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Looking at the TRS-80 Model x Series - Part 1 (The Ground Rules)
In the interest of continuing to organize my all eras videogame and computer collection of 300+ systems and countless software, accessories, add-ons and literature, and learning about them all on the most fundamental level possible, as time permits I am hoping to pull out my complete collection of an individual platform and do all kinds of things with it, including cataloging, photography, videography and most-of-all, using, particularly when it comes to games. I still haven't worked out all the details or how much detail I'll actually go into, but I'm envisioning a series of blog posts as frequently as my time and energy allows. I'm going to pull the bulk of a particular collection off the shelves and into my office, and leave it in there until every item is cataloged and used, where possible. I was going to start small, but in this case I'll be starting big, first with my TRS-80 Model x collection, which represents the TRS-80 Model I, III, 4 and 4p (the II was an unrelated business-centric system that used high capacity 8" disks), of which I own a Model I, 4 and 4p, and just the mostly empty shell of a III. It's a big task, but a helpful one for me and I hope a fun one to read/hear/watch.
Since I'll be using the real hardware, I would LOVE IT if someone were interested in going at it from an emulation standpoint. There are some fine emulators and plenty of available ROMs. It's not the most attractive of systems from an audio-visual standpoint, but it does have some nifty stuff and it was among the "holy trinity" of original "true" personal computers along with the Apple II and Commodore PET.
In the mean-time, here are some helpful links to learn more about the TRS-80 series of computers:
http://www.trs-80.org/ (great blog, info and reviews)
http://amigan.1emu.net/trs-80/ (a gaming guide)
http://www.trs-80.org.uk/Tandy_Page_1x.html (an ongoing newsletter and other links)
http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/system-80/ (there were many clones of the TRS-80 platform)
http://members.iinet.net.au/~msmcdoug/sitrs/index.html#Technical_Notes (a fascinating if impractical hack)
http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/system-80/software_games.htm#Star%20... (more on games)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80 (Wikipedia)
I have a great chapter on the TRS-80 line from the unpublished-as-of-yet "Retrogaming" book, but I'm still hoping to get the book published, so right now I can't release it. Sorry about that (or maybe "nyah! nyah!"?).
Comments
Here is the Model III in action... demonstrating how to have the least possible fun with it.
Here is the Model III in action... demonstrating how to have the least possible fun with it.
I love how he aggressively bends the disk before putting it in the disk drive in the beginning! He took "floppy disk" literally. Also, I love how the mortgage example is a $40,000 house at 16% for 10 years. Geez. While the interest rate is laughably high compared to today, the cost of the house or length of term is not. My house costs over 10x that and my term is 30 years.
I recall seeing another video in this series, but I can't recall what it was on.
Vintage Games book!
Xbox 360: billlog | Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
The rest of the episode is on this playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=DB73722843D824EE
And there is one other episode in 3 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-wI-u05A3Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhhQgb44sdM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQVcCiEdz_g
I know the whole series is out there on bootleg DVD, but they don't seem to be on YouTube except these 2 episode. It would be nice to see the rest. I haven't seen them since they originally aired when I was a kid.
The weirdest computer in the series is a Xerox 820. All the others are pretty ordinary computers that were all over the place in 1983. (Well maybe the Texas Instruments one was not that common.)
I would love to check out some of the emulators for the TRS-80 series. It was the first computer I actuallty programmed on in highschool. I remember my first program - a fancy animation of a bucket filling with water and then overlfowing with water spilling out - all in character graphics of course drew the attention of my teachers. It ended up with me having quite a career with the ICT department on the highschool and I even did some programming for the c64 oscilloscope interface.
I don't have any software lying around anymore but would love to delve into the emulation side of the system and trying out some of the software. Bill, let's get in touch.
Xbox 360: Lactobacillus P | Wii: 8151 3435 8469 3138
Armchair arcade Editor | Pixellator | www.markvergeer.nl
I don't have any software lying around anymore but would love to delve into the emulation side of the system and trying out some of the software. Bill, let's get in touch.
Excellent. This site that I linked to in the blog post above actually has great tutorials on how to use the various emulators and load stuff in: http://amigan.1emu.net/trs-80/ (check towards the bottom)
Vintage Games book!
Xbox 360: billlog | Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
Excellent. This site that I linked to in the blog post above actually has great tutorials on how to use the various emulators and load stuff in: http://amigan.1emu.net/trs-80/ (check towards the bottom)
Thank you for this! I have never been able to successfully get anything running on a TRS-80 emulator, partially due to the fact that I forgot how to operate the thing. It will be fun to relive a major part of my childhood with some of the Model I classics, such as the Big Five, Automated Simulations, Adventure International, etc.
By the way, Bill, have you ever heard of "CLOAD" magazine? It was really big in the TRS-80 scene back then. It was a monthly(?) "magazine" that came on cassette for the TRS-80, and our school computer club subscribed to it. Every month or so, we'd get the new CLOAD cassette and play the games on it. There were a couple of games that stood out in my mind: CIA Adventure, and most of all, "EMPIRE!" "Empire" was a multiplayer variant of the "Hammurabi" simulation game, but included battles against human or computer opponents, and was so addictive, a football player in my high school was nearly kicked off the team because he skipped practice to play the game with me after school! I'd love to play Empire again; I suspect it will hold up again. It was sort of a precursor to "M.U.L.E." in my mind.
I'm sure there were many other greats, but hey, we're talking nearly 30 years ago, and my memory's a bit rusty.
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I have some CLOADs in my collection. I'll have to see if they still load as part of going through it all for AA and me.
The first computer I programmed in school was a black and white TRS-80 Model III, followed by a Model IV. Eventually the school got Tandy 1000s. I believe I started BASIC programming in Junior High and then continued it for a year in high school. I never advanced beyond that as I wasn't particularly good at math. Still, I didn't do too badly with the classes. I still have my old notebooks and disks from there, and I'll be sure to go through those as well.
Vintage Games book!
Xbox 360: billlog | Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.