This was most certainly the best investment that my parents made for me as a teenager. I already had a huge interest in the TRS80 and spent countless hours hanging out at the local radio shack learning how to use this computer, and finally my parents bought one for me for Christmas or maybe my birthday, back in 1980. It forged my career in Information Technology. 😃😃
My first computer was a Commodore 64, but I bought a used TRS-80 Model I shortly after. I always hung out at Radio Shack playing on their Model I display model for hours. The manager didn't mind as he's often bring families over to where I was, demonstrating that even a young kid could use it. I Built my first PC shortly after and went on to a 25 year IT career.
Couldn't afford a TRS 80 so went for a Video Genie in the UK. Some ~45 years later and after many job changes, I comfortably retired as a Sys/Prog DBA working with IBM Mainframes for a large multinational. A long learning path which was started with the seeds planted by the good old VG, plus no end of excitement enjoyed during that learning. Certainly the best £300 I've ever invested!
I started out learning programming on TRS-80 microcomputers, and my parents bought me a TRS-80 Model I, and I was fortunate enough that they were willing to spring for disk drives, as the whole thing came to around $2500. But now I'm a self-employed programmer, so it was all worth the price. I breezed through college computer science classes because I really had a jump on the computer programming concepts from experimenting with the TRS-80.
@@AllGamingStarred Level 2 BASIC had a more keywords and was really a full featured version of non-procedural BASIC. Level 1 BASIC was very hobbled, just so Radio Shack could justify the higher price of the Level 2 machines. As I recall, Level 1 BASIC only allowed you to use one array variable, where level 2 let you use AA-ZZ (though you could use longer names, only the first two characters counted). It's been about 40 years or so since I last used one, so take that with something of a grain of salt.
@@JamesBrownHeh and how does this help with understanding modern PC's? I can't exactly put "knows 6502" on a resume. Most architecture these days is X64. Most modern languages are hard to grasp So tell me, How does this correlate to getting a job in IT?
At least you still had the ability to upgrade the RAM to 16 Kb. 4 Kb was only practical for programmable calculators, early game consoles or terminals and not home computers.
I still have my old TRS-80 cassettes. I was able to convert some of them to digital audio, and load them in my PC's TRS-80 emulator. Now I can play _Empire Wars_ again. ;-)
IIRC, I got a TRS-80 Model I in 1980, later bought a third-party 32K/disk expansion kit (MDI? MDX?), soldered chips and other components, added disk drives, got NEWDOS/80
I bought one for $599.99 from a Radio Shack in 1980. Model 1, level 1 Tiny Basic, 4 k memory. 1.5 kilohertz. The business Model 1 had 16k and sold for 999.99. I was told the no one would ever use 16k of memory!
I paid $699.00 for a 1000 RLX in 1992, in a store in the former Eastfield Mall in Springfield, MA. I would go and buy related software titles for years!
The $600 Model 1 TRS-80 was configured with: * 4K of RAM, making it next to useless for word processing or finances; * Level 1 BASIC in ROM, which was pathetically underpowered; * No Expansion Interface; and * No disk drive. All programs had to be stored on cassette tape (which the Level 1 BASIC ROM could only load at 250 bits per second).
My parents gave me half the money that I needed to purchase one of these. I loved coding on that machine. The Model I Level I only had 4K of RAM. I upgraded it to a Level II after I had it for a year. The upgrade expanded the RAM to a huge 16k. After coding within 4k for a year, 16k felt like a huge amount of memory.
my parents gave me some money too buy one too..but on the way to radio shack i met a dude, he ended up selling me an oz of coke and i lost all my money...had a blast for the rest of the week tho...
Anyone play with Micro Marquee (I did several silly animations with it, kind of like very lame 1-bit GIFs at 128x64 resolution), or type in all the BASIC code from the translated original Star Trek from the PDP-11? My Dad bought me a TRS-80 Model 1 - Level II BASIC 16K with cassette, and eventually my Mom bought me the expansion chassis with another 16K RAM for a total of a massive 32KB (never did get the hard disk I was always asking for). I remember spending hundreds of hours programming it and playing games. I've called it "Trash 80" many times later in my youth as I moved on to an Apple ][+ 32KB with floppy, then an IBM PCjr 128KB with floppy, an Amiga 500 3MB with 20MB HD, PowerMac 7100/80 24MB RAM with the extra 1MB video RAM upgrade to 2MB(!) and 250MB disk, and then a string of home built Window boxes (386, Pentium II, AMD Athlon, Core 2 Duo E6600, i7-920, AMD Ryzen 9 3900X), but I wouldn't trade those TRS-80 memories for the world.
Took a fukkin months work in the early 80s to design pitfall in 2 colors. Programming at that age led me to be a poor middle aged fool . .keep ya kids away
This was most certainly the best investment that my parents made for me as a teenager. I already had a huge interest in the TRS80 and spent countless hours hanging out at the local radio shack learning how to use this computer, and finally my parents bought one for me for Christmas or maybe my birthday, back in 1980. It forged my career in Information Technology. 😃😃
me too, i wish i had been a machinist tho.,i hate IT
My first computer was a Commodore 64, but I bought a used TRS-80 Model I shortly after. I always hung out at Radio Shack playing on their Model I display model for hours. The manager didn't mind as he's often bring families over to where I was, demonstrating that even a young kid could use it. I Built my first PC shortly after and went on to a 25 year IT career.
Couldn't afford a TRS 80 so went for a Video Genie in the UK. Some ~45 years later and after many job changes, I comfortably retired as a Sys/Prog DBA working with IBM Mainframes for a large multinational. A long learning path which was started with the seeds planted by the good old VG, plus no end of excitement enjoyed during that learning. Certainly the best £300 I've ever invested!
I started out learning programming on TRS-80 microcomputers, and my parents bought me a TRS-80 Model I, and I was fortunate enough that they were willing to spring for disk drives, as the whole thing came to around $2500. But now I'm a self-employed programmer, so it was all worth the price. I breezed through college computer science classes because I really had a jump on the computer programming concepts from experimenting with the TRS-80.
what is the difference between basic levels 1 and 2
jeopardy60611 same for me only I didn’t get into it, now I regret it.
@@AllGamingStarred Level 2 BASIC had a more keywords and was really a full featured version of non-procedural BASIC. Level 1 BASIC was very hobbled, just so Radio Shack could justify the higher price of the Level 2 machines. As I recall, Level 1 BASIC only allowed you to use one array variable, where level 2 let you use AA-ZZ (though you could use longer names, only the first two characters counted). It's been about 40 years or so since I last used one, so take that with something of a grain of salt.
@@JamesBrownHeh and how does this help with understanding modern PC's?
I can't exactly put "knows 6502" on a resume. Most architecture these days is X64.
Most modern languages are hard to grasp
So tell me, How does this correlate to getting a job in IT?
@able2ful1 if u dont know the answer, youre not ready for a job with modern PCs...youre either ignorant or green. very green
This was a fun computer to learn programming on. I started with BASIC and later was learning Z-80 assembly language.
Nifty,a computer back in the 70s.I also remember the Commodore 64 from the early 80s.
I remember learning "GoTo" and IF statements on one of these things back in the day.
Had the 4k memory model. I enjoyed it until I realized it was obsolete the moment it left the factory. The 16k model was right on its' heels.
At least you still had the ability to upgrade the RAM to 16 Kb. 4 Kb was only practical for programmable calculators, early game consoles or terminals and not home computers.
Surely you can't put a price on expanding your child's world?
I wouldn't have thought so either, but... here we are.
i had one of these with cassete tape adapter :'(
I still have my old TRS-80 cassettes. I was able to convert some of them to digital audio, and load them in my PC's TRS-80 emulator. Now I can play _Empire Wars_ again. ;-)
IIRC, I got a TRS-80 Model I in 1980, later bought a third-party 32K/disk expansion kit (MDI? MDX?), soldered chips and other components, added disk drives, got NEWDOS/80
I bought one for $599.99 from a Radio Shack in 1980. Model 1, level 1 Tiny Basic, 4 k memory. 1.5 kilohertz.
The business Model 1 had 16k and sold for 999.99. I was told the no one would ever use 16k of memory!
Back in the 80's
I spent a lot of time writing code that would run in 4k. When I upgraded to 16k, I felt like there was nothing I couldn't do on that computer.
Thank you for posting this. My earliest memory of a computer is my Dad swearing at one of these babies. And we called it a “Trash 80” too. ;)
You're welcome. =)
I finished here searching the TRS-80 that mentions Ready Player One Book
I paid $699.00 for a 1000 RLX in 1992, in a store in the former Eastfield Mall in Springfield, MA. I would go and buy related software titles for years!
The $600 Model 1 TRS-80 was configured with:
* 4K of RAM, making it next to useless for word processing or finances;
* Level 1 BASIC in ROM, which was pathetically underpowered;
* No Expansion Interface; and
* No disk drive. All programs had to be stored on cassette tape (which the Level 1 BASIC ROM could only load at 250 bits per second).
Graphics are limited, but usable, i love the basic however. would love to buy one of these.
My parents gave me half the money that I needed to purchase one of these. I loved coding on that machine. The Model I Level I only had 4K of RAM. I upgraded it to a Level II after I had it for a year. The upgrade expanded the RAM to a huge 16k. After coding within 4k for a year, 16k felt like a huge amount of memory.
my parents gave me some money too buy one too..but on the way to radio shack i met a dude, he ended up selling me an oz of coke and i lost all my money...had a blast for the rest of the week tho...
The kid in the video can easily make a graph on his TRS-80 which plots how many wedgies he receives week by week 👍
“Progrums” LOL
And to think there's still people that say it that way.
Lol
tomahto
Tomorrow's technology seemed to be black and white with RF issues. If anything this is more a dig at the RCA studio II in hindsight
TRS80
Anyone play with Micro Marquee (I did several silly animations with it, kind of like very lame 1-bit GIFs at 128x64 resolution), or type in all the BASIC code from the translated original Star Trek from the PDP-11? My Dad bought me a TRS-80 Model 1 - Level II BASIC 16K with cassette, and eventually my Mom bought me the expansion chassis with another 16K RAM for a total of a massive 32KB (never did get the hard disk I was always asking for). I remember spending hundreds of hours programming it and playing games. I've called it "Trash 80" many times later in my youth as I moved on to an Apple ][+ 32KB with floppy, then an IBM PCjr 128KB with floppy, an Amiga 500 3MB with 20MB HD, PowerMac 7100/80 24MB RAM with the extra 1MB video RAM upgrade to 2MB(!) and 250MB disk, and then a string of home built Window boxes (386, Pentium II, AMD Athlon, Core 2 Duo E6600, i7-920, AMD Ryzen 9 3900X), but I wouldn't trade those TRS-80 memories for the world.
I did have Micro Marquee. I also recall Radio Shack stores using that to display messages in the store window.
$600 40 years ago was a lot of money, especially for something that didn't do very much.
computers had a lot of power back then (unless your idea of powerful is not a text based terminal)
We used to call them 'Trash 80's'
Whats that beast got for Ram
Took a fukkin months work in the early 80s to design pitfall in 2 colors. Programming at that age led me to be a poor middle aged fool . .keep ya kids away
Tomorrow technology is crappie windows 10 not TRS80.
what a geeky little kid
Nifty,a computer back in the 70s.I also remember the Commodore 64 from the early 80s.
Tomorrow technology is crappie windows 10 not TRS80.