The meeting opened with local user group archaeology. Mike Hart recalled attending one or two Fort Worth Timex user group meetings as a teenager, hunting for a working TS2068 — he found one, plus a tape, with intentions to return, but the group changed campus locations before he made it back. David noted that David Baulch, the Fort Worth organizer, still occasionally joins the current Zoom meetings, and that software from Fort Worth tapes eventually made its way into larger archives through Tim Ward, a former member who later moved to the Pacific Northwest and compiled substantial library tapes.
Mike’s semiconductor background prompted an interesting digression. He had worked in micro lithography at National Semiconductor, running Perkin-Elmer projection systems to print chip layers from masks. The production line covered roughly 65 processes: ABS brake controllers, EPROMs, analog and BiCMOS parts, and more. His role eventually focused on metrology and process drift. He offered the observation that Barnett Shale fracking and freeway traffic near a Texas fab may have contributed to that facility losing out on a newer process node — the equipment was moved elsewhere rather than deployed there.
A ROM question from Mike led into TS2068 versus TC2068 territory. He was looking for TS2068 dumps specifically, not the TC2068 images most emulators ship with. David noted the meaningful hardware distinction lay primarily in video implementation. Joe VandeZande offered to send binary dumps from a real machine for direct comparison.
The 2060 project got its most detailed public airing yet. Jeff Burrell described it as a modern answer to what Timex might have built for the 2060 bus expansion unit with current components: 1 MB static RAM, VGA, serial, stereo audio, USB input, SD card, Wi-Fi (software pending), real-time clock, and an FPGA handling interfacing and video. Version two boards have already gone to the hardware subgroup and appeared at VCF Midwest last year. The board loads and runs TS2068 programs from SD card; alternate FPGA cores enable Spectrum compatibility. Jeff is also developing a standalone core for CP/M-capable independent operation. Version three boards go out in June, evaluation hardware back by late fall. David showed a 3D printed enclosure designed to sit over the 2068, echoing original Timex promotional imagery.
Ingo Schmied checked in to report the Kilozed landing page is live, with a subscription link and plans to consolidate GitHub links, STL and PCB files, kit orders, photos, and licensing information.
Jeff Kuhlmann showed a Baudot keyboard interface — a chorded device modeled on late 19th-century telegraph keyboards, connecting via joystick port to retro hardware and emulators. Initial targets include the Lambda 8300, Spectrum, C64, and VIC-20. He planned to bring it to VCF Southwest along with a TS2068, a Jupiter Ace, and other machines.
Software news included Zoust, a ZX81 port of Joust by Don Crawford and Dave Spinnett that fits in 16K using compression and runs on real hardware with a ZXpand. The group also noted Legend of Zedd, a roguelike/action-dungeon follow-up to Dungeons of Zedd, and a turn-based Tetris for the ZX80 — turn-based because the ZX80’s BASIC offers no live keyboard polling.
David described an AY music tracker he has been building for the TS2068 with Claude AI, currently demoing a tracker arrangement of “Popcorn.”
The meeting ended with a tape recovery. Alexander had digitized a ZX81/TS1000 cassette containing software written by his grandfather but couldn’t get the WAV to decode. Joe VandeZande identified a low-frequency modulation — 60 Hz contamination — riding on the expected bit patterns. Trimming, mono conversion, amplification, and normalization produced a clean file. The recovered program was a Risk automation utility supporting custom house rules including money pools.