Timex FDD3000

The Timex FDD 3000 was an almost complete computer by Timex of Portugal. It began its development at Timex Computer Corporation in the U.S., but it was at Timex of Portugal that the work was finished.

The Timex FDD 3000 is an upgraded Timex FDD (mostly known as FDD3 because it consisted of three separate boxes: the disk drive, the controller and the power supply). The Timex FDD3 was intended as a floppy disk peripheral for the Timex TC2048 or TC2068 microcomputers. It usually had 16K RAM and only one disk drive, but it can be upgraded to 64K RAM, making it capable of running CP/M and a second disk drive. Since the controller is electrically compatible with today disk drives, it is possible to connect a 3.5"/5.25" disk drive in the Timex FDD3 Controller (it is possible too to connect a Hitachi 3" disk drive to a IBM PC Compatible computer).

Timex put the three boxes of the FDD3 into one big box, added 64K RAM and a line in the controller cable to pass the video signal generated by Timex Terminal 3000 to the back of FDD 3000 box.

Timex FDD/FDD 3000 usage

The FDD/FDD 3000 can be used as a disk drive peripheral or as a CP/M computer.
*As a disk drive system running TOS (Timex Operating System) connected to a ZX Spectrum or TC2048/2068
*As a CP/M computer using a TC2048/2068 running Timex Terminal Emulator, or using a Timex Terminal 3000 and a video composite monitor, as a console.
*Timex FDD/FDD3000 do not have a built-in OS so a disk with OS is needed to boot it. Timex released TOS A.2 and CP/M. In Poland TOS was modified and released as TOS A.4 and Jarek developed a new OS called ZXVGS. To use CP/M in FDD3000 without TT3000, a terminal emulator must be loaded on the computer (ZX Spectrum/TC2048/TC2068) before CP/M boot.To use FDD or FDD3000 with a computer, an interface is needed. It is called Timex Interface and contains FDD/FDD3000 initialization code in a ROM.
Because TC2048 and TC2068 ROM differences, there are two TI versions: an all-black version for ZX Spectrum/TC2048 and a black with silver reset button for TS/TC2068. TI TC2048 version can be used with TS/TC2068+emulator cartridge (it as to be a "bootable" cartridge as you cannot type OUT 244,3 because the computer will crash). Zebra system sold an all-silver TI. There is a TI ROM version that will work with 128K ZX Spectrum.

Clones

*Zebra Systems sold the Timex FDD as Zebra FDD, in silver boxes to match TS2068 (Timex FDD was sold in black boxes in Europe)
*Zebra Systems sold the Timex FDD 3000 as Zebra FDD 3000 in the US with the same box.
*Unipolbrit made some changes in the design of FDD, putting everything in only one box, but not the same as the FDD 3000.
*Some people in Poland replaced disk drive 3" by a 5.25" DSDD (360K) drive with a manual switch to change the side to be read and name it FDD 6000, keeping most the original FDD 3000 box.

Timex FDD/FDD3000 specifications

*Z80 running at 4 MHz
*16K RAM (64K RAM on FDD 3000)
*128 bytes ROM (boots system from floppy)
*WD1770 floppy disk controller
*WD2123 UART (2 serial ports)

External links

* [http://timex.comboios.info/FDD3000.html FDD 3000 page at Timex Computer World]
* [http://8bit.yarek.pl/computer/timex.fdd3000/ Timex FDD3000 documentation]
* [http://8bit.yarek.pl/computer/timex.fdd3/ Timex FDD3 documentation]