| Description | |
| Manufacturer | Sinclair Research Limited |
| Model | Timex/Sinclair 1000 |
| Date Announced | July 1982 |
| Date Canceled | Unknown |
| Number Produced | Hundreds of thousands to millions |
| Country of Origin | United Kingdom |
| Price | $99.95 base |
| Current Value | $10 +/- |
| Specifications | |
| Processor | Zilog Z80 |
| Speed | 3.25 MHz |
| RAM | 2K (base) |
| ROM | 8K |
| Storage | Cassette Tape |
| Expansion | Expansion bus usually for RAM expansion |
| Bus | Proprietary |
| Video | 32x22 text, 64x44 graphics - B/W |
| I/O | Expansion Bus |
| OS Options | Cassette BASIC |
| Notes | The TS-1000 was the American version of the Sinclair ZX-81 which followed the successful Sinclair ZX-80. The popularity of these machines was driven by their low price. In an era of $1,000 computers a machine that came in at $100 to start was noticed. |
| Related Items in Collection | Another TS-1000, books, etc. |
| Related Items Wanted | Printer, additional RAM and software. |
The TS-1000s in my collection are not yet tested.
Included in the collection are the machines, manuals, at least one RAM expansion (16K) and some software on cassette.
Thank you to Eric Lakin for the generous donation of a TS-1000 with docs, etc.
(Submitted June 5, 2010 16:46:09 by Buddha)
I remember buying one of these at the Navy Exchange in Yokosuka Japan when I was in the mavy there back when they first came out. I absolutely hated the keyboard, and wound up ordering a supposed fix for it, I don't remember from where. It turned out to be a cheesy plastic plate that you glued onto your existing keyboard that had small posts that pressed the existing keys for you. Silly me, I thought I was getting a replacement keyboard. Despite all this, I had fun with the system and learned Basic programming in the process.
(Submitted June 4, 2010 18:13:59 by Nubo)
A friend had one of these, with no permanent storage so we had to key in programs from scratch! The thing would overheat after about a half hour so we'd sit a bowl of ice on it to get enough runtime to key in the program and use it. Fun times!
(Submitted March 16, 2010 05:12:41 by Robert)
The reason I landed here is that I was looking for the TS1500 Schematic. Does anyone know where I can get a schematic of the TS1500 (Timex Sinclair 1500)? I've just repaired one, but one lead of coil L4 is broken loose and I don't know where to reattach it (I don't want to open my other TS-1500 just to look for the coil connection, but may have to if I can't find the schematic). The interesting thing about this machine is that several of the 4116's were bad, and the mask ROM was blank (contained all $FF's - I burned an eprom and replaced the mask ROM with that.) After replacing a couple of the 4116's and replacing the ROM the machine works great, but I don't want to leave the lead of L4 unconnected - a schematic would be great. The one from TS1000.us would be great, but it's not there anymore (http://www.ts1000.us/files/ts1500schematic.pdf) - I can't find it anywhere. Any help would be greatly appreciated. -Robert
(Submitted February 26, 2010 00:51:11 by Dowe Keller)
My first computer was a TS1000, when people now complain that it was slow, and had a rotten excuse for a keyboard, I just have to shake my head, not because they're wrong, but because it was also amazingly affordable.
I bought my TS1000 with my measly allowance money, there's no way I could have saved up to buy an Apple ][ or even a TRS-80 or PET, but I was able to buy my own computer and learn to program, I loved my TS1000, and it still owns a small black wedge shaped place in my heart.
(Submitted November 19, 2009 15:04:01 by (a href=mailto:httpkurtstephens.com)Kurt Stephens(/a))
If I remember this correctly, part of the reason this computer was so inexpensive and slow is because the video interface was implemented in *software*, it could only run your program during the horizontal and vertical retrace!
(Submitted October 25, 2009 07:53:56 by Bill McCormack)
Yes, it was slow, but affordable. I was a COBOL programmer when this came out and I used one to teach my kids basic programming at home. My oldest son used it to create a menu for a local restaurant, funny, he now owns a restaurant and a computer. You never know.
(Submitted May 15, 2009 08:11:58 by xinpheld)
This was my first computer. It drove me crazy with its slowness. But I used it anyway, because hey, it was a computer! In my own house!