[Elecraft] Computers in the Stone Age

[Daniel Allen]

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 <lew at n6lew.us> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Computers in the Stone Age
 To: "elecraft at mailman.qth.net List" <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
 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 
 Lew at N6LEW.US
 www.n6lew.us
 
 Sent from my Mac Pro 256-Array Supercomputer (9.42
 teraflops)
 
 
 
 
 On May 28, 2014, at 11:19 AM, Kevin Cozens <kevin at ve3syb.ca>
 wrote:
 
 
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