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As part of my ongoing experimentation with an emulated TRS-80 model II, I've found some nice features. The floppy disk expansion system was very well-integrated. You got 2 megabytes of data storage several years before that was easy. And there was a whole series of business-oriented programs written specifically to use all those drives. The following work with no effort, no matter which disk the file is on: * Run a program from TRSDOS * LOAD "PROGNAME/BAS" from BASIC * The business graphics analysis pack has setup programs to configure it for different printers. Those programs find the TRSCHART program on any disk. The included hex debugger is a blast! It's nice to be able to access any area of memory and easily change it. You can also dump areas of memory to a file and load them back. After being limited to PEEKs and POKEs on my Commodore, this level of access is wonderful. Y2K compliance before it was a thing! The following all support a 4-digit year: * TRSDOS 2.0 * TRSDOS II * SCRIPSIT 2.1 I'm sure there are others I'm missing. According to the Radio Shack computer catalogs, several of the business programs could share related data: * Profile + SCRIPSIT = form letters * Order entry + accounts receivable = automated billing * Order enter/Inventory control + sales analysis = sales figures based on actual order/stock levels Overall, this is a really nice system. $1250 in software would set you up for general use: Visicalc SCRIPSIT Business Graphics Analysis Pack Profile In terms of business software, you'd spend much of your time looking over at IBM compatibles and saying, "I already DO that!"
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Another Model II, roughly $565 shipped.
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Some type-in programs for TRS Model I/II/III
MHaensel replied to MHaensel's topic in Tandy Computers
The tension breaker displays random characters in random patterns on-screen. Watch a screen saver on your Level II Model I! M1L2 Tension Breaker.txt -
The 3-disk expansion system is a really nice touch! Too bad the Model II is local pickup only. I hope it goes to a good home.
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Some type-in programs for TRS Model I/II/III
MHaensel replied to MHaensel's topic in Tandy Computers
More type-ins from TRS-80 Microcomputer News! M1-4 Sub-hunt.txt M1L2 Graphics to Line Printer with Random Graphics Test.bas.txt M1L2 Pattern Fun.txt M1L2 Sub-hunt.txt -
Seemingly odd hardware design decisions
MHaensel replied to youxia's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
Today I learned! In BASIC, and possibly other programs, you're correct. Model I SCRIPSIT used CTRL-D as backspace. Another program (whose name escapes me) used F1. -
The Model 2 Archive is a convenient place to download basically everything for the TRS-80 Model II. (Thank you, pski!) For the Model I/III/IV, there are several sites with lots of stuff: https://www.willus.com/trs80/ http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/trs80.php http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/trs80/mirrors/www.discover-net.net/~dmkeil/trssoft.htm A (mostly documents) torrent linked at http://akhara.com/trs-80/docs/ But is there a comprehensive archive for easy download? Would there be interest in one if it was created?
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Seemingly odd hardware design decisions
MHaensel replied to youxia's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
The Commodore 1540/1541 disk drives were supposed to feed a hardware shift register. Several problems kept this from working and that made things slow. Incompatibility with the first few thousand units - or a recall - could have solved the problem for the next 20 million C= 64s. TRS-80 Model I, III, and IV: no backspace key. -
Despite my enthusiasm, I no longer think this is correct. Other XENIX software updates the screen quickly. It's not just a virtualization thing. @GeorgePhillips likely has the right answer. Thanks all!
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Modern version of the Commodore 64 full-screen editor?
MHaensel replied to MHaensel's topic in Commodore 8-bit Computers
Heh. It's mostly just making a few fancy text files for my own amusement. CBM .prg studio looks very promising! Thanks for the links. -
What's missing on modern keyboards?
MHaensel replied to MHaensel's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
The clear screen key was occasionally useful for me, when the C=64 screen editor was cluttered up with broken/wrapped lines, partial program output, and lines of user input. It was nice being able to clear that all away. My laptop keyboard doesn't have a pause/break key. My desktop does, as @carlsson notes! But I don't recall the pause key actually pausing programs any more, and the break key . . . does it do anything? I'll have to test later. Shift-Home does different things in different programs! In a Firefox text input box, it selects all text. In Notepad, it apparently does nothing. I may need a better operating system because CTRL-L sounds useful too. I think @carlsson's point hits home: modern computers don't quite work that way any more. The need for "clear screen" is much reduced when you can just close a window to get rid of old data, or open a whole new document with CTRL-N. Likewise changing colors: How often do we really want to change text colors anyway? Rainbow text was great fun when I was 8. But I'm not sure it would add much impact in 2020 -
I miss the sweet spot that Commodore text-based stuff gave me. 40 columns (80 or 132 would be better) of fixed-spaced text with character graphics and colors would be fantastic. Is there an editor/file format that works like that? It seems like 2020-era file formats are mostly: Plain text - saves anywhere, reads anywhere, the opposite of "fancy" .docx or similar - big, complex file formats with overlapping styles, foreign-language fonts, page layout, and a whole pile of stuff that's not "typing words onto a screen"
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The discussion started on reddit, but I'd like to pick up here also. Modern keyboards feel like they're missing a bunch of functionality. On older computers, pressing one key (or a pair of keys) let you: Clear the text entry area (CLR, CLEAR, CLR SCRN or similar) Pause program operation (PAUSE, HOLD) Stop program operation (STOP, BREAK) Draw line/boxes on-screen using ASCII art Type open- and closed-circle for bullet lists Change text color Those things would still be handy today! You can do some of this using Unicode, but even how-to instructions say it's easier to find the character somewhere else and copy-and-paste. What else is missing on modern keyboards?
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Ever give up on a computer hobby?
MHaensel replied to Omega-TI's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
I have a reverse story! I moved from an older system I loved to one that did much less for me. I had a Commodore 64 from roughly 1984-1990. I learned to program in BASIC, COMAL, and a little machine language. The GEOS word processor had bitmapped fonts and graphics and worked with my printer. I had games for days. Listening to SID music . . . I loved to watch that little band play. The system was small, but I understood it and knew how to make it sing. Looking back, I could have gotten a few more years out of it with a REU and a 3.5" floppy disk drive . . . 🤔 The next computer was an IBM-compatible 386DX-25. The hardware was fantastic. Sharp graphics and text, 101-key keyboard, a printer that hammered out a dot matrix like nobody's business . . . but I had no source of pirated software. That made the machine much less useful. No more free games! (In fact, almost no games that I recall.) Word 1.0 for Windows came with the computer. It didn't work. My assignments came out in teeny tiny type and I was never able to fix it. For that and other reasons, I had to use a cheap text-based DOS word processor. That was a big step back from GEOS! An expensive machine-language assembler package didn't work for what I needed. I was glad to be rid of the 386 when the time came. But the Commodore 64 will always have a special place in my memories.