Timex Sinclair 1000

The Timex Sinclair 1000 (or T/S 1000) was the first computer produced by Timex Sinclair, a joint venture between Timex Corporation and Sinclair Research. It was launched in July 1982, with a US sales price of US$99.95, making it the cheapest home computer at the time; it was advertised as "the first computer under $100".[1] The computer was aimed at regular home users. As purchased, the T/S 1000 was fully assembled and ready to be plugged into home televisions, which served as a video monitor. The T/S 1000 was a slightly modified version of the Sinclair ZX81 with an NTSC RF modulator, for use with North American TVs, instead of PAL for European TVs. The T/S 1000 doubled the onboard RAM from 1 KB to 2 KB; further expandable by 16 KB through the cartridge port. The T/S 1000's casing had slightly more internal shielding but remained the same as Sinclair's, including the membrane keyboard, which had modified nomenclature to suit American tastes (e.g. "DELETE" instead of "RUBOUT") Just like the ZX81, the T/S 1000 had black-and-white graphics and no sound.

It was followed in 1983 by an improved version, the Timex Sinclair 1500 (or T/S 1500) which incorporated the 16 KB RAM expansion and featured a lower price (US$80). However, the T/S 1500 did not achieve market success, given that by this time the marketplace was dominated by Commodore, Radio Shack, Atari and Apple.

History

Timex claimed to have sold 600,000 T/S 1000s in the US by early 1983,[2] and other companies imported localized versions of British software.[3] It sold for [4] in the US when it debuted, making it the cheapest home computer at the time; it was advertised as "the first computer under $100". This pricing initiated a price war with Commodore International, who quickly reduced the price of its VIC-20 to match and later announced a trade-in program offering $100 for any competing computer toward the purchase of a Commodore 64. Since the T/S 1000 was selling for $49 by this time, many customers bought them for the sole purpose of trading them in for a Commodore 64.

Like the Sinclair ZX81, the T/S 1000 used 8K BASIC, a version of Sinclair BASIC (a BASIC dialect), as its primary interface and programming language. To make the membrane keyboard less cumbersome for program entry, the T/S 1000 used a shortcut system of one-letter "keywords" for most commands (e.g., pressing while the cursor was in "keyword mode" would generate the keyword

External links

• 1982: Timex Sinclair Computer
• Timex Sinclair 1000
• Suitcase version of Timex Sinclair 1500
• Timex Computer World-Timex Sinclair 1500
• Timex Computer World-Timex Sinclair 1510
• Timex Computer World – Pictures of Timex Sinclair 1500
• Timex Computer World – Pictures of Timex Sinclair 1510
• Historycorner.de – German Site for the Timex Sinclair 1000