#### Back to index | # Info for trs80

#### Tandy/Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I

Usage:
keyboard - relatively close to the original layout.
Take a look into the "Options" menu, accessible by hitting TAB, and choose "Keys (This
Machine)" to find out more about the key mapping.
cassette - emulation of virtual tapes supported.
Use SYSTEM or CLOAD commands to read images.
SYSTEM supports 6 character filenames and loads the corresponding FILENM.CAS image.
CLOAD loads a file named BASIC(N).CAS, where (N) is the character you supplied
(e.g. CLOAD"M" loads BASICM.CAS)
floppies - emulation of virtual floppy discs supported.
Use a NEWDOS/80 boot disk for drive 0 and set up correct PDRIVE parameters for the other drives. If only drives 0 to 2 are used they can be double sided by interpreting drive select 3 as head select bit.
Under the "Options" menu, accessible by hitting TAB, there are three settings.
"Floppy Disc Drives" - enable or disable floppy disc controller.
"Video RAM" - enable upper case only or upper/lower font.
"Virtual E000-EFFF" - enable 4K Extension ROM or make it RAM.
The TRS-80 driver should run most of the known programs out there. It supports a WD 179x
floppy disc controller with up to four virtual floppy disc drives contained in image files.

History and Trivia:
The Tandy TRS-80 model 1, released in August 1977 at a US retail price of $399 for just the
keyboard/computer or $599 including display and cassette storage unit, was the first member
of one of the most famous computer families.The earliest models used a poor BASIC interpreter
called Basic Level 1 (the interpreter and the OS fit in the 4 KB ROM) which had no instruction
to save the program! It was replaced later with the Basic Level 2 which needed a 12 KB ROM.
To offset its poor characteristics, Tandy developed a device called the Expansion Interface
which brought a lot of new features: 16, 32 or 48 KB RAM, two tape unit connectors, a printer
port, a floppy disk controller, a serial port and a real time clock.
When it was connected to a floppy disk unit, the TRS 80 used the TRS DOS operating system, it
was pretty bugged and most of the TRS80 users prefered NEW DOS, it is an operating system
done by a third-party company called Apparat. This OS was the real TRS 80 operating system.
The Model 1 was followed with the TRS 80 model II and model III (the model III had almost the
same characteristics as the model I).

created on Thu Aug 16 22:55:01 2001