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TSU Meeting SUNDAY — September 20, 2026

David Anderson, Joe Van de Sand, Stuart, John, Peyton, Antonio, Greg, Mike

This meeting was a recap of VCF Midwest, held the week before. The group had three tables, and David walked through a slideshow of what was on them: a working TS1500 and the TS1510-style cartridge setup running Xevious; a K2 Electronics Cradle with 64K RAM whose video comes from a ZX-Wespi; the TS-Pico on a custom-keyboard 2068; Gary Grimes's original 1983 TS2000 design worksheets next to a 2068 he signed; Jeff Fetta's 3D-printed ZX80 replica and his ZX81 with a CompactFlash interface; and Joe's restorations, including a Timex retail store demonstrator for the TS1000 (it runs from EPROM), a Zebra Systems light pen, the TS1050 carry case, a homebuilt plexiglass ZX81, and a Byte Back relay board driving a blinking "Timex Sinclair Team" sign alongside an SP0256 speech synthesizer. Carl's 1510 cartridge reproduction, with a larger EPROM and switches to pick between four images, was also on display.

The group showed a prototype of the "2060", an FPGA peripheral for the 2068. Jeff Burrell designed the board and Joe designed the 3D-printed enclosure. The board carries a Pico 2 (RP2350) for file storage, an RP2040 module, an SD card, Wi-Fi, an I2S DAC for an emulated AY sound chip, VGA and RGB outputs, a serial port, a real-time clock, PS/2 and USB keyboard connectors, a joystick port, extra RAM, NMI and reset buttons, and a small OLED status display. Stuart's OpenSpand (an open-source successor to the ZXpand that also does ULA-style video generation) got a closer look. Stuart is writing better documentation for it, including TS1000/TS1500 compatibility. On the TS1500 its joystick port physically blocks the power connector, so a bus extender is needed. Joe warned TS1500 owners not to power up their machines until the power-supply capacitors are checked: failed caps in the -5V/+12V section kill the 4116 RAM. The group talked about replacing that RAM with modern static RAM, which raised the question of repair versus restoration. Members also recommended American Retro (americanretro.shop) for replacement keyboard membranes and retro test equipment. Wyoming Retro's Memotech display and RAM-pack test programs were also discussed.

Antonio, joining from France, presented his CPLD replacement for the SCLD. It is based on Alvaro's (World ZX Museum) work. It now runs on the Portuguese TC2068 after he implemented the missing port F4/FF handling for bank switching. He has a TS2068 version on order: it changes the crystal for NTSC timing and adds a comparator for tape loading, signal buffers and an optional RGB output. A TS1500 version may follow. The group also talked about why SCLDs rarely fail and about Timex's sales in Portugal, Poland and Argentina.

Other updates: John's in-progress port of Berserk to the 2068 now plays in Joseph's TS-Run browser emulator, with touch D-pad controls and sound. Joseph has also added a QL emulator that uses Tim Swenson's hard-disk image. Greg reached proof of concept on driving MP3 music playback from a Timex Sinclair through a $3 serial MP3 module. Possible uses for the 2060's Wi-Fi included Interface 1-style networking over the internet, telnet BBS access and PC file serving. The group plans to return to VCF Midwest next year with better signage that explains the projects.

Highlights

  • VCF Midwest recap: three tables of TS gear, mods and restorations; the group plans to return next year with better project signage
  • Prototype "2060" FPGA peripheral for the 2068 shown: SD, Wi-Fi, VGA/RGB, emulated AY sound, extra RAM, OLED status display
  • Warning: check the power-supply caps on a TS1500 before powering it up, because failed caps kill the 4116 RAM
  • Antonio's CPLD replacement for the SCLD now runs on a TC2068; a TS2068 board is on order
  • John's Berserk port for the 2068 is playable in the TS-Run browser emulator; Greg is driving a $3 MP3 module from a Timex Sinclair

Projects discussed: FPGA "Advanced 2068" · Openspand · TS1510 Cartridge Interface Clone · TS-Pico · ZX-Wespi / Wespi-Nano Topics: User group meetings & events · Hardware projects & new boards · TS2068 / TC2068 · TS1000 / ZX81 / TS1500 · Repair & restoration · Pico / modern interfaces (UnoDos, etc.)

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