Review: Timex 2068 Color Computer

The Timex/Sinclair 2068 Personal Color Computer resolves many of the complaints users of its predecessors — specifically the T/S 1000 and T/S 1500 — have lodged. It has real keys; its larger size is easier to work with; it has a better tape interface; it even has an on/off switch. We believe that this machine, designed to compete with the Commodore 64 and the Radio Shack Color Computer and priced at under $200, offers many desirable features usually found on more expensive machines.

The 2068 is a more convenient size than its tiny brothers, measuring 14½ × 7½ × 1½ inches. Its keys actually click when you press them – with this machine, you can touch-type.

Instead of the puny 2K of RAM offered on the T/S 1000 and the 16K of RAM that comes with the T/S 1500, the T/S 2068 comes with a respectable 48K of user memory that, according to the company, is expandable by bank switching to 16 megabytes.

Responding to complaints from users of other Timex systems, Timex has given the T/S 2068 color. The user can select border, background and character colors.

Graphics were primitive on the two simpler machines. The 2068 can address separately any of 512 × 192 pixels and, in its Extended Color Mode, give each row of 8 pixels – the width of one character – its own color.

Although some users and third-party vendors have devised tricky ways of adding sound to the 1000 and 1500, the computers are not designed for such usage. The 2068 has sound capabilities that make it rival the best synthesizers, controlled programmatically with keyboards that are part of the BASIC. The Beep command generates tones that span more than ten octaves, with frequencies varying by as little as one thousandth of a tone and durations up to ten seconds in steps as small as one thousandth of a second. You can generate tones much lower and higher than the human ear can hear.

The Sound command generates three simultaneous channels, enabling you to compose music in harmony. You have very sophisticated control over this synthesizer, permitting not just the composition of music, but also the development of interesting sound effects for your programs. And – if you know what you’re doing — you can generate speech.

The quality of the built-in speaker is the only complaint we have about the 2068. Clicks and beeps sound fine, but synthesized speech is pretty raspy. You can, however, easily connect an external speaker.

Tape saving and loading on the 2068 considerably more flexible than on earlier models. In addition to being able to save a program on tape, you can save a program so it will begin executing at a certain point when loaded. On the 1000 and 1500, loading a new program also removed the current program from memory, but the 2068’s Merge command leaves the old program in memory. On the earlier machines, you had no way of knowing a program did not load until the tape ran out. The 2068 displays different loading patterns, depending on whether it is searching for a program, has found it or is actually loading it; and displays the name of each program it finds. After saving a program, you can use the Verify command to make sure the program was correctly saved.

Commercial programs are available on tape, which take about two minutes to load, or on plug-in cartridges, which take about two seconds to load. The tiny 2½ inches by 2¾ inches by less than ⅓ of an inch) cartridges fit into a slot normally concealed under a small door next to the keyboard.

Timex obviously plans to offer storage devices other than tape. The BASIC language supplied wth the machine con- tains certain commands that currently do not do anything and are listed in the manual under the heading, “Commands for Future Peripherals.” Disk drives should become available, as the Format, Open #, Close #, Move, Cat, Erase and Reset commands make evident.

The 2068 is fast compared to its “baby brothers.” The 1000 and 1500 spend 60% of their time maintaining the screen display in software. The two machines have a Fast mode that turns off the display during calculations, blanking the screen. If you want the screen display to remain in place, the computer has to run in Slow mode, making programs run painfully slow. A program that executed on the 2068 in 2.8 seconds, on the 1500 in Fast mode took 11.5 seconds and in Slow mode required an agonizing 1 minute, 10.5 seconds.

The 2068 is easy to set up. You plug its power supply into the wall and into a socket at the rear of the computer marked “Power.” You attach a switch box to the VHF terminals on your TV and connect the other end to the 2068. You set a switch on the bottom of the 2068 to 2 or 3, whichever channel isn’t used in your area. Turn on the computer, and it waits for you to begin programming or to load a program from tape. If the program is on cartridge, you must switch off the computer first. When you turn it back on, the auto-loading program begins running almost instantaneously.

Once you get used to the single-stroke entry of keywords possible on this machine’s keyboard, the 2068 is easy to use. Each key has five different symbols on it. In case you find any of this process tricky, Timex supplies an excellent tutorial on cassette. It demonstrates the use of every key, all the modes and how to produce each of the five or more possibilities on each key. At the end of the extensive introduction to the keyboard, the tutorial tests you, asking how to produce each of the possible symbols and keywords and giving you hints if you respond incorrectly.

The demonstration package also includes a simplified form of turtle graphics and a home-accounting program.

Just as an entire submarket sprang up for developers of software and peripherals for the T/S 1000 and T/S 1500, look for many developers to jump in with word processors, assemblers, other languages, expanded memories, disk drives, printers and the like for the T/S 2068.

The excellent users’ manual is aimed at beginners, taking them from no knowledge of computers to being able to write extensive programs for the 2068. The manual was obviously written by a writer, not a programmer. The manual starts with the basics of setting up the machine. The book includes much information for advanced programmers on using machine code, accessing system variables, how memory is mapped and how variables are stored. The table of contents and index are extensive, and the appendices are filled with useful tables and advanced information.

Timex’s 2068 Personal Color Computer is an excellent product, which compares well with computers costing far more. It has features that make it attractive to a wide audience, from beginners to assembly-language programmers. For under $200, you get a lot of computer.