Any TRS-80 Model 100 Fans?
erco
Posts: 20,250
I just got one off Ebay. It's clean and appears to function properly, but 4 adjacent top row keys (9 0 - 
are dead. I don't really need another project, the seller just said "it works". I found a teardown site at http://www.ebay.com/itm/Radio-Shack-TRS-80-MODEL-100-Portable-Computer-/171855322087
In addition, what do you do with a model 100 these days?
are dead. I don't really need another project, the seller just said "it works". I found a teardown site at http://www.ebay.com/itm/Radio-Shack-TRS-80-MODEL-100-Portable-Computer-/171855322087In addition, what do you do with a model 100 these days?
Comments
It's a great on the desk type curio or conversation starter thing.
Sell it on Ebay.
Edit. oops. The Model 100 was much cooler. I knew someone who had one in college and it was handy. Although compared to a modern laptop it is crude.
Here's someone's video review. Blazing speed, up to 2-3 commands per second!
Clearly needs hooking to a Prop to talk to Tachyon for example.
Yup, supposed to run on 4x AA batteries for a week or more. And you KNOW line numbers rock!
10 PRINT "HELLO HEATER"
20 GOTO 10
They are just like using raw memory addresses in assembler instead of symbols, as we used to do back in the day. You know exactly where you are with line numbers.
Bit of a pain when you have to move code around and recalculate them all. Hmmm...perhaps we should have a high level language that emits BASIC as it's machine code?
Where BASIC development went wrong is when it was forced to "grow up" and become a real structured language, in the style of Algol and it's children. A pointless exercise.
Clearly needs hooking to a Prop to talk to Tachyon for example.
Add a CP/M-CoPropeller!!!
Or even some... multi-CP/M-ing... \o o// o/
In addition, what do you do with a model 100 these days?
Based on your statements, I went and dug through my collection. Mine is a Model 102. Same basic idea, but demonstrably better looking.
In addition it came with its manual. The only problem is that the time-of-day device isn't Y2K supportive.....
Now to decide what to do with it. Oh and inside that teardown site is the description of a site that promotes them. It seems that there's a lively community for them.....
I started using the M100 soon after it came out and helped to build a couple of agricultural data networks that fed data to a mainframe at the university. Yes, the M100 sported a 300 baud modem! A very popular feature at the time. Later on, I sold a couple of memory expansions that fit into the expansion
socket that you can see in the compartment on the bottom of the machine.
The BASIC interpreter was easily accessible, good for education and also good for the myriad third party apps that became available. Bill Gates was personally involved with development of the machine. In this case, the schematics were all published, and the firmware entry points and hooks were mapped out in magnificent detail.
No.
He used an AppleIIC with the extremely rare flatscreen LCD screen. As for what powered it.....
It might have been a Model 200.
Remember it was a long time ago.
I started using the M100 soon after it came out and helped to build a couple of agricultural data networks that fed data to a mainframe at the university. Yes, the M100 sported a 300 baud modem! A very popular feature at the time. Later on, I sold a couple of memory expansions that fit into the expansion
socket that you can see in the compartment on the bottom of the machine.
The BASIC interpreter was easily accessible, good for education and also good for the myriad third party apps that became available. Bill Gates was personally involved with development of the machine. In this case, the schematics were all published, and the firmware entry points and hooks were mapped out in magnificent detail.
Yes, I saw that you were involved in the site.
My big problem is that the Y2K one listed there, which is here:http://www.muppetlabs.com/~chris/model100/y2000.html
It mentions at the bottom three books:[*]Morgan, Christopher L., Hidden Powers of the TRS-80 Model 100, The Waite Group, New York, 1984[*]Tandy Corporation, TRS-80 Model 100 Assembler / Debugger Manual, catalog number 26-3823, Tandy Corporation, Fort Worth, Texas, 1984[*]Tandy Corporation, TRS-80 Model 100 Owner's Manual, Tandy Corporation, Fort Worth, Texas, 1983[/list]Of them, I think I can find the first. This presupposes that Amazon doesn't have a bad feeling over finding them. The others...... Well I'd rather believe the mysteries of the Lost Ark then in trying to find them. Oddly enough I have found Number Three. It was enclosed with my Model 102, who's still working despite some cosmetic damage to the plastic window over the display.
I'll see what happens next.
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=TRS-80&sts=t
They specialize in out of print books on a world-wide basis. And they are often cheaper than Amazon. I suspect that a lot of second hand book shops actually prefer to list with AbeBooks.
BEWARE -- I don't understand why a TRS-80 Interfacing, Book 2 is priced at $6,400+ USD. Could it be that we are sitting on some rare gems and don't know it?
http://www.autani.com/1225/airius-air-pear-fan-model-100/
The above is just Tandy publications for the TRS-80
But, it was a nice little machine. Back in the day, if you wanted to do some light business modeling, telecommunications, programming, data capture, the model 100 was pretty great.
I kind of want to gut mine and put Props in there one day. P1 and P2. For now though, it's a great curio.
That assumes there is some empty space available on the desk. Silly potatohead!
I kind of want to gut mine and put Props in there one day.
Pleeeeeeeeeease don't do that.
What you have there is a historical artefact, a family heirloom. The Science Museum in London has newer machines than that on display in the Computer History section, just meters away from the worlds first steam engines. If nothing else it is a 'great curio' as you say.
If you gut it and put anything else in there you have just made junk for the land fill for anyone who comes after you.
If it's burden to you give it to someone who cares about such things. Or donate it to a museum.
So many of the artefacts the were part of common life during my life time have vanished, into those land fills.
And it's not a burden. I've used it, for real actually, in the last few months. (and that was fun)
No, this would be about something I would actually use, or it will remain an idle fantasy. And if I'm actually using it, then I've no worries. Everything costs something. That use value may just cost a museum piece.
Speed, what can you squeeze out of an 8085 clocked at 2.4576 MHz? Given that, it is remarkably snappy, even running the BASIC interpreter. 32kBytes of ROM, 32kBytes of RAM--Remind you of anything?
Another book to look for is "Inside the Model 100", written by another fan, Carl Oppendahl. "8085 Assembly Language Programming, Advanced BASIC programming, Hardware Overview--Keyboard, LCD, Printer Interface, Cassette I/O, Beeper, Power Supply, RS232, Modem". ISBN 0-938862-31-6.
And of course the keyboard is superior to almost all modern keyboards, even those that aren't portable.
Some of the low end Windows tablets like the HP stream line are finally horning in on what the M100 was capable of, but even they don't match its battery life and ruggedness. Some years back I paid $50 and $75 each for a pair of NEC PC8200A's, which are similar but not quite compatible with the M100 and therefore don't have the support community, with the intent of gutting them to use the keyboard and display for something more modern and propellery, but I got sidetracked and newer devices are finally filling the need that I was feeling so I probably won't return to that project any time soon. But if you have a real M100 a lot of the work of putting it to practical use has been done for you by the community.
I love the keyboard. Often, I write on my //e for the keyboard. The Model 100 is similar. Just a joy to type on.
http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/html/1984/h184.html
Furthermore, in today's dollars (including inflation) the higher end model would cost around $2300.