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TSU Meeting MONDAY — February 5, 2024

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David Anderson, Jeff Burrell, Ryan Gray, Carl Miles, Adam Trionfo, Tim Swenson, Gustavo, Greg, Ada, Paul, Stuart, John

The bulk of the meeting was a long open discussion, led by Jeff Burrell, about what a next-generation TS2068 (the "2068E") should be — software emulation on a Raspberry Pi / RetroPie vs. a hardware FPGA implementation, with side trips into PiStorm-style hybrids, running a 2068 core on a Spectrum Next, and a fallback idea of just replacing the 2068's SCLD with an FPGA so the existing case and keyboard stay in use. Ryan repeatedly pushed the group to define a top-level feature spec before picking an implementation, and Ada raised the marketing question of who would actually buy it. Jeff's conclusion: write a requirements spec; the chicken-and-egg problem is that any advanced capability (higher-res graphics, ULAplus, more RAM, HDMI, Wi-Fi, modern peripherals) only matters if the community also writes the software for it. The group has roughly $2,000 set aside for the effort.

Tim Swenson shared three photos from his 1993 Dayton ComputerFest backyard barbecue and the group worked through identifying people in them — Don Walterman, Bob Swoger, Keith Watson, Frank Davis, John Impellizieri, Don Lambert, Doug Gillespie, and others — along with context on the Dayton meet-ups (1991–96), QBox USA (a QL-based BBS run by Walterman and Impellizieri out of Detroit), Mechanical Affinity (Paul and Frank Davis), and the late-era newsletters (Update, Sinc Link, CATS) that were still active into the mid-90s.

Adam Trionfo reported on a Saturday work session with Carl Miles and Ryan Gray at his house: they tested seven 2050 modems (five worked, two returned garbage), got a TS2068 online to the Basement BBS (an Atari 8-bit board) using the Zebra Mterm 2 cartridge over a VoIP line, and brought up a donated Kaypro CP/M machine after Carl recapped its Astec power supply, CRT board, and motherboard. A composite-out modification gave signal but wouldn't lock; a different design has been ordered. Carl also showed his repainted silver TS1500-style prototype recreation (the Timex Middlebury "silver 1500" idea preserved in the Portugal museum, with sanded-down ZX Micro Drive shells used as dummy drives) and a refurbished, repainted TS2050 modem that he is converting to add an RS-232 (DB-25) port via an INS 8251 UART, with a momentary toggle to switch modes and the front LED indicating which mode is active.

QL discussion covered the American QL (about 8,000 of the 9,000 Samsung-built units reached the US; rights reverted from Timex to Sinclair, then to Amstrad and A-Plus Computer Response), preferred ROMs (JSU, Minerva, the rare MGU-S that Stuart may still have a chip of), Microdrive cartridges and felts, and the differences between Spectrum and QL Microdrive baseboards. Stuart confirmed he has 50–80 ZX81 keyboard membranes but few of the US TS1000 (delete/enter) variant. He also has a stash of NOS NTSC channel 2/3 ZX81 kits with Spanish manuals (destined for South America) — image is dark on modern TVs, attributed to the 184-series ULA's missing back porch. David presented Renée Gagnon's French-Canadian "Sinclair Information" newsletters (18 issues, now archived on archive.org), which include the source for Gagnon's machine-language toolkit for the 2068's hard-to-reach 512×192 attribute graphics mode (also published in English in SUM out of Gainesville); the plan is to bake those routines into a free slot of the TS-Pico firmware as a BIOS-style call. Closing announcements: VCF SoCal in two weeks, next meeting Sun Feb 18, and David is working on getting John Coffey (Compass compiler / Diamond Mike) and Wes Brzezowski (interface-zero, BEU/2053 articles) back as guests.

Highlights

  • Jeff Burrell led a long debate on a next-gen 2068 ("2068E") — FPGA hardware vs. software emulation — ending with a call for a written feature spec before picking an approach.
  • Carl, Ryan and Adam tested seven 2050 modems Saturday; five worked and they got a 2068 online to the Basement BBS via the Zebra Mterm 2 cartridge over a VoIP line.
  • A donated Kaypro CP/M machine was recapped and revived; a composite-out mod gave signal but wouldn't sync, so a replacement design has been ordered.
  • Carl unveiled his silver TS1500-prototype recreation (the Timex Middlebury "silver 1500" preserved in the Portugal museum) plus a repainted 2050 modem that he's adding an INS 8251–based RS-232 port to.
  • David has archived Renée Gagnon's French-Canadian "Sinclair Information" newsletters on archive.org, and the group plans to fold Gagnon's 512×192 machine-language toolkit into TS-Pico firmware as a BIOS call.

Projects discussed: FPGA "Advanced 2068" · "1068" — Enhanced TS1000 · TS-Pico Topics: TS2068 / TC2068 · Hardware projects & new boards · Modems, serial & RS-232 · CP/M · Newsletters & documentation · Prototypes & rarities

Summary generated from the meeting recording; the full transcript is kept in the group's private archive.