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This TRS-80

wayne.lorentz.me

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Re: This TRS-80

#41

Post by theandrewbailey »

> While computers ended up using the generic double-quote symbol " for both opening and closing quotation marks, in printing quotation marks are expected to be two different characters. To get around this, reporters were instructed to use two grave marks to open quotes, and two apostrophes to close quotes:

> For example: ``When we talk to God it’s called prayer. When God talks to us it’s called crazy.''

> As bad as that looks on a modern digital screen, it was absolutely jarring to see coming out of a teletype.

Is this why some people mix up grave symbols and apostrophes today?

Re: This TRS-80

#42

Post by rootbear »

smacktoward wrote: post #9

A fun side note: the core software that was included on the Model 100's ROM was written by Microsoft, and not just by Microsoft, but by Bill Gates himself. It was the last Microsoft project where he would write most of the code personally. In a wide-ranging early '90s interview at the National Museum of American History, he reminisced about the Model 100, calling it "in a sense my favorite machine": https://americanh…

I played with a Model 100 for a while and wrote a version of Munching Squares in BASIC for it. What annoyed me about the built in BASIC was that it made NO concessions for the small, eight line screen. If you listed the program, it printed it, then printed a line with "OK" and then a blank line (possibly with a prompt, memory fails me), where the next command could be typed. Thus, 25% of the screen was wasted. It could have listed the program, with the last line at the very bottom of the screen and then waited for input before printing the "OK" and the prompt line. A nitpick, but it made it harder to program than was necessary.

Re: This TRS-80

#43

Post by saganus »

A bit off-topic but, I have a TRS-80 Model 4P that does not turn on. On the inside everything seems fine (but I'm no expert).

Does anyone know where could I have one of these repaired? I'd love to boot it up again as it was the first computer I ever owned.

Re: This TRS-80

#44

Post by fit2rule »

RodgerTheGreat wrote: post #19
caf wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has an RS-232 port, you should be able to hook that up to a USB-RS232 adaptor with a null modem.

It would be delightful to hide a Raspberry Pi inside the case of the TRS-80, wired to the serial interface, so you'd have an apparently unmodified model 100 until you fired up the terminal program and connected to a full-blown linux commandline.

I've done exactly this with a Zero and an Olivetti M10, which is a clone of the Tandy Model 100 for the European market. It is indeed awesome.

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=475

If you're in Vienna, you can come see the Olivetti, as well as a suite of other machines, at my TIMETRON2019 exhibit, where we have done new and interesting things with a ton of old systems:

http://primitur.at/TIMETRON2019_Opening/

More details here:

https://subotron.com/7635-timetron-2019/

Re: This TRS-80

#45

Post by RodgerTheGreat »

fit2rule wrote: post #44
RodgerTheGreat wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be delightful to hide a Raspberry Pi inside the case of the TRS-80, wired to the serial interface, so you'd have an apparently unmodified model 100 until you fired up the terminal program and connected to a full-blown linux commandline.

I've done exactly this with a Zero and an Olivetti M10, which is a clone of the Tandy Model 100 for the European market. It is indeed awesome. http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=475 If you're in Vienna, you can come see the Olivetti, as well as a suite of other machines, at my TIMETRON2019 exhibit, where we have done new and interesting things with a ton of old systems: http://primitur.at/TIMETRO…

That's an extremely cool hack!

I won't be on the right continent to enjoy TIMETRON2019, but I'd love to know more about how you integrated the Pi with your M10. Was there anything difficult about the software/hardware? Can you share some photos?

Re: This TRS-80

#46

Post by fit2rule »

RodgerTheGreat wrote: post #45
fit2rule wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've done exactly this with a Zero and an Olivetti M10, which is a clone of the Tandy Model 100 for the European market. It is indeed awesome. http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=475 If you're in Vienna, you can come see the Olivetti, as well as a suite of other machines, at my TIMETRON2019 exhibit, where we have done new and interesting things with a ton of old systems: http://primitur.at/TIMETRO…

That's an extremely cool hack! I won't be on the right continent to enjoy TIMETRON2019, but I'd love to know more about how you integrated the Pi with your M10. Was there anything difficult about the software/hardware? Can you share some photos?

It was pretty easy - all it required was wiring up a NULL modem cable. :) The hardest part was getting rPi linux to add a serial login at boot - which is to say, was quite easy. ;)

I'll try to take some pics at the next BOOTSESSION, as I'm away from the exhibit for a few days - I'll ping you when I get them up somewhere.

Re: This TRS-80

#47

Post by wilsonnb3 »

mbreese wrote: post #15
protomyth wrote: post #8

A modern version of the TRS-80 Model 100 would be a pretty amazing thing. Along with the Psion and eMate were amazingly production little machines.

There is the FreeWrite [0], which seems to be targeted at just writers, which is in some respects the spiritual successor to the TRS-80 Model 100. I could swear I saw at least one other Kickstarter with something similar, but this was the only one I could find. [0] https://getfreewrite.com/ Edit: Here’s another similar product called the AlphaSmart [1], but this one was ultimately discontinued. [1] https://en.m.wikip…

We used to use those AlphaSmarts to learn how to type in elementary school in the early 2000's, before our school got a laptop cart that could be wheeled between classrooms.

Good times.

Re: This TRS-80

#48

Post by rhombocombus »

codezero wrote: post #6
chipotle_coyote wrote: post #3

I had a TRS-80 Model 200 for a while, so this brings back some weird memories. I regret getting rid of it, really; it'd have been fun to have it around to bring to coffee shops for writing sessions now. (Possibly) interesting trivia: the linked article mentions the AP used a typesetting system called ATEX. This was a big dedicated terminal/server system that basically used plain text with markup, similar to troff or…

That brings back memories, I used PageMaker to make our high school yearbook in the 90s :)

Me too! I really loved PageMaker, and used it for most of my papers into college as well. I moved away from it when they made InDesign...

Re: This TRS-80

#49

Post by prometheus76 »

winrid wrote: post #31
equalunique wrote: post #5

In case anyone was curious, the keycaps on that TRS-80 are made of doubleshot-ABS in the DSA profile.

Is that special/better than common keyboards of today?

In addition to the letters not flaking off or wearing out, the DSA key profile is different than almost all keyboards made today. Most keyboards today have a concave profile for the tops of the keys that are basically uniform from the top of the key to the bottom. (I don't know if I'm explaining it well, but I think you understand just by taking a look at your keyboard).

Anyway, the DSA profile has more of a spherical concave recess, which cups your fingers more than current keyboards.

My first computer was a TRS-80 Model 3, which also had the DSA key profile and I love it. I'm actually saving up to get a keycap set with that profile to replace my current keyset on my daskeyboard mechanical keyboard.

Re: This TRS-80

#50

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #3

I had a TRS-80 Model 200 for a while, so this brings back some weird memories. I regret getting rid of it, really; it'd have been fun to have it around to bring to coffee shops for writing sessions now. (Possibly) interesting trivia: the linked article mentions the AP used a typesetting system called ATEX. This was a big dedicated terminal/server system that basically used plain text with markup, similar to troff or…

I had to write all of our product manuals at my first engineering job using XyWrite, which did not have auto-save. After losing a few pages due to a power failure and not having saved often enough, the owner of the small company put a timer on my desk set to 10 minutes. When it went off, I had to save to disk (3.5" floppy, IIRC!) and reset the timer.

I hated that thing!

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