Tandy had 11 million customers that might buy a microcomputer, but it would be much more expensive than the US$30 median price of a Radio Shack product, and a great risk for the very conservative company. The company envisioned a kit, but Leininger persuaded the others that because "too many people can't solder", a preassembled computer would be better. Hired for his technical and retail experience, Leininger began working with French in June 1976. Leininger was unhappy at National, his wife wanted a better job, and Texas did not have a state income tax. National executives refused to provide Leininger's contact information when French and Roach wanted to hire him as a consultant, but they found Leininger working part-time at Byte Shop. When the two men visited National Semiconductor in California in mid-1976, Homebrew Computer Club member Steve Leininger's expertise on the SC/MP microprocessor impressed them. Although the design did not impress Roach, the idea of selling a microcomputer did. Roach, Tandy's former electronic data processing manager. Among the Tandy employees who purchased a MITS Altair kit computer was buyer Don French, who began designing his own computer and showed it to vice president of manufacturing John V. In the mid-1970s, Tandy Corporation's Radio Shack division was a successful American chain of more than 3,000 electronics stores.
In April 1983, the Model III was succeeded by the compatible TRS-80 Model 4.įollowing the original Model I and its compatible descendants, the TRS-80 name became a generic brand used on other unrelated computer lines sold by Tandy, including the TRS-80 Model II, TRS-80 Model 2000, TRS-80 Model 100, TRS-80 Color Computer, and TRS-80 Pocket Computer.
The Model I was discontinued shortly thereafter, primarily due to stricter Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations on radio-frequency interference to nearby electronic devices. In mid-1980, the broadly compatible TRS-80 Model III was released.
#Radioshark radio Pc
Until 1982, the TRS-80 was the best-selling PC line, outselling the Apple II series by a factor of five according to one analysis.
#Radioshark radio software
Tandy/Radio Shack provided full-service support including upgrade, repair, and training services in their thousands of stores worldwide.īy 1979, the TRS-80 had the largest selection of software in the microcomputer market. The basic system can be expanded with up to 48 KB of RAM (in 16 KB increments), and up to four floppy disk drives and/or hard disk drives. It lacked support for lowercase characters, which also hampered business adoption.Īn extensive line of upgrades and add-on hardware peripherals for the TRS-80 was developed and marketed by Tandy/Radio Shack. While the software environment was stable, the cassette load/save process combined with keyboard bounce issues and a troublesome Expansion Interface contributed to the Model I's reputation as not well-suited to serious use. A cassette tape drive for program storage was included in the original package. The TRS-80 has a full-stroke QWERTY keyboard, the Zilog Z80 processor, 4 KB dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) standard memory, small size and desk area, floating-point Level I BASIC language interpreter in read-only memory (ROM), 64-character per line video monitor, and a starting price of US$600 (equivalent to US$2,900 in 2022). It is one of the earliest mass-produced and mass-marketed retail home computers.
The name is an abbreviation of Tandy Radio Shack, Z80. The TRS-80 Micro Computer System ( TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. Monochrome 12" CRT, 64 × 16 character semigraphics
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