Who used one of these back in the day?
Posted by KM68@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 308 comments
I learned BASIC on one of these back in high school in the mid 80s.
Posted by KM68@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 308 comments
I learned BASIC on one of these back in high school in the mid 80s.
IronBobBerserker77@reddit
My middle school did and we had a worthless computer class we had to take from 6-8 grade. Complete waste of time, the only good part of the class was the room had a/c.
rosmaniac@reddit
I still have one, in working condition. I get it out from time to time. These days it has an SD card based floppy emulator that has several floppy images on the SD card.
CitizenChatt@reddit
I wanted one....bad!!!
rosmaniac@reddit
I settled for a VIC-20 at home, but while in college I finally got one. I still have one in my basement in working condition.
Invader1976@reddit
My youngest daughter’s elementary school had 10 of the networked together.
rosmaniac@reddit
Network III and Network 4. Used diskless student stations with a network controller and a 'server' with either multiple floppy drives or a hard disk. Two Network III systems were used in my high school for the typing classes.
CreepingDeath-70@reddit
We didn't have TRASH-80s, we had Apple IIs and Apple IIEs, but same time-frame. I have no idea what terminal I used to communicate with the district mainframe when I learned PASCAL in 1986, lol.
johninfla52@reddit
I learned basic on that Trash 80 in the early 80s too!!!
Otherwise-Muscle-862@reddit
In elementary school, we had the Commodore 64 in the library. My mom bought me one. I remember the cassette style tape drives, the 5 1/4 floppy drive, and of course the monochrome green crt monitor. By high school, the Commodore's had been replaced by the Apple IIc. When I graduated high school, it was the beginning of the x86 war. I got a brand new Tandy 1000rlx (286), and about 3 months later, the 386's started coming out. $2500 for that 1000rlx, including a top of the line 5600 baud modem so you could connect to the BBS.
ramgarden@reddit
I was given one of these exact models from an older family friend. I played with it a few times and loaded up some of the "home office" type programs they had on floppy. I made some simple less than 20 lines of BASIC things just for fun. Until one of the caps popped and I could smell the blue smoke. I don't know what happened to it after that.
SkepticalMisanthrope@reddit
Learned BASIC on the TRS-80 Model 1 in 81 then spent my first few paychecks at 16 on a CoCo 2 (IYKYK). Been a developer or developer adjacent my whole career because of that.
ARCWuLF1@reddit
Yep! That's what we had in the computer lab in high school... in 1993. God, my school sucked so much.
KlyeUnbranded@reddit
A man! A model 4! I only use the Model 3. That is a sweet machine right there. :)
tambor333@reddit
We had a commodore p e t, IBM at, IBM XT, Apple ll
Academic_Dare_5154@reddit
My first system was an IBM XT with a 30MB MFM drive and a CGA monitor.
Deltan875@reddit
Trash-80 for the win!
PuzzleheadedOwl1191@reddit
Beat me to it!
MonolithicErik@reddit
Me. Programmed basic on it back in Middle School.
Still-Syrup-438@reddit
We had the TSR-80 color computer. I taught myself BASIC on it which led to my father asking me to fix his computers all the time. When he was elderly he would unplug something and use it as an excuse to have me visit. He didn't need to do that but it was cute.
Wayne_Hetherington@reddit
I did not have the TRS-80 but I did have a Commodore PET with the 6502 processor and 16kb of memory. Did a little assembler coding on it. NOOP NOOP NOOP.
wj333@reddit
Team PET checking in! In school though, didn't have a computer at home until C-64.
Wayne_Hetherington@reddit
So much more memory, and colour!!! "I adore my 64" https://youtu.be/Q3jkMMM2MOk?si=l9oLShncZAGPw1al Or if you were in Quebec, Canada: "Je t'adore mon soixante quatre"
ApprehensiveLawyer22@reddit
Hangman
EuroGeek67@reddit
I sold Tandy computers in the 90's, but not the TRS-80, which I recall being CP/M machines. My introduction was at Firestone Tire & Rubber, who hosted my Explorers group in an introduction to time-share computing on their mainframe. I recall that they had loaded Oregon Trai,l for us to play.
kangadac@reddit
We had a “network” of these in the computer lab at my elementary school. The cassette ports were wired into a distributor box, with a feed coming from the “server”.
We’d type CLOAD on each machine; when they were all ready, someone would type CSAVE on the server, sending whatever program to all of the machines at once.
Tomaxisthatdude@reddit
I had the Tandy Color Computer 2 from Radio Shack.
PreferenceWorking166@reddit
Yes, my dad had a Model 1, 2 and 3 before we switched to an Amiga.
PurelyHim@reddit
I learned on an apple IIe. Very similar layout but it was all separate. It was a keyboard/computer with 2 separate drives and separate monitor.
SheriffBartholomew@reddit
I learned BASIC on these in Junior High School
Colonel_Sandman@reddit
I had the C64 with tape. Loved Zork on that thing.
Intelligent_Star_516@reddit
NOOOOOO! Junior year 88-89. I finally talked the teacher into letting me replicate the "draw a rocket" assignment in QBasic on one of the eight IBM XTs that had been in the room all year but NOBODY had developed an approved curriculum for high school kids. 20 minutes later I ran the program for the first time in front of everyone. Rocket, check. Ooh! There's a launch tower. Assignment complete. But wait! There's MORE. The rocket suddenly had a crudely rendered blast of smoke and rocketfire, took off, rose slowly to the top edge of the orange CRT monitor screen, which the rocket collided with, crumbled, fell and landed on the launch tower which promptly burst into flames. Miss what's her face never let me demonstrate graphics or animation on QBasic or touch the XTs through the rest of the year.
I was a bit of a weirdo kind of genius. GenX old school ubernerds will appreciate that story.
Class of '90
Sharp-Echo1797@reddit
We always called them the trash 80. If you were lucky you got to use one of the Apple II's
rosmaniac@reddit
Does disassembling one count?
rosmaniac@reddit
Used one, too:
Wrote a bunch of programs in Z80 assembler while in High School.
PretzelsRule23@reddit
We had the one before this that didn't have floppy disk drives - instead we backed up to a cassette tape.
dubgeek@reddit
Me too. Didn't even have a harddrive.
JustSomeGuyInOregon@reddit
A Model FOUR? A FOUR? You bastard, I had a Model 3.
I hope you enjoyed your extra 16kb of RAM.
superguysteve@reddit
Dual Disk drives were for rich people.
Rogerdodger1946@reddit
I designed a burn-in testing system for electronic timers with a TRS-80 using basic and interfacing to the test rack for running 85 timers in a oven overnight. It cycled the timers and measured their repeatability. There was a printed report in the morning. The device was a timer I had designed for a local company. Our company, under contract, made thousands of them.
drulingtoad@reddit
That was my computer. Learned basic and z80 assembly language on that thing
Adventurous-Gift-863@reddit
I was a KAYPRO II user.
mrplow999@reddit
Fortran and Pascal and Basic Man, I hardly remember anything from those two years of Computer math.
tomarofthehillpeople@reddit
Yep. Sophomore year of college. Learned Basic on a trash 80
tomNJUSA@reddit
My cousin had a Trash-80 and we learned to code on it.
DrNerdyTech87@reddit
10th grade math class - pioneered what to do with it.
inigo_montoya@reddit
Me. All kinds of ways. After parents failed to get visicalc to do what they wanted, it got moved to my room.
MilkSlow6880@reddit
10th grade computer lab (they were already aging)
Adorable-Comb-3844@reddit
Middle school typing lab.
DontAngerADuck@reddit
We had a model 1, before it was called that cuz there were no other models.
Had all sorts of gadgets for it. An acoustic modem (300 baud). A stringy floppy, which was kind of a cassette thing that stored data and moved the tape really fast. Fun to watch. A speaker that connected to the cassette output wire and was able to make sounds. One note at a time of course.
And they would absolutely trash channels 2, 3 and 4 on any TVs in the house when they were on. So much interference!
I was always jealous of my friends who had computers that could display lower case characters.
Edistonian2@reddit
POKE 16440, 0
extraface@reddit
I loved this rig.
mjm1138@reddit
My dad had one of these at his office and he'd let me bang away at the basic prompt while he worked sometimes. At home I had a VIC-20 I played with, until my Mom got an Apple IIe
mhicheal@reddit
Model 3 features in Sabrina Carpenter's latest music video!
Honeybee71@reddit
Yep in college
NeatMathematician126@reddit
We had these in my high school. I learned Basic on it. That's it. That's my whole story.
The TRS-80 was a bit limited.
Capable_Stranger9885@reddit
My dad had a TRS 80 "Portable" and I got a Superman tie-in comic with the "TRS 80 Whiz Kids" wherein a Daily Planet collegue of Clark Kent sends in a report with a Radio Shack brand phone earpiece suction cup modem in comics glory.
Oh shucks internet, you have it digitized
https://www.atarimagazines.com/whizkids/showpage.php?issue=kidnappers&page=24
hedge36@reddit
You know, we were still using machines that looked a lot like that to order parts and submit work orders in the Navy in the early 90s. Oof.
Mordor2112@reddit
I was 12 (between 1983 and 1984) and used to have BASIC classes on a "Prológica CP-500" , the Brazilian clone of that machine.
skinisblackmetallic@reddit
I used this and a couple of other Tandy's at a job I had in the early 90s. They were operating rudimentary cnc engravers for industrial signage.
AreWeFlippinThereYet@reddit
OMG! A trash 80! I used one in high school (1979-1983)
hammerpocket@reddit
Computer camp summer after 6th grade (1982). We had a room full of TRS-80s and one Apple ][. The same kid commandeered the Apple every day. The next Christmas my dad bought us a C-64 with printer and floppy drive. I programmed a decent game (for a mostly self-taught 7th grader) in BASIC, but somehow never thought to pursue programming as a career.
b-killa@reddit
Played some hell out or Oregon Trail on this bad boy
Uranus_Hz@reddit
I highly recommend watching this musical based on the Oregon Trail computer game. It’s a riot.
pjtexas1@reddit
Had these in high school. That was my first paying IT gig. I would write the programs for anyone for $1 each. Plus i got to test things and troubleshoot what the teacher couldn't figure out. She got me my first IT job 2 years later.
Waesrdtfyg0987@reddit
12 year old me learned on a Coco and ran my own BBS.
Happy-Speech-7003@reddit
I remember using one of these back in high school and they sure seemed futuristic.
surly-monkey@reddit
i had a trs80 model 1. no disk drive, only cassette.
Chicagoj1563@reddit
I had a trs-80 similar to the picture. I leaned to code on it and have spent a career as a software engineer. Great memories on that thing.
My mom has pictures of me from 1981 sitting at that computer wearing a cheap trick t-shirt.
Such_Zebra9537@reddit
Early 80's, monochrome green, cassette storage in high school. We had two of them.
Engineer5050@reddit
Yep. Senior year of HS we programmed in Basic.
SoggyManufacturer693@reddit
Line 10: Print You Stink Line 20: Goto 10 Run
InadvertentObserver@reddit
The Trash 80! Learned to program Basic on it.
lantech@reddit
Our HS was fitted with commodore 64's and that's what we did BASIC on
imjeffp@reddit
That one is fancier than ours was. CLOAD if I recall
winter7@reddit
I learned to program on one of those.
Billazilla@reddit
No, but I still have my Apple II+.
AdhesivenessEqual166@reddit
I took a class my junior year of HS (82-83), and that's what we used. The first computer I actually owed was a mac classic bought for grad school.
Billazilla@reddit
I kept mine alive by salvaging parts from discarded school systems. Ultimately, though, the disk drives all froze up or gave out, and I'm not up for soldering/machine coding to make it work again.
CaydeTheCat@reddit
Ah....the Trash 80.
thaulley@reddit
That is literally exactly what I said when I saw the picture.
Freightshaker000@reddit
Oh yes. "You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here."
Jasong222@reddit
Some things something bell, book and candle
lawtechie@reddit
"A hollow voice says Fool"
Freightshaker000@reddit
xyzzy
Late-Date5045@reddit
RadioShack TRS 80
Texstallion@reddit
Intrepid-Entrance460@reddit
My first non-Atari 800 computer was an IBM PC. 4.77 MHz 8088 CPU with 640KB RAM and 2 full height 5.25" FDs. 12" monochrome (amber) monitor, no graphics other than ANSI characters and a 9-pin Okidata ML192 printer.
Av-fishermen@reddit
I’m still using it. Just not for the same thing, but it does a hell of a job holding my heavy basement door open during spring cleaning?
charleytaylor@reddit
TRS-80 Model 4. That was my first. My parents bought it for me when it went on a closeout sale after the Model 4D was released. They paid $799 for it (about $2,400 in today's dollars).
I upgraded it to 128 kb RAM. That involved soldering a jumper on the motherboard, that was a harrowing experience for teenage me. I had absolutely no need for 128 kb of RAM, I just wanted to be the cool kid who had it. I also ran Montezuma Micro CP/M for the cool factor. My idea of cool probably differed from my high school classmates thought...
jayhawkwds@reddit
My Grandpa had one, although I think it was an earlier model that used a cassette tape for storage. We would spend hours typing out a BASIC program just to make Mr. Bojangles dance. My Grandpa loved technology. I really wish I had him around longer and he could have seen some of the advances in the 90s. He's still one of the most intelligent people I've ever known.
charleytaylor@reddit
As far as I know, the Model 4 was only offered with dual floppy drives. I believe the Model 3 (which looked very similar, the most visible difference was that its case was gray instead of the cream color the Model 4 sported) was offered with cassette storage. So many fond memories of these machines…
SlowPokeInTexas@reddit
Identical case, pretty much..
Mediocre-Tap-4825@reddit
I remember magazines where you would type the code into the pc. It was worth it, but it was tedious.
octopus_pi@reddit
i remember those too! We used to type those recipes into our Commodore Vic20. It would take hours typing in those lines of code for like a 3 frame pixel animation or something.
SlowPokeInTexas@reddit
..and get wrong wrong "Poke" statement, and it was liable to @*@(! things up. I initially had a horrible time on the Apple ][ with shape tables.
SlowPokeInTexas@reddit
Byte was good for this..
Select-Efficiency935@reddit
Dual disk drive.... Way ahead of my time
thehobster@reddit
That's what I was thinking. Only the teacher machine had to the dual disk drives.
AllReflection@reddit
It was less capable in some ways than cheaper computers that did color and better sound, but the aesthetic was on point! My best friend had one while I had a Vic 20.
RecbetterpassNJ@reddit
I used BASIC too, but I had a Tandy from Radio Shack. State of the art!😆
SlowPokeInTexas@reddit
10 Print "Miles Koslowski is the greatest!!";
20 Goto 10
Responsible-Bee1194@reddit
Wow... learned basic and Fortran on that back in HS
htnut-pk@reddit
Eliza
The original AI.
The Hell you say!
CoastRanger@reddit
We had these in my middle school in the early 80s. A whole-ass computer lab with Apple ][s, TRS-80s, and a few terminals hooked up to a Digital PHP11/34.
Almost nobody on staff knew what to do with these new gadgets and there were no formal computer classes yet, but being in the gifted program meant I could spent half my day just pounding away on them then submit a summary of what I'd learned and accomplished for my grade.
FF 50 years and I'm sitting here writing code on a clackety mechanical keyboard, because once you clicks the habit sticks =p
MasterClown@reddit
My folks never owned a TRS-80, but we did have an Osborne01, Kaypro and TI99/4A.
I really miss the the days of hacking, or dialing a BBS at 300 baud, N, 8, 1.
Bork60@reddit
A
jakedakat@reddit
Always wanted one whenever we went to Radio Shack. I remember the ones that had the 8-inch floppy.
classicsat@reddit
That is the TRS-80 model 2.
Model 4 had an HDD.
lawtechie@reddit
That's a Model III.
The Model 2 was the TRS 80 business version, with 8" vertical floppies. IIRC, you could get a CP/M card for them.
The
Everything_Breaks@reddit
I used one in class to learn basic, then pascal. 1988-89
StarAD@reddit
Karel's robot.
Mr_Doberman@reddit
I learned BASIC on one of those in the mid 80's. It was also my introduction to networking when we set one up to share it's floppy drive.
classicsat@reddit
TRS80 specifically, not beyond tapping on the one at the Radio Shack store.
Our neighbor had a model 3 for his business, nut it was verboten to touch it. He had a VIC-20 for play. So did I.
Opening-Ad-2769@reddit
I had a model 4P. It was “portable“. But it was too heavy for 12 year old me to pick it up lol
Smackmethg@reddit
As a teen I would go to the local mall an hour or two (depending on home work) before the 'crew' that would meet at the game room and smoke weed, drink booze out back. Yeah, that crew.
The Radio Shack guys let me teach myself basic programing on this machine of wonderment before 'crew' time. This is what I did because being a small town, the rich kids got accepted into the computer classes at my public school. Anyway..... ✌🏻
classicsat@reddit
Grade 10 Science, my group (not because of me, but half the 30 some kids I took most classes with in some combination) were placed in an experimental "Computer Science" class, instead of the normal science. The lab we were assigned had these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICON_(microcomputer), the other lab being Apple IIe. The ICONs were as useful as tits on a bull. I never really learned anything I haven't taught myself on a more felxible home computer, and reading magazines.
FeliusSeptimus@reddit
That's the machine I started to teach myself to program on. Lots of 'interactive fiction' style programs in BASIC and Pascal.
I thought the tape cassette drive was pretty neat.
Good stuff.
macrolinx@reddit
I OWNED one. Loved my trash 80. Was that exact same model, too!
brack3@reddit
Parents (somehow) got me a Model III for Christmas - started a lifetime of being 'the computer guy' and 'tech support'
macrolinx@reddit
I went full career IT.
Armand28@reddit
With a floppy drive? Fancy. Mine had a cassette tape and used a TV as a monitor.
jones5280@reddit
We had some kind of Tandy with tha setup.
Kodiak01@reddit
That would be the Model 1.
Kodiak01@reddit
We started with a Model 3 w/16k and cassette, later upgrading to 48k and dual floppies.
After that we got a 4D that started with 64K and dual floppies, later boosting to 128K, an ST-506 5MB MFM HDD and hi-res graphics package.
tspangle88@reddit
Trash 80s and Commodore PETs were the first computers I ever used.
neverender158@reddit
The Trash 80
HD64180@reddit
Model 4
toqer@reddit
German class at Cupertino HS. Herr Morray was our teacher, we used to joke he was More Hairy.
Bladrak01@reddit
I used one of these in HS in the mid 80s.
KuchDaddy@reddit
Daaammm. Your family musta had money.
SaushaL@reddit
Wow. Brings back memories
Shack70@reddit
Our high school had these. I learned to program in basic on one
swren1967@reddit
My dad got a Model 1 in 1979. Insanely expensive. I was told the 80 in TRS-80 was the model year, but like I said, it was sitting in our living room in 1979.
infohippie@reddit
The "80" was from the CPU it used, the Zilog Z-80
infohippie@reddit
Oh yeah, this was my second home computer. My first was another TRS-80 that used a TV as a monitor and only had a tape drive connected via a serial port instead of a floppy drive.
Ravynseye@reddit
This was my dad's first computer. Once the got an IBM PC, this came to me. All I ever did was play games on it.
His didn't have the floppy disc drives, it had a cassette drive to record and play programs.
gollo9652@reddit
I think my HS had one in the library that you had to have a note from a teacher to use. I only saw it from a distance.
DoctorSynScarecrow@reddit
Our high school computer lab had several of these. The TRS-80s were such a great learning tool.
Somebody in our class figured out how to password protect his files AND his entire disks (the Attrib command, if memory serves…) It was the absolute height of cybersecurity. 😂
Actual_Salt7509@reddit
Wow, brings back memories
chimpyjnuts@reddit
Same here - BASIC class in high school. It was fun, we had kids who knew a LOT more than the teachers (who were math teachers drafted for the new tech) but everyone was cool about and learned from each other.
DemenicHand@reddit
TSR-80 with a cassette tape drive was my first puter...4k ram
swren1967@reddit
You had RAM? I had a cassette player.
SevenBlade@reddit
And the 2.25" thermal spool printer.
Nettwerk911@reddit
Still using it
42VT_Man@reddit
Not this version, but the Apple II green screen...😆
Fitz_2112b@reddit
We had one of those and a Texas instruments TI-99/4a at my house when I was a kid
AgainstSpace@reddit
In middle school we had four TSR-80s, and two Apples with color monitors.
MisplacedLonghorn@reddit
It was my high school computer science machine sophomore year. We had Apple Iies Junior year.
RandyRVA@reddit
The trash 80!
PilotKnob@reddit
I used to stare at the Radio Shack Christmas Catalog for hours.
My first computer was a TI99/4A, but my second computer was a Tandy 1000. The original one with one single black floppy drive, not the Super next-gen with the cream-colored floppy drives and an available 4mb hard disk.
Ray_The_Engineer@reddit
That's a Model 4, I did my first BASIC on Model III's in the HS computer lab. And then my mother found a Model 2 in a thrift shop, and got it for me for college reports, etc. It had a line printer and 8 inch floppy drives. Yep, 8 inch, each one held an incredible 100kb. I felt lucky to have any kind of computer in 1987.
Tigrisrock@reddit
A bit too early for me. Our "computer lab" in school had like 3 or 4 similar machines. Learned Basic and Turbo Pascal on them.
Damn_you_taco@reddit
I remember using the asci to change the curser.
BacklogGamingJunkie@reddit
I had the Model 1, my parents got it for me when i turned 8 yrs old, dad was a uni professor and got me random hardware like this, soon after came the commodore vic 20 '80 and C64 around '82
devo0630@reddit
That pic has Star Trek on the screen , which was one of the first computer games I played as a kid (along with HGTTG)!
dixiech1ck@reddit
Used to play Jumpman on this bad boy
reddaddiction@reddit
I could only guess that all of us did
Waffuru@reddit
Is that a Trash-80? My best friend had one in High school, and that's what he used to call it XD I was rocking an Apple ][c at the time.
hapster85@reddit
We had one in the computer lab in highschool, but never got a chance to use it. Everything else was Apple II's and IIe's. That's were I learned BASIC.
ArcadianDelSol@reddit
OH GREAT HAMMURABI....
ArcadianDelSol@reddit
My God the most OBNOXIOUS version of BASIC ever written.
That whole nonsense with the EDIT command was ridiculous.
trycuriouscat@reddit
Almost. I learned BASIC on a TRS-80 Model III in Junior High.
Memories! (well, what's left of them)
ascii122@reddit
Trash 80 - our highschool also had PETS and eventually c64's
twosctrjns@reddit
100% the same for me...A couple Trash-80s, a Commodore64, an Apple iic, four PETs -- two 4016 and two 8032 (first with cassettes for storage then we got a double DS/DD disk drive that was networked to all four machines) -- and we also had three HP teletypes with paper tape storage...those were cool to play with.
ascii122@reddit
That's sweet. I lived off grid and I wanted a c64 luggable so bad in high school but my dad was like no fucking way (which now I totally understand) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_SX-64
I remember waiting to load a game on a freaking cassette we eventually got a hard drive networked with serial cables in our high school lab.. and it was smazing. I remember using the floppy drive ram on c64 using assembly to access another 4-5 k
One of the coolest things our CS teacher did was teach us how to put copy protection on our own disks using one that Atari-soft was using at the time. By teaching us this we also knew how to crack atari-soft so me and my buddies were selling copied atari games for c64 for five bucks a pop.
Then we had a project to write a grading report card system for c64 to be used in the office to easily printer out grade cards on the old dot matrix printer. We had a basic flat file database and super simple UI and they started using it. But naturally we had copies so kids with D's and F's were going to get their asses beat (literally) so we'd print fake report cards for 5 bucks (or for free for the really poor kids) .. they kept a written record so nothing we did changed real data but it helped the kids out who were just hoping to get out without a beating till the end of the year.
Ha we also sold pot brownies at a Future Business Leaders of America bake sale
good times
Astronaut6735@reddit
Me too. Radio Shack offered a BASIC programming class in the evenings. My dad, sister, and I took the class. I was twelve years old, and my sister was fourteen. I remember the instructors name was Chaz, and he took a little too much interest in my sister. 🤨
arcticeng@reddit
Eleventh grade.
nirreskeya@reddit
The first time I played any version of The Oregon Trail was on one of these. We had a classroom of around 20, and another adjacent room with around 20 Commodore 64s, where I'd often play Lemonade Stand. In between there were a couple Apple ][ machines that were harder to get access to, but that had Number Munchers and Moon Patrol.
brokenmcnugget@reddit
this was my whole junior high school computer lab.
PatMagroin100@reddit
That’s a new fangled one with floppy drives. We only had cassette tape readers.
Aromatic_Advance_431@reddit
Same.
karma_the_sequel@reddit
I didn’t, but some of my high school teachers did.
broohaha@reddit
Briefly at school before we upgraded to Apple ][e and Apple IIic computers.
JasonMaggini@reddit
They shipped some of these into our elementary school periodically, and we got to write simple little programs on them. I took a summer computer class at a high school and they were using them as well.
rdaneellarsen@reddit
My dad was a computer analyst/ programmer in the 70s.Seen computers come a long way .
Oh-THAT-dude@reddit
Had one.
Skeezy_mcbuttface@reddit
I used to play Zork on my dad's trash 80
Fun_Matter_6533@reddit
In high school they had the trash 80 model II & III. Its what I learned on before buying my own Commodore 64.
pm344@reddit
TRS80, IIE, AMIGA, COMMODORE 64.... The list keeps going.
so-strand@reddit
I had one, but the case was different. It didn’t have lowercase letters
ptgoetz@reddit
I spent hours typing in a program from a book. Then my mom came over and asked “what’s this orange button do?” and pressed it.
MaelstromFL@reddit
And, then you learned to save, lol! I used to teach a beginners computer class to adults in college for extra money. After I got them all somewhat familiar with WordStar I had them enter a two page letter. When the last person got about a quarter done (many were far ahead), I hit the master power switch!
The look of pure horror on their faces was priceless. Then I would explain that they list everything for the first time, and how to save periodically, so they wouldn't lose their work.
No_Desk_4921@reddit
I took a computer class in 82/83 junior year and was asked to student teach the same class in my senior year. Wrote my own little version of Centipede on it but another guy had written a game that was much better. What an awesome experience.
AskingFooAFriend@reddit
One boot floppy and one for your code.
ICrossedTheRubicon@reddit
Math class middle school. If you finished your test early you could go and play depth charge on cassette. It was always a toss up as to whether it would load in time.
Critical_Concert_689@reddit
immediately dumped for the beauty of a IIe
AryuOcay@reddit
Cass?
droid_mike@reddit
Before I had a computer at home, the only place where I could use one for myself was to sign out a time at the local library where they had one of these TRS-80 Model IIIs. I could only sign up for an hour, which was not much time, but that hour was the best time of the week!
msguider@reddit
I programed in basic the bouncy ball. Played lunar lander.
corq@reddit
TRS-80, I had the hippest science teacher too. I'm a security analyst now, and the "Garbage in, Garbage out" lesson has held up pretty well!
Mr. Bruce King, Marathon High School, Classof 1987: "Computers won't always do what you want them to do, but it WILL do what you tell it to."
DiverDownChunder@reddit
Trash-80 Yes I know it well... Also who remembers the audio cassettes?
https://youtu.be/_t-pSzDdeOM
MikeW226@reddit
This is what my cousin called the TRS-80 as well: the Trash-80. Good times.
saint_ryan@reddit
My first ‘computer class’ had the Radio Shack TRS-80. We learned BASIC on it. 10: ?”hello world”;
20: goto 10
DiverDownChunder@reddit
I learned basic on an IBM first gen personal computer. My dad was on the team that designed the RS232 port. He got it for homework, we never gave it back.
DiverDownChunder@reddit
Oh they were cutting edge back in the day, my ole man was a EE. We spent many an hour in The Shack geeking out w/ EE students working there. Man I miss that...
Also had an Osbourne, my dad stole a O-scope from Honeywell. He rolled it right pas security. IDK if you know how big an O-scope was in the early 80's. I was walking right next to him, guy had balls the size of grapefruit.
KrugerDunningWoman@reddit
Mine was a Compaq. We called it a "lug-along".
xultar@reddit
10 PRINT HELLO 20 GOTO 10
We were all geniuses in 2nd grade on our TRS 80.
kcracker1987@reddit
Used to do that in the store. 😜
xultar@reddit
We thought we were doin some big time shit. LOL.
Wake95@reddit
I rode my bike to middle school before class started just to get an hour on that thing.
ChrisRiley_42@reddit
I started on a PET 2001. The older model that had the tape drive external instead of built in.
cropguru357@reddit
That exact one. I think dad bought in ‘85?
PBRStreetgang1979@reddit
"Trash" 80! I learned enough BASIC (in my prep school computer class) just to fill the screen with my name. And that was about it. We had a Mac at home so this thing seemed like a dinosaur by the mid 80's.
grokbones@reddit
Anyone remember “Supreme Ruler” basic game? Wish I could play that again.
cyvaquero@reddit
My first home computer was a TRS-80 CoCo, we had some Model IIIs and 4s in middle school typing. In high school we had a lab of IBM dual floppy PCs. As late at 2010, a former colleague of mine had a Model III in his office that would still boot up and run for about 5 minutes before shutting down.
Sea_Brush4156@reddit
We had these in elementary school computer lab. I remember the teacher always saying to wait until the display said "TRSDOS Ready" and I was terrified if I pressed a button before then that the computer would blow up. I remember playing some fun little math game on there, where there was a green monster that would jump and down if you got the question right.
Elegant-Ferret-8116@reddit
Mostly business people
jojowasher@reddit
I had my Dad's hand me down TRS-80 color computer, had one game, some mario like game with goats.
Migamix@reddit
Apple] [+ and a Vic20 were my early day computers.
VirtuaFighter6@reddit
A Tandy TRaSh-80
cchaven1965@reddit
My high school had a computer lab in the early 80s that was made up of one disk-based TRS-80 Model III's that acted as a server and a bunch of cassette-based Model III's. Programs for those could either be loaded film a diskette in the server or by their own connected cassette. It helped get me into programming.
agravain@reddit
high school computer class was a couple of them.
lorem_opossum@reddit
I used to move the turtle on one of those.
Igmu_TL@reddit
I moved on after model 3.
numindast@reddit
Us Commodore 64 kids made fun of you TRASH-80 kids
SGFCardenales@reddit
Commodork 64 users. 😂
DenverBowie@reddit
Apple kids snicker in the corner at you both.
ReturnOfPooky@reddit
Playing Aztec on an amber monitor . . .
Bidrick@reddit
Trash 80?
krebstorm@reddit
Yup. Was looking for this comment
phxor@reddit
What do you mean back in the day?!? I’ve used one recently
NocturnalRock@reddit
Ah yes. I really enjoyed messing around with one of those when I was a kid.
NoIamthatotherguy@reddit
Dual drive, nice.
Our school installed the NCR DecisionMate V. Also dual 5 1/4 drives. It never got the fame of the TRS80.
frankiebenjy@reddit
It was so cool that you could put your boot disk in one drive and leave it there while putting your working disk in the other.
Uilleam_Uallas@reddit
I definitely did.
SnowblindAlbino@reddit
Oh yes, and it's predecessor, the Model I as well. I first learned basic on the TRS-80 Model I in 1981. The only computer class my high school offered I took in 1983, on a TRS-80 Model II like pictured. BASIC programming and a bit of printing.
Somewhere in that era my father's office got a TRS-80 Color Computer, and I'd go there and program that at night-- slightly different iteration of BASIC and much more interesting graphics. Good memories!
DamianMitchell69@reddit
Oh, yeah. In the early '80s, I was part of a small group of students in 5th and 6th grade being bussed over to the high school for 2 hours a day to be immersed in activities intended to stimulate us intellectually and creatively. A TRS-80 was one of the things made available to us. At the time, the only computer I had at home was a decidedly limited Sinclair ZX-81. (Eventually upgraded to an 8-bit Atari computer.)
Computers surely weren't very powerful back then compared to today's multi-core behemoths...but they were fun and still a novelty. And unlike today, many of those who had them actually learned at least the basics (no pun intended) of programming.
porcelainhamster@reddit
Yep. Had a Model 1 TRS-80, and used the Model III. Worlds worst placed reset button.
AdamoMeFecit@reddit
Learned BASIC on a Trash-80, then typeset my high school yearbook on one. Saved copy to a 5 inch floppy, then sneaker-netted it to a justifying daisy wheel type/printer to generate the type we pasted into the page spreads.
The Apple Macintosh launched the following summer.
KillerSwiller@reddit
It's been a hell of a long time, but yes. I think the last time I saw one was like...1992?
Userdmcm@reddit
This is my earliest “computer” memory though – we had these in school and everyone would fight over playing on it: https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/s/onWV9DTlqw
hd-cat-guy-91@reddit
My first programming job was on a TRS-80 with dual 8” floppies mounted vertically. Had a 20mb hard drive on the floor. COBOL on a Zenix OS
JohnHellstone@reddit
I had the Model III, so no floppy drives for me. I begged my dad for floppy drives but they were $500 each back in the day.
OcotilloWells@reddit
Model III had floppies .. As an added option
OcotilloWells@reddit
Model III in high school. Along with some Apple II+ machines.
Sea_Ganache620@reddit
10: Goto 20 20: Goto 10
Userdmcm@reddit
Sammmmeee-but I was in elementary school. I was in some special program where I got to learn to program and basic and I think it was like 1982 or something.
wawzat@reddit
We had a III. I was the only kid in a class full of middle aged men at the local Radio Shack taking computer classes.
I would come home and write programs in basic.
"He sis, wanna take a test?"
...computing...
...I have computed...you are a big dummy...
DominicPalladino@reddit
We had the model before that, with monitor separate from the keyboard. Two of them had 4k of memory and the special one had 16k!!
RickyDontLoseThat@reddit
My Model III had 48K, two dual-density floppy drives and an RS-232 acoustic coupling device (modem).
DominicPalladino@reddit
Damn! Was it 300 or 1200 baud???
RickyDontLoseThat@reddit
It was a TRS-80 Telephone Interface 2 so it went up to 300 baud! Yes. There were speeds slower then 300 baud! I think it was sent to us in error but my dad was cool enough to eventually have an RS-232 add-on board installed. A few years later I finagled a 300 baud Hayes Smartmodem.
quickwithwit@reddit
Yep!
Green-Palpitation901@reddit
I had the original Mac with the 512k hard drive.
innocent_bystander@reddit
That's the Model 4. I had a Model 3, no floppy drives, that loaded everything off of a cassette player that you had to be careful to press "Play" and not "Play/Rec" lest you erase your OS cassette.
Reddiculusness@reddit
1980 6th grade we had 2 TRS 80s with cassette drives, and an Apple II
7th grade they added 2 TRS 80s with floppies , and an Apple IIe color, by 9th grade we had 50 TRS 80 floppies and a dozen Apples .
Needless to say when I started 10th at the HS , they were only doing intro classes , I ended up teaching the teacher 🤣
royofhollywood@reddit
I played Deadline on mine. Oh that Ms. Dunbar was a naughty one.
GooseySill@reddit
I was in 4th grade, in '84, learning BASIC on a TRS-80. Good times!
GreatAndPowerfulWOS@reddit
Oh yes, I had a trash 80 back in the day.
Sloppy-Zen@reddit
Had a Model II and a Model III. Remember entering in those games from the magazines in BASIC and CSAVE to cassette.
IMTrick@reddit
I skipped that generation... my Model I was still chugging along on its tape drive up until I managed to upgrade to a PC.
no_u_bogan@reddit
My school (private school) made us take a typing class with this militant 80 year old before we could take a computer class. I actually cheated throughout my computer class and then I wound up making it a profession. lol The computer part, not the cheating!
dave_stolte@reddit
I did in Mrs. Miller’s class. She has braces. Whenever something went weird she used to run over waving her arms and shouting “CONTROL SHEE, CONTROL SHEE!”
ecsutton3@reddit
loved playing on the trash-80s in the computer science room! my first was a TI-994/A tho. it was so cool writing a program and saving it to a cassette tape
BackroadAdventure101@reddit
I loved my TI.
Gokubi@reddit
This was where I first played Rogue, which was truly amazing at that time.
Also, Code of Hammurabi, which was um... much less good
stalkythefish@reddit
Ooh. Model 4. 9th grade computer class. I scoffed at it because I was part of the C64 master race, and I only took the class for the easy A.
93195@reddit
Trash 80! Model 3 though I think. I also think we used the cassette player for memory.
R86Reddit@reddit
I learned BASIC on this thing at home, and Pascal on it at school.
I have been putting off learning Python for over a decade, and I flatter myself (probably wrongly) that some of it will seem familiar because I learned Pascal 40 years ago.
homeland1972@reddit
I think I used one in junior high.
teachthisdognewtrick@reddit
Learned Z80 assembly language that way
canuckEnoch@reddit
Not a fancy Model 4–ours was a Model 1 bought cheap off a local high school when the upgraded to Model 3s.
Tape drive and all!
realdlc@reddit
I used one in 5th grade. The school only had one in the library. Learned basic and printing snoopy pics on green bar paper with a daisy wheel 132 column printer!
w1lnx@reddit
First "real" computer.
10 GOSUB 10
Woot!
anOnionFinelyMinced@reddit
Wrote my first code on a Trash-80. It was supposed to be a sort of spy text adventure. I think I got, like, 3 decision-trees into it before I quit over the sheer enormity of the thing.
Fluffy_Respond_7405@reddit
10 REM 20 CLS 30 PRINT
Autodidactic@reddit
This picture brings back so many memories for me. Thanks!
18ekko@reddit
Used these in jr high "computer science" class in 83.
Just a semester of BASIC, and one week into it, I wrote a BASIC script to conduct a serial exhaustive attack on the teacher's password to access other students' assignments to turn in as my own.
Sadly that was the last script I ever wrote from scratch.
PyroNine9@reddit
I got to use a friend's Model I sometimes. At school it was a combination of Apple ][ and dial-up to the school system's mainframe. Some of us figured out how to break out of the limited student shell and get a system prompt.
Voyeurone@reddit
Used one and the rare portable version.
Spaceman1965@reddit
I used one in High School.
Warm_Emphasis_960@reddit
My dad had a business and we used this. Terrible spreadsheet program
DoctorMoebius@reddit
Not one of those. But, my next door neighbor had an Osborne 1
chartreuse_avocado@reddit
This is what my Dad bought and lugged to computer club because it was considered so portable. 🤣
My brother and I had to program our own sad little games from a paperback of games for kids he bought!
Haunting-Prior-NaN@reddit
does this one count?
LikeToKnow84@reddit
First computer I used. March 1982, fourth grade.
Mallthus2@reddit
Definitely spent time with Trash 80s back in the day.
Mastershoelacer@reddit
My dad’s first TRS-80 didn’t have a disk drive. It used a tape deck. The floppy drive was a revelation.
dixiech1ck@reddit
👋🏼👋🏼
SupaDave71@reddit
High school, alongside Apple IIs.
uberphaser@reddit
I had an Osborn 1
Gift at age 8 from an early adopter uncle.
Rolandersec@reddit
We had these in the school lab. But when I was 9 or so my dad got a IBM 8086. I loved that thing and taught myself basic by 10. They used to yell at me for spending so much time on the computer and kept trying to lock me out of it.
togocann49@reddit
We had the pet computers in our high school. We were first grade nine class to have computer (intro) offered as a class. We also learned basic at that time. 2 years later we got a second classroom of computers, think they were call icons. They were specifically made for education. They had a roller for a mouse that was great for playing missile command
RickyDontLoseThat@reddit
https://willus.com/trs80/
OkTouch5699@reddit
My mom bought.my sister and I an Epson home desk top computer for 1300.00 for our birthdays and Christmas in 1987? It had a dot matrix printer, which was all the rage. I was on 8th grade and took it to college. It was more of a word processor than anything.
nuclearcjs@reddit
I built my first basic programs in this in high school.
nmincone@reddit
Me too
knhmptn@reddit
During my senior year (89-90), my high school was teaching data processing on TRS (trash) 80s.
Infamous-Insect-1297@reddit
A Trash80 - nice!
Chauncy1911@reddit
Hell Yes! TRS-80
WeAreOurDeeds@reddit
In High School!
usafmsc@reddit
Anyone remember playing SURF on this? Great times..well, maybe not great..pretty ok..
Real_Emergency_6661@reddit
oh yes, 86 in surveyors office making street names for plats from a program that ran on the floppys....
aarkwilde@reddit
I had an Osborne.
Odditeee@reddit
No, I had an IBM 5155 “Portable PC” though. Similar configuration, 2 5 1/4” floppy drives, small ~10” amber screen, keyboard folded up and you carried it like a suit case. It was as big as a suit case, too. Got it in 1984.
infinitynull@reddit
The Trash 80. My high school nemesis!
My first programming class used these. Being a C64 kid, these seemed absolutely anacronistic compared to my own home computer.
Monochrome monitor!? You have to load the operating system before you start!? A tape drive? I was already using a floppy with the C64. I hated that thing. Seemed dumb that a school computer, used to teach programming, was worse than my computer at home.
I guess it was a good lesson. My current work computers are also worse than what I have at home.
calmneil@reddit
Haha trash 80. My friend back in 84 has this, i had the commmodore 64, my other friend had the apple iie
ggibby@reddit
Ours wasn't fancy like yours, just a cassette drive, not them fru-fru 5.25" floppies.
Where's the box of software magazines?
CajunAsianTexan@reddit
Learned Pascal in high school in the early 90’s on the TRASH-80.
foetusized@reddit
Mid 80s and BASIC for me, my high school had a lab of about 15, two students per computer.
Brilliant-Pie5207@reddit
Oh I loved playing with my best friends family trash-80. My first extended experience was with Atari 400/800s
Feefifiddlyeyeoh@reddit
“Trash-80!” Thanks for that memory prompt
CynicalTelescope@reddit
My high school had a whole lab filled with exactly these machines. I programmed BASIC and even some COBOL, wrote papers for my classes, and articles for the high school newspaper. There was a huge library of games that was floating around, everyone sharing copies. It was no Commodore 64, but the games were fun as far as chunky black/white with no sound went
KyotiKill@reddit
Nope, by the time I was at least old enough (late '78 genX) this is the closest thing I had in the late 80's....
Similar though I suppose.
umeboshiplumpaste@reddit
My fingers remember the weight of those keys and how they felt when they popped up and clicked.
Staran@reddit
I had a trs 80 but it didn’t look like that.
Lasted forever and was well used
Intelligent-Art-5000@reddit
Here.
Also the 50-lb. Kaypro, Kaypro II, and Osborne "portable" computers.
Buhos_En_Pantelones@reddit
Never used that one specifically, but I wouldn't have any trouble operating it. If the thing even works haha