“Radio Shack’s TRS-80 Computer Is the Smartest Way to Write” (Jan, 1983)
Source: Byte ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1983
Buy on Ebay
Tags: computer ads
“Radio Shack’s TRS-80 Computer Is the Smartest Way to Write”
Our word processing system changed Isaac Asimov’s mind about writing-and he’s a renowned science and science fiction author! But you don’t have to be an author to use a TRS-80. If you prepare memos, letters and reports-do what Isaac did. It will change your mind, too.
“I may never use a typewriter again!” Isaac likes the time he saves using SuperSCRIPSIT™ (26-1590, $199), our newest word processing program. “For example, I can assign frequently-used words and phrases to a user-defined key. So whenever I press that
key, the word or phrase is displayed instantly!”“SuperSCRIPSIT gives me the advanced features I need, including true proportional spacing for even right and left margins, and automatic pagination.” For professional-looking letters, SuperSCRIPSIT supports underline, bold face, super and subscripts, and multiple column printing.
“A professional computer, too.”
Add VisiCalc® (26-1569, $199) for fast and accurate planning and forecasting. Or choose from a variety of other personal, management or entertainment programs, too.
“Surprisingly affordable!” This system includes the TRS-80 Model III computer with a built-in disk drive (26-1065), and the new DMP-200 dot-matrix printer (26-1254) that prints your documents correction-free at 520 words per minute and features a word processing mode for superb-looking correspondence. It has a graphics and data processing mode, too! With cable (26-1401), it all comes to just $2687! Try it out today at a Radio Shack Computer Center, store or participating dealer near
you-and be sure to ask to see our other TRS-80S, too.
Radio Shack
The biggest name in little computersA DIVISION OF TANDY CORPORATION
I may be thinking of any number of other writers, but I’d been under the impression that Asimov stuck with a manual typewriter until the end.
Comment by Eli — August 7, 2008 @ 8:31 am
The fact he was gushy about macros certainly explains a lot about the vast majority of his works.
Comment by fluffy — August 7, 2008 @ 9:18 am
fluffy: Well, he originally published the Three Laws of Macro Assemblers. Given the amount of spam in my inbox, nobody listened much. I suspect it will be the same with robots.
Comment by Charlie — August 7, 2008 @ 10:00 am
Did Apple nicknamed this the “TRaSh-80″? Well, being capaple of runing VisiCalc don’t looks like “trash” to me…
Comment by james — August 7, 2008 @ 11:37 am
james: I don’t know if it was Apple, but that certainly has always been it’s nickname.
Comment by Charlie — August 7, 2008 @ 12:51 pm
I have less hair on my head than he does in those sideburns.
Jeez, $2687 in 1983 dollars would be $5600 today.
Comment by Rick Auricchio — August 7, 2008 @ 7:35 pm
Nope, Asimov used the TRS-80. He talked about it a couple of times in either one of the “Opus” books or a volume of his autobiography.
Plus, after his death, there was a used and new SF bookstore in Greenwich Village that acquired the TRS-80 and his desk. They had it as a display in the window. You could buy it. I don’t recall the price tag, but it was beyond my price range!
Comment by Fred Kiesche — August 8, 2008 @ 7:46 am
I know the TRS wasn’t apple’s work, but i got undertod apple coined the nickname in the appleII times.
Comment by james — August 8, 2008 @ 4:49 pm
“And let me personally assure you, these computers are not in the least bit nerdy.”
–
I think even fans of the computers at the time called them “Trash 80s.”
Comment by Torgo — August 8, 2008 @ 7:17 pm
They were indeed called “Trash 80s” back in the 80s. A friend of mine in high school had one which he called a Trash 80 — because he’d upgraded to a Commodore 64. My husband still has his TRS-80 and it works great. For various values of “great”. I think it has 4 whole colors.
Comment by Stacia — August 9, 2008 @ 2:02 pm
Every product has a derogatory nickname which is usually a play on its existing name. Such a play-on-words nickname is not rare or unique. At the same time in history, the Apple was referred to as the “Lemon”, as it had its own share of problems.
TRaSh-80 came about generally due to the initial quality of the interconnect cable between the Model I and its expansion interface. The signal would disrupt and the computer would freeze. This was fixed by a buffered cable.
Comment by Bartholomew Opinionsworth — August 13, 2008 @ 3:48 pm
I just called it TRaSh-80 because, as a Commie-64 user, it seemed like the obvious thing to do.
Comment by fluffy — August 13, 2008 @ 4:14 pm