Pico / modern interfaces (UnoDos, etc.)
Modern interfaces and storage — UnoDos, Pico/RP2040 devices, divMMC/ZXMMC, SD-card solutions, USB adapters.
142 threads · 1060 messages · 2002-08-04 → 2026-06-13
In the Yahoo era (2001–2019) the group's discussion of modern interfaces was mostly aspirational. Members repeatedly asked for SD-card storage, an Atari/Kempston joystick port, IDE/CF mass storage, and FPGA-based clones — but Timex-specific hardware was thin, with Larken's FDD essentially the only known disk system and most ZX Spectrum add-ons (divIDE, etc.) needing adaptation. Bruno's 2008 'Who knows how to build their own hardware' thread crystallized the wishlist, and side discussion clarified that the 2068's joystick is routed through the AY-3-8912 on port 31, not Kempston port 31 — so off-the-shelf Spectrum joystick hardware doesn't drop in without rewiring.
The groups.io era (2020→) is where almost all those wishes shipped. Jeff Burrell's FPGA work — the 2021 Video Upgrade Board that mirrors VRAM writes for VGA output, then the 2022 FPGA that boots a Spectrum ROM plus either UnoDos or esxDos in the right place — showed that a single FPGA cartridge could carry a modern DOS plus video, and the thread drew suggestions about Pi-Zero RGB2HDMI, ULAplus, and François Lanciault's plea to reuse Interface 1 / microdrive syntax for any new device. The defining project of the era is Ricardo Calcagno's TS-Pico, built around a Raspberry Pi Pico that snoops /ROSCS, /EX-ROM and home-ROM accesses to swap in a Pico-aware Spectrum ROM, virtual DCK cartridges, and SD-card LOAD/SAVE via the 'tpi:' prefix in BASIC strings. Around it grew a dev team (Ricardo, Gustavo Pane, Jeff Burrell, David Anderson, François Lanciault and others), an expansion board, Jon's resin-printed enclosure that pays homage to the 2068's industrial design, the PicoVideo companion board, ROM revisions that fixed an early high-resolution bug, and BASIC-side niceties: LOAD 'tpi:dir' for the directory, /TAP folder convention, and a beta firmware that can bitstream arbitrary blocks — the basis for Jon's TSAnim four-frame video player that runs on real 2068 hardware via the PicoVideo board.
The Spectrum-ecosystem bridge also matured. The Twister Board + Spectrum-ROM cartridge plus a divMMC 'just worked' once Adam had the right adapter (he plugged in his Edladdin All-Play stick and tested it the same afternoon), and a Greg/Andrew Owen sidebar in the Video Upgrade thread documented that the Uno's native core implements Spectrum SE — with DerbyPro / esxDOS / Chloe firmware and a 2068 machine config — closing a loop the Yahoo-era SE discussion had opened years earlier. The painful counterpoint surfaced in Adam's divMMC arc: erratic boot after multiple restarts, which Neil C. tracked back to a 1989 UPDATE article warning that the TS2068's 5V 1A regulator was speced for the original peripherals (2040 printer, dock carts) and that ~150,000 'former TS2068 users left the family' to regulator failures — exactly the kind of impedance-and-power mismatch the modern peripherals stress-test.
The other modern-interface arc is reusing legacy peripherals. The TS2050 modem thread (2024–2026) walks through converting Westridge 2050 modems into 8251-based serial ports — clipping the analog/pulse-dial UART and wiring a small RS232/TTL adapter (RX/TX/VCC/GND) to pins 3 and 19 of the 8251 — turning a dead-format modem into a usable serial interface that pairs with the modern Pico/divMMC stack and the BBS/VoIP experiments people are now doing. New-user threads ('Found a Timex Sinclair 2068', tsPico SD-card-saves, the long Hi-Z breakpoint debugging) show the support pattern: David and Ricardo walk newcomers through Spectrum-ROM mode, the SD-card /TAP folder, the TS-Pico LED blink rhythm as a diagnostic, and the small-but-real BASIC-side syntax differences from microdrive. The throughline across both eras is the same: the community kept asking for SD storage, a sane joystick port, a clean RGB/HDMI path and Spectrum compatibility, and in the 2020s a small group (Calcagno, Burrell, Pane, Anderson, Lanciault, Miles, Jon) actually delivered them in cartridge form.
Key threads
- Who knows how to build their own hardware... (archive.org) — 2008 Yahoo-era community wishlist — SD cards, Atari/Kempston joystick port, IDE/CF, FPGA clones. Frames everything that the groups.io era eventually shipped, and surfaces the 2068's AY/port-31 joystick quirk.
- UnoDos and the TS2068 (#874 on groups.io) — Jeff Burrell's FPGA-on-2068 that boots a Spectrum ROM plus UnoDos or esxDos in the correct place — proof of concept that a modern DOS could ride into the 2068 on an FPGA cartridge. Also seeds the SD-card-system-for-1000/1500 request that Carl Miles's 1510 clone later answers.
- Question about TS-Pico (#4981 on groups.io) — Ricardo Calcagno's full /MREQ/ROSCS/EX-ROM bank-mapping walkthrough — the definitive explanation of how the TS-Pico actually works, and the foundation for the OS-64-from-SD feature David explicitly requested.
- Video Upgrade Board for TS2068 (#306 on groups.io) — Jeff Burrell's FPGA-snoops-VRAM-writes-and-outputs-VGA project. Where Andrew Owen documents that the Uno's native core implements Spectrum SE — DerbyPro / esxDOS / Chloe firmware and a 2068 machine config — closing the Yahoo-era SE loop.
- I Got My Spectrum divMMC Today! (#639 on groups.io) — Adam plugs a divMMC into a Twister Board with Spectrum ROM and S-video out, and it 'just works' — the first time a mainstream Spectrum SD-card interface ran natively on a 2068, plus Neil C.'s 1989 UPDATE article warning about the 5V 1A regulator that explains the boot flakiness.
- TS Pico Enclosure (#5213 on groups.io) — Jon's resin-printed enclosure that mirrors the 2068's industrial design — David offers to bulk-order a batch. The TS-Pico ceases to be a bare PCB project.
- TSAnim: Full motion video on the T/S 2068 (all 4 frames of it) (#7483 on groups.io) — Jon's double-buffered video player running on real hardware via the TS-Pico + PicoVideo, and Ricardo's response that the latest TS-Pico beta firmware can bitstream arbitrary blocks — the strongest evidence that the modern-interface stack now does things native 2068 hardware couldn't.
- Timex 2050 Modem and Serial Port Conversion (#5417 on groups.io) — Two-year arc converting Westridge 2050 modems into 8251-based serial ports — clipping the analog/pulse-dial UART, wiring a 4-pin RS232/TTL adapter to pins 3 and 19. Reuses a dead-format peripheral as a clean modern serial port that pairs with the Pico/divMMC stack.
- tsPico sd card saves (#6401 on groups.io) — RichJ's frustration debugging TS-Pico SD-card syntax — Ricardo corrects LOAD vs SAVE 'tpi:dir', walks the LED-blink-rhythm diagnostic. The clearest record of the support pattern the TS-Pico community runs day-to-day.
- Found a Timex Sinclair 2068 (#7073 on groups.io) — Thomas Hynes inherits a 2068 and is immediately pulled into the TS-Pico DevTeam orbit — Ricardo announces the team is ~12 people of developers/programmers/beta-testers. Best snapshot of how new owners get onboarded to the modern stack.
All threads (142)
↳ marks a thread where this topic begins mid-conversation — the link jumps to the message where it starts.
| Thread | Msgs | Activity | Started by |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⭐ UnoDos and the TS2068 | 79 💬 | 2022-08-25 | JEFFREY L BURRELL |
| ⭐ Timex 2050 Modem and Serial Port Conversion 📎 | 53 💬 | 2026-02-10 | Adam Trionfo |
| ⭐ Video Upgrade Board for TS2068 📎 | 36 💬 | 2022-05-23 | JEFFREY L BURRELL |
| ⭐ Tape Programs on the TS Pico 📎 | 34 💬 | 2025-12-25 | Paul Anderson |
| ⭐ Question about TS-Pico 📎 | 25 💬 | 2023-11-28 | Ricardo Calcagno |
| ⭐ I Got My Spectrum divMMC Today! 📎 | 25 💬 | 2022-01-30 | Adam Trionfo |
| ⭐ TSAnim: Full motion video on the T/S 2068 (all 4 frames of it) 📎 | 20 💬 | 2025-01-08 | Jon |
| ⭐ tsPico sd card saves 📎 | 19 💬 | 2024-04-11 | Ricardo Calcagno |
| ⭐ ZX Spectrum 128K vs TS2068 | 18 💬 | 2007-01-24 | M. Emrah Oral |
| ⭐ TS Pico interface | 16 💬 | 2022-11-25 | Ricardo Calcagno |
| ⭐ Shorter TS Pico Commands | 16 💬 | 2024-03-12 | Kevin |
| ⭐ Timex Disk Systems Overview? ↳ #3694 📎 | 16 💬 | 2023-06-08 | Willie Jones |
| ⭐ Pico up and running, sort of 📎 | 13 💬 | 2023-12-04 | David Ellis |
| ⭐ Issue with a TS 2068 📎 | 12 💬 | 2026-06-03 | David Laffineuse |
| ⭐ Raspberry Pi 4 Sinclair ZX81 Emulator | 12 💬 | 2026-03-31 | John Mobley |
| ⭐ TS-Pico Expansion Board 📎 | 12 💬 | 2023-11-22 | Carl Miles |
| ⭐ SE Basic on Timex 2068 | 11 💬 | 2026-05-15 | Michael Hart |
| ⭐ NVRAM PCB made by Tom Woods | 11 💬 | 2024-08-11 | RichJ |
| ⭐ Wide video modes 📎 | 10 💬 | 2025-08-28 | David Anderson |
| ⭐ Quick Reference for TS Pico 📎 | 10 💬 | 2023-12-11 | Floppy Days Podcast - Ra |
| ⭐ Elite without Lens Lock Tech? 📎 | 10 💬 | 2022-02-22 | Adam Trionfo |
| ⭐ 512kB cartridge | 10 💬 | 2006-12-13 | Jarek Adamski |
| ⭐ CDs as a storage device -- my successes and failures thus far | 9 💬 | 2004-10-24 | Bruno Florindo |
| ⭐ How to break out of VU-File to redirect to SDcard? 📎 | 9 💬 | 2023-12-06 | Ryan Gray |
| ⭐ Starting to design a TS1560 "Bus Expansion Unit" for the ZX81/TS1000/TS1500 - Br | 9 💬 | 2025-02-10 | David Anderson |
| ⭐ ROM replacement services | 9 💬 | 2007-05-09 | Jarek Adamski |
| ⭐ FuJinet | 9 💬 | 2024-10-15 | Floppy Days Podcast - Ra |
| ⭐ A Bluetooth Multicart... for the Astrocade? | 8 💬 | 2025-10-26 | Adam Trionfo |
| ⭐ New: How to use ZX Spectrum mode on your TS-Pico | 8 💬 | 2024-01-05 | David Anderson |
| ⭐ TCC cartridge and DivIDE 57c 📎 | 7 💬 | 2024-08-14 | RichJ |
| ⭐ TS2068 FujiNet | 7 💬 | 2022-04-30 | thatoldnerd |
| ⭐ TS Pico Script | 7 💬 | 2025-01-24 | Jay Carlson |
| ⭐ menu program for TSPico 📎 | 6 💬 | 2024-08-26 | Floppy Days Podcast - Ra |
| ⭐ T/S 2068 version of a ZXSpand | 6 💬 | 2012-06-20 | John |
| ⭐ New FPGA Board | 6 💬 | 2022-11-19 | JEFFREY L BURRELL |
| ⭐ TS-Pico | 6 💬 | 2024-01-05 | Ricardo Calcagno |
| ⭐ Coming soon-ish: OpenSpand (ZXpand) for the ZX81/TS1000 | 5 💬 | 2026-05-27 | David Anderson |
| ⭐ 2068 and pico info 📎 | 5 💬 | 2024-01-15 | RichJ |
| ⭐ tzxduino | 4 💬 | 2023-04-15 | larry lorenson |
| ⭐ Problems loading .tap on TSPico | 4 💬 | 2026-01-31 | ricardo |
| ⭐ TS-Pico Memory | 4 💬 | 2024-02-28 | Jeremiah Stoddard |
| ⭐ TS Pico External Commands 📎 | 4 💬 | 2023-12-26 | Ricardo Calcagno |
| ⭐ My first computer experience: Hangman (green screen terminal recreation with TS 📎 | 3 💬 | 2026-02-24 | Jon |
| ⭐ tsPico SD card follow up. | 3 💬 | 2024-04-14 | RichJ |
| ⭐ ZX-Wespi Nano Project - Replaces the RF Modulator and brings VGA Video and Netwo 📎 | 3 💬 | 2025-10-24 | Carl Miles |
| ⭐ SD Cart for the Timex 1000 | 3 💬 | 2022-06-16 | Adam Trionfo |
| ⭐ Spectrum 1-chip IDE interface <--> 2068? | 2 💬 | 2005-09-12 | bryankvines |
| ⭐ DivMMC on TS2068 | 2 💬 | 2015-01-28 | retrocanada76 |
| ⭐ Testing TS2068 Cartridge with PicoROM-28 📎 | 2 💬 | 2026-04-04 | Jon |
| ⭐ TS-Pico helper 📎 | 2 💬 | 2024-04-29 | Ryan Gray |
| ⭐ TS Pico and diagnostics ROM/DCK 📎 | 2 💬 | 2023-12-26 | Ricardo Calcagno |
| ⭐ A new(er) TAP to Cart conversion tool | 1 💬 | 2026-06-13 | David Anderson |
| ⭐ Sucessful replacement of AY-3-8912 with AY-3-8912A | 1 💬 | 2023-04-26 | Ricardo Calcagno |
| ⭐ Proposal for AU (Golden) commands | 1 💬 | 2024-08-25 | Ricardo Calcagno |
| ⭐ One more TS1000 Hi Res Game 📎 | 1 💬 | 2026-05-15 | Don Crawford |
| ⭐ zx-wespi | 1 💬 | 2023-01-31 | larry lorenson |
| ⭐ Using the divMMC to LOAD/SAVE a BASIC Program | 1 💬 | 2022-01-18 | Adam Trionfo |
| ⭐ Micropython versions and TS-Pico | 1 💬 | 2024-11-29 | Ricardo Calcagno |
| TS Pico Enclosure 📎 | 24 💬 | 2023-12-23 | Jon |
| Found a Timex Sinclair 2068 ↳ #7094 📎 | 19 💬 | 2024-10-02 | Thomas Hynes |
| Silly question ↳ | 19 💬 | 2006-03-14 | M. Emrah Oral |
| Who knows how to build their own hardware... ↳ | 18 💬 | 2008-06-23 | M. Emrah Oral |
| To Christian Mann RE: TS2040 INK | 18 💬 | 2025-02-02 | Adam Trionfo |
| One big mistake timex made... ↳ | 16 💬 | 2008-01-08 | Adam Trionfo |
| USB | 10 💬 | 2004-08-04 | aralbrec |
| TS Pico documentation 📎 | 10 💬 | 2023-11-20 | David Anderson |
| TS 2068 --> CGA monitor. No BRIGHT ? ↳ | 10 💬 | 2008-04-18 | M. Emrah Oral |
| Events and Organzations 📎 | 9 💬 | 2024-02-26 | John Mobley |
| R Tape loading error when loading after saving a basic program 📎 | 9 💬 | 2025-07-23 | Juan Noc |
| Reminder: Timex/Sinclair Online User Group Meeting Monday May 6 | 8 💬 | 2024-05-29 | David Anderson |
| BackBit T/S 2068 Adapter; was: BackBit 📎 | 8 💬 | 2022-10-20 | Adam Trionfo |
| Wireless ZX Spectrum :) | 8 💬 | 2008-01-09 | Adam Trionfo |
| TS PICO Mount, Save, Load 📎 | 8 💬 | 2025-01-22 | *** |
| ts2068 - divMMC Future - Twister Board - 2040 Printer | 8 💬 | 2021-08-29 | Willie Jones |
| TS 2068 Inventory ↳ | 8 💬 | 2006-05-06 | Louis Florit |
| ZX81 Joystick Plans? | 7 💬 | 2023-03-25 | Adam Trionfo |
| tzxduino tape player emulator 📎 | 7 💬 | 2026-04-05 | Scott Baker |
| Testing my new TSPico and VGA video cards | 7 💬 | 2024-06-26 | JEFFREY L BURRELL |
| spectrum EPROM | 7 💬 | 2024-05-08 | David Anderson |
| To: Daniel Santos. | 7 💬 | 2025-08-03 | RichJ |
| Greetings from a Brit ↳ #8293 📎 | 7 💬 | 2025-07-06 | paul |
| CD ROMS As T/S 2068 Program Mass Storage Device | 7 💬 | 2002-08-04 | William McBrine |
| new T/S 2068 owner | 7 💬 | 2023-06-30 | Floppy Days Podcast - Ra |
| Pico SD card | 6 💬 | 2024-04-05 | David Anderson |
| Using the TS2068 as a terminal to telehack... (through ts-pico?) 📎 | 6 💬 | 2026-01-26 | David Anderson |
| ts2068 Pico saving basic programs from cassette to micro SD card | 6 💬 | 2024-03-26 | Ricardo Calcagno |
| DivIDE interface | 6 💬 | 2008-01-09 | Timex |
| TS1000 Composite mod ↳ #286 📎 | 6 💬 | 2021-08-04 | Jonathan Toy |
| Flashing the ESP for ZX Wespi | 5 💬 | 2023-02-09 | larry lorenson |
| tsPico vs. ts2068, and my thoughts | 5 💬 | 2024-04-11 | Ricardo Calcagno |
| TS-Pico and 2040 printer? | 5 💬 | 2024-03-15 | David Anderson |
| Two-Person Timex User Group Meeting | 5 💬 | 2025-10-30 | Adam Trionfo |
| ZX divIDE+ interface with 2068 / ebay, bitrom ,RWAP, delays etc.. | 5 💬 | 2008-07-06 | M. Emrah Oral |
| Hard Drive Interface | 5 💬 | 2008-01-08 | Adam Trionfo |
| .WAV files | 4 💬 | 2024-04-11 | RichJ |
| SAVE and LOAD cheat sheets 📎 | 4 💬 | 2024-04-06 | RichJ |
| My progress using the Pico | 4 💬 | 2024-04-03 | RichJ |
| ZXpand | 4 💬 | 2011-04-04 | John |
| ZX Microdrive replicas | 4 💬 | 2025-09-21 | David Anderson |
| TS-Pico DIY Build Notes | 4 💬 | 2023-12-22 | Ricardo Calcagno |
| HDMI out with TS Pico 📎 | 4 💬 | 2023-12-10 | Floppy Days Podcast - Ra |
| ZX divIDE+ interface / Polish postal service, ZX-Matrix, Sinclair USB | 4 💬 | 2008-07-15 | M. Emrah Oral |
| Pico Video Question, Issue Any thoughts? 📎 | 4 💬 | 2025-03-31 | Thomas Hynes |
| YAMOD.ATBUS - fast IDE multiplexer | 3 💬 | 2004-07-06 | Jarek Adamski |
| CD-ROM for TS computers | 3 💬 | 2004-01-21 | stevenreardon |
| Did something stupid with TS2068 Extender and Twister/ROM/HDMI card | 3 💬 | 2024-02-09 | Dennis.g.brown |
| Post TS Pico Overviews and Reviews Here 📎 | 3 💬 | 2023-12-31 | Adam Trionfo |
| A reference and a question | 3 💬 | 2025-01-09 | Ricardo Calcagno |
| A Few Questions | 3 💬 | 2024-10-09 | Thomas Hynes |
| My TS/Pico Arrives and Adam Smiles | 2 💬 | 2024-07-30 | Adam Trionfo |
| "AI," the T/S 2068 and the TSPico | 2 💬 | 2026-03-04 | Adam Trionfo |
| How are things coming with the ability to store data files on the TSPico? | 2 💬 | 2026-02-28 | David Ellis |
| Building a Raspberry Pi Pico Powered ZX Spectrum - YouTube Video | 2 💬 | 2024-02-02 | Carl Miles |
| TJ Ferreira video about the TS-Pico | 2 💬 | 2024-01-19 | David Anderson |
| Pico loading error | 2 💬 | 2025-07-21 | RichJ |
| Digital storage options for the TS-2068 | 2 💬 | 2022-06-05 | qwertyfan2000 |
| Ts pico first impression | 2 💬 | 2023-12-05 | qwertyfan2000 |
| Paul DeMelto, TS1000 donations. 📎 | 2 💬 | 2023-11-03 | *** |
| TS_Pico firmware | 2 💬 | 2025-05-03 | Kurt Hildebrant |
| YouTube recording of Monday, March 7 meeting | 2 💬 | 2022-03-11 | David Anderson |
| ESPectrum 📎 | 1 💬 | 2024-08-20 | David Anderson |
| TSPico beta testing and ZX81+38 clone 📎 | 1 💬 | 2024-06-12 | RichJ |
| Call for TS-Pico Beta testers | 1 💬 | 2024-06-12 | David Anderson |
| TS 2068 Personal Color Computer Video Interface | 1 💬 | 2024-04-16 | Jay Carlson |
| All my games--please see explanation email from other day 📎 | 1 💬 | 2024-04-06 | RichJ |
| CD as a mass storage device -- Success and failure so far. | 1 💬 | 2004-09-17 | hatulzabad |
| Raspberry Pi Pico RGB to VGA converter | 1 💬 | 2025-10-20 | David Anderson |
| BackBit MicroSD Cart on my Atari 8-Bit Computer 📎 | 1 💬 | 2022-09-01 | Adam Trionfo |
| I got my BackBit Cart | 1 💬 | 2022-08-20 | Adam Trionfo |
| Addendum-to Danial Santos re; 2068 to monitor | 1 💬 | 2025-08-02 | RichJ |
| Sunday's Meeting April 13, 2025 - Revisit the TS 2060 | 1 💬 | 2025-04-15 | Thomas Hynes |
| USB Keyboard Interface for ZX Spectrum in development! | 1 💬 | 2023-06-28 | Carl Miles |
| tsPico cheat corrections | 1 💬 | 2025-01-04 | RichJ |
| TS1510 new system and info on the ZX81NU build PCB I sent to you. 📎 | 1 💬 | 2025-01-03 | RichJ |
| JLO disk system review addendum | 1 💬 | 2024-10-24 | RichJ |
| To David Anderson and Carl Miles. | 4 💬 | 2024-09-06 | RichJ |
| Ordered tsPico video card | 3 💬 | 2025-09-16 | RichJ |
| Late update: Special guests at Zoom meeting today 📎 | 3 💬 | 2023-11-20 | David Anderson |
| spectrum ROM | 1 💬 | 2024-06-14 | RichJ |
| TS-Pico Enclosure | 1 💬 | 2023-12-12 | Richard Burt |
| Mutual Timex Hobby; was: Re: [TS-Pico] Problem .dck files | 1 💬 | 2024-11-11 | Adam Trionfo |
| The PICO unit(s) Have arrived | 1 💬 | 2024-10-09 | Thomas Hynes |