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TRS-80 for Dummies

E

English Invader

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Aug 19, 2013
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I recently acquired a bag of TRS-80 software and accessories as a hand-me-down and I'm trying to decide whether or not the system is worth investing in.

I live in the UK and I'm led to understand that the TRS is a predominantly US system. What problems am I likely to encounter as a TRS user in the UK?

Also, I would be interested to hear some of the reasons why people like the TRS-80 and what the system has to offer.
 
Which model of TRS-80? I'm not sure what part of the EU market they were successful in but keep in mind if they weren't successful; they're harder to find there which makes them a bit more unique :)
 
I too am a UK trs-80 user.I wanted one because I could never afford one as a kid but spent many hours watching them in the local Tandy store.
I now have a trs-80 model 1 with monitor and have just acquired an expansion interface that gives more memory and adds disk drives (just trying to sort out a boot disk now).
These systems had a big variety of arcade game conversions and that's what originally attracted me to the system.If you have the cassette leads you might be able to load some software using a smartphone if you convert the files to .wav and play them to the trs-80-details can be found around the 'net.
 
Hi Invader,

Here's the interesting thing, the TRS-80 is an american system that was designed and built in Texas, but in this day and age, the main support for the machine comes mostly out of Australia (me and my posse... they know who they are, too many to mention), the UK via the last TRS-80 newsletter, TRS8Bit, and with information support from Ira in California (www.trs-80.com).

The system was popular because in its original form by 1978 as a Level II 16K computer it had a performance edge over the Apple ][, cost less than the Apple ][, came with a monitor, and was sold through a proper distribution channel of 1000+ stores and computer centres. Apple by contrast had a few hundred dealers and depending where you lived in the USA, could be quite some distance from an Apple dealer. Commodore with the PET computer had even fewer dealers in the USA. So for a while there the TRS-80 flourished and lots of people in the 1970s started out using those. By the 1980s Apple had made up ground with the Apple ][+ and IIe which is why people who started out computing in the 1980s remember the Apple machines more fondly.

Depending on your task, for most applications other than games or educational software with extensive graphics, the Model 4 usually run rings around the Apple IIe. (This is my opinion only and remember I'm biased.)

The Apple these days however is an order or magnitude more popular than the TRS-80... there are some 500 TRS-80 enthusiasts worldwide and more like 5000 Apple II enthusiasts.

That however doesn't stop the TRS-80 being a vibrant interesting machine to tinker with and we are always interested in new innovative uses for the machines including, but not limited to, FreHD, Cheapo-IDE, MISE, and restorations, new software etc.

Ian.
 
I would just say that you may want to do a Google search on these computers - the history is fascinating ! - our local computer group in the 1980's was almost all with them &
when we Kaypro people showed up a lot changed - they could not believe there was another computer much better !

Radio Shack had all their stores so distribution & support was already built in - many innovations at the time including a suitcase to carry them around !

Enjoy !

Frank
 
Ian, You're right, the Radio Shack distribution channel was a HUGE advantage. I remember reading magazines as an 11 year old, trying desperately to learn more about computers. S-100 information wasn't that accessible to me, but the Radio Shack catalog was! Every issue and bulletin seemed to announce another computer model (model II, model III, model 12, model 16, CoCo 1/2/3, all kinds of pocket computers…), at least a couple new printers, not to mention the modems and other peripherals. It was amazing.
 
Radio Shack had several different mutually incompatible lines of computers all wearing the TRS-80 badge from the late '70s through the early '90s, ranging in capability all the way from the TRS-80 Pocket Computer (a glorified programmable calculator) to the Tandy 2000 (a 16-bit MS-DOS machine). It's sort of like how Oldsmobile had half a dozen different car models in the 1980s, all called the "Cutlass" something-or-other (Cutlass Supreme, Cutlass Ciera, Cutlass Salon, etc....).

If you just say "TRS-80", most people assume you're talking about the Model I / III / 4 line, although any of the other models could rightfully be called a TRS-80 as well (especially the Model II / 12 / 16 / 6000 business computer line).
 
Tandy also operated a chain of business-targeted computer retail outlets that offered certain models under the Tandy (not the Radio Shack name--My Model 16 certain says Radio Shack, so I don't know when the division occured). Some models are merely re-badgings of Radio Shack models, but then there is the Tandy 10, made by ADDS and not duplicated in any Radio Shack model--it used an Intel 8080 CPU. The ADDS look is unmistakable--looks like a Consul with some extra stuff added in.
 
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