Talk:Timex Sinclair

(NB Parts of this page derive from the TS-1000 entry; that entry is now focused on the TS-1000, and more general/overview Timex-Sinclair stuff has been moved here; this page is no longer a redirect to Timex Sinclair 1000)

Changes

Wackymacs, I left some of your changes (the logo was a good addition), and I noticed you fixed my link to Sinclair Research Ltd.

However, I believe that replacing

in an effort to gain an entry into the rapidly-growing early-1980s home computer market in the United States.

with

in an effort to market the Sinclair Spectrum computers in the 1980s in the United States

was misleading, if not wrong (the first computers sold were not Spectrums, the "Spectrum" was not sold in anything like its UK form in the US, and since the Spectrum only came out around the same time as TS's first computers I don't think you can necessarily assume that this was the purpose of the venture). Not all the computers they sold were exactly the same as Sinclair's either; I think that what was there already makes this clear enough.

Also, it obscures the fact that Timex's motivation was to "get a slice of the pie" that was the fast-growing US computer market.

Anyway, thank you for your logo, and I have fixed and added to the links that were originally there. Cheers!

Fourohfour 09:40, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

Sounds OK to me, I must agree that my rewording of the sentence was actually incorrect. I forgot that the first were not spectrums. D'oh — Wackymacs 16:21, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

Timex of Portugal stuff

Regarding the edits made here by Mafmaf; most of it seems good, although there are a few statements I'm unhappy about (sounding a bit to reminiscent of speculation or one person's opinion), and tagged as "citation needed".

Note to myself: my edits on the history of Timex of Portugal were based on a very long interview to one of its main engineers/managers, available on a book which is online and free. I'm sure I quoted that source on a related article, but the book can be traced from the website of Minho University's virtual museum of computers. Had to write this down before I forgot all about it. Sorry. --maf (talk-cont) 07:51, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Also, I'm not sure that there was ever an entity known as "Timex of Scotland". Since Scotland is part of the UK, most UK branches of large companies would normally be known as (e.g.) "Timex UK" or "Timex (UK)".

Fourohfour 11:55, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

I have no idea how the Scottish branch called itself. Timex of Portugal was a company on its own and was really called that (albeit in Portuguese: either Timex de Portugal, Lda. or TMX Portugal, Lda.). The Scottish branch, which manufactured ZX computers for Sinclair Research, wanted nothing to do with its Portuguese sister, hence they were not coordinated at all. Eventually the Scottish branch stopped its production and went into oblivion.--maf (talk-cont) 21:30, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Also, since Timex Sinclair and Timex Computer were (apparently) separate companies, should they be kept together or apart? Please note that I'm not saying they *should* be split. On the contrary, it might be more beneficial to keep related information together in context (I hate splitting for the sake of it). Fourohfour 11:56, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

To clarify all these Timex-related terms:

1. regarding brands: the Timex Sinclair brand was used initially, in the US and Europe (though only in Portugal); the Timex Computer brand then replaced Timex Sinclair when the company withdrew from the US.
2. regarding company names: Timex Corporation was the parent company; Timex Sinclair was its American subsidiary set up specifically to sell the Timex Sinclair brand; in Europe there were already two operating and independent subsidiaries of Timex Corporation: Timex of Scotland (real name?) and Timex of Portugal (real name: either Timex de Portugal, Lda. or TMX Portugal, Lda.). If a European subsidiary called Timex Computer was specifically set up for some purpose, I am not aware of it, as Timex of Portugal conducted all the business of the Timex Computer brand.

Changed the name to Timex Portugal, since it's a good translation of one of the official designations (TMX Portugal Lda). Regarding Timex of Scotland I changed to Scottish Timex branch. 4throck (talk) 00:26, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

The length of the article as of now does not justify a split as all of these terms are so intertwined.--maf (talk-cont) 21:30, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Split proposal

Should we split this along the lines of Timex Sinclair and Timex Computer (the latter currently redirects to the main Timex page). This would let us cover Timex Computer (the Portuguese/etc operation) more clearly IMHO. Fourohfour 16:04, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

There's more logic in redirecting Timex Computer (a brand) to Timex Sinclair (also a brand) than to Timex Corporation (a company), for the reasons I developed above. I'll do that now. --maf (talk-cont) 08:00, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Then we can take out the split tag? --Wtshymanski (talk) 17:40, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

Personal Knowledge

The Timex Sinclair PC's were smuggled into Yugoslavia against the quasi Communist government's laws during the 80's. Those who could travel to Austria would buy them, sometimes hiding the PC in their pants, as they passed their own customs to get home. This being the only computer the youth of Yugoslavia had, or had any chance of getting, led directly to an explosion of computer experienced youth available when the Iron Curtain collapsed. Years, spent in closets without lights, literally hiding from their own governments, only to learn a great deal about programming and then the Curtain comes down and boom, games, viruses, databases, etc. were being created and written. ty 76.171.233.45 (talk) 09:49, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Great story, could you find some sources for it? Also, TS computers being sold in Austria is new info, maybe there are sources for this as well.--maf (talk-cont) 22:16, 23 February 2008 (UTC)