81)
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| ROM/ Native OS | Sinclair ZX81 BASIC 8K- is also used as character generator ROM
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| Keyboard/ Layout | Membrane keyboard- 40 keys/ US (QWERTY)
- keys have up to five functions!
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| Graphics | like in the ZX81, the CPU (in this case NEC D780C) creates the graphics- Max.Res.: 64x48 'pixels' (256x192 'HiRes' with tricks)
- Text: 22x32 characters with graphical charset
- Max. Colors: monochrome
- this is a PAL-version; the pre-1985 machines were produced for the US-market and therefore NTSC-versions. PAL or NTSC can be selected by soldering a link wire to a specific location (R30?)
- has a CHANNEL 2/3 switch for its TV-output
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| Sound | none |
| Media | - standard Audio-cassettes (via standard cassette-recorder, 250 Bit/s)
- the cassette recorder had to be connected via EAR and MIC (see I/O)
- later, with the ZX Spectrum, Sinclair introduced the so-called ZX Microdrive, which used small tape cartridges for storing data. However, they were not backward compatible and thus not available for TS1000 or ZX81 computers
- the TIMEX-engineers never liked Sinclair's microdrives, and thus experimented with a Hitachi 3" floppy with Z80-based controller-box. It was never released or marketed
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| Input/ Output | Ferranti ULA 2C210E (also called 'Sinclair Computer Logic')- 44 pin male edge conn. expansion port ('Bus connector')
- RF TV-out
- 3.5mm jack socket headphones-out ('EAR')
- 3.5mm jack socket microphone-in ('MIC')
- 9V DC-in
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| Miscellaneous | - The TS1000 is a ZX81-clone manufactured by the TIMEX Corporation (under Sinclair-license)
- It was originally ment to be sold to the US market only, because Sinclair couldn't produce enough output to satisfy the demand for ZX81s or ZX Spectrums there. In fact, there was enough capacity, but also severe quality problems in Sinclair's production process. On the other hand, this means that both
ZX81 and TS1000 were sold in the USA
- When the TS1000 appeared in June 1982, there were only NTSC-versions ment for sale in Nothern America. From 1985 on, TIMEX Portugal Lda. produced the TS1000, as TIMEX USA had retired from the computer market in 1984. Those later machines were PAL (like this one)
- Since the agreement with Sinclair prevented TIMEX Portugal from selling machines to most European countries, they were sold in Portugal, Poland and Argentinia (and the US)
- Compared to the ZX81, the TS1000 came with double the amount of RAM but was otherwise fully compatible. However, there was the same limit in memory expansion: 64 KBytes were possible, but due to the address-space needed by the 8 KBytes BASIC, only 56 KB were effectively usable
- Another ZX81-clone made by TIMEX was the TS1500 in a silver, Spectrum-like case. It came pre-equipped with 16 KBytes RAM
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