What I remember as the Trash-80 (and what Jim and Alex have mentioned) were four models (original, "Model II", "Model III", and "Model 4") of desktops made 1977-c.1983. What you're remembering your journalist friends carrying were two latter additions to the series, the TRS-80 PC-1 (1981-?) and the TRS-80 PC-2 (1982-?) - though even those ceased production in the mid-80s, so that I'd be surprised if any journalist you knew was carrying one in the mid-90s. All six were superceded by the Model 600, in 1985, which combined features of each (portability of the PC-X models, and bulk of the desktops), which itself was the precursor of the first generation of "laptops". I made use of a friend's Trash-80 (model 200, c.1979) for a short time, then got an Apple II+ (c.1980), finally replaced with a Datavue Spark (which itself ought to be added to the Timeline, as one of the first laptops ever made, with 640KB Ram and a 9.77MHz processor, woo-hoo!). For photos of any one these (to toggle your memory, or meander memory lane) see http://www.old-computers.com/search/default.asp -eg
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Barry Wellman Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2006 10:01 AM To: aoir list Subject: [Air-l] timeline: TRS 80
Jeremy DePauw says he is really interested in Journalists' use over time.
Am I the only one old enuf to remember the TRS-80 from Radio Shack, known as the Trash-80. It had a screen of only a few lines, but a full keyboard, and was small and lite to carry. Smaller than a current ultra-portable.
All 4 of my journalist friends of those days (mid-1990s?) carried them.
I'm sure a little surfing will find more.
Barry Wellman _____________________________________________________________________
Barry Wellman S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology NetLab Director Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 wellman at chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman for fun: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _____________________________________________________________________
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