OK this is a short post and a quiz. This is a photo of the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1. It is the computer that got me started in computers.
True, before the TRS-80 I loved gadgets. We had gadgets in our house of every description. But they did their gadgety things however the gadgety people in gadget-land wanted them to. Now, suddenly, I could make a gadgety thing do stuff that I wanted it to. Incredible. Beats having friends, big-time. I mean, with real friends, if they start cheating at Dungeons and Dragons...(I'm just gonna stop here).
Back to gadgety gadgets: My TRS-80 Model 1 had 4K of RAM. 4K! And it had no floppy drive. My Uncle Gene had one with a floppy drive so he was one of my gadget heroes at the time. Mine used a good old fashioned casette tape as its persistent storage.
My other gadget hero was my grandpa, who seemed to have one of everything electronic, particularly camera and video stuff. But I'll save that nostalgia for another time.
Quiz time: When did the TRS-80 get introduced and enjoy its day in the sun as a prominent gadget?
photo credit: from a cool site I just found which is a virtual computer museum. http://www.mrmartinweb.com/computer.html
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