Ira Goldklang's TRS-80 Revived Pages
Ira's TRS-80 Model I Page
This page deals with the TRS-80 Model I                      TRS-80 Model I
Facts / History   Emulators   DOS's   Pre-Installed Software   Documentation Software Library


TRS-80 Model I - Facts / History
Background
    The Model I was invented by Don French & Steve Leininger and first announced on Wednesday, August 3, 1977, at the Warwick Hotel in New York City, at a price of $599.95 (and sold 10,000 units in the first month!). It began with a 4K Level I System, which was soon replaced by a 16K Level II System. The Level II (first model) was updated to include a numeric keypad.
    The Model I was discontinued in January of 1981 due to its failure to meet the FCC's Radio Frequency Interference rules.
Specifications
   
  • CPU: Z-80 (1.77 MHz)
  • RAM: 4K-48K (4K Standard, Expandable to 16K in the Unit - Additional 32K through Expansion Interface)
  • ROM: 12K
  • Language: Microsoft Basic (in ROM)
  • VIDEO: 12" RCA white-on-black monitor (16 lines x 64 characters text; 48 x 128 graphical 'squots')
  • I/O: 250 Baud (Level I)/500 Baud (Level II) Casette (5 Pin DIN), Video Out (5 Pin DIN), Power (5 Pin DIN), Printer Port (40 Pin Edge Connector)
  • I/O Option: Expansion Interface which would house a RS-232, Disk Drive Controller, Printer Port, and up to 48K RAM.
  • I/O Option: 5 MB Hard Drive
  • I/O Option: Exatron Stringy Floppy
  • Storage: Casette. Optional 89K Floppy Drive (with DOS) / 102K (without DOS) -- 184K Floppy if Double Density was user installed.
  • Option: Voice Syntesizer (Radio Shack)
    • According to Mike Yetsko
    The first 'Tandy' computer was indeed the Radio Shack (TRS - Tandy Radio Shack) TRS-80. Called just the TRS-80, it later became known as the "Model 1" when the TRS-80 Model II was announced in the summer of 1979.

    It was announced Wednesday, August 3,1977 at a press conference held at the Warwick Hotel in NYC. Radio Shack said they anticipated deliveries to start in two weeks. Price was $599 for a Level I Basic with 4K RAM, monitor, and cassette, with all cables and adapters ready to go. The only thing a user might really needed was a power strip, as it took 3 plugs.

    Internally Radio Shack was quite unsure of the product, thinking that they might sell 600 to 1000 the first year. It was also the most expensive single item Radio Shack had ever carried to that date. They required a $100 deposit to place the computer on order.

    Level II Basic was $99, and 16K RAM was I think $299. There was also an Expansion Interface (EI) that eventually available for $299 that had room for an additional 2 banks of 16K RAM and an RS-232 card. In addition the EI already contained a floppy disk controller and a control circuit to allow two cassettes to be hooked up at one time and controlled by the computer. The EI was a change from the original announcement, which declared that there would be an expansion box with a 5 slot S-100 chassis for the unit. (No price was ever given for the S-100 box that I recall.) There was also an 8K RAM for an additional $99, but only a few of those were ever made, and I don't believe ANY customers EVER got an 8K upgrade kit. As far as I know, all 8K computers were upgraded to 16K.

    Disk drives showed up the following year for $500. These were Shugart SA400 drives with about 80K of storage. The Centronics Line printer showed up as well for I seem to recall $1300 (the 779?).

    They were swamped with orders, and delivery times quickly fell to months after order. By early November of 1977, they were delivering 16K RAM units with 5 digit serial numbers that had been ordered in early September. At that time, there were separate serial number sequences for 4K and 16K machines.
    More Information
    Pete Cervasio runs an amazing website which has TONS of technical and descriptive information about TRS-80.
    His Model I pages contain information on:
       
  • the Model I,
  • the DOS's,
  • the Add-On's,
  • ROM Addresses,
  • RAM Addresses,
  • Internals (Video, Power, and Casette Connections, Expansion Bus, Bus Description, Memory Map, Keyboard Memory Map, I/O Port Usage, DOS Internals, DOS Call Addresses, LDOS Functions, and Miscellaneous Info)

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    TRS-80 Model I - Emulators
    PlatformDescriptionVersionDateAuthorHome Site
    IBM DOS Model I/III Emulator
        
  • This emulator can map your PC drive as a real TRS-80 boot drive and can aid in transferring data from a TRS-80 Disk to an IBM!
  • I strongly recommend you register this emulator (I even use it)
    		•
    		1.10 10/9/97 Matthew Reed www.arrowweb.com/mkr
    Windows '9x Model I Emulator
    Utilites
    Support
    		 6.10 February 15, 2001 (Last Update December 28, 2000) Better Software Co. / David Keil http://discover-net.net/~dmkeil/
    Windows '95 Model I/III/IV Emulator
    Necessary Windows Fonts (install first)
    Voice Synthesizer Add-On    		 2.0 7/23/00 Wade Fincher http://www.asub.arknet.edu
    /wade/wintrs80.htm
    IBM DOS Model I Emulator 3.02u-f
    (Final)    		 3/30/01 (Previous update
    2/5/97)    		 Jeff Vavasour http://www.vavasour.ca/jeff/trs80.html
    IBM DOS Model I Emulator N/A 5/30/97 Mike Riley     
    IBM DOS Multi Emulator Super System (Binary)
    Multi Emulator Super System (Source)
    Multi Emulator Super System (Win '9x)
    Necessary Font Pack    		 .37b13 4/9/01   http://mess.emuverse.com
    IBM DOS Model I Emulator 0.1 12/9/96 Ron Fries http://members.aol.com/trsf80/index.html
    UNIX TRS-80 Model I/III/IV Emulator 4.4 02/17/01 (Last update
    7/23/00)    		 Tim Mann http://www.tim-mann.org/
    Macintosh Model I Emulator (201k)
    Model I Emulator (273k)
    		 1.6 7/11/99 Yves Lempereur http://www.vcnet.com/~skyrider/
    Amiga Model I Emulator 0.9f 3/1/99 Leslie Ayling http://us.aminet.net/aminet/dirs/aminet/misc/emu/
    WWW Level I Emulator via the web
    		     Jeff Vavasour http://www.vavasour.ca/jeff/trs80.html
    IBM
    (Maybe)    		 Model I Emulator 0.1
    (Source
    Code
    Only)    		 8/31/92 Benoit Gilon  
    Windows Model I Emulator in Screen Saver
    		   04/11/01 Serge Lachance  

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    TRS-80 Model I - DOS's
    DOS NameVersionCompany
    DOSPlusv3.2.1Micro-System Software                              
    DOSPlusv3.3Micro-System Software
    DOSPlusv3.4Micro-System Software
    DOSPlusv3.5Micro-System Software
    DoubleDOS4.2Percom/Tandy
    DoubleDOS4.23Percom/Tandy
    LDOSv5.1.2 (Sole Double Density Boot)Logical Systems
    LDOSv5.1.4Logical Systems
    LDOSv5.1.4 (Sole Double Density Boot)Logical Systems
    LDOSv5.3.1Logical Systems
    MultiDOSv1.5SKCosmopolitan
    MultiDOS Double Density DOSv1.0Cosmopolitan
    MultiDOS Double Density DOSv1.2DCosmopolitan
    MultiDOS-IIv1.0Cosmopolitan
    MultiDOSv1.6DCosmopolitan
    MultiDOSv1.6SCosmopolitan
    NewDos    1   2   v2.1Apparat
    NewDos Plusv2.2Apparat
    NewDosv2.2Apparat
    NewDos    1   2   v3.0Apparat
    NewDos/80    1   2   3DZ   4DZ   5DZ v1.0Apparat
    NewDos/80    1   2   3   4   5   6   7 v2.0Apparat
    TRSDOSv2.1Tandy
    TRSDOSv2.1cTandy
    TRSDOSv2.2Tandy
    TRSDOSv2.3Tandy
    TRSDOSv2.7DDTandy
    UltraDOS   1   2   v4.2Level IV Products
    Virtual Technology Operating System (VTOS)              v4.0.1                     Randy Cook

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    TRS-80 Model I - Pre-Installed Software

    Bundle

    Size

    Description
    Software Innovations
    Dealer Demo Disk    *    		 123K  
    Scott Adams'
    Adventure Series    *    		 190K Adventure Numbers are 1-D, Second Disk Has Solves. Please Read First.
    Big-5 Software Series* 170K Cosmic Fighter, Galaxy Invasion Plus, Super Nova, Robot Command, Stellar Escort, Defense Command, Attack Force, Metero Mission II
    Leo Chrisopherson Series* 111K Android Nim, Bee Wary, Dueling Droids, Dancing Demon, Voyage of the Valkyrie, etc.
    Arcade Stuff* 312K Collection of Adventure International, McNamara, etc. Arcade Games
    Interactive Fiction
    Six Micro Stories    *    		 104K  
    Micro-Chord* 91K  
    * = Unzip the file and type MODEL1 This is needed because different pdrives and disk mounts exist per disk set

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    TRS-80 Model I - Documentation
    Level II BASIC Reference Manual (Link To External Page)


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    TRS-80 Model I - Software Library (4,501 Files)
    (#-A)
    (B)
    (C)
    (D-E)
    (F-G)
    (H-I)
    (J-K)
    (L)
    (M)
    (N-O)
    (P-Q)
    (R)
    (S)
    (T-U)
    (V-W)
    (X-Z)
    DMK Format files

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