Prototypes & rarities
Prototypes, unreleased hardware, and rare one-off Timex/Sinclair machines.
30 threads · 321 messages · 2015-07-04 → 2025-11-29
The prototypes-and-rarities thread on the list centers on a small cluster of never-released or barely-released Timex/Sinclair hardware: the TS2000 (the NTSC ZX Spectrum that was modified to pass FCC RF emissions and then reshaped into the 2068), the TS2065 Microdrive, the TS2060 BEU (Bus Expansion Unit) with its planned TS2070 Microdrive tape cartridges, the rumored TS3068 (reportedly Amiga-1000-class hardware that Billy Skyrme described in 1988), and the Portuguese Timex Computer 3256 (TC3256) prototype from circa 1987 (#5103, #4317). The Yahoo era (2012-2018) pieced this together from sparse sources — Al Hartman's NTSC Spectrum from the Zebra liquidation, Lou Galie's recollections (#1003365), Luis D'Ardis and Don Dindang trading OneDrive photos of the clear-cased TC2068/TC2048 lab units (#1003982) — with the canonical narrative that Timex delayed the near-clone Spectrum in pursuit of the more ambitious 2068, missed the 1982 Christmas window, and then lost the market (Chris Nystrom, #1004022).
The groups.io era turned that secondhand history into primary-source archaeology. Lon Hildreth's preserved Timex-shutdown box arriving at David Anderson's house in October 2023 (#4465) was the inflection point: first confirmed sighting of the TS2060 BEU details and the TS2070 name for the planned Microdrive tape cartridges. David's mass document upload that followed (#4481) — Bank Switching Controller Chip spec, Application Development Library, draft Microdrive/LAN/RS-232 specs, the TS2060 spec — pulled in Hugo Pinto from the LOAD ZX Museum's TENET project, which is cataloguing the Timex Portugal lab artifacts and the Service-Manual-referenced Test Interfaces. The same thread surfaced OS-64 / Carol Corcoran's 64-column program (originally published as "Basic 64" in Portugal) and prompted Ryan Gray to reverse-engineer the OS-64 memory map (#5048). David's earlier parts-drawer haul from a Timex relative (#223) yielded engineering-sample SCLDs for the TS1500 and TS2068 plus pre-production 2068 ROMs that he couldn't initially get a minipro programmer to read; Richard Atkinson suggested running Spectrum emulator-test ROMs through the unknown SCLDs to fingerprint their behavior. Gary Grimes's 1983 Timex industrial-design patents (#224) revealed a never-built keypad that fit into the 2068 cartridge slot, alongside the cartridge-case patent.
A distinctive groups.io-era development is that members are now building the prototypes that only ever existed as photos. Carl Miles's CZ2000-to-TS2000 prototype conversion (#6840) documents the Argentine CZ2000's internals — a ZX Spectrum Issue 6A PCB with the late 6C001E-7 PAL ULA, an SCLD replacing the upper-32K addressing glue, a 3.582056 MHz PAL-Nc subcarrier crystal, and the same VHF RF modulator used in the USA ZX81/TS1000/TS1500 — and uses Spectrum metal overlays (with the rainbow painted out) and replacement membranes to fabricate a credible TS2000 lookalike. Carl also painted up a TS2065 Microdrive mockup (#5779) modeled on the few known photos, debating label placement, and plans to demo it (plus a silver TS1000-prototype-of-the-TS1500 and a TS2000 prototype) at VCF Midwest 2025 (#8135, #8151). David Anderson's shop has even put surplus TS2000 prototype motherboards into hobbyists' hands (#4387). The "Astec mystery cart" thread (#4654) is a still-unresolved empty cartridge shell bearing the Astec logo that Luis D'Ardis recalls seeing on an Argentine technician's desk in the 1980s.
The TS3068 thread (#6200) is the definitive list pointer to Billy Skyrme's 1988 LIST-user-group presentation, covered by both Time Designs and the LIST newsletter, where Skyrme (Timex head of R&D, then at Psion) described a 3068 he claimed was Amiga-1000-class, also touching on the BEU and 2068. The "what if" thread (#7864) and the "1983 and naming" thread (#4791) are the wistful counterpart: Jeff Burrell's three-point post-mortem (no software library, no Spectrum compatibility, no fast storage), and the timeline reconstruction showing the naming progression TS2000 -> TS2048/TS2072 -> TS2068 (per Danny Ross and press-release artwork). A drift case is the ZX Spectrum prototype ROM thread (#8259), where Ryan Gray digests the British Centre for Computing History article on John Grant / Nine Tiles' unfinished Spectrum ROM — relevant here as the upstream prototype lineage the TS2000/TS2068 branched from. Another drift case is the Timex Connection video thread (#3880), where the conversation pivots from the 1500 development story into Clark Calkins's ZCP/M (a CP/M variant for a planned Exatron Stringy Floppy interface to the Timex). Recurring people: David Anderson (artifact custodian, document scanner), Carl Miles (physical-prototype recreations), Adam Trionfo and Ryan Gray (history/reverse-engineering), Joao Diogo Ramos / Gustavo Pane / Hugo Pinto (Portuguese-side archive), Lon Hildreth and Billy Skyrme (ex-Timex sources), Luis D'Ardis and Don Dindang (Argentine and TS2000-clear-case photos).
Key threads
- Timex Computer 3256 Prototype (#4317 on groups.io) — 47-message Adam Trionfo deep dive on the Portuguese TC3256 (c. 1987) — gathers Johnny Red's photos, Portuguese newspaper reviews, and places the TC3256 alongside the Apple IIGS as a 'what could the next Timex have looked like' case study.
- You must see this (#4465 on groups.io) — October 2023 — Lon Hildreth (Timex programmer) loans David Anderson the box of documents he saved at Timex shutdown. First public sighting of the TS2060 BEU details and the TS2070 Microdrive Tape Cartridge naming. Inflection point for the modern era.
- New Timex documents uploaded (drift: 64 Column Mode / OS-64) (#4481 on groups.io) — David Anderson scans and uploads the Hildreth/TCC documents (TS2060 spec, bank-switching chip spec, Microdrive/LAN drafts, OS-64). Draws in Hugo Pinto from the LOAD ZX Museum's TENET project, linking US and Portuguese archives.
- CZ2000 to TS2000 Prototype Conversion Project (#6840 on groups.io) — Carl Miles documents converting an Argentine CZ2000 (Issue 6A PCB, last-gen 6C001E-7 PAL ULA, PAL-Nc crystal) into a physical TS2000 prototype replica with repainted Spectrum overlay and new membrane. Typifies the era's shift from cataloging prototypes to building them.
- Anyone seen my Timex Sinclair 2065 Microdrive? (#5779 on groups.io) — Carl Miles's painted TS2065 Microdrive mockup based on the few surviving photos, plus discussion of whether real Microdrive tapes would even work given the Spectrum's clock-speed differences — the closest physical TS2065 the community has.
- PROTOTYPE TIMEX SINCLAIR 2000 (archive.org) — Yahoo-era 2018 thread where Don Dindang shares photos of the clear-cased TC2068/TC2048 lab units (the only known clear 2068 cases per the original owner), and Chris Nystrom lays out the canonical 'delayed past 1982 Christmas' explanation for Timex's failure.
- My continuing conversation with Mr. Lou Galie (part 2) (archive.org) — Yahoo-era 2012-2015 thread tracking the NTSC Spectrum prototypes — Al Hartman's unit from the Zebra liquidation, the Chile-exported NTSC Spectrums documented in Chris Smith's ULA book, and the FCC-test units. The Yahoo-era foundation other prototype discussions built on.
- Billy Skyrme (from Timex) on the TS2068 and TS3068 (#6200 on groups.io) — Pulls together the 1988 LIST and Time Designs articles on Billy Skyrme's talk: the TS3068 (claimed Amiga-1000-class), BEU plans, and a Timex insider view of why the 2068 went the way it did. The most direct surviving testimony from a Timex R&D principal.
- Timex goodies (#223 on groups.io) — David Anderson's 2021 haul of a Timex hobbyist's parts drawers — engineering-sample TS1500/TS2068 SCLDs and pre-production 2068 ROMs. The first significant cache of pre-production Timex silicon to surface in the community.
- Timex design patents (#224 on groups.io) — Gary Grimes's 1983 Timex industrial-design patents — including a never-built keypad that fit into the 2068 cartridge slot — recovered by David Anderson while researching TCC incorporation dates.
- 1983 and naming (#4791 on groups.io) — Establishes the documented naming sequence — TS2000 in the early books, then TS2048 (press-release artwork) / TS2072 (per Danny Ross), finally TS2068 at the last minute. Resolves a long-standing puzzle about why period documentation references the wrong model number.
- A mystery from the Bill Miller collection (#4654 on groups.io) — Still-unsolved empty Astec-branded cartridge shell from the Bill Miller collection that Luis D'Ardis recalls seeing on an Argentine technician's desk in the 1980s — a rarity nobody has yet identified.
All threads (30)
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