What if the Model II had won?

[MHaensel]

What if the TRS-80 Model II had won?

80 Micro (March 1982) compared the IBM PC 5150 to the TRS-80 Model II. The IBM could handle more RAM but both systems came with just 64K. The Model II had more software, bigger/faster floppy disk storage, was cheaper when you included the cost of a printer, and so on.

This got me to thinking: what if the Model II had won instead of the IBM PC? Please wander with me through Model II world.

 

1979:

Tandy Radio Shack (TRS) releases the Model II to positive reviews but modest market penetration. They have a nationwide dealer network and establish a solid software base.

TRS also releases the Color Computer with 4K for the home market.

 

Early 1982:

The market is split between “business computers” and “home/games computers”. The Color Computer and a few minor competitors fight over the home computer market. Business computers run up against the limits of 64K RAM and floppy disk storage.

IBM comes out with the PC 5150, but expects it to be a fancy terminal you run little projects on before you connect to Big Blue mainframes. With 64K RAM and 360K floppy drives, the IBM name only carries it so far.

The Model 16 is released with a 68000 card, 256K RAM, and 1.25MB floppy drives. A brief burst of sales shows market interest. But rather than buy expensive software again for the 68000, businesses focus on the Z80-based Model II.

The Model IIb is released, which is basically a Model II with 1.25MB floppies and 80K of RAM. (In our world this was the Model 12.) The $3200 price is low enough for strong sales.

The 80K Model IIb is the best-selling business microcomputer this year. The 32K Color Computer is the best-selling home computer.

 

1983:

The Color Computer 2 is released with 16K or 64K of RAM and several internal improvements.

 

1984:

The Model IIc is released with up to 256K of bank-switched RAM and slightly faster operation. Model II sales get a significant boost.

 

1985:

The Model IId is released using a Hitachi HD64180 CPU. It runs Z80 code but also supports up to 1MB memory without bank switching, 10 MHz speed, pipelined instruction operation, and other significant improvements.

This gives businesses the computer they've been ready for: compatible with their old software, but faster and with more room to work. Sales take off like a rocket. TRS struggles to meet demand.

 

1986:

There are lots of third-party software and accessories for the Model IId. But TRS doesn’t like to carry third-party stuff. An alternative network of distribution and dealership springs up.

“Model II Complete” stores show up in malls right next to Radio Shack. “Everything but the Model II” bundles would become popular: printers, word processors, utilities, a few games, blank floppy disks . . . everything you need except the Model IId that was only available at TRS.

The Color Computer 3 is released with 128KB of RAM and significant graphical improvements. "Model II Complete" stores pick up on some of the CoCo home market, mostly focusing on games.

 

1990:

Zilog releases a backwards-compatible z380. This 32-bit processor runs Z80 software, has clock speeds up to 20 MHz, addresses 4GB of RAM, and supports floating-point coprocessors.

The Model IIe uses the Z380, adds simple but high-resolution color graphics, has 1MB of RAM in the base model, and uses 2.88MB 3.5" floppy drives.

TRS releases the Color Computer 4 with a hybrid 8/16 bit CPU and support for up to 1 MB of RAM. It's somewhere between EGA and Amiga OCS graphics capability, but resolution is low because of the need to display on a composite monitor or TV.

 

Early 1993:

The internet and CD-ROMs become A Thing. People want high-resolution full-color screens, CDs to play music and install software, dial-up modems, and good sound. They want to browse the internet on a personal computer. And they want these things everywhere: at home, at work, in hotels.

TRS has a problem: everything listed is a natural fit for the color computer, not the Model II. But their view computing is a Model II running several terminals in the office, a color computer at home connected to the TV. They release a Model IIf (up to 40 MHz, with CD drive) and Color Computer 5 targeted at different markets. The CD drive on the Model IIf spins the whole time the computer is powered on.

 

Third-party products push on two fronts:

1. Improve sound and graphics on the Model IIf to make it comfortable for home use.

2. Expand the Color Computer 5 with more RAM, high-quality monitors, and business software.

The release of the game Doom tips things decisively for the Model II. Raw CPU speed and expandability overcome a lot of flaws.

The Color Computer 5 puts up a darn good showing before the end. Its strength in 2D games carries it along for several years.

 

1995:

TRS realizes it's time to unify their product lines.

The Model IIg is released with a high-resolution, full-color screen. An optional add-on card provides compatibility with the Color Computer 5. There is much rejoicing. TRS leads the way into the new millennium of computing!

 

That’s my tour through Model II world. Thanks for visiting. And if you think I missed something, or you’d like to add your own take, please post!

[KG7PFS]

I like the story, except for the end. (Just what you wanted. The first reply from a CoCo fan. )

 

http://nickmarentes.com/ProjectArchive/crasher.html

 

Maybe the CoCo 6, like the 16 in real life, would have been released with dual processors, and total Model IIg compatibility.

 

On the other hand, if that ibm thing had failed like it should have, what would have taken the place of the 2000? In my opinion of your version of history, the Model IIc should have color in 1984. But then, would the CoCo have lasted?

[jhd]

Assuming that the Model II managed to amass so much market share, would there not soon be competing clones and knock-off systems? The Model I (and III) never dominated the market, but they were both copied and, sometimes, improved upon, by other manufacturers. 

 

I am amused by the idea of a store selling accessories, peripherals, and software, but not actually computers. What an interesting business model. 

[Hwlngmad]

On 7/12/2020 at 2:12 PM, MHaensel said:

What if the TRS-80 Model II had won?

80 Micro (March 1982) compared the IBM PC 5150 to the TRS-80 Model II. The IBM could handle more RAM but both systems came with just 64K. The Model II had more software, bigger/faster floppy disk storage, was cheaper when you included the cost of a printer, and so on.

This got me to thinking: what if the Model II had won instead of the IBM PC? Please wander with me through Model II world.

 

1979:

Tandy Radio Shack (TRS) releases the Model II to positive reviews but modest market penetration. They have a nationwide dealer network and establish a solid software base.

TRS also releases the Color Computer with 4K for the home market.

 

Early 1982:

The market is split between “business computers” and “home/games computers”. The Color Computer and a few minor competitors fight over the home computer market. Business computers run up against the limits of 64K RAM and floppy disk storage.

IBM comes out with the PC 5150, but expects it to be a fancy terminal you run little projects on before you connect to Big Blue mainframes. With 64K RAM and 360K floppy drives, the IBM name only carries it so far.

The Model 16 is released with a 68000 card, 256K RAM, and 1.25MB floppy drives. A brief burst of sales shows market interest. But rather than buy expensive software again for the 68000, businesses focus on the Z80-based Model II.

The Model IIb is released, which is basically a Model II with 1.25MB floppies and 80K of RAM. (In our world this was the Model 12.) The $3200 price is low enough for strong sales.

The 80K Model IIb is the best-selling business microcomputer this year. The 32K Color Computer is the best-selling home computer.

 

1983:

The Color Computer 2 is released with 16K or 64K of RAM and several internal improvements.

 

1984:

The Model IIc is released with up to 256K of bank-switched RAM and slightly faster operation. Model II sales get a significant boost.

 

1985:

The Model IId is released using a Hitachi HD64180 CPU. It runs Z80 code but also supports up to 1MB memory without bank switching, 10 MHz speed, pipelined instruction operation, and other significant improvements.

This gives businesses the computer they've been ready for: compatible with their old software, but faster and with more room to work. Sales take off like a rocket. TRS struggles to meet demand.

 

1986:

There are lots of third-party software and accessories for the Model IId. But TRS doesn’t like to carry third-party stuff. An alternative network of distribution and dealership springs up.

“Model II Complete” stores show up in malls right next to Radio Shack. “Everything but the Model II” bundles would become popular: printers, word processors, utilities, a few games, blank floppy disks . . . everything you need except the Model IId that was only available at TRS.

The Color Computer 3 is released with 128KB of RAM and significant graphical improvements. "Model II Complete" stores pick up on some of the CoCo home market, mostly focusing on games.

 

1990:

Zilog releases a backwards-compatible z380. This 32-bit processor runs Z80 software, has clock speeds up to 20 MHz, addresses 4GB of RAM, and supports floating-point coprocessors.

The Model IIe uses the Z380, adds simple but high-resolution color graphics, has 1MB of RAM in the base model, and uses 2.88MB 3.5" floppy drives.

TRS releases the Color Computer 4 with a hybrid 8/16 bit CPU and support for up to 1 MB of RAM. It's somewhere between EGA and Amiga OCS graphics capability, but resolution is low because of the need to display on a composite monitor or TV.

 

Early 1993:

The internet and CD-ROMs become A Thing. People want high-resolution full-color screens, CDs to play music and install software, dial-up modems, and good sound. They want to browse the internet on a personal computer. And they want these things everywhere: at home, at work, in hotels.

TRS has a problem: everything listed is a natural fit for the color computer, not the Model II. But their view computing is a Model II running several terminals in the office, a color computer at home connected to the TV. They release a Model IIf (up to 40 MHz, with CD drive) and Color Computer 5 targeted at different markets. The CD drive on the Model IIf spins the whole time the computer is powered on.

 

Third-party products push on two fronts:

1. Improve sound and graphics on the Model IIf to make it comfortable for home use.

2. Expand the Color Computer 5 with more RAM, high-quality monitors, and business software.

The release of the game Doom tips things decisively for the Model II. Raw CPU speed and expandability overcome a lot of flaws.

The Color Computer 5 puts up a darn good showing before the end. Its strength in 2D games carries it along for several years.

 

1995:

TRS realizes it's time to unify their product lines.

The Model IIg is released with a high-resolution, full-color screen. An optional add-on card provides compatibility with the Color Computer 5. There is much rejoicing. TRS leads the way into the new millennium of computing!

 

That’s my tour through Model II world. Thanks for visiting. And if you think I missed something, or you’d like to add your own take, please post!

Another alternate path from the could've, should've, would've files of tech history.  Admittingly your faux outline is cool, but while the TRS-80 Model II was a serious piece of machinery it just had way too many flaws when it was released.

[Keatah]

Well I wanted one when I was a kid. But instead I had to settle for lesser stuff like the Apple II, C64, and Atari 400/800.

[JamesD]

The Model II was missing something very important.  Three letters... I B M

[Hwlngmad]

21 hours ago, JamesD said:

The Model II was missing something very important.  Three letters... I B M

Yes, there is that.  But there was a lot of other things that lead to its rapid demise.  But, IBM entering the large business/corporate micro computer space and undercutting the crap out of the Model II (and its successors) didn't help, that's for sure.

[Hwlngmad]

On 7/14/2020 at 4:43 PM, Keatah said:

Well I wanted one when I was a kid. But instead I had to settle for lesser stuff like the Apple II, C64, and Atari 400/800.

Just my opinion, but the Apple II, C64, and Atari path was probably much better than one involving the Model II.  Just saying.

[Keatah]

The paths were different that's for sure. There's no way that the toy computers from Commodore or Atari could do what the Model II did. And that is operate in a corporate environment. The Model II was clearly a business machine.

 

Just as the Model II couldn't fit into retail/home.

[ussexplorer]

I play that path all the time with all the computers. After getting an Apple II+ computer over a year ago to replace the one I had in middle school. I started reading all of the vintage magazines that I Could remember. What I found seemed to be a flood of people just purchasing IBM PC for xx reasons. Reminded me of when the Sega Dreamcast came out. Sure people purchased it. But they waited for the PS/2 instead. Seemed like people purchased IBM because it was IBM. Though I have found out compared to the U.S. Other counties Micro computers lasted longer in the market place. Sometimes due to cost and the amount of systems around among other things. But all within  Three years. All the magazines and companies went from our computer is better priced, more hardware, more software, faster, etc etc compared to the IBM. But yet the IBM won out. Sad in a way. Plus one more thing. the Model II was a business computer. People seem the want one type of computer. Read and article about how the Apple II / II plus was purchased by home users and more so business. Thus, one reason they developed the Apple III. But now I'm getting way off course.

[Omega-TI]

The TRS-80 Models II,12,16 and 6000 were bloody heavy tanks.  I never did like those massive 8" floppy drives, and I was the computer marketing manager for a Radio Shack Computer Center... oh and did I mention the prices just SUCKED!  For the business market they had a suitable software inventory and we could get specialized software configured for the customer, but for the average Joe off the street the Tandy 1000, 1200 and 2000 were more to people's liking.  

[Hwlngmad]

11 hours ago, Omega-TI said:

I never did like those massive 8" floppy drives, and I was the computer marketing manager for a Radio Shack Computer Center... oh and did I mention the prices just SUCKED!  For the business market they had a suitable software inventory and we could get specialized software configured for the customer, but for the average Joe off the street the Tandy 1000, 1200 and 2000 were more to people's liking.  

Going with the 8'' floppy drives was a bad decision, especially once 5 1/4'' took off.  Also, yes, the prices stunk when compared to the competition.  Still, the Model II was one heck of a piece of engineering.  Too bad it was so massive of a dud.

[Omega-TI]

If you don't want coffee coming out of your nose due to shock, do NOT click this << INFLATION CALCULATOR >> and compare the prices shown in this advertisement from 1983 to today's equivalent 2020 amount.  It's no wonder most of them went unsold.

 

[Keatah]

1 hour ago, Hwlngmad said:

Going with the 8'' floppy drives was a bad decision, especially once 5 1/4'' took off.  Also, yes, the prices stunk when compared to the competition.  Still, the Model II was one heck of a piece of engineering.  Too bad it was so massive of a dud.

 

It was a good decision. I'm not aware of any 5.25" floppy equaling the 8-inch's capacity. Not till later in the PC world with the 1.2M drives.

 

Swapping lower-capacity 5.25" back and forth wouldn't work well in a business environment.

[Omega-TI]

[Hwlngmad]

1 hour ago, Omega-TI said:

If you don't want coffee coming out of your nose due to shock, do NOT click this << INFLATION CALCULATOR >> and compare the prices shown in this advertisement from 1983 to today's equivalent 2020 amount.  It's no wonder most of them went unsold.

 

No kidding!  Not these were bad machines, but just too expensive for what others, notably IBM, where offering for the money.

[ussexplorer]

8" floppy was used on business machines due to more storage and out first. Home computers was more to use the mini floppy. That is why the Model II is so different from the model 1 or 3. As for mfg of one. The prices have gone down on everything. Take a look at 5.1/4" drives. The full height one was 400.00+ mostly retail and the price continued to go down. Then for under $100.00 in the mid 90's Before they went away. So continue building a TRS-80 would get cheaper. Esp. if they moved to more common parts.

[Hwlngmad]

Going with 8'' floppy drive at the time probably did make sense because of storage issues and better ease of use.  However, that format was quickly supplanted by 5 1/4'' drives (like on the IBM PC), and therefore became kind of a dinosaur real quick.  Regardless, the Model II was a really good machine, it just had too many things against it.

[desiv]

On 7/12/2020 at 12:12 PM, MHaensel said:

The CD drive on the Model IIf spins the whole time the computer is powered on.

 

My favorite part! 

[bluejay]

Woulda been interesting, modern computers descending from TRS-80s instead of IBM PCs. However I do wonder when the CoCo line would ditch BASIC. I mean, by the 1990s, BASIC was getting pretty old, and I think that's a big reason why MS-DOS and Windows were such a success. They could do much more than what BASIC could. When would it get rid of the OS in ROM and evolve using hard drives like the IBM compatibles did? What would Deskmate 10 look like? I mean, since most modern computers still use the same file format, path, etc. as MS-DOS, I'm very curious on what a modern computer would be like if the TRS-80 line was successful and IBM wasn't.

[jhd]

On 8/28/2020 at 8:55 PM, bluejay said:

When would it get rid of the OS in ROM and evolve using hard drives like the IBM compatibles did? 

 

With the 1000 SL (and maybe some other models), Tandy did something interesting -- the C: drive was actually mapped to ROM. There were the DOS boot files and the kernel for Deskmate. Obviously it was read-only, but the system booted faster than it would with a hard drive (or from a floppy disk). 

 

 

[bluejay]

2 minutes ago, jhd said:

 

With the 1000 SL (and maybe some other models), Tandy did something interesting -- the C: drive was actually mapped to ROM. There were the DOS boot files and the kernel for Deskmate. Obviously it was read-only, but the system booted faster than it would with a hard drive (or from a floppy disk). 

 

 

damn, I didn't know that! Pretty cool.

[InternetJunkie]

     I'm not sure if this might be considered necro-posting, but I'm about to acquire a Tandy 1000 SL. As for the main subject of this thread, I think a major misstep by Tandy was that businesses and the public wanted to coalesce around a single standard. Releasing TRS-80 pocket computers, the Coco, and TRS-80 Models II and 12, and Models 1, 3 and 4, four groups that were all incompatible with each other, and also incompatible with the Tandy 1000 line. They basically did the opposite of what the market wanted: standardization and a clear upgrade path. IBM already had dominant position, from mainframes to minicomputers to terminals. IBM even made XT/370 and AT/370 PCs, which would also function as a 3270 terminal. IBM saw the PC as a teaser, possibly even a loss leader, to get growing businesses hooked. IBM had a "natural" monopoly on computers, and Microsoft took that away together with Compaq and the other clone makers, to establish their own empire. I can imagine Digital Equipment Corporation maybe making a PDP-11 desktop, or the Microvax becoming more popular. If Jobs put the effort into making the Apple III great, instead of splitting the development teams and putting them against each other, that might have worked, but the TRS-80; it was doomed.

On 8/11/2020 at 11:25 AM, Keatah said:

Swapping lower-capacity 5.25" back and forth wouldn't work well in a business environment.

What "business environments" were you in? It did quickly became standard to have two 5.25" floppy drives, not one. That worked fine, maybe even better than a single 8" drive. There were also 1000 secretaries and office workers with just two floppy drives for every corner office guy or salesman with a hard drive. And those low-level workers pirated WordPerfect and Visicalc and then Word. In the early days, it was so easy to copy Microsoft software, I have to think it was part of their marketing plan! The Commodore 64 had a 5.25" disk drive that had nearly the same processing power as the rest of the computer. Commodore did find a way into European offices, even more so, by the time of 3.5" disks, with Amigas and especially the "VideoToaster". There was a lot of inferior tech that could have been made to work in businesses environments, I think it was mainly a perception issue.

On 7/14/2020 at 6:06 PM, JamesD said:

The Model II was missing something very important.  Three letters... I B M

    Could Microsoft have done Windows on Zilog CPUs?  As it was, Microsoft played all the clones against each other to their own advantage. Too much of the TRS-80 fantasy leaves questions about CP/M (by Digital Research or otherwise), and holding out against Microsoft, or what if IBM's OS/2 came out without having to challenge Microsoft? This all requires Zilog to not lose out to Intel or AMD, or Motorola or humble ARM. Would there be something like the "Wintel" standard? Unless Radio Shack followed Apple, or more likely if Apple didn't exist, TRS-80s might have found their way into "boutique" and specialized sectors like graphic design. Apple pulled that off because they weren't tied to Microsoft, and they aimed at high profit sectors, (abandoning education by ditching the Apple II line for expensive Macs). They went on to do with smartphones exactly what they previously hoped to do with Macs.

     And would TRS-80 become widely cloned like IBM's PC? Or would PC tech development have slowed because Tandy kept their standards proprietary? That was incredibly important to "The internet... become A Thing" and "They want to browse the internet on a personal computer." All that was because there was a dominant standard: Windows on very competitive (and competitively priced) IBM clone hardware. If no other manufacturer made clones of TRS-80, might Apple, for example, just fill the void and dominate? Might the standard become terminals that would log into mainframes on remote accounts, and homes charged for processing power like a utility? IBM once had those ambitions. The whole question of TRS-80 "winning" gets bogged down in a discussion about bigger tech giants.

     The PC revolution came precisely because IBM carelessly lost control of their own invention. They awkwardly threw together OTS parts with an OS from an ambitious software maker. And the cheap PCs were a standard platform to write web browsers; all internet software for, even for AOL. They could port to Mac, too, but that was usually an afterthought. I don't see a TRS-80 standard "winning", and getting us onto the internet unless Tandy made similar mistakes with clone makers. Also only if companies like DEC didn't stand in their way. There were lots of better computers than the 8088 and 8086 PCs at the time! It was precisely because PCs were grossly neglected and underestimated by IBM, itself, that the Wintel clones "won", and the internet became standard in every middle-class home. Almost any other arrangement slows down, if not stops, the "internet", or more specifically, the World Wide Web. In part precisely because the original IBM PCs were kinda crappy.

[Hwlngmad]

I believe that Tandy's biggest issue was not opening up software as much as what they could have done considering they were using Z-80 processors in the TRS-80 line.  They could have gotten a lot more developers on board such as Digital Research with CP/M.  However, they didn't and instead the open architecture of the IBM PC plus its much easier reproducibility path made the PC standard a massive steamroller to all other rivals. 

[Turbo-Torch]

On 3/5/2021 at 2:00 AM, InternetJunkie said:

What "business environments" were you in? It did quickly became standard to have two 5.25" floppy drives, not one. That worked fine, maybe even better than a single 8" drive.

 

Tandy really seemed to love the 8" format.

8" drives were pretty much played out by 1980 and they should have moved to 360K DSDD 5¼ after that.

The SSDD 8" drives used in the II were 480K...not a huge difference.

In 1988 they were still using 1.2mb 8" drives in the 6000!  At the same time you could buy a Tandy 4000 with a 1.44mb 3½ drive. 

Also, that 4000 was a 386 with a larger HD, double the memory and high resolution color for the same $3500 as the 6000.  Although you did have to buy a monitor for the 4000.

 

That said, I have a new pair of 8" drives that I intend to use as externals on my Model III...just because they're so damn cool.