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Model 100 here I come!

V

vic user

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2003
Messages
724
Location
Ottawa, Canada
I just received a model 100 in the mail today!

Needs a paint job real bad, let me tell you! I hope to God I can remove the top part of the case easy ')

I also picked up "The TRS-80 Model 100 Portable Computer" by David A. Lien, a few weeks ago, in anticipation of the awaiting computer, so I can put this puppy through some laps I hope.

Heard that the Model 100 has a good and easy terminal app., so also hoping that it will be easy to transfer text back and forth from my various computers.

Can't wait to leave for home :)

Chris
 
Kewl! What color ya gonna paint 'er? The top case does come off real easily, but the clear plastic screen part is permanently attached, so you'll have to be good at masking it off before ya spray. You can't ask for a better book than Lein's for assimilating the basics of the Mod 100, but it doesn't go very deeply into it, if that's what you're interested in. There's lots of info & softwere available here:

www.club100.org

File transfers between the Mod 100 & a PC is a snap, once you have the cableing worked out. You can either buy a null-modem from Radio Shack fr around five buck$, or build your own. Then the transfers can be accomplished using DOS's COPY command, just copy to the serial port. BTW, how much memory does your new aquisition have? That can be a PITA to upgrade. Also, while you have it apart, you should replace the internal backup battery, it''s prolly pretty old by now.

--T
 
Thanks Terry;

I am probably going to use 'rocky road' colour from the Krylon fusion spray paint, so it will more or less look like a brand new model 100.

i painted two of my vic 20's this colour, and they look great.

i also painted another vic 20 and a mac SE30, forest green, and they look pretty nice too.

glad to hear about the top case coming off easy. i see the four screws, but was unsure what was attached to the top case itself.

when i boot her up, i get 29638 bytes free, so a 32k machine then, after the computer itself steals some RAM?

i really need to have a null modem cable for my other computers as well, so it is a MUST!

glad you know a lot about this thing, as i will be posting questions again i am sure :)

chris
 
I poked around with it at lunch, and boy is the keyboard dirty. many unresponsive or not very responsive keys, sadly the space bar is one of them :(

hope they are easy to clean on this model.

chris
 
Bad news, the keycaps don't come off easily without breaking them. Try using compressed air to blow the switches out (insert the nozzle under the keycaps). 29K available to the user is a 32K machine, minus some for system overhead. (At boot-time, the BASIC in ROM is copied into RAM (faster) where it is run from. That accounts for the "stolen" memory). Anyways, about the non-functional keys, remove the keyboard and check all the lil' diodes on each key. I've seen them go bad before too, but they are easy to replace.

--T
 
too bad about the keys. let's hope some good old air will do the trick then

since i will be painting the case tonight. i can get a good look at the keyboard i hope, and can go from there. at least please let me get the space bar to work ')

chris
 
Re: Model 100 here I come!

"vic user" wrote:

> Needs a paint job real bad, let me tell you! I hope to God
> I can remove the top part of the case easy ')

Sorry for the late suggestion, go back to basics & paint it in
Black & White Swirls!

If Vinyl records are comming back (yes my music store is
stocking up on brand new Beatle & Byrd vinyl albums! ;-)
then B&W Checkered Floors & B&W Swirls are too! Next it'll
be B&W movies! Bring back the good ol' days! ;-)

Cheers,
CP/M User.
 
I would love to do crazy designs on computer shells, but need way more practice.

would be nice to do some air brushing.

i sure would like to have a vic 20 gaming computer, and have characters from various games, spray painted all over the shell.

would also like to do the colour spectrum on a compact mac.

or maybe one as a TARDIS :wink:

that one is for you CP/M user!
chris
 
"vic user" wrote:

> or maybe one as a TARDIS ;)

> that one is for you CP/M user!

I had one TARDIS desktop picture, but had
to take it off because it was draining my
computers resources :-(

Was there a particular TARDIS design you
were thinking of? In the early days the
TARDIS seems to change on the inside
(particularly the wall). I liked the one
Patrick Troughton had (episode 10 of The
War Games) with the wall with circles fully
cut out in it.

Cheers,
CP/M User.
 
hmmm....

i certainly do like the old tardis control rooms better than the newer ones, as well as the older consoles.

i also like it when they have things like antique coat racks in the room too.

i will have to pay more attention and get back to you, which is an enjoyable task, and i have not watched any dr. who for about three weeks :oops:

chris
 
wow!

i had no idea that any stuff i did on the model 100 would actually save when i turned it off. the computer looks like it has seen a basement corner for many a year (corrosion on the rs232 interface, perhaps soda pop stains on the kyeboard) so i sure did not expect the internal battery to still be good.

man, what a cool way to save info, by using your main power source to charge your internal battery.

who cares about a cassette interface?

love this!

chris
 
you know it Terry!

and that sched program or whatever it is called is really neat.
i have not tried it yet, but have been reading the book, and if used a certain way, can be a little database. too bad it can't recognize files other than 'note'

i showed peopleat work the model 100 today, and just through talking someone mentioned that they wished they had learned basic.

i was shocked, because i assume everyone knows basic :)

after i told people how easy it is to pick up, you should have seen some people's looks.

i think they thought only nerds could program, or something :D

i hope a few decide to try to code something, and realize anyone can do it, and i am a great example!.

chris
 
Well, I've never been able to grok BASIC much at all (or Pascal, or C or...). Assembly language comes much easier to me. What does that make me, an Uber-geek, or what?

--T
 
Corrosion on the ports? Wow, I'm not sure I ever saw that on an old computer unless it had been operated outside or in really harsh environment.

I don't know what I make out of someone who readily reads and works with assembler but not more compound languages. Maybe it comes from your generation had to work from the closest level of programming and got used to it. But yes, for me it is much easier to translate a Basic or C program into machine code than the other way around.
 
well, the guy i bought it from was/is a journalist, that wrote about car races in USA, and toured around with it, until his company got him a pc notebook, ages ago.

so maybe it saw the odd rain drop?

i will for sure have to give the port a good scrubbing.

the inside of the machine looked fine, and very dust free actually. more to do with the well made shell i think than owner care :wink:

the keys are still very dirty. you should have seen the felt sheet! dust bunnies galore!

if i could get the damn 'n' key to work, then i could make myself a 'note' file. and the 'd' key too, since i would like to make an 'adrs' file too.

damn, why did this comp. not come with a template 'note' and 'adrs' files :)

so far, i am getting around certain letters, by representing them with other characters. so long as i don't try and run any of the programs, it's ok.

chris
 
There are no asphalt marks on the keyboard or elsewhere? :) I suppose a computer like this doesn't automatically obey a dumb terminal on a serial port? Otherwise it might be an alternative to using the real, dirty keyboard.
 
I have not read up much on the telecom part and all that. Hope to do this tonight actually.

I did find a male to male db 25 cable, in my stack of cables, so maybe a null modem cable?

The two most needed keys at the moment, are 'd' and 'n'.

after hitting 'n' about 500 times yesterday, and also rubbing it a bit, i finally managed to get the 'n' to appear, so i saved a 'note' file real quick!

chris
 
vic user said:
I have not read up much on the telecom part and all that. Hope to do this tonight actually.

I did find a male to male db 25 cable, in my stack of cables, so maybe a null modem cable?

The two most needed keys at the moment, are 'd' and 'n'.

after hitting 'n' about 500 times yesterday, and also rubbing it a bit, i finally managed to get the 'n' to appear, so i saved a 'note' file real quick!

chris
Click to expand...

The Mod 100 makes a good terminal for the PC, but I dont think I ever tried it the other way round.
The null modem I've always used with that setup looks like this:

Code: 
db-25___(pin #)___db-25

2 <----------------------> 3
3 <----------------------> 2
4 <----------------------> 5
5 <----------------------> 4
7 <----------------------> 7
6 +
8 +----------------------> 20
20 <---------------------+ 6
                         + 8

It's the same wiring diagram as the one they sell at Radio Shack.

--T
 
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