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The Timex Sinclair 1000 (TS1000) was the first computer produced by Timex Sinclair, a joint-venture between Timex Corporation and Sinclair Research. It was launched in July 1982.
The TS1000 was a slightly modified Sinclair ZX81 with an NTSC RF modulator instead of a UK PAL device and the onboard RAM doubled to two kilobytes. The TS1000's casing had slightly more internal shielding but remained the same as Sinclair's, including the much-reviled membrane keyboard. It had no sound and black and white graphics. It was followed by an improved version, the Timex Sinclair 1500.
Like the Sinclair ZX81, the TS1000 used a form of BASIC as its primary interface and programming language. Input could be accomplished through typing in the usual BASIC keywords or using built-in tokenized shortcuts such as P for Print accompanied by a modifier key. This made the difficult input somewhat more tolerable. Displays were limited to black and white displays with 40 columns and approximately 25 lines. The limited graphics were based on geometric shapes contained within the operating system's ASCII character set.
The TS1000 sold for $99.95 in the US when it debuted, making it the cheapest home computer to date at the time of its launch. Its initial sales were very high, but the system was not popular with users. Reliability was very low and the only form of long term storage was through an (often unreliable) tape cassette recorder interface built into the unit. The 16K memory expansion sold from $50 to over $250. A shortage of the memory expansions coupled with a lack of software which ran within 2K meant that the system had little use for anything other than an introduction to programming. Home computer magazines such as Compute! of the era showed enthusiasts how to interface the computer with various kinds of equipment, providing the opportunity of learning about early speech synthesis technology through a Speak & Spell, robotics control through the memory port, and scrolling text displays for advertising.
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