Ohio Scientific Challenger 1P, Apple II+, PET/CBM 3032, TRS 80 Model 1, Atari 400, Osborne 1a, System 80/Video Genie/PMC 80, IBM PC, ZX 81, TRS-80 Colour Computer 1, Vic 20, Epson HX 20, BBC B, ZX Spectrum, Kaypro II, Eaca Colour Genie, RX 8800, Apple IIe, Atari 800XL, Tandy Model 100, Commodore  64, Commodore 64C, Commodore  SX-64, Spectravideo 318, Mattel  Aquarius, Sinclair QL, IBM AT, Atari 130XE, Apple IIe Platinum, Amiga 500, Atari  1040ST, IBM PS/2 30-286, Compaq SLT/286, IBM PS/2 70, Mac SE/30, Mac  Classic II, Mac Powerbook 145B, Generic 386-DX 40

Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1

The Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1 is one of the classic microcomputers of the late 1970's. Although monochrome, this Z80-powered model was able to turn its hand to almost any kind of use. Games, business, you name it! A powerful 12k extended (Level II) BASIC written by Microsoft, good Tandy and third-party expansion options, some powerful Disk Operating Systems, a national distribution chain and plenty of support meant this little machine became very popular, especially in North America.

Its versatility won the machine many friends and admirers during his working life. However its unshielded internals caused such disruption to any TV receiver within the near vicinity, the U.S. Government banned it in 1980. This was no big deal as Tandy was about to replace it with the Model 3. However, in the meantime it had spent a few years training and enthusing tens if not hundreds of thousands of people, many who went on to be early microcomputing professionals. They regard the "Trash-80" with real affection and its name is still mentioned amongst those who long for "the good old days" when every byte was precious and clever programmers did amazing things with elegant economical code!

One interesting bit of trivia about the Model 1 was that is was suppose to be silent. Early gamers though wanted the blips and beeps. Instructions for some early games suggested putting a portable radio close the unit and tuning it to a stationless part of the band (see the comment about radio interference above)!. This worked in a fashion but pretty soon programmers realised you could push sound effects out of the cassette port. All a user needed to do then was to hook the cassette OUT port (normally used for recording programs on audio tape) up to a speaker and there you go! Almost all later TRS-80 Model 1 games contained sound. Some sound routines got quite sophisticated although in the absence of a dedicated sound chip, their use took a lot of processor time.

A TRS-80 Model 1 was the first microcomputer I ever saw. It started the infatuation with microcomputers generally.

This 16k cassette-based unit is probably one of the last off the production line. It is in pristine condition and perfect working order. I took a risk buying it, importing it from Australia untested. Thankfully the risk paid off. I've plenty of software and manuals for it, which I collected originally for the System 80. It is one of the jewels in my collection.

The photo above shows the console only, which I've connected up to an old Synco monochrome monitor and cassette player. The full deal from Radio Shack included a monitor (a modified TV) in the same dark grey and silver colours, and it's own cassette drive. I also have an expansion interface for this computer, but I'll wait for some Tandy drives before showing that off.

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

This page last edited 7th May, 2009

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