TSU Meeting SUNDAY — April 16, 2023
David Anderson, Chuck Durang, Tim Swenson, Adam Trionfo, Ryan Gray, Larry Lorenson, Alan, Jeff, Paul, Gustavo, George Grimm, Ingo
April 16, 2023 Sunday Zoom meeting (about 20 attendees). Guest of honor was Chuck Durang, who wrote the original American manuals for the ZX81, TS1000, TS1500 and TS2068. He recounted how he fell into the job — buying a ZX80 as a college-textbook editor, pitching Nigel Searle at Sinclair U.S. on rewriting Steve Vickers' British manual for an American "step-by-step" audience, then beating Howard Sams' price and delivering finished, typeset manuals (not just manuscripts) to Sinclair and later Timex. He confirmed his son David did some of the illustrations, that he wrote the manuals in WordStar and used outside typesetters, that the TS2068 manual was largely written from scratch (possibly from a British Spectrum rather than a 2068 prototype), and that he also wrote many of the cassette-software manuals, sometimes subcontracting to his brother. The group dug into the 2068's naming (Danny Ross's apocryphal story; alternative "2072" = 24K+48K), Tim Hartnell, and the Portuguese-translated TC2048 manual that still credits Chuck.
Tim Swenson demoed an in-progress cross-platform emulator setup guide he's laying out in Scribus under a Creative Commons license. Coverage: Zesarux on Linux/Windows/macOS, Warajevo under DOSBox, EightyOne on Windows, and FUSE (Ryan volunteered to write up); David took the Windows section. The guide also bundles ZMakeBase (now ported to DOS plus 64-bit Linux builds) with a note that DOSBox traps the mouse and won't see host-side file edits unless you stay inside the DOS session. The group flagged FUSE's tiny default window and the need for a file-format reference (TAP vs TZX vs .p vs .81 vs .z80/.sna) — Alan explained that TZX records pulse timing so it can represent custom/copy-protected loaders, where TAP only stores the bytes a ROM load routine would see.
Adam Trionfo reported tracking down Dan Tanberg in Albuquerque — same house since 1982 — and, after a letter and a same-day pickup, came away with five Tanberg ZX81/TS1000 cassettes (Time Blasters, Metagraphics, Mazeball and duplicates). Tanberg sold ~500–1000 of each through Robotech in Ohio in the early '80s, recording every tape individually from his own machine. Adam captured WAVs of two of the tapes; Larry Lorenson cleaned them in Audacity (amplify, normalize, fix low pulses) and ran them through his own DAT tape-reader program to produce TZX files, which Adam then loaded successfully in EightyOne and demoed live (Time Blasters' scrolling shooter and Metagraphics). Paul also asked about a slow-loading HiSoft C TAP — answer: bump the emulator's speed setting (e.g. 32× in EightyOne) or use fast-load.
Closing items: a brief detour into the unrealised "super Spectrum" — the ZX83 that morphed into the QL, the SAM Coupé as a separate Z80-based competitor, the Loki press mentions, the Z88, and Sinclair's flirtation with the delayed Z280. Ingo updated on his ZX81/TS1000 keycap project — WASD can't UV-print white on a black cap, so he's exploring two-part molded caps or dye-sublimation. David Anderson announced he'll add an "active community" page to timexsinclair.com with member bios and photos (period and current) and will reach out individually. Next meeting May 1; no guest, bring topics.
Highlights
- Guest Chuck Durang — author of the original American ZX81/TS1000/TS1500/TS2068 manuals — recounted how he got the job from Nigel Searle and delivered finished, typeset manuals to Sinclair and Timex.
- Tim Swenson previewed a Scribus-laid-out cross-platform emulator setup guide covering Zesarux, FUSE, EightyOne and Warajevo (via DOSBox), bundled with a ported ZMakeBase.
- Adam Trionfo tracked down Dan Tanberg in Albuquerque and rescued five of his early-'80s ZX81/TS1000 cassettes (Time Blasters, Metagraphics, Mazeball).
- Larry Lorenson walked through his Audacity + DAT-tape-reader workflow that turned Adam's WAV captures of Tanberg's tapes into working TZX files.
- Discussion clarified why TZX (records pulse timing, handles custom loaders) is needed where TAP (ROM-loaded bytes only) isn't enough — and traced the unbuilt "super Spectrum" / ZX83 path that became the QL.
Projects discussed: Library Tape Archiving Process Topics: Books & manuals · Spectrum emulation & software · Tape & library archiving (TAP/TZX) · Tape, cassette & loading · TS1000 / ZX81 / TS1500 · ZX Spectrum
Summary generated from the meeting recording; the full transcript is kept in the group's private archive.