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And where did the computer hide itself? It's just a keyboard with a monitor! The fact of the matter is that Radio Shack TRS-80 was one of the first home computers in the world and as such was an incredible success. He was born in August 1977 and in the very first month of its sales 10 thousand computers were purchased. It was not an amateur radio assembly kit. All that was needed was included in the package: both the computer itself and the monitor, and even a small tape recorder.
Was he powerful enough? Of course, nowadays its technical characteristics are not capable of impressing anyone, but at one time the TRS-80 was a very worthy solution for the house.
Its processor: 1.77 MHz Zilog Z-80A. RAM (RAM, RAM) in the standard version of the first version was 4 kilobytes. In later versions, it was expanded to 16 kilobytes. Present ports: input / output for a tape recorder; monitor video port and a special extension connector for external devices.
Drive: a magnetic tape drive, i.e. a tape recorder. Operating system: BASIC, stitched in permanent memory (ROM). The computer was packaged with a 12-inch monochrome monitor with an “incredible” resolution of 64 x 16 (for on-screen text information). It was possible to buy all this for $ 599, 95 US cents (along with the monitor). From 1977 to 1981, 200,000 Radio Shack TRS-80s were sold, and this was not just a success, but a real triumph!
It must be said that in those days information was stored and accumulated primarily on tape cassettes. Floppy disks (floppy disks) have not yet received enough distribution. Disk drives cost hundreds of dollars, and that’s a little expensive.
However, within a year after the release of the computer itself, a floppy disk drive appeared to it (TRS-80 Mini-Disk), but it cost $ 480. More expensive than the computer itself (without a monitor) and almost as much as the full set of Radio Shack TRS-80. It can be assumed that this novelty was bought only by particularly enthusiastic connoisseurs of high technology of their time.
After all, even three years later, in 1980, the TRS-80 floppy disk drive cost about $ 425. Well, who will buy a drive for the price of a computer? By the way, the line printer TRS-80 Line Printer for this computer already cost 1299 US dollars.
In the case-keyboard of the most ancient home computer Radio Shack TRS-80 there was not a single connector for expansion cards. So simply there would be no place that was already so close.
Some more interesting facts about the oldest computer for the TRS-80 home. Its first version had a “truncated” keyboard without a separate digital block, it worked under the control of Level I BASIC and could boast only 4 kilobytes of RAM.
Later, a digital block appeared at the keyboard, the capabilities of BASIC were expanded to Level II, and the amount of RAM, in accordance with the requirements of the time, increased four times to 16 kilobytes.
An enthusiastic upgrade was not possible, because the transition from Level I to Level II required the integration of additional chips and wires into the motherboard. However, the oldest computer for use in the home and did not provide for an independent modernization of its user. The basic idea of the TRS-80 was that the buyer pays once and does not incur any additional costs for bringing the computer to the "mind".
But lovers always remain lovers. They constantly need to improve and modify something beyond recognition. They are never ready to be satisfied with the standard configuration. For them, an external expansion interface (Expansion Interface) was provided, which could be purchased for an additional $ 299. This module was characterized by a pleasant design and resembled a small system unit of the “desktop” form factor, that is, one on which the monitor could be placed.
After connecting to the TRS-80 external expansion module, this home computer of the late seventies acquired additional ports: a printer port; expansion port; serial port (optional); the possibility of increasing the amount of RAM up to 32 kilobytes; two tape drive connectors; floppy drive controller, which allows you to connect up to four drives; signals for real time clock.
Radio Shack TRS-80 was not perfect. He was not nearly the most powerful computer of his time. The connection between the keyboard and the monitor was cheap and, for this reason, very unreliable. The expansion interface was also far from perfect. He sometimes led to system failures and arbitrary shutdown of the system. The only solution was to solder this connection, but it still needed to be able to.
The TRS-80 was not a portable computer, but this “insignificant” circumstance did not prevent Radio Shack from selling special cases intended for its transportation. Two suitcases were required: for the computer itself and for its monitor. Yes, the mobility of the TRS-80 was “slightly” inferior to the modern tablet.
In 1980, his third version, the TRS-80 Model III, was released. In fact, it was the development of the same first model, but with 48 kilobytes of RAM and the optional ability to install two built-in floppy drives.
I must say that the first model TRS-80 Model I, working near radios and televisions, could cause interference. Therefore, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) demanded that they fix these problems and bring the computer into compliance with the standards.
Source: Oldcomputers.net
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