And Radio Shack started selling the TRS-80 on August 3, 1977. I bought one on that date, and was told to expect delivery in two weeks. It arrived at the store on Christmas Eve! It had a Z-80 and an entire 4K of memory. And Microsoft (or what was to become Microsoft) sold the OS and BASIC to Radio Shack. Microsoft likes to say that Gates and Allen wrote it, but they bought it from someone for a song, and resold it to Radio Shack for a small fortune. That is what got them started.
It booted in BASIC from ROM. It included an instruction book on how to program in BASIC. I knew nothing about any of this and wanted to learn. Boy, did I learn quickly. It was so engrossing that I would often wonder what that strange light coming through the window was. I would go to the window, pull back the shade, and realize that it was dawn! I still have all of this! Including the boxes! And it still works! Dan Allen KB4ZVM -------------------------------------------- On Wed, 5/28/14, Lewis Phelps <[email protected]> wrote: Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Computers in the Stone Age To: "[email protected] List" <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, May 28, 2014, 4:59 PM > Someone wrote: >> Desktop computers did not come into being until the advent of the IBM PC in the 1980s. Nah. Heathkit H89 came out in 1979. “All-in-One” desktop computer. Z-80 processor. CP/M OS addressed 64 KB and used 39 kb of that total. two 5” floppy drives (dual sided 800k) as an option. Later, somebody came up with a card that plugged into the 5” drive slot and gave 128K of silicon hard drive. Now THAT was advanced for its era. Booting from that was faster than lightning, for its time. And do not forget the Ohio Scientific Instruments OSI Challenger 4P…. Lew Lew Phelps N6LEW Pasadena, CA DM04wd Elecraft K3-10 Yaesu FT-7800 [email protected] www.n6lew.us Sent from my Mac Pro 256-Array Supercomputer (9.42 teraflops) On May 28, 2014, at 11:19 AM, Kevin Cozens <[email protected]> wrote: ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected] ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
