The Gold Plug 80

Gold Plug 80 advertisement from the
December 1985 issue of 80 Micro

The Model I was well known for its annoying habit of spontaneously rebooting. The cause was simple: the Model I card edge connectors were solder-coated tin and had a tendency to oxidize over time. Oxidation interfered with the electrical connections and tended to cause reliability problems, particularly with the Expansion Interface cable.

I’m sure that anyone who ever used a Model I still remembers that the best to way to remove the oxidation was to use a pink rubber eraser to scrub the connectors. The usual recommendation was to clean the connectors every month but many people did it every week.

The Gold Plug 80, sold by E.A.P. Company, was probably the best way to permanently stop the reboots. It consisted of card-edge plugs with gold-plated contacts which were soldered in place over the connectors on the TRS-80 itself. Unlike most other metals, gold doesn’t corrode in the presence of oxygen. The plugs were available either individually or as a set for the entire computer.

Although installing the Gold Plug 80 required some soldering skill, it was a lot easier and safer than gold-plating the connectors yourself (a process that involved electrolysis and cyanide!).

Written by Matthew Reed | Filed Under Hardware · EAP Company