Hello from North Carolina

Introduce yourself to your fellow forum members - what was your journey into the Sinclair world?
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JungleJim
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Location: Asheville, North Carolina USA
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Hello from North Carolina

Post by JungleJim »

Bought my T/S ZX-81 in the SF Bay Area (California) when it was advertised as a kit for $99.99 in Scientific American. Was so excited about this little gem that I joined the EBZUG (East Bay ZX-81 User's Group), became a regular, and ended up writing a book with Gary Phillips (Timex/Sinclair User's Encyclopedia), which came on the market just when Timex announced they were discontinuing sales of the ZX-81 :-(

I still have all the gizmo's: memory add-on, upgraded keyboard, as well as several software-PROM add-ons. It's all in a box in the attic.

Also got the TS1000 (Spectrum).

Not sure what to do with all this, including lots of newsletters from EBZUG, some 30 tapes with software (once upon a time), and 20 copies of my book!

I'm 65 now, and have fond memories of those bygone days. I did two years of digital electrical engineering at Stanford University from 1976 to 1980, even though my bachelor's was in economics and my masters in statistics. Loved the simplicity of the Zilog chipset, the 8080 assembly language, and chip clock rates that peaked out at about 2 MHz! I never did learn what a "pull-up" resistor was, but got to design operating systems and CPU's from NAND chips. It was all very magical.

Now, I spend my efforts using computers to make the world a better place for those not given so many opportunities as I had. I recently gave a talk at the local high schools, pulling out an 8" floppy (that held a whopping 128kb), and asking if anyone had any idea what I was holding...

Nice to connect with folks who know what Sinclair Computer was...
Lardo Boffin
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Re: Hello from North Carolina

Post by Lardo Boffin »

Welcome on board! Not heard of the book (but then, there were quite a few!). Got any more info?
ZX80
ZX81 iss 1 (bugged ROM, kludge fix, normal, rebuilt)
TS 1000 iss 3, ZXPand AY and +, ZX8-CCB, ZX-KDLX & ChromaSCART
Tatung 81 + Wespi
TS 1500 & 2000
Spectrum 16k (iss 1 s/n 862)
Spectrum 48ks plus a DIVMMC future and SPECTRA
jdfan1000
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Re: Hello from North Carolina

Post by jdfan1000 »

Hi from beautiful Kenmore, NY!

I would love to talk to you about your experiences: I’m working on a website about the Timex/Sinclair computers (timexsinclair.com) and I am scanning/uploading everything TS related to archive.org (both links below).

Best,
David

PS I live a stone’s throw from one of the Gladstone Electronics addresses in Buffalo.
My archive.org collection, containing many Timex/Sinclair related publications.

TimexSinclair.com, my website about Sinclair computers in the US.
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blittled
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Location: Northwestern Pennsylvania, USA

Re: Hello from North Carolina

Post by blittled »

Hi from Meadville PA. If you are ever interested in selling one of those books let me know. The Timex Sinclair 1000 was my faithful companion in my last year of Penn State where I got my degree in Electrical Engineering. jdfan1000 I didn't know there was Gladstone Electronics in Buffalo. That would've been a day trip from where I grew up in Erie PA.
2X Timex Sinclair 1000, ZX81, ZX80Core, 5X 16K Ram Pack, ZXBlast, ZX P file to Ear Input Signal Converter, Elf II
jdfan1000
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Re: Hello from North Carolina

Post by jdfan1000 »

They were a stereo store in Toronto and had a US office for Sinclair stuff, first at an industrial location just south of downtown, then in a non-descript office building on Kenmore Ave.

https://www.timexsinclair.com/company/g ... ectronics/
My archive.org collection, containing many Timex/Sinclair related publications.

TimexSinclair.com, my website about Sinclair computers in the US.
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1024MAK
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Location: Looking forward to summer in Somerset, UK...

Re: Hello from North Carolina

Post by 1024MAK »

Hello and welcome to our forum JungleJim!

:D :D :D

I hope you enjoy the forum :D

Mark
ZX81 Variations
ZX81 Chip Pin-outs
ZX81 Video Transistor Buffer Amp

:!: Standby alert :!:
There are four lights!
Step up to red alert. Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb :!:
Looking forward to summer later in the year.
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