Another Sinclair computer. Basically a ZX-81, but this one has a blazing 2K Memory ! It was branded Timex, and mostly sold in North America. Read all about it on the Wikipedia page, or just watch the great documentary on Sinclair computers by The 8-Bit Guy.
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| Revolutionary Technology !. And 'No user serviceable parts inside'. We'll see about that |
I got this one cheap, but it came without PSU, and the box is heavily damaged. Actually only the rear section of the cardboard sleeve is still recognizable.
And, of course, it did not work. That is to say, the start screen comes up, but most of the keys do not respond. As expected, the keyboard cable is broken and cannot be fixed.So I ordered a new ZX81 keyboard on Tindie, including an overlay for the slightly different key texts of the Timex version ('Rubout' vs 'Delete'..).
Removing the old keyboard was surprisingly easy. After some careful heating using a standard hair dryer it was simply pried off using a putty knife.
Stick on the new keyboard membrane ( which is totally black), apply the Times keyboard sticker and the computer looks like new.
Then, when I wanted to re-attach the ribbon cable to the board I found that some remains of the old cable were stuck in the connectors. And when I tried to remove those, the connectors were damaged so they needed replacing too. Ordered two sets from Sell My Retro, and replaced them. Which finally solved all issues, and I can finally start programming...
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| Two connectors to be replaced, but after that the complete alphabet is available again. |
| Price [Original] | €25,- [US$99,95] |
| Processor | Z80 @ 3.25 MHz |
| RAM | 2KB |
| ROM | 8KB |
| Programming | Sinclair Basic |
| Why ? | Complete my collection of Sinclair computers. |
