I had the color model III back in '85. Thing was a BASIC interpreter. No OS, no disk drives, though you could buy a cassette tape expansion and use them as removable media to store code on.
It was hard to get these big pamphlets even back in the day. It's a miracle that any of them survived the ages in my old files, so I'm doing my best to put them up online for posterity. I have been improving my posting skills since I bought a new Epson V850 Pro scanner. I'm doing my best to keep the color scans accurate and make posting as quick and simple as possible.
Protip: to put two separate pages together into one image, like these two page spreads, you can use imagemagick to append the two pages. This saved a huge amount of time. I did this in MacOS, your terminal shell may vary:
It really is. There is no comparison between this and the 1977 or even 1979 price list Apple put out, that /u/nmrk has also posted. No wonder the TRS-80 dominated the home computer market from 1977 to 1980 or so, with Apple II well behind and Commodore PET an afterthought.
But then, that's what you'd expect from a tiny startup, versus a member of the Fortune 500 with thousands of retail locations and sophisticated supply chain. More instructive is the comparison between this Radio Shack catalog and Apple's initial 1977 print ad. Apple hired Regis McKenna, who knew right off the bat how to position a home computer company. Radio Shack was stuck in the "use employees as photo models" mindset for years.
Radio Shack also didn't know when to stop. Its 1987 catalog advertises more than a half dozen different computer systems—TRS-80 pocket computers, Color Computer 3, 4D, 6000, 1000/3000, 2000, portables—all incompatible with each other. (Even the three different portable computers (102, 200, 600) are all mutually incompatible.) 50 years after its founding, Apple is today at an all-time high of computer lines with five (Mac, iOS, iPadOS, Watch, Vision Pro), all with significant overlaps in software compatibility.
Yes, the catalogs improved; see the final 1991 computer catalog. But of course, by then Apple had never had to have a thick catalog in the first place, because its products sold themselves in a way that Radio Shack's gimcracks and gizmos never could.
You would enjoy comparing the TRS-80 catalog I posted, with a 1979 Zenith Data Systems catalog I just posted now. I think the ZDS brochure is better, more focused. Also nice spot color with black and silver ink. Heath/Zenith already had products and logistics and they did pretty well with computers too. I sold a lot of these ZDS machines, they were a great CP/M era desktop.
Heathkit also employed the "employees as photo models" strategy in its catalogs but I'm not surprised that Zenith (and thus ZDS) never did in its publications, thanks to having had to have an actual marketing and advertising department while competing against other large, multinational TV companies.
I sold a lot of these ZDS machines, they were a great CP/M era desktop.
ZDS seemingly effortlessly did what Tandy desperately wanted to do from the beginning of its computer era but never quite could, become a business brand. When you were selling the Z-89 (At a Heathkit store? Corporate/government/education sales out of St. Joseph?) the preassembled:kit ratio was already 4:1, and by the time ZDS was signing those giant government contracts in the mid-1980s the ratio was probably 50:1.
I worked at a specialist computer store, mostly serving industrial clients and the growing personal computing sector. We sold a lot of CP/M era hardware like Vector Graphic and Zenith and a LOT of Apple product.
As interesting as the Radio Shack computer catalogs are, they're not as funny/interesting as the all-store catalogs. Surely Radio Shack is the only company in history to advertise in the same catalog an inflatable "outer-space RC robot" (page 150) and a Xenix-based multiuser computer (page 174).
DoodleJake@reddit
Was talking to my dad about his old computers he used way back when. Turns out he had a TRS-80 but he jokingly calls it the Trash-80.
speedem0n@reddit
I had the color model III back in '85. Thing was a BASIC interpreter. No OS, no disk drives, though you could buy a cassette tape expansion and use them as removable media to store code on.
charleytaylor@reddit
I think you mean you had a CoCo 3, not to be confused with the Model 3 in all its orange monochrome glory. 😊
Jim-Jones@reddit
And disk drives were possible but cost $800 IIRC.
biff_tyfsok@reddit
That is spectacularly good marketing collateral.
nmrk@reddit (OP)
It was hard to get these big pamphlets even back in the day. It's a miracle that any of them survived the ages in my old files, so I'm doing my best to put them up online for posterity. I have been improving my posting skills since I bought a new Epson V850 Pro scanner. I'm doing my best to keep the color scans accurate and make posting as quick and simple as possible.
Protip: to put two separate pages together into one image, like these two page spreads, you can use imagemagick to append the two pages. This saved a huge amount of time. I did this in MacOS, your terminal shell may vary:
magick file1.png file2.png +append destination.pngJim-Jones@reddit
archive.org ?
TMWNN@reddit
It really is. There is no comparison between this and the 1977 or even 1979 price list Apple put out, that /u/nmrk has also posted. No wonder the TRS-80 dominated the home computer market from 1977 to 1980 or so, with Apple II well behind and Commodore PET an afterthought.
But then, that's what you'd expect from a tiny startup, versus a member of the Fortune 500 with thousands of retail locations and sophisticated supply chain. More instructive is the comparison between this Radio Shack catalog and Apple's initial 1977 print ad. Apple hired Regis McKenna, who knew right off the bat how to position a home computer company. Radio Shack was stuck in the "use employees as photo models" mindset for years.
Radio Shack also didn't know when to stop. Its 1987 catalog advertises more than a half dozen different computer systems—TRS-80 pocket computers, Color Computer 3, 4D, 6000, 1000/3000, 2000, portables—all incompatible with each other. (Even the three different portable computers (102, 200, 600) are all mutually incompatible.) 50 years after its founding, Apple is today at an all-time high of computer lines with five (Mac, iOS, iPadOS, Watch, Vision Pro), all with significant overlaps in software compatibility.
Yes, the catalogs improved; see the final 1991 computer catalog. But of course, by then Apple had never had to have a thick catalog in the first place, because its products sold themselves in a way that Radio Shack's gimcracks and gizmos never could.
nmrk@reddit (OP)
You would enjoy comparing the TRS-80 catalog I posted, with a 1979 Zenith Data Systems catalog I just posted now. I think the ZDS brochure is better, more focused. Also nice spot color with black and silver ink. Heath/Zenith already had products and logistics and they did pretty well with computers too. I sold a lot of these ZDS machines, they were a great CP/M era desktop.
TMWNN@reddit
Thanks for posting it. You will find this post on H-89 interesting.
Heathkit also employed the "employees as photo models" strategy in its catalogs but I'm not surprised that Zenith (and thus ZDS) never did in its publications, thanks to having had to have an actual marketing and advertising department while competing against other large, multinational TV companies.
ZDS seemingly effortlessly did what Tandy desperately wanted to do from the beginning of its computer era but never quite could, become a business brand. When you were selling the Z-89 (At a Heathkit store? Corporate/government/education sales out of St. Joseph?) the preassembled:kit ratio was already 4:1, and by the time ZDS was signing those giant government contracts in the mid-1980s the ratio was probably 50:1.
nmrk@reddit (OP)
I worked at a specialist computer store, mostly serving industrial clients and the growing personal computing sector. We sold a lot of CP/M era hardware like Vector Graphic and Zenith and a LOT of Apple product.
c64z86@reddit
They are beautiful machines.
TMWNN@reddit
As interesting as the Radio Shack computer catalogs are, they're not as funny/interesting as the all-store catalogs. Surely Radio Shack is the only company in history to advertise in the same catalog an inflatable "outer-space RC robot" (page 150) and a Xenix-based multiuser computer (page 174).
Personal-Log-4549@reddit
Back when computers were fun and exciting
The-Tadfafty@reddit
If only my TRS-80 didn't bug out every time I looked at it funny.