Comments on: “Radio Shack’s TRS-80 Computer Is the Smartest Way to Write”

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:45:55 +0000

James Randi, who knew Asimov personally, said he always used a typewriter. Asimov probably had a TRS-80 around the house primarily because he was the spokesman for it.

By: Tracy B.

Tracy B. — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:46:36 +0000

In the mid 70’s to early 80’s I had sideburns just as thick as Isaac’s. Unfortunately in mid ‘82 I had surgery which eliminated the side burn on one side……..

By: Stan Xhiao

Stan Xhiao — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:04:50 +0000

I worked at Radio Shack headquarters and we called them Trash 80s, too. Just not when Management was around.

By: fluffy

fluffy — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:14:31 +0000

I just called it TRaSh-80 because, as a Commie-64 user, it seemed like the obvious thing to do.

By: Bartholomew Opinionsworth

Bartholomew Opinionsworth — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:48:02 +0000

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.

By: Stacia

Stacia — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 21:02:15 +0000

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.

By: Torgo

Torgo — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:17:00 +0000

“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.”

By: james

james — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:49:06 +0000

I know the TRS wasn’t apple’s work, but i got undertod apple coined the nickname in the appleII times.

By: Fred Kiesche

Fred Kiesche — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:46:23 +0000

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!

By: Rick Auricchio

Rick Auricchio — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:35:44 +0000

I have less hair on my head than he does in those sideburns.

Jeez, $2687 in 1983 dollars would be $5600 today.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:51:05 +0000

james: I don’t know if it was Apple, but that certainly has always been it’s nickname.

By: james

james — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:37:15 +0000

Did Apple nicknamed this the “TRaSh-80″? Well, being capaple of runing VisiCalc don’t looks like “trash” to me…

By: Charlie

Charlie — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:00:51 +0000

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.

By: fluffy

fluffy — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:18:16 +0000

The fact he was gushy about macros certainly explains a lot about the vast majority of his works.

By: Eli

Eli — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:31:17 +0000

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.