Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100

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Tandy/Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 Catalog Nos. 26-3801 (8K RAM) and 26-3802 (24K RAM)

TRS-80 Model 100

Type: Portable Computer
Size: 8 x 11 inches / 20 x 29 cm
Serial numbers: 306006180, 308003071, 308005128
Date of Manufacture: June 1983, August 1983, August 1983

Accessories:

The world's first notebook computer, Tandy introduced this in 1983 to rave reviews from the road warriors of the world, especially news correspondents who could bang out a story on the full-sized keyboard, then send it in via the internal 300-baud modem.

The first units included 8K of RAM, expandable in 8K increments to 32K, later units included 24K out of the box. The display is 8 lines by 40 columns, 240x64 pixels. You can prorgam in BASIC, write text, and keep appointments and contact data. An RS-232 port and internal 300-baud modem provided communication to the outside world (an acoustic coupler was available for use in the wilderness). Other ports included a parallel printer port, bar code wand port (useful in inventory applications), a port for cassette storage, an expansion ROM port for canned applications (Multiplan was available, for instance) and an external bus port. The unit runs for about 20 hours on four AA batteries, or on an external AC power supply.

Hardware by Kyocera, firmware by Microsoft. It is widely rumored that this firmware is the last production code Bill Gates wrote before being distracted by world domination or something.

I got good use of this in college, even though PCs were widely available. I used the parallel port to drive a desktop plotter for math projects, and used the external bus port to interface to electronics projects (notably a 68000-based computer that I breadboarded.) And of course, to get into those all-important bulletin board systems.

Today, the Model 100 is an important part of a portable amateur packet radio setup, and useful for testing on serial port connections.