Re: Trs-80 parts?


Poly-poly man wrote:

Why do you have so many, though ;)

I suspect his reason for having so many is similar to mine, although I
threw away most of my tubes of Z80s years ago.

The Z80 was a very popular microprocessor for use on embedded
controllers, ultimately being replaced by the Intel 8086 and later more
current processors.

When production of these products ceased once they became obsolet, many
tubes of them and other obsolete semiconductor devices ended up in the
trash can, or going home with employees.

In my mind the question would be: Why would you want to duplicate a
TRS-80 today, since for about the same amount of time and effort you
could produce a contemporary computer using, say, an Intel Pentium 4?

Since as a hobby I restore some older computers to operation, mainly
Atari 400s and 800s, but I start off with a complete abeit not working
machine. If I owned a TRS-80, I would likely try to respore it to
operating condition as well. Still, other than a historic collectible,
I really don't see any reason to recreated at TRS-80 from scratch.
Then too, I may be missing something. Realize that even at the time
they were being still sold by Radio Shack, most people, including their
owners, referred to the as "Trash-80s", a major reason why most of them
ended up in the trash can. It is an understatement that none of them
were very reliable and provided such poor performance that virtually
none were actaully employed in commercial use.

That said, an original Radio Shack TRS-80 (not a reproduction) is
likely a very desirable item for some specialty collectors even today.
(Check on eBay to test the market.)

Harry C.

.

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