National Education Corporation (Irvine, California) had been selling vocational training by mail since 1946. When home computers became affordable, they saw a natural extension of their business.
Timex was looking for the same thing from the other direction. Dan Ross, COO of Timex Computer Corporation, was vocal about the TS computers as educational tools. “Computers in the classroom, computer literacy is something we’re certainly committed to,” he told Timex Sinclair User in June 1983. By that point Timex had already launched a curriculum program in Connecticut, built in conjunction with Villanova University educators. The NEC partnership was a continuation of that strategy, not a departure from it.
The Technical Literacy Series kit sold for $295 and included a computer, a cassette recorder, a power supply, an RF switch, course booklets, and program tapes — a self-paced introduction to BASIC, complete out of the box.
The Timex Sinclair 1500
The 1500 was a significant redesign from the TS 1000, not just a memory bump. Timex redesigned the circuit board to fit the Sinclair ZX Spectrum case and keyboard — the Spectrum’s keys being considerably better than the 1000’s membrane. The Ferranti ULA was replaced by a 68-pin NCR custom chip that used less power, improved display quality, and added support for more RAM. ROM ghosting was corrected. 16KB of RAM came built in.
Announced May 1983, launched September at $79.99. Enthusiasts weren’t sure what to make of it — Timex Sinclair User asked “Who Needs the Timex Sinclair 1500?” and come up with weak answers. For NEC’s purposes the question was simpler: capable enough to run a course on, affordable enough to include in a $295 kit.
Two Configurations
Most examples that surface are the black briefcase, with a Timex Sinclair 2020 cassette recorder. The 2020 was Timex’s own recorder, designed matched aesthetically to the 1500 and 2068.
A second, less common variant exists. It shipped in a black blow-molded plastic case and a GE 3-5007C, not the 2020.
Both carry the same NEC Technical Literacy Series label. Both contain the same course materials.
