Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100

The model 100. Travelling light. The Model 100's can trace his ancestry back to Kyocera, Japan, but it made its biggest impact in Western countries where, branded and distributed by Tandy, it became famous as the journalist friend. In fact, it was useful to anyone who needed to word process on the go. It had all the right credentials for this activity. It was light, small (the footprint of an A4 page), had a great tactile keyboard, a simple-to-use built-in text editor (among other things) and great communication facilities. No messy floppies to worry about as the Model 100 kept everything in RAM, until it could be uploaded to a larger machine!

What's more he could keep going for hours on the smell of coffee and a few donuts! (or rather, 4 AA batteries).

This was in the days when most portables (the Epson HX-20 aside) were huge luggables the size of a large sewing machine and twice as heavy!

This model featured a special low-powered version of the 8085 chip, 24k RAM and a special 8 line x 40-character LCD screen. Augmented with a real-time clock, a superior version of Microsoft BASIC (the last piece of GatesCode) and ports galore, the micro in the picture is one of 6 million units sold worldwide!

This unit's worn the years well, and looks practically out of the box! Everything is in full working order. I can get BASIC software off the Web and easily transfer it in via RS-232 with a utility program, so it's never lonely. It has it's own manual, but not the signature black carry case. I'd like to get that sometime.

I used to own a computer from the same Kyocera stable as this one, the NEC-PC8201. I'm on the lookout for one of those too.

Innovative and just plain cool, a Model 100 is a valued member of the collection.

Want to know more about this micro? Google is your friend.

This page last edited 10th August, 2008

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