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1.5 Ghz TRS-80 III Refit!

L

LoserDave

Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2008
Messages
47
Ok,, so I got this TRS-80 III.
and am doing a complete refit of the internals.

I will be using a 1.5 ghz Mini-ITX motherboard.
complete with onboard graphics
A 12" color monitor tube, (i had considered a 12" flat screen ,, but i wanted to retain the basic look of the machine.)
A floppy/ card-reader combo drive and sony DVD RW in the upper bay.
And a SATA removable drive in the lower bay.
Internal speakers.

The problem is,, I want to retain the look of the keyboard ,, but i don't think i can work without Ctrl, Alt, and "Function" keys.

What do you guys suggest ?
Any Ideas?

thanks
 
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Well...If it is a working machine, DO NOT mutilate it. Instead, sell it to someone who can take care of it, please. Otherwise, if you are handy with sharp tools, you could custom form some holes for the keys. Good luck finding a keyboard to perfectly match that spot. I guess a membrane keyboard would be fit for custom tuning, but likely wouldn't fit the space right. You could also take the top plate off the keyboard, and put a normal keyboard in that case. Then you would have to cut a piece of material(plastic, wood, metal) to perfectly fit around all the keys with just a tinsey-tiny bit of extra space around them, so they can move. Or were you talking about using the original keyboard? Cause if you were, you are likely SOL. Although, if you were handy with programming, you could somehow edit some Windows files(or whatever O/S you are using) to allow you to press a certain key in combination with another(perhaps a home-made button attachment) to make a whole nother function. Or if you don't want to somehow make a custom button, you could make the scroll-wheel button be the button you need to push to make a new function.

The whole thing seems out-of-whack if you want the original keyboard and casing to work.

--Ryan
P.S. Even though we are talking about a TRS-80, I think due to the PIII part this belongs in the "off-topic" section. I can't move it for you, though, as I am not a moderator...yet.
 
I saw this earlier but didn't move the thread. Let a TRS-80 fan persuade Dave not to hack the machine up.

If it's a non-working machine with no innards, then it might be a little less blasphemous.
 
Pretty cool project Dave, I've been thinking about trying to get a FlexATX mobo into an Atari 2600 shell, but haven't had the time :p

The PIII is a bit off topic for the Vintage section but here in General Offtopic its good. I wonder if there's a way you can get your OS to remap part of the keyboard to see a key combination like shift - tilde - 4 for F4 or something like that.

-Vlad
 
If it is a working (or even mostly intact) system, I'll trade you an empty case for it. Where are you located?
 
Oh yeah the machine works, the only problem is the monitor kinda changes resulution on its own .
I think it may be due to a bad capacitor or resister .
A slight tap on the side corrects it.

I have two tape games that work perfectly on it.
and 2 model 1 games i cant seem to get to work on it.
i did some basic programing on it , but i keep hitting the wrong key and wiping out all the lines.:cry:
 
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Hope it's OK with Admin. If i catalog the progress of the project here.
First step "cracking the shell"
The funny thing is, i had to break the "WARRANTY VOID" sticker on the bottom,,,I felt a sense of foreboding as i was doing it :lookroun:,,, but I had to laugh because the warrenty probly expired in 1980 :happy9:
i guess that says a lot about who used to own the machine.
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turns out the video issue was a loose wire on the tube ,, as you can see it gave way when i touched it.
 

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Temporarly fixed video to play Defense Command.:p

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Are you seriously going ahead with this conversion? I was going to ask when you first posted if the machine had any functional components, but the fact that the thing seems to work well would be a HUGE disappointment to be perfectly honest. There are tons of non-working TRS-80 Model III's and IV's, so I really hope you reconsider and sell or trade the thing to someone who would appreciate it. I know when I got a Model III, the seller failed to secure it properly and the monitor imploded, leaving yet another contribution to the world's "non-working" pile. I since got a 4 and two 4P's, though only one works of the latter. These things sell very well these days, particularly in full working condition (though of course yours lacks disk drives).
 
hummm.... well maybe i should leave it.
but it's no use to me "as is"
Aside from a conversation piece.
,,, but i still want to build a up to date pc inside a model 3 shell..
 
LoserDave said:
hummm.... well maybe i should leave it.
but it's no use to me "as is"
Aside from a conversation piece.
,,, but i still want to build a up to date pc inside a model 3 shell..
Click to expand...

And I re-iterate my offer to trade a blank shell that I have for your more complete unit. Of course, convenience does weigh in. Where are you located?
 
Out of curiosity, are you planning to install a real SVGA-ish tube into the Model III, or only keep the old tube as a prop? Personally, while I like the concept of reusing old cases of broken computers, I think the all-in-one form factor is more of a hindrance than being practical. When it comes to keyboard, I'd try to keep the original one and program a micro-controller so I could use it with a modern computer. Those hacking and cutting out space in the plastic just to put a standard PC keyboard rarely makes it look neat.
 
kb2syd said:
And I re-iterate my offer to trade a blank shell that I have for your more complete unit. Of course, convenience does weigh in. Where are you located?
Click to expand...

Im located in NC
. Thanks for the offer ,,, but the case is in very good shape, no broken vents , and the paint is mostly there, so i think i will keep it.
However ,,, if you, or anyone, would like the internal boards and CRT i will be happy to anti-static rap them send them for the shipping cost + 5 dollars handling ,,,(time thing)

think i'll keep the keyboard , might be able to adapt it.
 
carlsson said:
Out of curiosity, are you planning to install a real SVGA-ish tube into the Model III, or only keep the old tube as a prop? Personally, while I like the concept of reusing old cases of broken computers, I think the all-in-one form factor is more of a hindrance than being practical. When it comes to keyboard, I'd try to keep the original one and program a micro-controller so I could use it with a modern computer. Those hacking and cutting out space in the plastic just to put a standard PC keyboard rarely makes it look neat.
Click to expand...

I Originaly had planed to us a 12" SVGA CRT
that a friend had stored in his shop,, (would have fit nicely and i like the curved lines and the way the old one looked)
However i just found out that they just threw out that monitor:cry:
And i am finding it impossible to find a 12 SVGA curved CRT anywere!

So i may go with a 12" LCD. i know where i can get one.

If i get the LCD there will be more room so, I may change the Mboard to a Micro-ATX instead of a mini-ITX. Just so i can upgrade the processor.
 
They're hard to find and I dunno if its even made anymore but FlexATX is a little smaller than microATX. To be honest though the only time I've seen FlexATX is with an on board VIA processor like mine, I dunno if it ever went beyond that. One thing to think about is with microATX, a bigger processor would be better but does the case/shell have big enough vents for the airflow to deal with the thermal output of a bigger processor? A P4 would get raging hot pretty fast from the looks of it but then again, I don't know how big the space in there is.

-VK
 
It is a large, well-ventilated case, with lots of extra room for additional fans, or even more hi-tech cooling solutions. I don't think cooling will be a problem. Of course, while I'm typing, allow me to throw in on the side of not destroying functional vintage equipment. Also, if anyone is interested, I still have the Model I monitor that I was saving for carlsson, since it seems he is no longer interested in it. Druid has 'first dibs', but if he doesn't want it, it's still available for shipping cost.

--T
 
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