Design flaws in classic computers

[vwestlife]

Why the incompatibility in the Tandy 2000 when Tandy made XT clones? Why did Commodore put goofy ports instead of C=64 ports on the plus/4?

Actually, the Tandy 2000 was Radio Shack's first attempt at an MS-DOS machine; it predated the Tandy 1000 and all their other PC compatibles. And just like the DEC Rainbow and several other popular early MS-DOS computers, IBM PC compatibility was not part of the guarantee; perhaps in 1983 that wasn't seen as such a big deal. But the Tandy 2000 overstayed its welcome because Radio Shack simply couldn't sell them, even after massive price cuts. Reportedly, the unsold 2000s were repurposed for use by the Radio Shack stores themselves, set up in the back room to take care of the accounting.

 

[bluethunder]

Did a quick search, and didn't see this one listed.

I bought an old compaq portable, and the keytronic keyboard has completely failed.

All the little foamie pads have turn to either a sticky mess, or dry powder. As well, the mylar discs, have left most the "metalized" part behind on the pcb.

Seems like a cheap design with a limited life span.

 

[redhawk579]

I got a 130 that's pretty beat up. I want a 2100 some day.....

doesn't everybody want a 2100

 

[1944GPW]

Don't forget the Reset key on the original Apple ][... right where most people would expect to find a backspace key.

This has to count as one of the most well-known design flaws of a classic computer...there were articles and notes written about this in all the major computing magazines on how to alleviate the problem. IIRC there were programs you could buy to disable the reset key, whilst others advertised hardware modules that went into the keyboard so that another key had to be pressed at the same time. Another fix was to make a square cardboard tube that slipped over the key.
The simplest and most elegant solution I recall reading about was simply to pop the keycap off and put an O-ring underneath so that the key really had to be pushed hard to reset.