David talked a bit about the long connection between the Koala Pad and Sinclair computers, in the US, that culminated with the Zebra graphics tablet package.
David also gave an update on archiving tapes, documents, newsletters and more. The archived tapes are available here:
https://archive.org/download/timex-sinclair-software-archive
The tools and websites David mentioned are:
https://shredzone.org/docs/tzxtools/
https://sourceforge.net/projects/fuse-emulator/files/fuse-utils/
https://www.mankier.com/1/fuse-utils
https://zx.remysharp.com/tools/
Adam has been testing Jeff Burrell’s video board, especially the 64 column mode. He relied on David Solly’s command summary to use MScript to test the 64 column mode. We talked a little about the word processors and the company that published MScript, Micro-Systems Software. MScript and MTerm were also available for other computers:
https://archive.org/details/NewsFront_1984-07_Micro-Systems_Software_US/page/n5/mode/1up
We talked a bit about a mysterious message in Zebra’s Greeting Card Designer and Sign Designer programs. Both are available in the archive list above. The mysterious message turns out to be a reference to two of Frank Zappa’s children, Moon Unit and Thin Muffin. And if you’re not familiar with the Frank and Moon Unit Zappa song mentioned (“Valley Girl”), here’s a link:
Jeff Burrell gave an update on his video board, which he’s reduced to a single board and made smaller. It sniffs the TS2068 expansion bus for writes to video memory and generates a VGA version of the 2068 display. It has several other video modes as well. He’s sent it to a few folks for testing. The board should be available later this year.
That led to a brief discussion about a slightly mysterious TS2068 motherboard with a prototype/development main ROM. The board’s video output is corrupt, but with Jeff’s board, it displays just fine.
Gustavo Pane jumped in to talk about some work he did documenting his board versus Timex’s technical manual and the Howard Sam’s repair guide.
Ingo Schmied gave an update on the physically larger ZX81, with a full-size keyboard. He’s printed a new case and it looks great.
Jeff Kuhlmann gave a little update on the Vintage Computer Fair in Dallas.
Michael Druckenmiller Sr. talked about his serial board project and repairing his 2040 printer. Mike’s projects are here:
https://houseofmyrrh.org/Micro_Mikies.htm
And we were joined by newcomer John Brown, who did a lot with the 2068 in the 1980s. John expands the Albuquerque user group to 4!