Ira Goldklang's TRS-80 Revived Site

The bottom line is that the site takes a massive commitment, and the time, energy and money would be better spent on my family. It has gotten exponentially harder and harder to maintain the site each year. When it comes down to it, family is the most important, and shedding myself of the burdens brought on from the site will be a welcome relief.

The sites original goal was to preserve the memory of these machines and to provide help to those who wished to relive their experiences with their first computer. I have converted people’s long lost papers and records (and the memoirs of their deceased loved ones). The site has enabled people to relive their simpler days. I never charged anyone a single penny for any thing I ever did, even when blank DVD’s, blank floppies, and postage were involved, and did it all gladly.

I think the site has worked wonders to preserve the TRS-80 through the hard work of many people who have written software to let us image and archive what seems to be rapidly degrading disks and cassettes, and to run those images on modern hardware. While there are so many people to thank for their help, and I am loth to even do so with the fear of forgetting anyone, there are 3 main people (in this category) I found to be personally helpful to me in this endeavor.

First, is Matthew Reed. At a time when there was no freeware utility to read a TRS-80 disk into DSK format using modern hardware, Matthew rode to the rescue by writing READDISK and releasing it as freeware. Without this utility there would have been no widely distributable way for people to image TRS-80 diskettes.

Matthew also prepared, in my opinion, the finest DOS and Windows TRS-80 emulators. Matthew always took my bug reports, suggestions, and wishes to heart and Matthew’s latest emulator remains the only TRS-80 emulator which can emulate a TRS-80 printer. An example of something which Matthew had incorporated as a site aid was “Autoboot”, which enabled me to mount a DSK image without having to know whether the disk was Model 1, 3, or 4. This featured stopped me from having to go to Configure, and cycling through each model, one by one, if a hard reboot on a DSK image produced nothing more than an empty screen, and the list of features which Matthew put into his emulators in an effort to help me out does not stop there.

Second (but, again, in no specific order) is Tim Mann. While Tim’s efforts are all his own, his preparation of the drivers for the Catweasel floppy disk controller card enabled the reading of non-standard and problematic disks. Disks which I would occasionally receive proved excellent fodder for the utility, and Tim was always willing to take bug reports and feature requests.

Third (but, again, in no specific order) is Knut Roll-Lund. Knut is doing for cassettes what Tim and Matthew did for diskettes. Knut’s WAV2CAS utilities enabled the archiving of cassettes. When Knut finished his Level II compatible converter (500 baud), I came up with WAV’s for Level 1 cassettes (250 baud). Knut worked hard to create a Level 1 converter, just as I wound up with Model III tapes (1500 baud and NOT straight ASCII). Knut has since been working on utilities which attempt to determine if a SYSTEM or BASIC tape was not a good dump. The day when Knut manages to integrate an audio capture program which then monitors volume levels, converts to CAS, and test the result for validity, should be a considered a very significant day in the TRS-80 world.

There are also those who have donated hardware (such as disk drives and cassette players – both of which I can easily and quickly wear out) and other help. My thanks go out to these people as well.

I intend to continue with the site, adding information as I find it. I will certainly post any updates as to emulators or tools to read TRS-80 disks and cassettes, and I hope those who develop these fine tools keep doing so with great gusto. I also intend to continue to add any links for any TRS-80 related sites which are out there or which may show up.