Tandys Never Die 172
kevcol writes: "Great article on the SF Chronicle's website on a school bus driver in Contra Costa County California who heads a Tandy model 100 computer user group. The model 100 was the portable version of the beloved TRS-80 (jokingly known as the 'Trash 80') which was the first computer I ever laid fingers on in high school back in the day..."
Model 'T' (Score:2, Interesting)
cute little things, run about a month on double AAs, have a Billy-Born MS basic, a directory listing with fancy arrow-key navigation, w00
They're tough as nails, anyway
Re:Model 'T' (Score:1)
Re:Model 'T' (Score:1)
Re:Model 'T' (Score:2)
Cryptnotic
Emulators? (Score:1, Interesting)
And better yet, why would you want one?
The Apple IIe is my old box of choice, and at least there's plenty of emulators & ROMs available
Re:Emulators? (Score:3, Informative)
Amstrad CPC Emulators, Apple II Emulators, Arcade Emulators (Multi-Game), Arcadia 2001 Emulators, Atari 2600 Emulators, Atari 5200 Emulators, Atari 7800 Emulators, Atari Lynx Emulators, Coleco Emulators, Commodore 64 Emulators, Magnavox Odyssey Emulators, MSX Emulators, NeoGeo Emulators, NES Emulators, Odyssey Emulators, Sega Genesis Emulators, Sega Master System Emulators, TurboGrafx16 Emulators, Vectrex Emulators.
Which means this tandy is prehistoric
Re:Emulators? (Score:2, Interesting)
If there's an emulator (which unfortunately there doesn't seem to be), then it means anyone can join in... though in a lot of cases emulators (well, the ROMs) are illegal.
- CZ
Emulators for Macs (Score:2)
Re:Emulators? (Score:2)
I liked the dual-monitor CoCo [att.net] that was linked on your page...now that's a hack. The choice of graphics chip was interesting (said by someone who has a TI-99/4A and a CoCo 2, among other machines). Who says you need new hardware to do that? :-)
Cool Computer =P (Score:3, Interesting)
No floppy interface. (Score:3, Informative)
This is an important point, the TRS-80 Model I, III, and IV was a completely different computer system from the Model 100. They weren't compatible in any way whatsoever. Just like the Model 11 and 16 wasn't compatible with the model 1/III/IV. Totally different systems. At one point I ran a BBS off of a model I for four years from 1982 to 1986, which my family originally bought in 1977. It was a good computer for its time, though it generated way too much RFI, the buffered expansion interface cable often broke requiring replacement, and the B/W monitor which shipped with the model 1 was junk. The computer, however, was fast with a 1.77 MHz Z-80. Oh well, enough memory lane...
Cheers,
--Maynard
Re:No floppy interface. (Score:1)
Re:Cool Computer =P (Score:2, Interesting)
Assuming you could deal with the mysteries of parity and "echo" you could get the Model 100 to talk to anything with an async modem. I dialed into clients' mainframes and Ward Christensen's original BBS, belonged to most of the early online services, and even chatted with a hotel Teletype operator once. Another time, out of town and needing an emergency hard copy, I sent a TWX addressed to myself at my hotel.
Never occurred to me to keep the thing. Wish it had.
Bullshit (Score:2, Flamebait)
No. It wasn't.
It was a very useful "laptop" for it's time, but it was a TRS-80 like an IBM AT was a Macintosh.
Do some research fer crissake.
Guys in Glass Houses.... (Score:3, Informative)
If you want to buy one, go to EBay [ebay.com]. Notice the TRS-80 moniker located upper right in the photo...
Re:Guys in Glass Houses.... (Score:4, Funny)
The battery is very nice -- it let it keep going even while we moved offices and lost power :)
Re:Guys in Glass Houses.... (Score:2)
The Model 100 wasn't a Z-80 based machine any more than the "TRS-80 Color Computer" was, and indeed the successors to the Model 100 dropped the TRS-80 designation. The 100/102/200 series had 80C85s in them, if I remember right, and the CoCos had 6809Es.The Model 16/6000 TRS-80s had Z80s and 68000s, and the last computer with the TRS-80 name plate was the 80186-based Model 2000. (It's always called the "Tandy 2000," but the one I have in the closet has a TRS-80 name plate on it.)
You're right in pointing out that "TRS-80" was Radio Shack's brand name for computers for a while, just like Archer for electronic instruments and Realistic for stereo components. But the person you're responding to was also correct: you can't legitimately call the Model 100 a "portable version of the TRS-80," because it was its own computer, not a portable version of anything else. Likewise, the TRS-80 Color Computer was not the "color version of the TRS-80" any more than the Commodore 64 was the color version of the Commodore PET.
Bullshit Redux (Score:2)
Groovy. I'll put a Ford logo on my laptop and then I'll be able to drive it to work.
The Model 100 wasn't a "portable version" of anything - it was a platform in and of itself. That was my point. You can put a "TRS-80" sticker on a grizzly bear if you care to, just don't expect it to load and run Android Nim.
Re:Bullshit (Score:2, Insightful)
Model 100 : TRS-80 :. Newton : Macintosh
actually.
"fascinating, innovative machine having little to do with its more well-known bretheren, which completely failed to catch on, and had surprisingly little direct influence on future devices of the same style which didn't appear until much, much later, but which changed the computing paradigm forever"
Model 100 : laptop :. Newton : PDA
Re:Bullshit (Score:1, Flamebait)
Re:Bullshit (Score:2)
Re:Bullshit (Score:2, Interesting)
OTOH, the Model II used a 68000 (also?), but I think only like 3 people actually had one of those (list price was what, $6000?). You could get Xenix for them, which was a Microsoft clone of Unix (!), although I probably only ever saw it in those funky brown vinyl software cases on the shelf at the Radio Shack franchise where I used to work.
The CoCos used a 6809 I think
I guess the point is "TRS-80" (it is rumored, anyway) stood for "Tandy/Radio Shack for the Eighties", it didn't indicate any specific architecture or software. Back in those days there was less expectation for software to be compatible between different models, but it did help out that the Models I/III/4 were compatible at least.
Summary of Tandy computer line (Score:2, Informative)
Model I / Model III / Model 4/4P - The original TRS-80, used a Z-80 processor at 1.77 MHz. The Model I had 64x16 video, 4K to 48K RAM, and separate keyboard, video, expansion interface, and disk drives. It came standard with BASIC in ROM, and cassette tape (250 bps at first, then 500 bps). The optional 5.25" floppies held about 90K (that is NOT a typo).
The Model III was nearly identical except it put it all in one box. The big change was the availability of double-density floppies (180K).
The Model 4 looked like a Model III, but was entirely RAM-based. It held up to 128K RAM (woohoo!!), though the upper 96K was accessible as one of three 32K banks. The Model 4 also added 80x24 video. The 4P was a Model 4 in a luggable case.
The Model I/III/4 series all ran an operating system called TRSDOS. These three models were mostly upwards-compatible.
The Model II followed the Model I chronologically (and preceded the Model III - imagine that). The Model II was their business system. It had a 4 MHz Z80 processor with 32K to 64K of RAM. It had 80x24 video. It used 8" floppy drives - up to four of them - holding 600K each. It contained an internal card cage for expansion.
The Model II was a tank. The main unit was about the size of a small dorm-type refrigerator, and probably weighed about 40-50 pounds. The external floppy drive cabinet was almost as big. The Model II was the first to offer a hard drive - 8 MB on 8" platters - the cabinet was about two foot square, and about 6" high, about like an oversized desktop PC today.
The Model II ran a different and completely incompatible OS, also called TRSDOS. It was completely disk-based, containing only a minimal boot ROM. Model II software was not compatible with Model I/III/4 software.
The Model II was followed by the Model 12 - same basic system with half-height, double-sided 8" floppy drives. Slightly smaller cabinet with up to two internal 1.2 MB floppies.
The Model II/12 was later used as the core of the Motorola 68000-based Model 16. The Model 16 used the entire MII Z-80 architecture as its I/O processing subsystem. The Model 16 included a 6 MHz 68000 and supported up to 256K of RAM. The 68000 processor and its memory boards were separate cards that installed in the MII card cage. The operating system and application ran on the 68000 side.
The Model 16 came with TRSDOS 16 (another incompatible variant), but the real power came once Xenix was offered. Xenix was a port of System III UNIX enhanced with a lot of BSD features. At one time, Tandy had the largest install base of UNIX-based systems. They weren't very big, no more than nine users, but there were a lot of them. I supported about 18 of them where I worked at the time.
The Model 16 series peaked with the introduction of the Tandy 6000. This still contained the basic Model II architecture - you could still dual-boot to Z80 TRSDOS, but the design was updated to focus on Xenix use. It included an 8 MHz 68000, up to 1 MB of memory, and ultimately up to four 70 MB hard drives.
Having established itself as the leader in UNIX for small business, and having invested substantial time and dollars in building a relatively effective suppport infrastructure for UNIX, Tandy made the brilliant decision to abandon that market and focus exclusively on PC clone systems. Given their prominence in the PC world today, you can see how well that worked. The executive behind this decision later moved to Microsoft.
OK, that's the history of their original Z-80 family.
Totally separate from this, Tandy offered the Model 100 mentioned in this article. It was based on an 80C85 processor (low power - CMOS - version of the 8080, with a handful of additional instructions) and was entirely RAM-based, i.e., it had no internal floppy or hard drives. It was a stand-alone product line, completely incompatible with their other systems. The 100 was followed by the 200, and then the 600, as I recall.
Tandy's third PC line was their Color Computer ("Coco") series. All of the systems I mentioned above were strictly monochrome and used some form of monitor. The Color Computer was their launch into home TV-based systems. Again, IIRC, the Coco series were all based on the 6809 processor. The Coco series initially used cartridges and cassette tapes. Later, a floppy disk upgrade was offered using Microware's OS-9 operating system (pretty cool in its own right, similar to UNIX in many respects).
Moving on, Tandy also offered several pocket-style computers over the years. They also offered a series of PC-compatibles (more or less) beginning with the Tandy 1000. As a UNIX biggot, I didn't follow the line closely. Again, IIRC, the 1000 was a PCjr clone and the 1200 was a strict PC XT clone.
The Tandy 2000 was a high performance MS-DOS PC, offering an 80186 a year or so before IBM offered the AT. There was a version of Xenix for the 2000, but it didn't make it into the wild very often. The 2000 was followed by the 3000 and 4000 (both 286-based, I think). They were offered with Xenix, but never gained the penetration of the 16/6000 line. Tandy also offered a 5000 - I think this was their micro-channel clone. (Anyone remember micro-channel?)
That's the history off the top of my head. There were a couple of other one-of models scattered through this, and after the 3000 & 4000, Tandy moved full-bore into forgettable PC clones. In its early days, however, Tandy was neck-and-neck with Apple for most computers sold.
Yes, I need a life.
Re:Summary of Tandy computer line (Score:1)
Re:Summary of Tandy computer line (Score:1)
I assume the executive to which you refer is Jon Shirley. He did move to Microsoft back in the late 80's, but was he really the one responsible for this decision? I would think former Tandy CEO John Roach was most responsible.
Re:Bullshit (Score:1)
Re:Bullshit (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Bullshit (Score:1)
BTW- your analogy stinks. It betrays your lack of understanding.
Re:Bullshit (Score:1)
http://www.geocities.com/~compcloset/TRS-80Model1
Re:Bullshit (Score:2)
>No. It wasn't.
Ok, yes it was and no it wasn't at the same time. The Model 100 and 200 were both TRS-80's. I have a 100 sitting here and it says so right on the case.
While it was portable because it is a laptop, it might not be considered a portable TRS-80. The Portable TRS-80 was the model 4P, which I also have sitting here. It was fully TRS-80 Model 3 and 4 compatable and only weighed about thirty pounds. It also had an attractive vinyl carry case.
I did my research, thank you.
My friend had one in the early '80's (Score:3, Funny)
Now that I think of it, I don't think I ever saw him when he WASN'T totally baked. Seriously.
But he could do some cool stuff with it.
is this a repeat? anyone remember? (Score:2, Redundant)
anyone else remember this? it was about the same tandy computers, and someone in the comments said s/he was using them for some kind of rugged research purposes, maybe marine...
...or maybe i'm smoking too much crack. but i'm allllmost sure...
Re:is this a repeat? anyone remember? (Score:2)
Perhaps we were smoking the same batch? I've just searched through the archives also and can't come up with it either.
Re:is this a repeat? anyone remember? (Score:2)
Re:is this a repeat? anyone remember? (Score:1)
That's because you're thinking of this article in Wired Magazine: Never Say Die [wired.com].
Re:is this a repeat? anyone remember? (Score:1)
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/07/24/125
Re:is this a repeat? anyone remember? (Score:2)
Still, though, it's oddly reassuring to know that these things are still out there doing stuff.
Re:is this a repeat? anyone remember? (Score:2)
Re:is this a repeat? anyone remember? (Score:2)
It was either on here or on HardOCP [hardocp.com], but I just don't remember.
Tandys are indeed sturdy (Score:3, Informative)
I visited the summer the year after and the machine worked flawlessly. I managed to play a Tandy BASIC minigolf game but had to stop because it was way too hot in the room. This continued for a few more years, and about 8 years after my initial purchase of the machine, it stopped working during a visit. I opened the case to discover it had become home to some large native flying insects... which got fried inside. In a weird sort of way, the heat didn't but also did manage to kill it eventually. Those conditions were definitely out of the bounds of a "normal operating environmeny" and I was amazed it lasted so long.
Buying a Tandy again is pretty much out of the question, but during my ownership they certainly grew on me. The RL's 3-voice PCM sound capability allowed me to exercise my interest in sound programming. Had a subscription to a Tandy magazine (can't remember which one) and specifically looked for programs that supported the special Tandy graphics. As my first (IBM-compatible) PC, it served its purpose well, letting my preteen self learn about programming, proprietariness, and patience. It was a great machine for a hobbyist.
Re:Tandys are indeed sturdy (Score:2)
I had a 1000RL... (8086 8mhz I think)
I had a 1000HX, which was effectively a PS/2 clone (IBM, not Sony ;-). It was the first time I had seen a 3 1/2" floppy. The demo model at Radio Shack showed an animation of both-sized floppies sliding into a guy's shirt pockets. The 5 1/4" ripped the shirt, but the 3 1/2" went right in. It's a pity we couldn't hardly ever find software that came on the latter at the time (except Civilization, which forced me to upgrade to 640k RAM).
As recently as 1993, there was a company in New Jersey that sold mail-order hardware to extend the life of the pre-386 Tandys (sorry, don't recall the name; for all I know, it still exists). I couldn't afford anything from them at the time, but they sold an improved processor (8088) for the HX to run at just north of 8MHz, and boards to give it up to a full 1MB of RAM and EGA graphics! They once claimed to be working on a hardware emulator to let it act as a very slow 386, but then they just sort of disappeared from my radar.
The RL's 3-voice PCM sound capability... [and] ...the special Tandy graphics.
Ack! I had nearly forgotten those. My friends were awed by the 3-voice sound, but laughed at the "TGA", since they had the PC squeaker and EGA, respectively. I was fairly happy with the compromise, even though it meant that I usually got stuck with CGA. If I wanted to see it in its full 16-color glory, though, I only had to fire up "Personal Deskmate II" (a Windows-like shell). Ah, those were the days...
Re:Tandys are indeed sturdy (Score:1)
Come to think of it, coming only with a 3.5" floppy at the time seems pretty revolutionary. It's a long time ago but I remember the Radio Shack salesman trying to explain to my dad how they were better than the 5.25" we were used to (we were upgrading from an Apple IIc).
Finding programs that explicitly supported TGA was a pain. Usually would get knocked down to CGA... ugh. I think some of the early-1990's Sierra adventure games supported TGA, as well as their subsidiary Dynamix. Unfortunately, I wouldn't get anything better than that until I upgraded to a homebuilt 486sx/33 with the glory of 320x200x256c VGA.
What happened to your HX?
Hanson says... (Score:1, Funny)
Which explains a whole heck of alot about NASA's current dilemmas.
--
Simplicity of character is the natural result of profound thought.
fortune cookie
Re:Hanson says... (Score:2, Informative)
i dunno... back in the day when i used to code on my trash-80 coco2 and 3, "stability" was never a problem, it wasnt even an issue to be discussed. We all took for granted that you COULDN'T crash your computer unless you you started really fusking with the OS, or did something to crash it on purpose.. aside from that, i would probly trust a trash-80 to run my life support if i had to choose that or a pc.. (yea sure sure, linux, whatever, till someone "gets root" and then really DOES 0wN J00)
Re:Hanson says... (Score:2)
-me
Re:Hanson says... (Score:2, Informative)
1) NASA likes to buy milspec stuff, and I think it was a milspec IC
2) How would you like to send the latest and greatest (and more complicated and fragile) CPU to Mars only to find out it can't divide properly? Most (all?) off the bugs in the 8045 (if I remember the chip - I could be wrong) were known when it was sent - it was already many many years old and well understood when the mission left the launchpad.
my old trash 80... (Score:2, Interesting)
my programming eventually ran into the limitations of the 7 1/2" disks.
if only i had cd burner in that thing!! lol
Re:Peek Poke (Score:1)
I also managed got my hands on one of the CoCo 2 systems a few years later. A big silver-grey thing with either 32K or 64K of RAM, a catridge slot and support for a couple high-resolution graphics modes.
An interesting thing to note about these two systems is that you could save a program written on one of them to a tape, and load it into the other one... but, they can't run them. Was kinda sad knowing that none of the programs I wrote for the MC-10 wouldn't run on the CoCo 2.
After that, I moved up to the Apple II+, programmed that for a few years, and finally switched to a Mac. Been brain-dead ever since.
Actually, I *do* program the Mac now, but it's been a slow process. After spending a lot of years in the background programming linear code, breaking into OOP hasn't been easy. Lucky for me that programs like Hypercard and Macromedia Director were around to put me on the right path.
Even to this day I'm still learning. Sure, I may not writing the latest 3D engine for the next hit game, but of the stuff I do create, I do it well.
Just in case you think I'm some old geezer ranting, guess again... I'm a mere 24yrs old. Just been programming since I was 8.
Re:Peek Poke (Score:2)
I couldn't agree more. I've been looking for copies of those books for a couple years now. Mainly just to find out who wrote them so I can get my hands on books of that caliber in real languages such as C.
I've looked for them on eBay and seen similar books, but never the ones that came with my CoCo 3. Programing in Extended Color BASIC 3, I think it was called. And of course there were a couple others, referance manuals and a guide to working with and programing for the optional 5 1/4" disk drive.
If you (or anyone for that matter) can tell me who actually WROTE those books (especially the main BASIC book for the CoCo 3) or point me to where I can pick one up myself, please let me know!
They were literaly written so well a 6 year old could understand them and start writing real programs (not just "Hello world!"). I know, because I *was* 6 when I started using my CoCo 3.
Ah, the Model 100 (Score:1)
I've still got one, it still works. I have the floppy drive that connects with it. I bought this one used before going to a chess tournament in 1986 because I wanted to keep chess notes on it. Ah the memories.
Re:Ah, the Model 100 (Score:2, Informative)
The original batch of Model 100's were under the TRS-80 brand. Then, Tandy Corp. dropped the TRS-80 brand from its entire line, when it became the Tandy Model 100. Then, the word "Model" was removed, and became the Tandy 100, then the Tandy 102. Clamshell versions were released under the Tandy 2xx line. As mentioned earlier, these were closer to souped-up TRS-80 Pocket Computers rather than scaled-down TRS-80 desktops. Meaning, Tandy 100's didn't run TRS-DOS. This doesn't mean much because TRS-DOS was customized for each model leaving 5 relatively incompatible families of TRS-80 machines: Models I, III and the IV/4 lines; Models II, 12, 16, etc.; Color Computers; Pocket Computers; and Models 10x-2xx.
(from a RadioShack alum and Tandy enthusiast... won my first few amateur programming competitions on Trash-80s)Re:Ah, the Model 100 (Score:2)
/Brian
Model 100 (Score:3, Interesting)
TRS-80 Pocket Computer (Score:2)
Re:Model 100 (Score:2)
I traded up to the PC-2. It offered graphics (I no longer had to use the yen sign to represent the protagonist dog in my adventure game!), a piezo speaker. I got the 4-color plotter/tape interface and plotted all sorts of neat geometric designs (as neat as you could get on adding machine tape). It's a clone of a sharp model [pocket.free.fr]... I just realized Sharp offered cool stuff that RS didn't, including a soft-key keyboard and apparently a video interface. Besides the video (which I thought was available only on the much-more-expensive HP basic calculator), the holy grail was the RS-232 interface: Thay way I could hook up a modem, a printer, or talk to big computers.
Little did I know that many years down the line I would eventually get a calculator that came with an RS232 serial port standard (HP48SX).
"Tandys" (Score:1)
You don't need an apostrophe when indicating the plural form of a noun. "Tandys" is the correct word. The apostrophe would be used when talking about something belonging to the Tandy, such as "the Tandy's power supply".
Re:"Tandys" (Score:1)
Unless Tandy has a "Never Die" policy, "Tandy's Never Die" doesn't make sense.
Re:"Tandys" (Score:1)
On the other hand, it wouldn't be *all* that far off to think of the possessive as referring to a casually implied subject
timothy
Re:"Tandies" (Score:1)
I *must* say it: (Score:1)
Almost cryed when it died (Score:2)
my first computer COSMAC ELF that never actualy ran, and used a RCA 1802 processor, 255 bytes of static ram, yes that bytes not kilobytes. input was done by setting a toggle switch to LOAD, setting the 8 toggle switches to match the bytes bit pattern and pressing the single-step button! The "mother=board was wire-wrapped.
Re:Almost cryed when it died (Score:2)
How about bringing it back?? (Score:2, Interesting)
Model 100 goes to work in the gaming industry (Score:4, Interesting)
8k (Score:2)
I used a 102, the updated model, in law school *87-88). It came with 24k, and I never got around to getting the 8k chip to put in the empty socket when they dropped down to $5 or so.
At the time in san diego, there was a bbs that actually *ran* on one of these (1.2mhz 8080 equiv, 300 baud internal pulse dialing modem).
I had the expansion disk, but it wasn't much use--50k (100k? ) on a 3.5" disk. I usually just threw the files to a basic program on a mac to catch them. I also found a program that would run on my XT to let it serve as a "Disk" for the 102 (the disk connected by standard rs-232).
The display was an amazing 8x40, though there was a function key to display the other/prior 8 lines. You could also bit address the pixels.
The simple flat design still beats the clamshell laptop design if you're just typing in text; it's much easier to balance.
It wanted 4 AA batteries for something like 20 hours on alkalines. Some folks used an empty bit of case to hold a 5th to use nicads--which were 1.2v rather than 1.5. I just used 4 nicads, and it lasted longer than if I'd made the mod(CMOS current draw is proportional to voltage applied).
I still occasionally haul it out.
hawk
Older laptops (Score:1)
If there's anyone else around who collects old laptops, I could use a pointer to where I can obtain a ROM image for an old Epson HX-20 laptop. I have the hardware here, but someone replaced the ROMS with a custom set. I'd like to restore this system to its original working condition if I can.
Remember the Orange Button? (Score:1)
Re:Remember the Orange Button? (Score:1)
Save early, save often. Damn cat.
My Info on the Model 100/102 (Score:2, Interesting)
http://www.ordersomewherechaos.com/rosso/fetish/m
You can also find a link to the interview where Billy Goates discusses the fact that this was the last project where he personally worked on a majority of the code.
Also, I've got a back up of a pretty good web site called Web 100
http://www.ordersomewherechaos.com/rosso/fetish/m
Enjoy...
Game Boys (Score:1)
Re:Game Boys (Score:2)
And while we're talking subtle CPU differences... the Game Boy does not use a Z80 either, but its CPU's instruction set is a close subset of it, only with a bunch of registers and opcodes removed. This is/was very frustrating for a Z80 programmer at first! Sega's (color) GameGear from the same era did use a true Z80 processor.
100 effective with reporters in Africa (Score:2, Informative)
New Model T? (Score:1)
Saw this in Tiger Direct's catalog. Seems to be an "updated" Tandy M100 repackaged and beefed up. First time I saw it I immediatly pulled out my credit card, but held back until I heard more about it.
Anyone have one of these?
Trash 80 (Score:1)
Tandys, take a lickin keep on tickin (Score:1)
Amazing little machines (Score:2, Interesting)
CoCo with OS-9 (Score:3, Informative)
Bruce
Re:CoCo with OS-9 (Score:1)
Come to think of it, I've still got the CoCo in my garage...
Meow
Re:CoCo with OS-9 (Score:2)
All in all, even with just Extended Basic as the OS, the CoCo 3 was an insane machine for its time and cost.
And as far as expansion on the CoCo 2? I seem to recall third party expansion options to take them to 128K or so (Tandy only supported up to 64K)...
Re:CoCo with OS-9 (Score:2)
Yup, yup, yup. It was a good machine. I kinda wish now I hadn't sold mine.
I first learned machine language programming on my CoCo. It made my EE microprocessors class a breeze when I found out that they were also used the 6809 for the embedded target.
It was quite a shock using a 6808 a while back, because the registers and instruction set were so limited. I briefly dabbled with the 8088 back in the day, but the concept of segment registers offended me. Thankfully, I've since moved on to flat address space architectures like the M68K for my embedded work. They also run Linux.
Re:CoCo with OS-9 (Score:2)
They offended me too.. I quickly came to the realization that the 8088 series was basically an 8085 with bank-switching formalized in the processor design. addressing anything beyond 64K of data was a hardwired kludge.
Something else: I honestly believe that IBM chose the 8088, rather than a 'real' processor, like the 68000 because the functionality of the 68000 was too close to the IBM/370 series.
The 8086 architecture was too hobbled to ever be a 'real' CPU (and thus a threat to their mainframe market). For the marketing 'droids at IBM, this would be considered "a good thing".
How about Ohio Scientific. (Score:1)
video modulator..Kansas City standard cassette.
You haven't lived until understand the difference between indexed indirect and indirect indexed.
Or perhaps you haven't lived if you do.
My brother still has one running a mirror ball on a dance floor. (Poor kid)
tandy 100 (Score:1)
Model 100 my first hardware hack (Score:1)
I committed my first hardware hacks on it. A slide switch to flip pins 2 and 3 on the serial port so I could ditch the null modem, and I cut a couple traces and added a couple wires so I could use ni-cads and have them recharge while plugged into the AC adapter.
They are often for sale on E-bay and usually sell for under $50.
I had a CoCo II (Score:1)
Back then, I compared the capability of BASIC. The Commodore series had by far the best, and came with the SID chip (sound chip). What was cool, back then, when you bought software, the floppies came with versions of software for ALL the machines out at that time. One copy gave you a version for the Atari line, the Texas instuments line, the commie line as well as the 'Trash-80's". They truly were all different.
Key Feature - Built in Modem (Score:1)
Another feature was that the memory was always powered (I don't think it was FLASH or anything fancy), but basically you could just turn the thing off and when you turned it back on it was exactly where it had been left (e.g., editing some file).
Journalists still use them (Score:2, Interesting)
Why, you ask? Besides the fact that they have a very useable word processor and run for weeks on a handful or batteries, there is a biggie.
You can type quite quickly on them with one hand without having to set it down on something. That is something that you simply cannot say about a modern clam-shell laptop.
I have mine as an onbject d'art. (Score:3, Interesting)
I mounted a 16K model-100 on the wall - with the powercord hidden by the dry-wall. It has a crappy "Draw-Random-Lines-And-Pereodically-Clear-The-Scr
It's easily the most facinating thing, for my guests, in my house. It's a reminder to me that computing doesen't have to be high-powered and expensive in order to make our quality of life better.
Side note - the things have a built in 300 Baud modem and a serial port (typical Radio-Shack DIN-5 style), I have another one that I hookup to all the OpenBSD routers/firewalls that I've installed for my clients - the batteries never seem to run out.
there are modern alternatives (Score:3, Informative)
So, if this is the kind of laptop you like, you can get modern alternatives, and they even run software for which you can get development systems.
For the record (Score:1)
Of course, the best I can do with it is play Bard's Tale. But hey...
My Model 100 died (Score:1)
my contribution to M100 "Open Source" community (Score:1)
I like the idea of hanging one on the wall as clock/conversation piece. With a serial connection to another box it could even receive live internet updates for things like
The Model 100 beats laptops, WinCE devices. (Score:3, Interesting)
Instant on, battery life on the order of 20 hours with a few AA cells, no moving parts so no need to be delicate, display with large pixels easily readable in sunlight or lamplight, very light, full-size keyboard... to get your data into your PC, you just connect it to the serial port and "capture" your data using a program like Procomm, Telix or (for those of you who are a little younger) HyperTerminal. On a Unix system, you just redirect it from the right device to a file. Nice and simple and clean.
Why did I stop using mine? It got stolen at a public library when I turned my back for about a second and a half. Seriously, whoever stole it must have been waiting to snatch it and run like the wind. I looked into replacing it (the theft occurred in the early '90s) but they were still quite expensive at that time.
I bought a 386 laptop instead but regretted it afterward because the M100 was a much better machine with much better ergonomics.
The Tandy 100... it lives... (Score:2, Interesting)
The only problem I see is in getting the files out to yoru regular computer. But if memory serves me correctly, there were ports on the thing (I'm pretty sure it had a parallel port, and I seem to recall it having a serial as well). I think there was even an internal modem option available(? - correct me if I'm wrong please). And since the thing had BASIC on it, I suppose you could hack together a crude file transfer program of sorts.
Plenty of I/O options (Score:2, Informative)
Some hams even hooked it up to packet radio devices to run it wireless.
the model 100 was just so right... (Score:2, Interesting)
if it came out with a one line display or, even more likley, a chicklet keyboard like the one used on the first version of the color computer, it would've been a curiosity, remembered like the sinclair zx computers are recalled today. but because the 100 had just the right combination of elements (real keyboard, a two dimensional display, a full set of I/O ports, and really useful applications) it's remebered as one of the most successful alternative computers at the dawn of the peecee era.
the model 100 had plenty of competition. luggable computers, pocket computers, etc. when i was in college, the school got a "great deal" on portable computers from texas instruments. one was issued to every incoming freshman that year. they were about the same size as the model 100, but only had a single line display and a chicklet keyboard. and they never went beyond being curiosities and playthings. the coolest thing about them was that with a simple command you could change their language from english to german.
Not the only portable Trash-80! (Score:2)
Re:What is there to tell (Score:1, Informative)
Re:What is there to tell (Score:1)
300 baud.
Re:What the hell are we doing up? (Score:2)