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| A 35th anniversary salute to Radio Shack's TRS-80 |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-08-04 04:17:08 |
| "Quick - name the most important personal computer of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Those of you who mentioned the legendary Apple II - that's fine. I respect your decision. Forced to think objectively in 2012, I may even agree. But if you just named Radio Shack's TRS-80, you made me smile. Your choice is entirely defensible. And back in the TRS-80's heyday, I not only would have agreed with it but would have vehemently opposed any other candidate." |
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| RE[4]: Comment by Morgan |
| By Morgan on 2012-08-04 08:07:05 |
|
Well the CoCo 2, which I owned, was hardly without flaws (see above about the flaky keyboard and the dead power supply). I realize my nostalgia is biased, but isn't that always the case? We don't fondly remember the things that brought us pain or misery. We instead bask in the memories of pleasant experiences, and being imperfect humans we almost always embellish those memories so we can feel even better about days gone by. But philosophical and psychological meanderings aside, you're right: They weren't -- as a whole -- the most stable or reliable machines out there. But they were fun, affordable and very educational, all qualities of a new fruit-flavored kid on the block. I get the same warm fuzzies about my Raspberry Pi as I did with the TRS-80 so many years ago, and I'm really enjoying the experience! |
 - Score: 2 |
| First Computers in my School |
| By cjr42 on 2012-08-04 10:54:44 |
|
I just registered because of this article. My School here in Germany had 4 TRS-80 Model I's for the Computer Course. That was in 1980. One even had floppy disks! And we had the incredible luck of a teacher really able to teach us programming. Our small group of nerds went running to the Computer room even in the 5 minute breaks. This was fun! On the other hand ... the girls regarded us as totally crazy :-) Christof. |
| - Score: 2 |
| Nothing special |
| By 3rdalbum on 2012-08-04 11:03:27 |
|
Sorry, but even after that article I still see nothing special about the TRS-80. I understand and appreciate that it was affordable enough and didn't need user assembly, so it was one of the first computers an ordinary geek could own - but then, a decent number of computers around at the same time could make that claim. Technically it seems hopelessly outclassed by the Apple 2, with very little cleverness in the hardware design compared to the Apple 2. Nostalgia is okay, but just because a particular computer is special to you for the memories you had of it, does not mean that it was a special computer compared to others of the time. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE: Nothing special |
| By MOS6510 on 2012-08-04 11:22:33 |
| The computer YOU owned in the 70/80s was ALWAYS the most SPECIAL and BEST one. |
| - Score: 4 |
| RE[3]: Comment by Morgan |
| By righard on 2012-08-04 12:16:28 |
|
> ...peanut butter... My skills of deduction place you in the US. Edited 2012-08-04 12:16 UTC |
| - Score: 4 |
| Ah, yes. |
| By JLF65 on 2012-08-04 16:30:21 |
|
The TRASH-80... you either swore by it, or swore at it. This was the first computer I wrote programs for. It was nothing special. I preferred the Atari 8-bit computer, which is what I ended up buying when I finally got the money to buy my own computer. The best part of the TRASH-80? The CPU - the Z80 was a joy to program... perhaps the best of the 8-bit CPUs. However, the 6502 was clearly king of the day, being in nearly every 8-bit computer of any worth. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE: Nothing special |
| By Vanders on 2012-08-04 16:49:05 |
|
> Technically it seems hopelessly outclassed by the Apple 2, with very little cleverness in the hardware design compared to the Apple 2. It was, but then the Apple ][ was far outclassed by the Commodore Vic 20. The TRS-80 was released before the Apple ][, and it cost far, far less than an Apple ][. The important thing about the TRS-80 was that it was the first time that a large, established company decided that personal computers were a thing they could sell. The TRS-80 was the point where micro computers moved from the hobbyist arena into the mainstream. That's why it's special. |
| - Score: 5 |
| Trash 80 Mod II |
| By benali72 on 2012-08-04 17:04:56 |
| Trash 80 Mod II ... best computer using casette tape storage ever! |
| - Score: 2 |
| I owe my career to it |
| By tuaris on 2012-08-04 21:15:35 |
|
It's on that little computer that I learned how to write programs at the age of 9. Ah the memories... I still have it kept in away in a safe place, and it still works! If it hadn't been for the TRS-80, I'd probably ended up using a computer only for idiocies like facebook, youtube, and twitter. |
| - Score: 1 |
| TRS-80 |
| By drcoldfoot on 2012-08-04 22:33:40 |
| Screw that! My Tandy 1000 EX was the best computer of all time! |
| - Score: 1 |
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