Overlooked and mostly forgotten -- The TRS-80 Model III (Sort of?)

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Back in the day I had a TRS-80.  While it would be "kinda nice" to have one one again, I simply do not have the room, let alone the will to spend Ebait prices on an old beat up piece equipment that would in all probability need to be restored.  In this case EMULATION IS WHERE IT'S AT...  for me.

A while back I dedicated an unused RPi 3B+ as a TRS-80 emulator.  I then created some badging, added some stickers to the keyboard to remind me of which keys do what on a PC keyboard and now use it for a few quick games... "now and then".  From power on to completely booted, ten seconds!  If only my PC could do that.

This is what the whole things looks like...

 

 

Here's the closeup of the entire "computer" (RPi) with the Radio Shack badging..

 

Below is a closeup of the keyboard...

 

Below are a few examples of TRS-80 games..

 

[Keatah]

On 3/28/2021 at 9:32 PM, - Ω - said:

let alone the will to spend Ebait prices on an old beat up piece equipment that would in all probability need to be restored.  In this case EMULATION IS WHERE IT'S AT...  for me.

That's something I believe a lot of folks don't consider when browsing ebay. The amount of work needed to do a good restore and clean-up. And now with today's inflation, cost of those clean-up & shop supply materials add up pretty quick.

And the quality of the machines available at a reasonable cost aren't getting any better. They've been around the block a few times.

I don't find it fun doing that kind of work too often. Maybe once every year or two. I'd rather get right to it and enjoy the essence of the software and what it does. That's what these machines are all about!