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RadioShack

T

Terry Yager

Veteran Member
Joined
May 1, 2003
Messages
8,763
Location
Saginaw, MI, USA 48601
I stopped in to a RadioShack store today to pick up some batteries for a project I was working on. As I walked thru the door, the clerk appologized, "Sorry about the mess, we're just doing a little Spring cleaning." I replied "Oh, that's all right, but if ya happen to come across any old TRS-80s while yr cleaning out the back room, don't throw them in the dumpster, just load them directly into my car." The clerk says "Any who?" I then had to explain that the TRS-80 was the first computer that Tandy/RadioShack ever built/sold years ago. As the clerk rang up my order, I mentioned that the batteries were for another computer that was 23 years old. "WOW!" says the young man, "Your computer is older than I am!"

--T
 
Heh. It reminds me of a series of Z80 based computers we had here; the ABC-80, ABC-800 etc. To make a long story short, let's say they were produced and sold by Swedish company Luxor, which was later acquired by Finnish mobile phone producer Nokia in 1987. I'm not sure if any computer IP, patents or documents came with the deal, but the remaining hardware was anyway sold off to another company in the deal.

I guess asking some random Nokia representative today about ABC computers would yield a blank look just like I suppose this clerk got when you discussed TRS-80.
 
carlsson said:
I guess asking some random Nokia representative today about ABC computers would yield a blank look just like I suppose this clerk got when you discussed TRS-80.
Click to expand...

Hmmmn, my phone is a Nokia, and it's probably "smarter" than most of the computers in my collection.

--T
 
I dunno. Luxor in the old days worked with electronical things like radio, TV, computers and imported a couple of Fairchild video game consoles which they sold under own label.

It seems that the brand is still used today for TVs, DVDs, vacuum cleaners, microwave ovens, coffee makers, hair dryers etc. I'm not sure if all those come from the Nokia "Luxor" though. As a change, Google or the rest of Internet doesn't clue me in much. Not that it matters much, when neither item is delivered with a good keyboard and cartridge port.

One of the stories I read was that the ABC computer people including resellers used to go on a yearly conference meeting, which was free of charge. When Nokia took over, it suddenly cost 400 SEK (about 60 USD) to go seeing boot manufacturing* and meet the other people. One reseller was so upset that he paid the 400 SEK but included the message that he refused to go to Finland and the conference. :? It was about that time (1986) they finally cancelled the computer line, which had become much outdated despite attempts to make it both Unix- and MS-DOS compatible.

*) Nokia Works was a maker of rubber boots, tyres etc who in 1966 joined with a cable producer and a power company, which created one large company working with rubber, cable, forestry, electricy and electronics. I believe today these are separated companies again.
 
Try "Luxor Motala" and you will get a few more on-topic hits. Motala is the town from where they came and had the major factories. I don't know how to explain how or why, but if you add "Osama" to the search string, you narrow down the search result to three independent hits.
 
carlsson said:
Try "Luxor Motala" and you will get a few more on-topic hits. Motala is the town from where they came and had the major factories. I don't know how to explain how or why, but if you add "Osama" to the search string, you narrow down the search result to three independent hits.
Click to expand...

Oh yah, but ya gotta follow the link to find the connection. Apparently Osama blew up a hotel in Luxor, Egypt.
Muslim militants massacred 58 foreign tourists and 4 Egyptians on the West Bank outside the Temple of Hatshepsut. Police killed the assailants but the attack is believed to have been financed by Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden
Click to expand...

--T
 
Aha, two pages describing the same event, while one was a faked keyword catcher. By the way, the name Yusuf Suleiman Motala sounds funny to me, something like José Maria Cleveland (which might work as a name for as much as I know).
 
carlsson said:
Aha, two pages describing the same event, while one was a faked keyword catcher. By the way, the name Yusuf Suleiman Motala sounds funny to me, something like José Maria Cleveland (which might work as a name for as much as I know).
Click to expand...

I used to date a lil ol' Mex-Tex gal named Guadalupe. One of her middle names was "James". She explained to me that it is customary in Mexico to name a child after both parents, so a guy named "Maria" might not be too far off-track.

--T
 
*laughs again* Yes, I know that Maria is a rather common middle name for men in Spanish speaking countries. It was the Cleveland surname I thought may look odd/funny.

By the way, isn't Guedaloupe an island group in the Caribbean Sea? It would've been even more hilarious if that had been her last name, and her first name been Basse. If you two had married and you had converted to her surname, you could have called yourself Basse-Terre (which happens to be the capital) Guedaloupe.
 
Other combinations on the same theme:

George Cayman (town, islands)
Avarua Cook (islands)
San José-Costa Rica
Stanley Malvinas Falkland (islands)
Amman Jordan
Majuro Marshall (islands)
Louis Mauritius (port)
Mamoutzou Mayotte
Adams Pitcairn (town, islands)
Victoria Seychelles
Honiara Solomon (islands)
 
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