The Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1 (as seen in Terry Stewart's computer collection)

[@kevy1967]

I got a TRS-80 Model I in 1978 when I was 11. I pestered my dad for weeks to get one. Finally he took me to the Tandy shop but didn’t buy a computer, he bought me a book on BASIC. Although the book had a picture of a man using a TRS-80 the book was obviously much older, as it still discussed Timesharing using a Teletype terminal, but it taught me BASIC. I wrote some programs on paper and dad took them into the Tandy shop to ask the sales assistant if they would work, when the sales assistant said yes dad bought me a shiny new TRS-80 Model I with 4k of memory and Level I BASIC, so much of the BASIC I’d learnt wasn’t much use. After about six months we upgraded it to Level II BASIC with 16k and a numeric keypad. The Level II BASIC was great, so much more powerful than Level I, which, if memory serves, only had two string variables. I loved that TRS-80 and kept it throughout the 80s when all my friends were getting C64s or Spectrums. Thanks for the video, it brought back so many great memories of hours of playing text based adventures and Star Trek. Brilliant!

[@ohioterran7374]

I am one of those IT professionals that cut his teeth on a TRS-80 model 1 back in the day. Thank you for this great video about a great computer!

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks for the support!

[@collectioneur]

Our school was the first school in the Netherlands with a classroom full of TRS-80 Model 1 computers and even the teachers had no idea what to do with them. Nice feeling to be among the first computer nerds...

[@billpinto4692]

I had one one our these. All the way up to the max. I bought it at radio shack. It was fun. I wrote my own check book program.

[@BilalHeuser1]

What I really appreciate about Radio Shack and it's line of computers is that they really wanted you to learn about how computers worked. For myself, the TRS-80 was a great way of doing just that! What I learned with these early machines helped me for years to come. Thanks to my Raspberry Pi, I can now emulate a lot old computers as well.

[@billpinto4692]

This brings back a lot of memories

[@mikeme9938]

Would have loved a Model 1. Limited by finances, I settled on a Coco 1. Good video.

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks.

[@grinderkenny]

The Model 1 is one of the tree computers in the Trinity of computers and is a important part of the personal computer history. I wish I had one in my collection

[@neleabels]

This is the machine which introduced me into computing at the age of 11 or 12. My father owned a model I level 2 and let me use it freely. I taught myself basic and how to work with a disk operating system and that was the beginning. (I also improved my English, I am a German and there were no translated docs.) I did not end up in IT, but my whole live I had an interest in computing which led to a specialisation as an admin in a learning environment and helpdesk duties in education.

[@neleabels]

And I did love the games. I played "Galaxy Invaders" until it underwent an internal overflow and reset to level 1 difficulty. And I actually solved most of the Scott Adams adventures. I still have an emulator and an archive of software on my Macbook.

[@rhodaborrocks1654]

I owned a Science of Cambridge MK14 when I saw a TRS80 for the first time and of course was well impressed, however it was beyond the reach of my pocket at the time, so I went with the Sinclair ZX80 and like many others, soon realized I should have spent more money. I eventually went with the Apple ][ which I still believe was the best of the bunch at the time, but of course that put me in the 6502 camp and I still enjoy messing with those today, great fun. I'm retired now after a long career as a C++ developer on Unix systems, all off the back of these early home computers, a story I'm sure has been repeated by many in the industry.

[@frankowalker4662]

I got my TRS-80 in 86. It was a great machine to program. I went on holiday, and when I came back I realised I'd left my window open and there had been a storm. The whole lot was waterlogged. I was devastated. My favorite game was Engineer. You had to build a bridge over a canyon. I wore the tape out. I still play it using an Emulator.

[@imabirdbear]

I still have mine in a closet. 16k interface, cassette player and 3 77kb floppy drives. The interface cable has a short in it though. I bought mine in 1977. Was already programming on IBM mini computers, but this 'puter got me going on Basic. Ended up with LDOS on it. It was a blast back then. Thanks for the video!

[@jurgenreissing8209]

Thank you for the trip down memory lane. I worked for Radio Shack in my formative years, so I am very receptive to this type of video. Awesome system back in the day. 😂

[@tezzaNZ]

It was. A clone of this machine was my first computer.

[@algiles881]

It was clunky but I loved this machine. It was the first home computer I ever had.

[@SuperHaunts]

I used one of my TRS80s to run the BBS Techlink. I was also a node on FidoNet.

[@SuperHaunts]

Back in the day, it was considered 'Gosh' to charge for running a BBS, so I funded everything. I used an assembler routine to monitor the 'Ring' signal on the RS232, then flip the relay in the Expansion Interface to use a Double Pole relay to connect the phone to the line , which the handset set in the acoustic coupler (modem) that was set to Answer and start the session. When someone logged off (or Carrier Detect was dropped), I'd then force files closed & after 5 or so seconds, flip the second cassette interface relay back to normal, reboot the computer, and the AutoExec would start up the BBS software and wait for the next call. LOVED engineering these kinda things!

[@argonwheatbelly637]

@1:20 -- I can feel and smell the plastic of each one. Wow! Flashhhhhhback!!!!

[@tarstarkusz]

Very good job Terry.

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks!

[@neleabels]

About the games; it should also be mentioned that the gameplay and the graphics are so fluent although the CPU was responsible for everything because the screen memory was only one kilobyte of RAM, easily to be handled by the Z80. More relevant for timing issues was the sound because the gameplay had to wait or to interrupt for the sound frequencies.

[@SuperHaunts]

The expansion issue was taken care of with the buffered interface shortly after, and of course the gold edge connectors

[@Egg-kh2xo]

I was one of those early programmers that learnt to use the cassette write port for (now called PWM) sound. My school played a cassette with some of my game pew pew sounds on an oscilloscope for a school fate. Some were variable frequency sine and a teacher (physics) called me a fake because he said it's unpossible to make perfect sine waves with a square wave. He didn't understand that both the audio circuity and the tape itself acted as a low pass filter. I just said to him that if I didn't make these complex sounds with a computer then how did I make them.

[@tarstarkusz]

I don't know if you follow this type of thing, but the 8bitguy has finally released his "new" retro-computer. It's very much a nod to these early computers and comes with a built in basic, a built in "blitzer" and will supposedly have a built in basic compiler. Modeled largely from the C64 or what he thinks Commodore would/could have released as a follow-up 8 bit computer. A lot of people seem excited about. it. But, of course, a lot of people were excited about the Sinclair Next and the C65, but have stayed tightly inside the core of retro-enthusiasts selling, at best, hundreds of examples. In a video he released Saturday, he says he hopes to eventually sell it as a learning device for kids. OTOH, his first batch will be 1000 computers. There is just no way to get the price under control with those sort of numbers.

[@cygil1]

I think the best option at this point is the sub Aus100 (in bare bones configuration) Agon Light, although it has a very weird architecture. The Commander X16 is a giant frankenstein's monster of an 8 bit CPU with megabytes of memory accessed through banking and anachronistic display capabilities. It's basically an Amiga crippled with an 8 bit processor, and he should have just created an Amiga clone if that was his intention. The Agon light at least feels like a modern take on an 8/24 bit computer, something that might plausibiy exist, and the architecture is simple enough to be used as a learning tool.

[@tarstarkusz]

@@cygil1 The problem I think these all suffer from is they are brand new obsolete computers with no software available. There is no nostalgia because they are brand new. Plus, theses are going to have the same problem retro computers have, which is lack of new hardware after a few years. Nobody is going to take up the mantle of storing/selling these things on a permanent basis. Not only are they obsolete computers with no software, but they are expensive for what they are. Getting the price down is only doable if they can sell them in the many 10s of thousands. I've always thought the only way a new retro computer could work is to be entirely defined in software to be run on an existing low cost SBC. Even then, you run into the problem of the SBC remaining available for the foreseeable future. But at least being 100% software defined, it can be movable to a new SBC when the old one stops being produced. But at least this could solve the problem of hardware costs. Because you just cannot produce the hardware at a reasonable cost with batches of a 1000.

[@pimpedpixel]

I had this exact model and monitor in the 80s. I loved the heavy keyboard. Did not have a tapedeck, so when I programmed something it was lost forever. I actually bought a new Trs 80 to place in my museum. Don’t know if it works actually. I bought some components to build a replacment psu. But being a busy programmer I did not find the time to solder it on a board. If anyone know where to buy a complete psu. Please let me know!

[@tarstarkusz]

Why Tandy made the decision to not gold plate the card edge connector is beyond me. This was a pretty expensive piece of kit for 1977. It might have been cheap for a computer, but it was not pocket change. Hell, 600 Dollars today isn't exactly pocket change.

[@neleabels]

Radio Shack always followed the strategy "cheap quantity before expensive quality".

[@tarstarkusz]

I'm not really sure this counts as the model T of its day. It's more like one of the cars that predate the model T. While it did have wide distribution channels through RS, it was expensive, under powered and clunky, especially in its initial 4k form. It really only impacted people who were already interested in computers. It was a toy for nearly everyone who bought it. You even mention the word "hobbyist" multiple times in this video presentation. It appealed to the type of people who would build a radio or TV from the schematics printed in electronics magazines. It's just incredibly silly product for most people. The model T was affordable and reliable and mobilized the middle class. It had a huge impact on the US and its culture in particular. The model T itself transformed America, not just the generic concept of a car. Cars had been around almost 20 years when the T took off. OTOH, I'm not really sure what specific computer model could really get that designation. Unlike the Model T, which was a consumer product, computers changed America via corporations. Even the C64 was probably not in more than 5-10% of US households. Computers only had a very brief time where they were massively installed in the home market and that was in the later half of the 90s till the mid 2000s when computers were trampled in the home by phones. Really, I would say it was the phones that truly changed America and the world in a profound way. Perhaps the iPhone is the proper recipient of the Model T designation?

[@EgoShredder]

Your regular joe public had zero interest in computers until smartphones came along, coupled with easy fast internet access to services. Even now in 2023 people have no interest in computers, only the pointless moronic social meda nonsense they can do with them, or ordering takeaway style food due to feckless laziness. Enthusiasts like us were into building, soldering and programming them since the 1970s. My first experience being with my uncle's NASCOM Z80 based kit computer. My first game console experience was the Atari VCS. I somehow missed out on Pong, even though I was just about old enough.

[@tarstarkusz]

@@EgoShredder My first game was pong then the 2600. But I didn't get the 2600 till late 81 early 82. I got interested in computers when I saw a Vic 20 in Kmart. They had it set up and running so you could write a short program and run it. . I mowed lawns to buy myself one. Then I got a dataset for my birthday or something. I was like 12 or 13 (so like 82) at the time. I went on to work in the industry. I do think you are wrong about the computers in the late 90s. I knew a lot of people who were completely disinterested in computers who got one. They wanted IRC (really AOL), Napster and email. By the early mid 200s, like 03, there was probably 70-80% household penetration, in the US at least.. But I agree, the phones came and the computers got thrown away.

[@EgoShredder]

@@tarstarkusz Here in England (UK) the 90s were about hobbyists with IBM clone PCs. The public were more into using game consoles and only experienced PCs in the workplace or college etc. Once the internet took hold around 2000, people got PCs to do email, shopping, MSN Messenger and things like Friends Reunited etc. The high market share did not really happen until maybe the mid-2000s.

[@tarstarkusz]

@@EgoShredder OK. You're in the UK. Local conditions were probably a bit different from country to country.

[@ViegasSilva]

26:13 December 1983: The new AIDS-III

[@tezzaNZ]

Yea, Haha. A very unfortunate name choice. The timing couldn't have been worse!

[@EgoShredder]

Yep fortunately back then people did not care about words and phrases. Seems to be in the last 10 to 15 years that has become a thing, due to relentless media mind manipulation.

[@carlacespede3489]

9:45" jajajajaj lol....de aca venia el Sea Dragon de Atari 800XL jajajajajajaa

[@daudzoss7628]

I wouldn't be inclined to buy a Taylor Swift song once let alone twice, but every re-release from Tezza Swift-ly earns a view and upvote from me.

[@tezzaNZ]

Haha. Thanks!