General Information

Serial #

116245

Part Number

1

Total Parts

4

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Predominantly synthetic, with synthetic casing, keyboard keys and electronics. Attached ribbon cable is synthetic with metal contacts.

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

42.4 cm

Width

20.5 cm

Height

9.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Computing Technology

Category

Digital computing devices

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Radio Shack

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

1979-C.1986

Canada

AMERICAN DESIGNED & MANUFACTURED MICROCOMPUTER USED IN CANADIAN HOME FOR RECREATIONAL & EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. IT WAS RELATIVELY INEXPENSIVE & EASY TO USE. RADIO SHACK'S LARGE NETWORK OF STORES IN CANADA, U.S. & ELSEWHERE FACILITATED DISTRIBUTION & IT APPEARED AT TIME WHEN THERE WAS NEW DEMAND FOR DESK-TOP COMPUTERS.

Function

SMALL COMPUTER CONTAINING MICROPROCESSOR, USED BY INDIVIDUAL FOR PERSONAL COMPUTER PURPOSES SUCH AS WORD PROCESSING, GAME-PLAYING, & PERSONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT. ADDITION OF MODEM ENABLED THIS EXAMPLE TO BE USED AS REMOTE TERMINAL FOR MAIN FRAME COMPUTER AT COMMUNITY COLLEGE.

Technical

WITH COMMODORE PET & APPLE II, TRS-80 FORMED FIRST GENERATION OF PCS WHICH SUCCEEDED COMPUTER KITS LIKE ALTAIR & TOGETHER LAUNCHED PC INDUSTRY IN 1977. TRS-80 CONTAINED 2-80 MICROPROCESSOR, SIMILAR BUT SUPERIOR TO INTEL 8080 IN ALTAIR. UNLIKE ALTAIR, IT HAD KEYBOARD & MONITOR, IT WAS EXPANDABLE & CAPABLE OF LIMITED GRAPHICS. ORIGINAL STORAGE WAS CASSETTE TAPE UNIT, LATER REPLACED BY DISK DRIVE.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

BLACK & GREY PLATE ON FRONT READS 'Radio Shack TRS-80 Microcomputer/ System'; overlapping bilingual labels on underside read 'TRS-80 MICROCOMPUTER SYSTEM/ SYSTEME MICROORDINATEUR TRS-80/ MFD. FOR/POUR RADIO SHACK, A DIV. OF TANDY/ ELECTRONICS LTD. BARRIE, ONTARIO L4M 4W5/ NO. CATALOGUE/ CATALOGUE NUMBER/ 26-1006/ NO. SERIE/ SERIAL NUMBER/ 116245' WITH PATENT INFO.

Missing

ORIGINAL TAPE DRIVE, WHICH FUNCTIONED INADEQUATELY, WAS REPLACED BY RADIO SHACK DISK DRIVE (910401)/ .1 WAS MODIFIED BY ADDITION OF BUTTON (BY DONOR'S BROTHER) TO PROVIDE LOCK FOR UPPER CASE TYPE.

Finish

GREY SYNTHETIC CASING/TEXTURED BLACK KEYBOARD WITH BLACK & WHITE KEYS; RED BUTTON & LAMP; GREY CORD WITH BLACK PARTS

Decoration

N/A