TRS-80 News

With Lawrence's massive update to TRSTOOL, I wanted to see the fidelity across TRSREAD, VDISK, and TRSTOOL. This involved expanding my "export every DMK and gather up the resulting CRC-32's" program, which I use to check for duplicates, into one which would export every DMK using each of the 3, and then compare them to see, for example, if one extracted a different number of files than the other or if the CRC32 of extracted images were different, and which program out of the 3 was the odd man out.

There are 8,810 images in the test group and the results have been disturbing. There are a lot of images where VDISK and TRSTOOL agree and TRSREAD, the program I have been relying on for decades, did the bad extraction.

Since VDISK is no longer being developed, I am working with Lawrence to see where TRSTOOL might possibly be breaking, based on the odd man out; in hopes that TRSTOOL will become the highest fidelity tool for this. To its credit, TRSTOOL was only 'odd man out' on 7 images, and 3 of those were because the images were broken; so extraction fidelity is likely not going to be its problem. Images which either TRSREAD or VDISK do extract but which TRSTOOL cannot are being fed to Lawrence.

This is also having a side effect of letting me label which disks are either 'copy protected' or 'special format', something David S has been asking me to do for years.

Lawrence is actively updating his TRSTOOL during these tests, so hold tight on any upgrade to the latest on that for a bit. I have also asked Peter Philips to look into a few images where TRSRead is clearly failing, in case he might be able (and willing) to update Matthew Reed's TRSREAD utility.

Joe Costolnick has developed a Windows app that launches the trs80gp TRS-80 emulator and wraps it with a bezel overlay with optional GPU rendering which can add bloom, brightness above 100%, curvature, scanlines, vignette, tint and a glass cover. A WebView2 settings window exposes all look settings; they are saved to (and loaded from) .gpc preset files.

A writable folder for presets is mandatory, as GPC saves settings and logs.

A sample command line is: bin\GPC.exe presets\M3.48K.Cheap.gpc

You can find the download and instructions at https://github.com/FastDogJo/GPC

The Archive Search page has been updated to add little magnifying glasses next to authors and publishers in each search results. Clicking on those will re-do the search using that author or publisher, so you can see other software by the same entities.

This required a substantial audit of author names and publishers. There are a few publishers that used multiple names for various purposes, such as Programma International and Programma Corporation, and those will not be treated as the same. Thankfully, this affects only a handful of publishers.

CYB2000 was kind enough to dump and scan Blockade.

TRS-80 Trash Talk Live #50 is shcheduled for Saturday, September 26, 2026 at 6:00PM Pacific Daylight Time

You can watch on the TRS-80 Trash Talk channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXkGugvdCkpkMDylVQb9gfg

This will include a detailed rundown of next week’s Tandy Assembly so if you are speaking or exhibiting at TA please try to join us and tell the community about what you will be speaking or exhibiting.

If you want to participate in the live zoom session, reach out to trs80trashtalk at gmail dot com for information.

Jenz Guenther was kind enough to let me know that Yves Lempereur has released the assembler source of his TRS-80 Model I/III games!

• Time Runner
• Mad Mines
• Apple Panic
• Bable Terror
• Aliens Eggs
• Limit Zero
• Black Hole

You can find Yves' Github at https://github.com/ylempereur?tab=repositories. Note: These files are in ASCII as they are for research.

Thank you, Jenz (and Yves!)

• A kind member of the TRS-80 community let me read about 250 disks, which have been added to the archive information.
• The ad copy and missing files have both received a major update thanks to the Radio Shack Sourcebooks.

Richard Merryman has let me know of a Level II BASIC interpreter written in GNU awk

David Forbis posted on Reddit that he has written a Model I/III Level II BASIC interpreter co-written with Claude in GNU awk which aims at the behavior of the Model I machine, not just the language: the same error codes and number formatting, the ROM's RND generator, and the 64x16 pseudo-screen with semigraphics drawn in a virtual terminal. It's mostly Level II BASIC, but he added some Disk Basic features where he found good uses for them.

You can find the project at https://github.com/davidscan/trs80basic

"CYB 2600" has provided some additional software! Thank you!

Gabor Kepes has developed Planet Makruk for the HT-1080Z. It works on the TRS-80.

You can find more information about it at https://gaborkepes.itch.io/planet-makruk

Issue Information:

Date:	September 2026
Pages:	78
Blurb:	In this issue, George and Peter Phillips release details of their latest version (2.5.8) of trs80gp. Ian Mavric has details of the speakers for the forthcoming T.A. 2026. He also warns us that it’s tough times ahead for retro-computer lovers. Check-out page 11 if you’re interested in some U.K. hardware bargains. Randy Kindig starts a series transcripts of ‘Floppy Days’, with episode 8, part 1. E.T. Fonehume has a BASIC one-liner displaying a Kaleidoscope. Egotiz Campo reports on the latest Basgue, TRS-80 Tournament. Vince Otten supplies part 7 “Double Trouble” of his series “The Power of the ROM”. In the regular feature ‘The Way We Were’, there’s an interesting software upgrade for the System80/Video Genie’s. There’s a couple of interesting finds in ‘Surfin the Net’. And finally, there’s the latest puzzle in our ‘Countdown’ series.

Table of Contents

George and Peter Phillips have updated their awesome TRS80GP emulator to v2.5.8. Changes are:

New Features:

• MX-70 now has printer sound effects on Mac.
• Disk summary has option to show likely empty sectors
• Command line -im disksummary and -im disksummarye output disk image summaries

Bug Fixes:

• Reset FDC on Model I reset button press
• Model 4P defaults to having hires Tandy graphics
• FreHD always given short file names on Windows even when it refuses
• Don't force cursor off when directly loading /CMD files
• File Utility was crashing on Model 2 systems under MacOS

You can download it at http://48k.ca/trs80gp.html

Alex Mota has written a utility to identify which memory blocks are occupied on a Model I

Egbert Schroeer has lt me know that he has gotten CalvaDOS reconstructed and running on a real physical Genie III

You can see his write-up at https://github.com/Egbert-Azure/TCS-Trommeschlaeger-Genie-IIIs-CalvaDOS

Claude continues to amaze me. I had the below software as "Can't figure it out". It turns out that Info Cras needed a "Security Disk" and Test Bank System kept rebooting because was looking for protection on the disk.

Claude examined the files, determined the protection, and built not only a cracked file, but also built the associated DMK's with the required security so that a crack wasn't neccessary. The below include all those, including its analysis; for those who are curious.

I have updated the Software Search expanded results page to include the text of an ad applicable to the product, if available. This is also a searchable field.

The team behind the Android TRS-80 emulator has pushed a brand new version of the TRS-80 app with a new and streamlined UI

You can find it at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.puder.trs80

R Pickett was kind enough to provide the missing PC-3 Service Manual!

I have updated the Software Search results page to permit for the same expanded results as are shown on the category results page, so now you can choose between the single line and the expanded when getting results.

Tandy Assembly is coming up! Here's what the organizers have to say

Well, it’s less than 2 months until Tandy Assembly 2026 folks (Oct 2 - Oct 4, 2026 in Cincinatti)! The speaker schedule is booked, the Friday Tech Track track classes are all assigned and the planning is proceeding on target. If you’re not aware, we’re at a new venue this year just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. Very convenient to the airport for those that fly in…in fact, we’re at the airport!
The new venue is also quite a bit larger so you can have multiple tables this year if you plan on exhibiting or becoming a vendor. For vendors, we have some new rules that you need to follow so please be aware of that. See the website for details.
More details will follow as the show date approaches so please watch your inbox.
If you have not yet registered, please do so soon so that we have a good idea of how much space we will need to configure at the venue.
Remember, all exhibitors, sponsors and Tech Track attendees will be invited to the Friday night onsite dinner. Others can attend the dinner for $20 additional cost.
Send any questions to this email address.
Take care and we’ll see you in October!

To get more information, visit the Tandy Assembly Web site

The manual for the Exatron MM-800 64K RAM Board was found!

If you are bored, or want to help out the site, visit the categorization project page and categorize some of the archive! You can jump to various pages, or a random one, a letter of the alphabet, or search. Do as much or as little as you want!

Update: Thanks for everyone who has submitted! Only 26,752 more to go!

Quentin Barnes has released GW2DMK for the Mac.

You can find it at https://github.com/qbarnes/gw2dmk/releases/tag/v0.5.1.

Lawrence Kesteloot has released an updated copy of his trs80tools, now new version 2.8.12, with updates to the disasm command as follows:

• The input file is detected by its contents, not the filename extension, so that FLT, DVR, and OV? files will be treated like CMD files.
• CAS and WAV files can be disassembled directly. If multiple programs are on the cassette, only the first will be disassembled.
• The --full flag now no longer causes jump targets to be disassembled. The assumption is that all code is sequential.

You can download it for the Windows, Mac, and Linux at https://www.my-trs-80.com/tool/#installation.

Gabor Kepes has written a new game for the TRS-80 Model I and HT1080Z called LEO25. He is asking people to try it out and report any bugs

You can download a DSK of the game at https://gaborkepes.itch.io/leo25.

Quentin Barnes has updated his GW2DMK Utility v0.5 noting the following changes:

• USB bus scanning for the Greaseweazle should now work. No need to always specify -G|--device option.
• Autodetect floppy drive when -d|--drive option not given.
• New -Z|--serial option to give a GW serial number if more than one GW.
• New -B|--bustype option to specify type of floppy cable (ibm or shugart).
• New -C|--config|--noconfig options to specify an INI file (or disable it) for default arguments. See the man pages under section "CONFIGURATION FILE" for details.
• The -R|--replay option is now implemented. Uses -U logfiles instead of a level 7 -u logfile like in cw2dmk.
• -y|--testmode
• -h|--hd
• -f|--fillmode
• -p|--precomp
• -a|--rateadj
• --dither

This wonderful program uses the still-being-manufactured Greaseweazle instead of the defunct Catweasel, to create DMK images from real disks. This utility permits caching of good sectors to rebuild damaged tracks, making it far superior to any other method of archiving.

You can see entire GITHUB project at https://github.com/qbarnes/gw2dmk. For those who want a faster download, you can download all OS releases (Linux: ARM Arch64, ARMv7l, x86_64 and Windows: 32- and 64- bit), including source code, from here.

Dusty has unveiled his Model I Case with Bezel and Badge product! He also has put up a web page --- https://dustysvintageworkshop.com/.

You can see all of his EXTREMELY impressive work on that site! e-Commerce to come at some point.

Dusty of Dusty's Vintage Workshop has two (2) finished model I replacement cases for sale

Scott Toenniessen has provided LDOS v5.3.0 for the Lobo Max-80.

You can download it here

I have no way of testing this image.

Dusty of Dusty's Vintage Workshop has been fine-tuning his 3-D printable Model I case, and has released the STL files and builder's guide.

You can download it here

Marcel Erz of RetroStack has released the full schematic, Gerber files for the common manufacturers, and a complete BOM for his reverse engineered and updated version of the TRS-80 Model I Expansion Interface.

You can read all about it at https://www.patreon.com/RetroStack/posts/trs-80-model-1-d-162928605

The prolific Eghbert Azure has provided more links

• H-Dos for the Genie at https://github.com/Egbert-Azure/TRS80M1/blob/main/diskimages/GDos/hdos.md
• A banker hardware hack he made to his Model I at https://github.com/Egbert-Azure/TRS80M1/blob/main/hardware/model1-tuneup-1992.md

Older news can be found here ...