My First Computer
This article is all about my old TRS-80, my very first encounter with a REAL computer (wish I still had it)!
Table of Contents
My First Computer!
Affectionately known as the "trash-80."
I still remember very well when I opened the box and assembled the TRS-80 from Radio Shack. It was so exciting! I actually learned a LOT from that humble and primitive machine.Of course if you compare it to the awesome computers of today, you would have to chuckle. I mean, imagine only 4K total memory, no hard drive (programs were stored on cassettes believe it or not), no mouse, no color, forget about internet (it wasn't even thought of yet). But it was "instant on," no operating system to load. You were faced with:
READY
That's all, yet I remember the absolute thrill I felt when I made my first program!
The only time it terrorized me was when I wanted to load a program that I had saved on cassette tape. The "volume" level was extremely fussy and sensitive. Sometimes it took a dozen tries experimenting with different volume levels before it would successfully load!
My first major upgrade was to go from 4k to 16k. It seemed huge at the time. They also introduced level 2 BASIC, which was a real improvement over level one.
My first hard drive was actually a floppy drive, the size of a shoebox. It was metal and weighed a lot. The noise was unbelievable but exciting and fun to watch!
---------------------------------------------------
The first 'Tandy' computer was the Radio Shack (TRS - Tandy Radio Shack) TRS-80. Called just the TRS-80, it later became known as the "Model I" when the TRS-80 Model II was announced in the summer of 1979.
Some have claimed that Radio Shack offered the Model I as a kit before selling it as a fully-assembled computer. That is NOT true. From the very beginning, the TRS-80 was sold only fully assembled and there was never a TRS-80 kit option in any Radio Shack catalog.
The Model I was invented by Don French (A buyer for Tandy) & Steve Leininger, and first announced on Wednesday, August 3, 1977.
Radio Shack said they anticipated deliveries to start in two weeks, but was quite unsure of the product, thinking that they might sell 600 to 1000 the first year. Company management was unsure of the computer's market appeal, and intentionally kept the initial production run to 3,000 units so that if the computer failed to sell, it could at least be used to automate accounting at the chain's 3,000 stores!
Tandy ended up selling 10,000 TRS-80s in its first month of production, and 55,000 in its first year. Radio Shack was swamped with orders, and delivery times quickly fell to months after order. Before its January 1981 discontinuation, Tandy sold more than 250,000 Model I's...OMG!
The Model I began with a $599 Level I System with 4K RAM, monitor (It used a black & white TV set, made by RCA, without tuner as monitor), and cassette, with all cables and adapters ready to go (except that it took 3 plugs, so we all had to get a power strip, no choice). The Level 1 was soon replaced by a 16K Level II System. The Level II (first model) was updated to include a numeric keypad.
Soon after Level II showed up the Expansion Interface was made available for $299. The Expansion Interface had room for an additional 2 banks of 16K RAM and an RS-232 card. In addition the Expansion Interface already contained a floppy disk controller and a control circuit to allow two cassettes to be hooked up at one time and controlled by the computer.
It was a magical time...
The "Trash-80"
TRS-80 Model 1 Specifications
TRS-80 details
Wikipedia information about TRS-80
TRS-80 was Tandy Corporation's desktop microcomputer model line, sold through Tandy's Radio Shack stores in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The line won popularity with hobbyists, home users, and small-businesses. Tandy Corporation's leading position in what Byte Magazine called the "1977 Trinity" (Apple, Commodore and Tandy) had much to do with retailing the computer through more than 3000 of its Radio Shack (Tandy in the UK) storefronts. Notable features of the original TRS-80 included its full-stroke QWERTY keyboard, small size, well-written Floating Point BASIC programming language, an included monitor, and a starting price of $600.
One major drawback of the original system was the massive RF interference it caused in surrounding electronics. This became a problem when it was determined to violate FCC regulations, leading to the Model I's phase out in favor of the new Model III.
By 1979, the TRS-80 had the largest available selection of software in the microcomputer market.
Excellent Book!
This is the most accurate history of this "Industry Creating Machine" out there. Even knowing the history, it was enjoyable to fill in the holes related to some of the other players.
Many people give Apple the credit for creating the personal computer industry, but it really took Radio Shack with their stores and presence in the market to bring the awareness of personal computers to the masses. Then IBM made the market take off.
A fun read for those that lived the revolution and those who want to know why we have personal computers today.
Priming the Pump: How TRS-80 Enthusiasts Helped Spark the PC Revolution
Amazon Price: $19.95 (as of 10/07/2008)
Radio Shack and the very cool TRS-80 line and later PCs that followed from Tandy are never given credit for the true impact that they had on the PC revolution and simply getting people to use PCs.... A TRS-80 Model one was my first PC and it rocked! At the time, it was amazing.
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Usually ships in 24 hours
TRS-80 Sites
- Ira Goldklang's TRS-80 Revived Site
- TRS-80 Revived Site by Ira Goldklang's is an archive of everything related to the Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 microcomputer lines. Site contains emulators, programs, manuals, books, patches, games, hints, discussions, questions, forums, and tons more.
- TRS-80 Level I BASIC Simulator
- Emulation. This is a recreation of TRS-80
Level I BASIC.What you see is exactly what showed on a true original TRS-80 screen.
Try making a program in BASIC!
This is a very exciting page for anyone who ever used a TRS-80. - 80 Microcomputing
- 80 Microcomputing magazine for the TRS-80
- Trs-80 Land
- TRS-80 Land
I got my TRS-80 Model I in 1979 and used it through 1984 (high school and early
college). During that time I wrote several BASIC and machine language
programs.
- Pyramid 2000 - An Interactive Fiction game for the TRS-80 and TRS-80 Color Computer
- Pyramid 2000
An Interactive Fiction game for the TRS-80 and TRS-80 Color Computer Cover of the TRS-80 Version of Pyramid 2000 Cover of the TRS-80 Color Computer Version of Pyramid 2000 - Mike's TRS-80 Model I Level II BASIC Page
- Mike's TRS-80 Model I Level II BASIC Page
- Digital Deli
- Digital Deli
The Comprehensive, User-Lovable Menu of Computer Lore, Culture, Lifestyles and Fancy
by The Lunch Group & Guests
Edited by Steve Ditlea
published 1984Digital Deli is copyright ©1984.
TRS-80 Vids
Blog Posts from Google
TRS-80
- Langley-St. Clair Soft-View Replacement CRT
- Clair advertisement from December 1982 One frequent criticism of the TRS-80 (especially the Model I) was the quality of the screen. Many complained of eyestrain and headaches after staring at the screen for a long time. ...
- MICRODOS
- MICRODOS was the only TRS-80 disk operating system that made no attempt at TRSDOS compatibility. It was written by James W. Stutsman and released by Percom in 1979. Rather than using a command shell like Model I TRSDOS, MICRODOS used ...
- BASIC Programs Over Shortwave
- It will be broadcast in TRS-80, Apple and Pet compatible formats. The broadcast may herald a new era in information exchange for microcomputerists. Should the reception of computer programs over the shortwave bands by listeners equipped ...
- TRS-80 episode
- I loved watching the episode with the TRS-80. I had a TI-99 when i was 5. I believe you had to boot to a floppy with the O/S. I remember it had a manual that taught me basic. Near the end of the book was a sample program "Mr. Bojangles. ...
Auction Items:
Bid on these..
Many Model I's survive today and can be seen on eBay for auction daily. They are collectors items fetching good dollars. If you're lucky to have one of these, you will not have any trouble finding someone to take it off your hands.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byIncredible book!
Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer (Second Edition)
Used Price: $6.83
In the early 1970s, while Silicon Valley was designing the latest generation of digital wristwatches and pocket calculators, a ragtag group of college dropouts, hippies, and electronics hobbyists were busy creating the future in their garages. What they built was the personal computer, but what they were aiming for was something much more ambitious: a revolution!
Fire in the Valley is the story of their efforts, and in particular, the contributions of an informal think tank called the Homebrew Computer Club. Its technically gifted community, comprising sci-fi aficionados and Berkeley counterculturists, believed computers could usher in an age of human empowerment, perhaps even a utopia.
Avg. Customer Rating:
Please don't leave until you sign my guest-book. Thank you!
Like this lens? Want to share your feedback, or just give a thumbs up? Be the first to submit a blurb!
