New Member: Phillip Barry
New member Phillip shared his history with Sinclair computers thanks to a gift from his father-in-law back in 1981. He co-founded the Timex Sinclair User Group of Palm Beach County and was active with various Sinclair models, including the ZX81, QL, and the 2068. Over the years, he transitioned to IBM computers but recently rediscovered his old Sinclair hardware and connected with the user group to seek help restoring his QL units.
Timex Theme Songs: Thomas Hynes
Tom shared his recent activities involving music generation using AI tools like Suno AI and ChatGPT. He described how he created lyrics and synthesized music inspired by the Timex Sinclair experience, experimenting with different genres such as disco. His songs are uploaded to the YouTube channel.
Tom also discussed his ongoing project to rewrite a cash register program for the 2068. The original program was stored on microdrives that he sold years ago, so he is reconstructing it from scratch, planning the code structure carefully.
Timex Portugal Employee Reunion
Johnny Red shared his experience attending a large reunion of former Timex factory employees in Portugal. The gathering included around 150 employees and 40 outsiders, such as family members and museum representatives.
Johnny also talked about the history of the Timex factory building, explaining its phases of expansion starting in 1970, the impact of the Portuguese revolution which halted production, and how Timex gradually shifted focus from computers to watches before fully exiting the facility in the late 1990s. The building is now rented out by other companies but still referred to as “Timex Park” by former employees.
Book Nook
Adam Trionfo opened a discussion of the Timex/Sinclair 2068 manual, which then expanded to discussing other manuals for the 2068. We hope to have more “Book Nook” discussions in upcoming meetings.
A Side-of-the-road Discovery
Mowgli Assor recounted finding a custom-built desk that incorporated a Timex Sinclair 2068 computer with integrated lighting and power outlets. Inside the drawer were rolls of printouts from a Timex Sinclair 2040 thermal printer, including stock portfolio records from the 1980s and boxed cartridges like Flight Simulator.
Advanced Programming Techniques: The DEF FN Trick
Ryan Gray presented a detailed exploration of advanced Sinclair BASIC programming using the DEF FN (define function) command. He explained how DEF FN allows the creation of custom functions with one-letter variable names, and how the system passes arguments to these functions.
Ryan demonstrated recursive functions, such as factorial calculations, using conditional string evaluations and the VAL function to terminate recursion safely. He explained the system variable DEFADD, which points to the argument list in memory during function evaluation, enabling advanced memory manipulation.