Comments on: 80 Microcomputing http://www.trs-80.org/80-microcomputing/ TRS-80.org is a source for information about the Radio Shack TRS-80 line of computers, hardware, and software, with articles, interviews, and more! Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:44:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Michael M. T. Henderson http://www.trs-80.org/80-microcomputing/comment-page-1/#comment-8184 Michael M. T. Henderson Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:15:50 +0000 http://www.trs-80.org/80-microcomputing#comment-8184 My very first computer was a TRS-80 Model 1, purchased in 1978, which used cassette tapes for storage of programs and data. Eventually I got an "Expansion Interface," which contained 2 5.25" floppy drives--single-sided-single density, holding about 160K each. That was great compared to the tapes. In 1980 or so I got my first hard drive, a 15mb behemoth the size of a shoebox. I still had to boot from a floppy in order to load TRSDOS, the operating system, but after that it was very fast. I skipped the 16-bit Model 2 (as most people did) and the one-piece Model 3, with 2 floppy drives built in. In 1982 I moved, with some nostalgic regret, into the DOS 3.2 world with my first IBM compatible computer, a Leading Edge machine with 640K RAM and a 30MB hard drive from which it could boot directly to the C: prompt relatively quickly. Now I'm on my fifth computer, an HP with 4g of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. It came with Vista, and I now have Win 7 on it. There are things I miss about the C: prompt and Config.sys and Autoexec, because I could easily write programs in QuickBasic or Access Basic, but in general I like Win 7. It's nice not to have to remember the difference between extended and expanded RAM, and to get away from the IDE disk connection system--even if 7 takes 5 minutes to boot. My very first computer was a TRS-80 Model 1, purchased in 1978, which used cassette tapes for storage of programs and data. Eventually I got an “Expansion Interface,” which contained 2 5.25″ floppy drives–single-sided-single density, holding about 160K each. That was great compared to the tapes. In 1980 or so I got my first hard drive, a 15mb behemoth the size of a shoebox. I still had to boot from a floppy in order to load TRSDOS, the operating system, but after that it was very fast. I skipped the 16-bit Model 2 (as most people did) and the one-piece Model 3, with 2 floppy drives built in. In 1982 I moved, with some nostalgic regret, into the DOS 3.2 world with my first IBM compatible computer, a Leading Edge machine with 640K RAM and a 30MB hard drive from which it could boot directly to the C: prompt relatively quickly. Now I’m on my fifth computer, an HP with 4g of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. It came with Vista, and I now have Win 7 on it.
There are things I miss about the C: prompt and Config.sys and Autoexec, because I could easily write programs in QuickBasic or Access Basic, but in general I like Win 7. It’s nice not to have to remember the difference between extended and expanded RAM, and to get away from the IDE disk connection system–even if 7 takes 5 minutes to boot.

]]> By: Bernadette Evans http://www.trs-80.org/80-microcomputing/comment-page-1/#comment-206 Bernadette Evans Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:40:33 +0000 http://www.trs-80.org/80-microcomputing#comment-206 Just a quick note to say Thank You to Mr. Reed. Mr. Reed sent me a zip file with my husbands article from 1982. Thank you Mr. Reed. Bernadette Evans Just a quick note to say Thank You to Mr. Reed. Mr. Reed sent me a zip file with my husbands article from 1982.

Thank you Mr. Reed.

Bernadette Evans

]]> By: Bernadette Evans http://www.trs-80.org/80-microcomputing/comment-page-1/#comment-205 Bernadette Evans Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:23:12 +0000 http://www.trs-80.org/80-microcomputing#comment-205 Hello folks, I am looking for somebody with a copy of 80 microcomputing, issue 30 (Mar. 1982). I would like to have a photo copy of the article my husband Bruce Evans wrote called: "VariSpeed, Put a stick shift in your 80". It is in the 'utilities' section. Thank You for any help you can give me, God Bless, Bernadette Evans Hello folks,
I am looking for somebody with a copy of 80 microcomputing, issue 30 (Mar. 1982). I would like to have a photo copy of the article my husband Bruce Evans wrote called: “VariSpeed, Put a stick shift in your 80″. It is in the ‘utilities’ section.
Thank You for any help you can give me,
God Bless,
Bernadette Evans

]]> By: Ivan R Kennedy http://www.trs-80.org/80-microcomputing/comment-page-1/#comment-133 Ivan R Kennedy Sat, 22 Nov 2008 04:40:11 +0000 http://www.trs-80.org/80-microcomputing#comment-133 Happy to see the coverage of 80 Micro. I waited for each issue in great anticipation and do retain almost a complete set of the magazine, lacking only #1 and #10. It's a shame Charles Tandy hadn't lived longer and the TRS-80 line might have developed independently; Bill Gates would have had more competition. When I partly retire in a year or two, I intend to spend far more time with 80 Micro, stoking up memories of the days when we actually participated in computer developments, both hardware and software and weren't more or less restricted just to what Bill Gates and others serve up. Thanks for your wonderful work on this. Happy to see the coverage of 80 Micro. I waited for each issue in great anticipation and do retain almost a complete set of the magazine, lacking only #1 and #10.

It’s a shame Charles Tandy hadn’t lived longer and the TRS-80 line might have developed independently; Bill Gates would have had more competition.

When I partly retire in a year or two, I intend to spend far more time with 80 Micro, stoking up memories of the days when we actually participated in computer developments, both hardware and software and weren’t more or less restricted just to what Bill Gates and others serve up.

Thanks for your wonderful work on this.

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