Popular applications included word processors like Scripsit and Electric Pencil, spreadsheet apps like VisiCalc, and games like Star Trek and Android Nim-not to mention text adventure games galore.
You could also purchase software on cassette or floppy disk for your Model I computer.
If you bought an Expansion Interface and a floppy disk drive, you could save and load data much faster-but the combination of both units cost more than the original TRS-80 system. With the included cassette drive, you could load or save data to an ordinary audio cassette tape.
The TRS-80 Model I included the BASIC programming language in ROM (and a very user-friendly manual), which allowed for relatively easy programming right out of the box. When you purchased a TRS-80 Micro Computer System, you had everything you needed to write and store programs.
It inspired a loyal following that continued throughout the release of Radio Shack’s future PC systems over the next decade. Thanks to Radio Shack’s extensive network of 5,000 stores across the United States, the Model I was a huge hit from the beginning, selling 10,000 units in its first month and 100,000 units in 1978, which was a significant chunk of the young microcomputer market at the time. So to have a complete working computer at all (for $599.95) was something of a technological miracle at the time. While the “personal computer” as a concept was still a very new thing, many previous PCs were only available as kits. To this day, the Trash-80 nickname still bothers TRS-80 fans, so it’s not a kind or endearing name.ĭespite its limitations, the Model I included enough features to delight many people who wanted to own their own ready-to-go computer system that they could use in the comfort of their home. Unfortunately for Radio Shack, the computer soon gained the derogatory nickname “Trash-80” because it was easier to say, and it had the extra bonus of a built-in put-down (that the computer was “trash” compared to machines like the Apple II). Translate the name as “Tandy Radio Shack Z-80,” and it makes sense. The TRS-80 gained its name as a combination of Radio Shack’s parent company (Tandy), Radio Shack itself, and its choice of CPU, the Zilog Z-80. Excerpt from a 1978 TRS-80 advertisement. It also did not include any sound hardware, but many programs used a trick to output simple sounds through the cassette port. Its video could only display 64 columns and 16 rows of monochrome text (all uppercase) with no support for true bitmapped graphics (although by using a block-shaped text character, you could create a 128×48 pixel display). Under the hood, the TRS-80 utilized its Z-80 CPU at 1.77 MHz and included a mere 4 kilobytes (KB) of RAM. Radio Shackīut you always get what you pay for: The original TRS-80 was a fairly primitive machine. The TRS-80 as it appeared in a 1977 Radio Shack catalog.
To compare, the Apple II sold for $1298 with 4K of RAM (that’s a whopping $6284 today), and it didn’t include a monitor or a storage device. After the introduction of the Model II later, this first model became known as the TRS-80 Model I. This complete system included a main unit with a built-in keyboard, a cassette recorder, and a monochrome monitor. On August 3, 1977, Radio Shack introduced the TRS-80 Micro Computer System for $599.95-about $2,904 today adjusted for inflation.