Site News (2007-2012)

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

As many of you have no doubt noticed, I have scaled back the site to focus on information regarding the various home TRS-80 models and emulators and utilities related thereto. I know that people are curious as to why the dramatic shift was made.

The bottom line is that the site takes a massive commitment, and the time, energy and money would be better spent on my family. It has gotten exponentially harder and harder to maintain the site each year. When it comes down to it, family is the most important, and shedding myself of the burdens brought on from the site will be a welcome relief.

The sites original goal was to preserve the memory of these machines and to provide help to those who wished to relive their experiences with their first computer. I have converted people's long lost papers and records (and the memoirs of their deceased loved ones). The site has enabled people to relive their simpler days. I never charged anyone a single penny for any thing I ever did, even when blank DVD's, blank floppies, and postage were involved, and did it all gladly.

I think the site has worked wonders to preserve the TRS-80 through the hard work of many people who have written software to let us image and archive what seems to be rapidly degrading disks and cassettes, and to run those images on modern hardware. While there are so many people to thank for their help, and I am loth to even do so with the fear of forgetting anyone, there are 3 main people (in this category) I found to be personally helpful to me in this endeavor.

First, is Matthew Reed. At a time when there was no freeware utility to read a TRS-80 disk into DSK format using modern hardware, Matthew rode to the rescue by writing READDISK and releasing it as freeware. Without this utility there would have been no widely distributable way for people to image TRS-80 diskettes.

Matthew also prepared, in my opinion, the finest DOS and Windows TRS-80 emulators. Matthew always took my bug reports, suggestions, and wishes to heart and Matthew's latest emulator remains the only TRS-80 emulator which can emulate a TRS-80 printer. An example of something which Matthew had incorporated as a site aid was "Autoboot", which enabled me to mount a DSK image without having to know whether the disk was Model 1, 3, or 4. This featured stopped me from having to go to Configure, and cycling through each model, one by one, if a hard reboot on a DSK image produced nothing more than an empty screen, and the list of features which Matthew put into his emulators in an effort to help me out does not stop there.

Second (but, again, in no specific order) is Tim Mann. While Tim's efforts are all his own, his preparation of the drivers for the Catweasel floppy disk controller card enabled the reading of non-standard and problematic disks. Disks which I would occasionally receive proved excellent fodder for the utility, and Tim was always willing to take bug reports and feature requests.

Third (but, again, in no specific order) is Knut Roll-Lund. Knut is doing for cassettes what Tim and Matthew did for diskettes. Knut's WAV2CAS utilities enabled the archiving of cassettes. When Knut finished his Level II compatible converter (500 baud), I came up with WAV's for Level 1 cassettes (250 baud). Knut worked hard to create a Level 1 converter, just as I wound up with Model III tapes (1500 baud and NOT straight ASCII). Knut has since been working on utilities which attempt to determine if a SYSTEM or BASIC tape was not a good dump. The day when Knut manages to integrate an audio capture program which then monitors volume levels, converts to CAS, and test the result for validity, should be a considered a very significant day in the TRS-80 world.

There are also those who have donated hardware (such as disk drives and cassette players - both of which I can easily and quickly wear out) and other help. My thanks go out to these people as well.

I intend to continue with the site, adding information as I find it. I will certainly post any updates as to emulators or tools to read TRS-80 disks and cassettes, and I hope those who develop these fine tools keep doing so with great gusto. I also intend to continue to add any links for any TRS-80 related sites which are out there or which may show up.

With any luck, I will be able to go thru my TRS-80 collection and start listing eBay auctions this weekend. What I hope to put up first (probably because they are the easiest) is the fairly heavy TRS-80 related Sams Computerfacts collection, and ALL of my original diskettes. These two will likely be broken into different traunches to enable easier shipping. I also hope to list some *working* Model 100's, *working* Pocket Computers, and manuals. In the future, I will try to gather all the pieces of Model I's I have lying around, assemble and test them, and get some *working* Model I's on eBay as well.

I have added the site's story to the Personal Stories link. It is very much a work in progress.

First, I would like to thank everyone who sent me emails. Emails fell into three categories - 1) sincere thanks for what I had done for the TRS-80, 2) kind offers to host/mirror, and 3) kind requests for DVD's.

With regard to # 3, I did not respond to any of them, prompting some people to email a second and third time. As most of you know - ignoring emails is not what I do, but I had very little to say. So, I thought a news item may be best ...

As many of you know, some individuals had been selling (and some continue to currently sell) the DVD's on eBay, and taking in ridiculous amounts of money from doing so. When one individual managed to sell each individual DVD of the 4 DVD set for $30+ per disk (his donation to the site for all 4 + shipping was $20), I took down the DVD link and ceased making them.

In fact, this person found it so profitable to copy and sell the DVD's, that he was simply making copies and continued to list them on eBay (his auctions show lots of 10, per disk). He had initially listed the DVD's as a harmless 'I didn't want these disks, so I am going to just sell them for 1 cent', but once the eBayers, in their infinite wisdom, paid him 30+ per disk, he started making copies and bulk selling them ... and that's a different story.

So, while I appreciate all the kind words and support, I doubt I will ever make the DVD's again if this is how it is going to go -- so no need to email asking for them.

It dawned on me that since none of the 80 Micro pages contained downloads, there was no reason to remove them. I have restored all the 80 Micro pages, as well as the 80 Micro Table of Contents search engine.

Although it will take me some time, I believe the next eBay auction will be for all of my original TRS-80 disks. They currently take up 3 of those hard plastic disk holders (which I envision I will include).

I have cleaned up the old pages and have restored them without links. Now they are cover scans, but at least the info is back up.

Also up are the emulator pages and transferring pages.

Thank you all for your continuing supporting emails.

Three questions continue to show up, and I would like to at address them here:

1. I have X software/magazine/manual, do you still want it? Yes, yes, yes. Please continue to send me scans of books, magazines, manuals, etc. Just yesterday, (i) I finished processing a scan of the 1978 Tandy Computer catalog (which contained exactly 1 page of TRS-80's out of 52 pages!), (ii) the CopyCat II instruction sheet was scanned, and (iii) today I received a scan of the Model I Double Density Disk System Owners Manual. If you have it, please send it. If I do ever make DVD's available of the paper downloads, newly acquired and scanned items will be on it.
2. Can I have a DVD of the software downloads? Yikes. As stated below, and while I do appreciate the requests and the financial offers which have come along with them, I have never and will never send out the software files on DVD.
3. I just got a X at a garage sale, and went to find the hardware manuals for it, but the manuals seem to be gone.. If you have a specific hardware manual in mind, please send me an email with the details and I will do my best to help you out.

In case you have been wondering what I have been up to, other than the eBay auctions, of course, I have been adding 'ad' scans for the former library and have also won another TRS-80 book on eBay. I am thinking about restoring the Software section, but without links, so it can act as a library/lookup for TRS-80 software information.

Added 26 advertisement clips and 43 media scans to the library.

Vernon B. Hester has been re-working his MULTIDOS operating system and has provided a number of disks to me to make available. The first is v5.11 of his Model 4 MULTIDOS, copyright 2005.

• Astrocal [MULTIDOS 5.11] (CMD) - Vernon B Hester (19xx)
• Cardinal Number Converter v1.2 [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (2003)
• Cube Root Solver [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (1996)
• DS1286 Bus Clock Utilities [MULTIDOS 5.11] (CMD) - Vernon B Hester (1998)
• Expanded Debugger for XLR8er [MULTIDOS 5.11] (CMD) - Vernon B Hester (2004)
• Extended Precision Math [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (2005)
• Hi-Res Analog Clock [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (1995)
• Hi-Res Animation Demo [MULTIDOS v5.11] (CMD) - Vernon B Hester (2004)
• Hi-Res BASIC Demonstration [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (2002)
• Hi-Res Fill Patterns [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (1996)
• Hi-Res Function Graph Plotter [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (2004)
• Hi-Res Image Printer [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (1997)
• Hi-Res Patterns [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (2002)
• Hi-Res Progam Disk [MULTIDOS v5.11] (DSK) - Vernon B Hester (2004)
• Hi-Res Square Sum Up To 25x25 [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (1999)
• Hi-Res Vectors Demonstration [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (2001)
• Integer Root Calculator with Double Precision [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (2004)
• MegaMEM Memory Map Allocation [MULTIDOS 5.11] (CMD) - Vernon B Hester (2002)
• MegaMEM RAM Disk Drive [MULTIDOS 5.11] (CMD) - Vernon B Hester (2004)
• Memory Disk for XLR8er [MULTIDOS 5.11] (CMD) - Vernon B Hester (2004)
• MSDOS Clock Patch Utility for Jeff Vavasours Emulator [MULTIDOS 5.11] (CMD) - Vernon B Hester (1999)
• MSDOS Clock Patch Utility for Matthew Reeds Emulator [MULTIDOS 5.11] (CMD) - Vernon B Hester (1999)
• MultiDOS v5.11 (DMK) - Vernon B Hester (2005)
• Othello [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (2004)
• Perpetual Calendar 1583-9999 [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (2003)
• Sort Demonstration [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (2004)
• Square of the Sum [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (2003)
• String Garbage Collection Demo [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (2005)
• Truth Table [MULTIDOS v5.11] (BAS) - Vernon B Hester (2002)
• Zeus Editor/Assembler v7.4 [MULTIDOS 5.11] (CMD) - Vernon B Hester (2004)

the following is an announcement by theresa welsh about her new book.

Priming the Pump: How TRS-80 Microcomputer Enthusiasts Helped Spark the PC Revolution
355 pages, with full Index and over 100 illustrations
Paperback Edition. ISBN 0780979346804
Only $19.95

This is the first book to capture the unique era of the late 1970s and early 1980s, when personal computing was just getting started. David and Theresa Welsh were part of the community of small software entrepreneurs and personally knew many of the principle players whose accomplishments are the stuff of legends.

Some of What's in this One-of-a-Kind Book:

• Steve Leininger, hired away from Silicon Valley by Tandy Corp., worked alone amid the grimy surroundings of an old Fort Worth saddle factory and built the prototype TRS-80; the final development cost was less than $150,000.
• John Roach, Tandy's product manager, got an agreement from Charles Tandy to build 3500 units after Leininger demonstrated the prototype; this was exactly the number of stores they had -- Roach figured if no one bought the computers, at least the stores could use them. Don French, a true believer, predicted they'd sell 50,000 the first year and urged the company to gear up the factory for mass production. Tandy managers, thinking they could never sell that many, were surprised when, in the weeks after the introduction, the Tandy switchboard was paralyzed with over 15,000 calls from people wanting to order a TRS-80. In the first year, over 250,000 people went on waiting lists to buy a TRS-80!
• Tandy contracted with Randy Cook to create a Disk Operating System (TRSDOS) for the TRS-80 Model I and III, which would support floppy disk drives. The company agreed Cook would retain ownership of the code. But Cook, believing Tandy violated the agreement, created a rival DOS which he sold through his own company. Tandy managers found Cooks' name embedded in the TRSDOS code.
• TRSDOS replacements appeared - five of them - and programmers made up their own homespun magazine ads touting their products great features and attacking their rivals' products in the pages of magazines like 80 Micro, the most popular of many publications devoted to the TRS-80. e.g. Wayne Green, publisher of popular computer magazines, promised to "editorially break" Radio Shack because they would not carry his 80 Micro magazine in their stores; his magazine column often lambasted Radio Shack CEO John Roach.
• Bill Schroeder, a successful businessman, bankrolled Logical Systems, Inc. and sold Tandy on LDOS as the company-sponsored TRSDOS replacement. A state-of-the-art headquarters and good money followed the lucrative contract, but once he sensed the coming demise of the TRS-80, Schroeder simply shut down his company.
• Scott Adams created popular Adventure games for the TRS-80 and other early microcomputers, became a celebrity in the magazines, but produced too many game cartridges for a computer that died in the marketplace.
• Along with microcomputers, home robots were hot. Meet the robots of the 1980s - and the man who said we were all going to have mechanical men in our homes by the year 2000. Unlike microcomputers, robots just didn't catch on.
• A notorious scam artist preyed on the gullibility of microcomputer enthusiasts, destroying the Southern California Computer Society with a Ponzi scheme, then bilking TRS-80 owners out of thousands of dollars with magazine ads from a bogus company called World Power Systems showing phony products.

Here is the real story of the first microcomputers, based on the Welsh's personal experiences selling TRS-80 software and our interviews with amazing microcomputer pioneers.

Visit the book website at http://www.microcomputerpioneers.com/ to read excerpts.

At present, the book is available only from the Welsh's, but it will be listed on amazon.com in the coming few weeks.

BIG NEWS! Matthew Reed has updated his Windows emulator to v1.16 and his fantastic READDISK utility to v2.1, all under a brand new domain name of www.trs-80emulators.com.

I have updated all the links here, or you can go directly to his web site and download the software there.

There have been many bug fixes and tweaks, including:

• Revamping the keyboard handling to work better with CP/M
• Autostarting now resets the pause state; and
• TRSDOS 6.01.00 now autostarts.

Registration of the emulator (I get NO share or incentive for your registrations) provides you with:

• Multiple types of high-resolution graphics boards
• Orchestra 85/90 music generation
• Several types of real-time-clocks
• Up to 1of additional memory (in Model 4 mode)
• Virtual hard drive support; and
• Epson FX-80 compatible printer emulation

This is the emulator I use in maintaining the site.

Jeff Post has updated his Linux/Windows DSKDIR utility to display a CP/M Disk Directory to v1.7. It is distributed under the GPL version 3 license.

Vernon B Hester has sent over his 2005 version of Model III MultiDOS and his Model III copies of ASTROCAL and ZEUS. I hope to have them up shortly.

• Astrocal [MULTIDOS 4.01] (CMD) - Vernon B Hester (19xx)
• MultiDOS v4.01 (DMK) - Vernon B Hester (2005)
• Zeus Editor/Assembler v7.4 [MULTIDOS 4.01] (CMD) - Vernon B Hester (2004)

As some of you may know, what Matthew Reed and Tim Mann did for diskettes, Knut has done for cassettes.

Knut has now refined his wonder cassette utilities and has released a major major upgrade. The new version has the following features/improvements:

• Reads LEVEL 1, LEVEL 2 and MODEL III High-Speed
• Reads tapes with more than one "file" and they can be any combination of the above types.
• Decodes the data to verify the contents and displays the result
• The LEVEL 1 and LEVEL 2 decoding is better (now it is probably better than the original)
• Improved Model III High-Speed decoding, some special typical errors are handled too.
• Dropout problems are almost gone, as long as there is data wav2cas can read it.

There are currently a few outstanding issues:

• Will not read tapes that have very bad timing
• Doesn't like ringing so don't record with too high volume.
• Will probably have problems with system tapes output directly by EDTASM, because EDTASM inserts pauses.
• You should use at least 22,050 samples per second when recording.
• While it understands basic and system tapes, it does not yet understand assembly from EDTASM or Scripsit documents.
• Disassembly is not yet implemented.
• No documentation or help file is supplied.

Wayne Westmoreland has provided an updated email address for the Email/Links Page.

I am in the process of going thru a bunch of disks I have received, and I must say that microDOS is possibly the most annoying Operating System ever made. Apparently, it is designed to be incompatible with every other DOS, and their recommendation for getting programs on/off disks with their DOS is to CSAVE and CLOAD. What a nightmare.

The main information on the site is under the Models page. In it I have been augmenting each and every catalog number and peripheral available from Radio Shack for the Model 1/2/3/4. As I continue to scan catalogs (which have been posted), I continue to update these pages with new information and pictures.

I have taken the old SQL search for Model 1/3/4 page, updated it so that it provides information only, and placed it as a link on the main navbar.

• Modifying the AMPERSAND Command in NEWDOS/80 BASIC
• TRSDOS 6.2 Routine Addresses
• Running TRSDOS 6.2 SYSTEM Commands from Model 4 BASIC
• Renaming TRSDOS 6.2DOS Commands
• Model 4 TRS-80 Keyboard PEEK Table
• Directly Access Model 4 Video
• Model 4 Video Locations
• Programming the Model 4 Function Keys
• Changing the Model 4 Speed (4MHZ Model 3/2MHZ Model 4)
• Controlling the Model 4 Sound Card
• Interesting Model 4 BASIC Commands

I have been contacted by Michael Gause looking for a high resolution image of a TRS-80 Model I for a publication he is editing.

If anyone out there with a Model I set up could please contact Michael, he would give you proper credit for the picture?

He is looking for high res jpegs or Adobe Illustrator files.

I was sorting through the box of new stuff that Donald Hennessy sent over, and, when I went to see if a SoftSide magazine was already archived, I realized that I had not re-implemented most of the magazine pages! I am working to get them back online, albeit as "covers". Anything pictured has been archived.

Thank you Lex for sending over your TRS-80 disks!

I am very pleased to announce that Matthew Reed has released an update to his phenomenal TRS-80 emulator for Windows to v1.17.

Matthew Reed, author of the fantastic Windows TRS-80 Emulator I use, has prepared a new TRS-80 based site. Please visit it at http://www.trs-80.org

David Hitchner wants to give away an Assembly Language Development System manual to someone in the U.S. The first taker will be passed on to David for arrangements.

Sorry for the lack of news. The reason I had stopped posting news is that every news item I posted came back with immediate "negative" emails and/or forum posts (although I always wondered why people would come to the site just to complain). I probably should have realized earlier that people who are going to complain are going to do it no matter what, and that's why the 'delete' key was created, so I hope to resume posting news.

• Now that our remodel is done, and the contractor has moved his equipment out of the garage, I can resume making/reading disks for people.
• I won an ebay auction for 2 missing printer manuals.

Matthew Reed has released an update to his PHENOMENAL Windows Compatible TRS-80 Model 1/3/4 emulator.

Wow. That's all I can say. Wow.

Check out comp.sys.tandy if you want to see what I am/was up against, and a nice summary (not written by me) of the general issues, and the "special" types of people out there.

To "Trash80", thank you for speaking up on my behalf. Your statements, and assessments of the risks, are well stated and well reasoned.

To "Gene" - I am astounded at the accuracy of your entire analysis (including your first sentence).

• Duplicating ACORN Copy-Protected Disks
• Sneak Circuit on the Starfighter
• How to Back Up The Sargon II Tape -and- How to Put Sargon II on Disk
• Hidden controls for FASTEROIDS

Knut Roll-Lund has released an updated version of his wonderful WAV2CAS utility. It is far more than a recorded WAV to .CAS file converter.

The new version includes the following:

• Windows GUI
• Sound level autodetection to allow you to know if your volume setting is off
• File type identification on the fly (BAS / SYSTEM)
• BASIC Program Analysis/Display

• Putting tape SFINKS on Disk
• Backing Up Super Utility Plus v2.1
• Backing Up Super Utility Plus v2.2
• Backing Up Med Systems Disks
• Backing Up BIG 5 Games

Brian Blake has let me know that a newer CoCo 3 emulator, called Vcc and written by Joseph Foregione, has been released.

What makes this emulator unique is that it runs in Windows 2000 or higher, and allows writing REAL CoCo floppies from within windows using a third party driver.

Features include:

• A Tandy Color Computer 3 with 128K, 512K, 2048K or 8192K of ram.
• Selectable Motorola MC68B09 or Hitachi HD63B09.
• Two 2 button joysticks
• FD-502 Supporting 3 Double Sided or 4 Single sided Floppy drives. Supported format include DMK,JVC,OS9.
• Real Disk access is supported on Windows 2000 or higher via the FDRAWCMD libraies provided by Simon Owen.
• Hard disk Controller (.vhd) with Cloud-9 RTC.
• 4 Slot Multi-pak interface.
• Orchestra-90 Sound Synthisizer.
• Only 8,16, and 32 BPP are supported. 24BPP is not supported.

Rainer Fredrich pointed me to a Wikipedia page for the Aster CT-80 which was a Dutch version of the TRS-80 sold as a kit, which supported a faster speed and higher density disks. Check out the Wikipedia page.

Thanks to Horacio, the searchable database of 80 Microcomputing magazine table of contents has been expanded to include September 1986 (Issue 80). This brings the count up to 93 out of 101 issues. Thank you Horacio.

I have been contacted by two (2) people today each offering TRS-80's, free for the pick-up. Please email me if you live in or near either of the following two areas and are interested in picking up what is being offered. Because they are NOT interested in being cajoled into pack-and-ship, please confirm that you intend to pick-up. I will edit this news item accordingly as each is gone. Please email me if interested. First come, first served.

• Hanover, Massachusetts (but is willing to bring them to the Quincy/Braintree line during business hours) -- Two (2) Model III's; worked the last time they were used. Current status, unknown.
• Costa Mesa, Orange County, California - Model 1 with expansion module and two floppy drives. Were in working order the last time they were powered on. Current status, unknown.

If you see this news item up, the TRS-80's are still available (as far as I know).

Thanks to Horacio, the searchable database of 80 Microcomputing magazine table of contents has been expanded to include October 1986 (Issue 81). This brings the count up to 94 out of 101 issues. Thank you Horacio.

Lajos Kintli has released v1.01 of FastZ80, a HT1080Z (Hungarian TRS-80) emulator. You can download it from His Site.

Main features:

• very fast and accurate Z80 engine
• Z80 undocumented instructions/flag bits are implemented
• RESET and NMI support
• Four running speeds including 'full' for maximum performance
• 64*16 character video display (including 128*48 pixel graphics)
• 8*8 memory mapped 'wired or' keyboard matrix
• Sound chip is not emulated
• Tape emulation through CAS files for basic language and system programs
• Direct load of TRS80 CMD & CAS & Intel Hex files
• ROM extension is included (use SYSTEM and /12288 for activating)
• ROM includes simple monitor (use SYSTEM and /12710)
• Content of ROM can be loaded from binary file
• Character generator ROM can be loaded from bitmap file
• Default ROM and character generator can be patched into the EXE file
• Small sized single EXE program, no external files are needed
• Running on standard WIN32 environment (Windows 95 and up)

System requirements & installation:

• The program was written and compiled in a special way with the "Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition" using only standard WIN32 API interface, not referring to any external run time library. It runs from Windows 95 to the latest windows releases. The program in standard mode consumes insignificant system resources, however in "full speed" mode it eats up one processor.
• No special installation is needed, the files should be extracted from the downloaded zip package into any directory, and FASTZ80.EXE can be run.

Basic features of the simulated hardware:

• Machine cycle accurate instruction set of Z80 processor is implemented
• Undocumented instructions are implemented. See "The undocumented Z80" for details.
• The content of ROM & ROM Extension is coming from the original HT1080Z, but it can be configured
• Sound chip is not emulated, however it was a special addition in HT1080Z
• The first version of the original machine contained only 16 kByte RAM, this implementation contains 48 kByte
• OUT instruction has no effect
• IN instruction results reading value FF, except port FF, where bit 7 is simulated as the TAPE input
• NMI is supported (can be triggered from menu), however maskable interrupt (INT) is not
• Includes two Z80 engine, one contains some simplifications for reaching better performance. See "Tuning the emulator".

Knut, master of TRS-80 cassettes, has done it again with the release of his new utility, PLAY CAS. While this utility can do a lot of things, its main function is to allow you to plug your TRS-80 EAR connector into your PC Soundcard headphone output, and turn your PC into a TRS-80 cassette player. Once hooked up in this manner, the utility will play a CAS file stored on your PC into the TRS-80 plug, so your TRS-80 thinks it is getting input from a cassette, but its really from the PC.

Play CAS checks the CAS to determine whether its a Level 1, Level 2, or Model III Highspeed image.

Download and instructions are available on the Media Conversion page.

With the permission of the copyright holder, Lance Wolstrup, the TRSTimes magazines are back online.

To the extent that I have an email address for a software author, I have made the author name in the Searchable Archive page also include a hotlink to email.

The ORCH-80/85/90 page has been added to the emulation navbar.

Dow Jones Information Service Users Guide (1987)(Tandy)

Using the Model 100 With CompuServe and Dow Jones News Service (19xx)(Tandy)

CompuServe Information Service Users Guide (1983)(Radio Shack)

Horacio has provided another 80 Micro, and the data for Issue 82 has been added to the 80 Micro 1986 web page, and the searchable 80 micro database.

This brings the count up to 94 out of 101 issues. Thank you Horacio.

Lajos Kintli has updated his FastZ80 emulator to v1.02 with some new features. The new features include:

• TRS-80 tape sound
• general Instruments AY-3-8910 (Yamaha YM2149) sound generator
• configurable keyboard matrix
• patching the emulator saves the keyboard matrix and other configuration settings too
• video cut / video page support
• window magnifier (200%)
• adjustable CPU frequency (1.774 & 1.747 MHz)
• "remove rom" feature
• port controlled timer and event counter
• restructured menu / hot keys

It can be downloaded either from his site or from the emulator page.

Infinite Basic for the TRS-80 - Matrix and Strings
Racet Computes
1979

Do you have a Model I that you would like to see go to a really important good home?

The American Museum of Natural History in New York City is looking for a Model I in good physical shape to tour with an upcoming traveling exhibition. The tour would last 10 years which is why they are interested in acquiring the Model I instead of borrowing it. At the end of the tour they will be donating it to another non-profit exhibition.

Similar to the old Billy Crystal Saturday Night Live skit, it is much better for the Model I to look good than to feel good. While it would be nice if it worked, they are more interested in a Model I which is physically good looking, as it will be on display. A non-working Model I is fine by them.

The Model I does not need to have, but can have, an expansion interface and floppy disks. That would augment the exhibition, but they are really after the Monitor / Keyboard.

If you can donate your Model I, please let me know and I will put you in direct contact with them. They can, and will, provide a letter of donation for the IRS (although the donor would have to provide the value).

Two working Model I's (or so I am told) for sale for local pickup, one manufactured in 1978, the other in 1980. I believe each has its own expansion interface.

The seller has a lot of stuff, including a service manual for the Model 1, game tapes [if she can find them] & other manuals. She has 5 disk drives total.

She does not want to ship them. Contact me, and I will forward the offers on. Pickup is in Bergen County NJ.

I finally decided to turn on the ISP's spam filter on my email account. Between 8/4 and 8/26 it has snagged 2,682 emails. I am astounded.

A big thank you to Bob McDaniel, Bob Stonehill, and Susie Stonehill for a very large box of magazines and books (including the Sargon, right below this posting).

SoftSide
Publisher: SoftSide Publishing
Volume 2 Issue 1
Year: 10/1979
Pages: 70
Tosec Name: SoftSide Magazine Vol 2 No 01 (1979)(SoftSide Publications)
IF YOU HAVE THIS MAGAZINE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW; THE SCAN IS MISSING 4 PAGES.

Most of the archived copies of SoftSide are of a lower quality due to them having been scanned by the donor in Black and White Bitmap (cardinal sin #1 in scanning). Part of what Ms. Stonehill sent over were isolated pages from some old softside magazines. I have been re-scanning and replacing any pages she provided, and integrating them into the existing copies.

Computer User
Publisher: McPheeters
Volume 1 Issue 2
Year: 1983
Pages: 170

SoftSide Magazine
Vol 1 No 10
Issue : July 1979
Pages: 80
Size: 10.5MB
Publisher: SoftSide Publications
TOSEC NAME: SoftSide Magazine Vol 1 No 10 (1979)(SoftSide Publications)

For sale with local pickup ONLY. Pickup is in Bergen County NJ

• TRS-80 system Space Saver Desk
• Unopened box of 10 floppy disks in a "storage container"
• Level II of Basic Instruction Course - Parts 1 & II on Tape
• Small instruction booklets - a couple of them for the games on the tapes.
• Diskette Drive Cleaning Kit still in its box.

Contact me, and I will forward the offers on.

A visitor named Mike advises that he is putting a up web site which allows you to flip through Radio Shack catalogs.

The site can be found at www.RadioShackCatalogs.com.

With the addition of Volume 1, Issue 1 of COMPUTER USER magazine, I have separated out COMPUTER USER from the "other magazines" page, and given it its own page.

I continue to scan magazines graciously donated by Susie Stonehill. For the most part, I am augmenting prior scans which were of lower quality. Examples of new scans are:

• 80-US - Volume 05, Issue 08
• Computer User - Volume 01, Issue 01
• Computer User - Volume 01, Issue 02
• Computer User - Volume 02, Issue 01
• Softside - Volume 01, Issue 01
• Softside - Volume 01, Issue 02
• Softside - Volume 01, Issue 03
• Softside - Volume 01, Issue 04
• Softside - Volume 01, Issue 05
• Softside - Volume 01, Issue 06
• Softside - Volume 01, Issue 07
• Softside - Volume 01, Issue 10
• Softside - Volume 01, Issue 11
• Softside - Volume 02, Issue 01
• Softside - Volume 02, Issue 08
• Softside - Volume 02, Issue 09
• Softside - Volume 02, Issue 10
• Softside - Volume 02, Issue 7
• Softside - Volume 05, Issue 02

Network 2 Controller Service Manual
Pages: 12
Year: 1981
TOSEC: Network 2 Controller Service Manual (1981)(Radio Shack)[26-1211]
Publisher: Radio Shack

SoftSide Magazine
Vol 1 No 9
Issue : June 1979
Pages: 72
Size: 8.9MB
Publisher: SoftSide Publications
TOSEC NAME: SoftSide Magazine Vol 1 No 09 (1979)(SoftSide Publications).zip

The Alternate Source Magazine
Vol 3 No 5
Year: 1982
Publisher: The Alternate Source Publications
TOSEC NAME: The Alternate Source Issue 17 (1982)(The Alternate Source)
Pages: 164

The Alternate Source Magazine
Vol 1 No 2
Year: 19xx
Publisher: The Alternate Source Publications
TOSEC NAME: The Alternate Source Issue 02 (19xx)(The Alternate Source)
Pages: 40

Horacio has provided another 80 Micro, and the data for Issue 83 has been added to the 80 Micro 1986 web page, and the searchable 80 micro database.

This brings the count up to 96 out of 101 issues and finishes up 1986.

We only have 5 issues left, from 1988.

Thank you Horacio.

The Alternate Source Magazine
Vol 1 No 6
Year: 19xx
Publisher: The Alternate Source Publications
TOSEC NAME: The Alternate Source Issue 06 (19xx)(The Alternate Source)
Pages: 66

The Alternate Source Magazine
Vol 1 No 8
Year: 19xx
Publisher: The Alternate Source Publications
TOSEC NAME: The Alternate Source Issue 08 (19xx)(The Alternate Source)
Pages: 72

The Alternate Source Magazine
Vol 1 No 7
Year: 1981
Publisher: The Alternate Source Publications
TOSEC NAME: The Alternate Source Issue 07 (1981)(The Alternate Source)
Pages: 76

Weerd!
Year: 1982
Company/Author: Big 5 Software

The Alternate Source Magazine
Vol 1 No 3
Year: 1980
Publisher: The Alternate Source Publications
TOSEC NAME: The Alternate Source Issue 03 (1981)(The Alternate Source)
Pages: 44

The Alternate Source Magazine
Vol 2 No 6
Year: 1981
Publisher: The Alternate Source Publications
TOSEC NAME: The Alternate Source Issue 12 (1981)(The Alternate Source)
Pages: 76

The Alternate Source Magazine
Vol 1 No 5
Year: 1980
Publisher: The Alternate Source Publications
TOSEC NAME: The Alternate Source Issue 05 (1980)(The Alternate Source)
Pages: 72

The Alternate Source Magazine
Vol 1 No 1
Year: 1980
Publisher: The Alternate Source Publications
TOSEC NAME: The Alternate Source Issue 01 (1980)(The Alternate Source)
Pages: 28

The Alternate Source Magazine
Vol 3 No 1
Year: 1982
Publisher: The Alternate Source Publications
TOSEC NAME: The Alternate Source Issue 13 (1982)(The Alternate Source)
Pages: 76

The Alternate Source Magazine
Vol 2 No 3
Year: 1981
Publisher: The Alternate Source Publications
TOSEC NAME: The Alternate Source Issue 09 (1981)(The Alternate Source)
Pages: 68

The Alternate Source Magazine
Vol 3 No 2
Year: 1982
Publisher: The Alternate Source Publications
TOSEC NAME: The Alternate Source Issue 14 (1982)(The Alternate Source)
Pages: 76

Horacio has provided another 80 Micro, and the data for Issue 96 has been added to the 80 Micro 1988 web page, and the searchable 80 micro database.

This brings the count up to 97 out of 101 with only issues from 1998 remaining.

Thank you Horacio.

Tandy M200 for sale - best offer

• Tandy M200 with two extra 24K banks of memory
• TS-Random ROM chip
• Cables for modem, printer and cassette, AC adapter
• Owners Manual; TELCOM Manual; Application Quick Reference Card; Technical Reference Manual 26-3861; Multiplan Manual;
• Multi Solutions Rom 26-3894
• Data Manager 26-3886
• Text Power 26-3881
• Romulus Chess 26-3890
• Booster-Link software and manual

It worked fine the last time it was used it about two years ago. Seller is in Northern New Jersey near Morristown.

Any questions, please let the seller (Dale) know. He can be reached via email at dalethelibrarian at yahoo dot com

Horacio has provided another 80 Micro, and the data for Issue 97 has been added to the 80 Micro 1988 web page, and the searchable 80 Micro Table-Of-Contents database.

This brings the count up to 98 out of 101 with only three (3) issues from 1998 remaining.

Thank you Horacio.

Phil Ereaut has released PDRIVE Finder v0.5.

PDRIVE Finder will display the PDRIVE settings of any DSK or DMK image which was "formatted" by NEWDOS/80. Great for data disks where you cannot figure out what PDRIVE settings can be used to access the data.

Phil Ereaut has provided an updated copy of his Emulator File and Sector Display utility.

This utility will display the characteristics of a DSK or DMK image, as well as act as a HEX/ASCII sector and file display/editor utility.

Download Emulator File and Sector Display v9.1 HERE

Update: Phil Ereaut has advised that this version is faulty. A replacement version is found under February 1, 2009 news. This download has been removed.

Miguel Dutra is gathering up some CP-500 (a Brazilian TRS-80 Model III Clone) documents and software.

Phil Ereaut has provided an updated copy of his Emulator File and Sector Display utility. This replaces the faulty v9.1 posted previously.

This utility will display the characteristics of a DSK or DMK image, as well as act as a HEX/ASCII sector and file display/editor utility.

Phil Ereaut has released his Emulator File Type and Format Finder 2009 v1.0.

This utility analyzes DSK and DMK files and shows filename, DOS, PDRIVES, Tracks, Density, Sides, Sec/Cyl and SPG. Will also note where Track Sectors start at 1.

Phil Ereaut has released his Emulator File Read and Copy 2006 v3.1

This program reads .Dsk files, and displays the disk filenames in a list box. Clicking on a file, allows the file to be saved to a PC folder. It can be used just to view the Files on a .Dsk, if you dont want to copy the files.

It doesn't always work, but it has definitely helped me extract files from DSK images which the emulator would not recognize.

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As I continue to explore WordPress, I am toying with the idea of moving more of the site over. In connection with this transition, I have been reworking the emulator page to clean up HTML errors and make it more WordPress friendly.

In doing so, I also verified the links and have realized that a number of emulators have been updated. These include:

• HT 1080/Z v1.6, updated on Sep. 17, 2007
• VCC v1.40 Installer, updated on Jan. 3, 2008
• MC-10 Emulator v0.73c, updated on May, 2008
• Multi Emulator Super System (Binary) v1.29 updated on Jan. 6, 2008
• Virtual T v1.3 updated on Sep. 25, 2008

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While continuing to scan new materials, I am in the process of adding complete table of contents entries for the scanned magazines in an upgrade to the magazine pages.

I have completed working on THE ALTERNATE SOURCE and THE 8IGHTY magazines.

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I have updated the 80 NOTEBOOK magazine page to include larger cover scans and the tables of contents. The 80 NOTEBOOK ran for 7 issues.

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While I am continuing my efforts to continue scanning SoftSide magazines, I am also continuing the efforts of breaking magazine pages out so that each issue has its own page with tables of contents (like the 80 Micro pages have always had). I am currently pushing through the 80-US JOURNAL pages, and will not post news items for each update, but as of this writing, I have updated Volumes 2 and 3, and am in the middle of Volume 4.

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A site visitor has a Model III (unsure if it works) which he is willing to give away to anyone who will pick it up near Kalamazoo MI.

Since the person is not willing to ship, I will only pass on emails which offer to pick it up.

Please send me an email, and I will forward it on.

First come, first served.

I continue to push hard to move as much of the site as I can over to Wordpress and to otherwise upgrade the information present. Pages without a "*" on the navbar have already been moved over (although some of those need further work as well). I have also started upgrading the images on the site, including updating all of the book cover images to be substantially larger.

Issue Information:

UPDATE: I found my answer after a LOT of searching.

If anyone out there is familiar with WordPress and PHP errors, please email me. Wordpress is giving me Internal Error 500 when I try to post or view or edit pages. No other functions (news, media, links, etc) are affected - only "pages". Thanks!

I suspect that the site is too big for WordPress. Although I had solved the problem yesterday, it re-emerged as I continued to port pages over. I was able to move about 2/3 of the entire site before WordPress' capabilities were exceeded. I am still 'locked out' of page functions with a "500 Internal Error" on the php code, but I can transition the site back to the old format, and still keep WordPress for the news. Thank goodness I never implemented anything in WordPress without implementing it in my HTML first.

The good news is that the attempted WordPress port spurred me to add magazine details, increase the cover scans, and clean things up. Those benefits will continue.

Of course, I do continue scanning, and have some new stuff on the way.

In addition to the php.ini at 25MB (didn't work alone, but left it there anyway), I added a line to HTACCESS which some stated solved some PHP5 processing problems on 1and1 hosted sites. This gave me access to the 'pages' functions again. I realized that 1/2 of the pages were single magazine pages (showing the cover, giving issue information/stats, and setting out the tables of contents). I have realized that if I port the entire site over (or as much as can go ... I don't think my SQL pages can go) but leave the single magazine pages as they were, I should not hit the WordPress limitation.

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The following TRS-80 items are available, first come first served, for LOCAL PICKUP ONLY from Marstons Mills, Massachusetts (photos are for reference only).

Since the donator has no interest in shipping, please email me which models you would like to pick-up and I will forward on the request in the order received.

I will update this news posting to strike off any items which have already been claimed.

• TRS-80 Model I - Current working status unknown but worked when last used.
• TRS-80 Model III - Current working status unknown but worked when last used.
• TRS-80 Model 4P - Current working status unknown but worked when last used.
• TRS-80 CoCo - In box; current working status unknown.
• DWP 220 Printer - Current working status unknown but worked when last used.

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As I have been converting the site over to WordPress, I note that information surrounding many of the DOS's is splattered all over the site. While I will leave that information where it is, I am in the process of developing pages which are devoted to each DOS. The first of which will be NEWDOS/80.

• Although some pages require a little tweaking (most notedly, those magazine issue pages which were backed out of WordPress due to WordPress limitations), I believe all of the pages that are going to be transitioned to WordPress have been transitioned.
• I have updated the H&E Computronics page to provide for larger cover images, additional issue details, and, of course, the associated Tables of Contents from each of the issues.
• Finally, the NEWDOS/80 Page is now complete. Of course, if anyone has additional information, tips, hints, patches, etc., I would love to hear!

Issue Information:

Horacio has provided another 80 Micro, and the data for Issue 99 has been added to the 80 Micro 1988 web page, and the searchable 80 Micro Table-Of-Contents database.

This brings the count up to 99 out of 101 with only two (2) issues from 1998 remaining.

Thank you Horacio.

Issue Information:

Took the better part of a day, but I have added a CLOAD MAGAZINE page which includes 'cover' scans and the listing of the contents of each cassette in the series.

I apologize for the serious lack of updates to the site, but things at work have been fairly intense. The following has been added to the site:

• Putting tape FS1 on Disk
• Backing Up Tape FS1
• Concatenating TABLE/CIM into DISASM/CMD
• Modifying ORCH-85 and PIANO-85 to Take Command File Inputs
• Disabling Passwords in DOSPLUS 3.4
• Forcing VERIFY in DOSPLUS v3.4
• Undocumented Z-80 Opcodes
• Set MEMORY SIZE from BASIC
• Added 'To get print arrows to print in a BASIC program' in Keyboard Tips and Tricks

Matthew Reed, creator of the fantastic TRS32 (Model I, III, 4 emulator for Windows) has just released an update to v1.19.

Changes include:

• Corrected problem with flickering and incorrect colors while in full-screen mode
• Fixed problem with double-wide status in Model I mode (Thanks to Al Wallace)
• Added a new Level I, Model III mode

David Cooper has located, with the aid of John Benson, a Level I Model III, and has taken pictures of the insides as well as dumped the ROM. David wrote:

Well, folks, the Model III, Level I ROM is no longer an extinct species! I have purchased a Model III, Level I machine and have made an image of it's ROM.

Before I continue, please allow me to thank John Benson of Australia for locating this machine. He notified me of the machine for sale so that I could purchase it. Without his locating the machine, I would never have been able to obtain the machine and image the ROM.

It appears that the ROM is a 4K ROM, even though it's plugged into the ROM A socket on the Model III motherboard (which supports 8K ROMs). I say this because when I read the ROM, the A12 line *appeared* to be ignored. This makes sense because Model I, Level I ROM was only 4K. But, it'd be nice to see a datasheet on this ROM. I couldn't find one anywhere. The chip number is SCM91616P, which is a Motorola ROM.

TRS-80 Model I with expansion interface, floppy drive, cassette recorder, and Line Printer VII (with complete dust covers), as well as TRS-80 power strip, joystick, and a bunch of manuals and books, are free for pickup

As for the working status, here's what I am told: The Model I does power up and does operate, but there may be an issue as the letters not all right. A test program ran. The E/I may or may not work (hard to tell), so it was not possible to test the floppy or the printer.

The items are in Auburn, California (Sacramento area).

As always, first come, first served (through emailing me only - not through usenet postings). If you are willing to pickup, please let me know, and I will put you in contact with the donator.

• Added: NewDos/80 *Unofficial* Zaps page
• Added: Electric Pencil Zaps Page.

• Added: NEWDOS/80 v2.0 Program Reference

Programming Microprocessors
Year: 1981
Author: M. Stubs
Publisher: Ing W Hofacker
Pages: 217
TOSEC: Programmieren mit TRS-80 (1981)(Ing W Hofacker) 8.9MB

Horacio has provided Volume 100 of 80 Micro, and the data for Issue 100 has been added to the 80 Micro 1988 web page, and the searchable Magazine Table-Of-Contents database.

This brings the count up to 100 out of 101 with only one (1) issue from 1998 remaining.

Thank you Horacio.

Issue Information:

Horacio has finished scanning the 80 Micro's!!!! The data for Issue 101 has been added to the 80 Micro 1988 web page, and the searchable Magazine Table-Of-Contents database.

Thank you for all your hard work, Horacio.

Issue Information:

With Horacio having finished scanning the rest of the 80 Micro's, and with Thomas McNair busily scanning missing SoftSide's, I have used my extremely limited knowledge of HTMLized SQL to expand the (now deleted) "80 Micro Magazine Search Page" to a "TRS-80 Magazine Search Page". Right now it can accept Softside or 80 Micro (through some fairly sloppy coding which will NOT scale well once additional types of magazines are added), and I have added SoftSide Issue 39 to the NEW Database.

If anyone is interested in helping convert tables of contents to lines of database code, please contact me. It will basically involve typing in the tables of contents in a specific way, and you can do as little or as much as you want.

Stratos
Year: 1982
Publisher: Adventure International
Pages: 12
Size: 3.7MB
TOSEC: Stratos (1982)(Adventure International)

A site visitor from Ann Arbor, Michigan has found a LNW Research Expansion Board, and many, if not all of the parts to go into the board.

He is asking for $50 (which includes U.S. shipping & handling). If you are interested, please contact me.

Mike Yetso provided a fake ad, which used to be on a 24x36 glossy photoprint (which he no longer has). He writes:

This is a real ad. Well, it was real, but it wasn't to the general public. It was for an industry magazine. If I remember right, it was called 'The Yellow Jaundice'. I think it was a 'trade journal' that dealt with sunday newspaper supplements. Anyway, every April they would make a 'spoof' ad. They did one with three guys standing at urinals, and one had a PC (pocket computer in those days). The ad read "The PeeWee computer that goes where you pee", or something like that. When some people at Tandy saw it, they said if you're going to poke fun at us, at least make it a good one. The magazine responded with "Ok, YOU do one next year", and the ad was what was actually published in the magazine.
Tandy actually got coupons from the ad back!
If I remember right, one of the guys in the ad was Sal Greski (sp?)"

SoftSide Magazine
Issue: Vol 6 No 05 / 38
Year: 1983
TOSEC: SoftSide Magazine Vol 6 No 05 (1983)(SoftSide Publications)
Pages: 116
SIZE: 76.1MB

SoftSide Magazine
Issue: Vol 6 No 07 / 40
Year: 1983
TOSEC: SoftSide Magazine Vol 6 No 07 (1983)(SoftSide Publications)
Pages: 96
SIZE: 63.7MB

SoftSide Magazine
Issue: Vol 6 No 08 / 41
Year: 1983
TOSEC: SoftSide Magazine Vol 6 No 08 (1983)(SoftSide Publications)
Pages: 80
SIZE: 53.1MB

SoftSide Magazine
Issue: Vol 6 No 09 / 42
Year: 1983
TOSEC: SoftSide Magazine Vol 6 No 09 (1983)(SoftSide Publications)
Pages: 88
SIZE: 57.5MB

SoftSide Magazine
Issue: Vol 6 No 10 / 43
Year: 1983
TOSEC: SoftSide Magazine Vol 6 No 10 (1983)(SoftSide Publications)
Pages: 104
SIZE: 72.8MB

SoftSide Magazine
Issue: Vol 6 No 12 / 45
Year: 1983
TOSEC: SoftSide Magazine Vol 6 No 12 (1983)(SoftSide Publications)
Pages: 112
SIZE: 77.1MB

SoftSide Magazine
Issue: Vol 6 No 11 / 44
Year: 1983
TOSEC: SoftSide Magazine Vol 6 No 11 (1983)(SoftSide Publications)
Pages: 108
SIZE: 69.6MB

SoftSide Magazine
Issue: Vol 7 No 01 / 46
Year: 1984
TOSEC: SoftSide Magazine Vol 7 No 01 (1984)(SoftSide Publications)
Pages: 88
SIZE: 61.8MB

SoftSide Magazine
Issue: Vol 7 No 02 / 47
Year: 1984
TOSEC: SoftSide Magazine Vol 7 No 02 (1984)(SoftSide Publications)
Pages: 80
SIZE: 52.8MB

As I add magazine (covers) to the web site, I am also expanding the Magazine Table of Contents search with those magazines. As always, if anyone is interested in helping add magazines to the searchable index, please let me know!

Matthew Reed has updated his fantastic TRS32 emulator to v1.20, this time adding Exatron Stringy Floppy emulation support (and increasing the window margin sizes to improve readability).

This is the emulator I use in maintaining the site and in addition to being one of the very few emulators out there which is Windows NT/XP/Vista compatible, it is also the only one which is updated regularly.

You can download a copy from Matthew's web site [Link Deleted] or from the first entry on the TRS-80.com emulator page.

I heartily recommend you register the emulator [Link Deleted] (and no, I do not get a penny from that registration; it is just very very good software).

For those of you who use Matthew Reed's TRS32 emulator and wish to make use of the ESF module, please note the following:

• The ROM esf.rom needs to be in your ROMs directory
• Exatron Stringy Floppy needs to be enabled in your configuation screen
• You need to invoke the ROM through a SYSTEM command
• For file I/O, you will need to mount a virtual wafer.

To invoke the ESF ROM use the SYSTEM command with the following addresses:

ESF Commands are:

The following commands will only work if you load the "Data I/O Program" from a wafer that came with the Stringy Floppy. To date, no wafers have been dumped. Each functions exactly the same as it does for TAPE and DISK.

Sorry about the lack of updates ... I have been adding Tables of Contents of various magazines to the web site and to the searchable table of contents archive. As of now, all of my 80 Micro's, SoftSides, Micro-80's, Prog-80's, H & E Computronics, and The Alternate Source have been added. The archive page shows the status of all of the magazines, and that status will update as more tables of contents come online.

Additionally, Kim Watt was kind enough to send over a box of disks and manuals, and I have been reading the disks and scanning the manuals.

While I continue to scan the manuals which Kim Watt kindly sent over, I have updated the searchable table of contents to include all of the 80-NW Journal and 80-US Journals, as well as all the Basic Computing (which is what 80-US turned into) I have. I do not know the last published issue, so I have flagged it as yellow (=entered all I have) rather than green (=all known issues entered).

Three more magazines have been added to the searchable table of contents: Barons Microcomputing (the few issues I had), The 8ighty (the few issues I have), and The 80 Notebook (all of them). The corresponding pages have also been updated to include the tables of contents.

Miguel Dutra has released a BETA of his new Virtual Disk Manager utility for Windows. This is a small utility which allows you to access virtual TRS-80 disks at a file level, as if they were normal PC disks.

TRSTimes has been added to the searchable table of contents.

By the way, for those who are uaware, all of the TRSTimes issues are downloadable.

For those who do not know, Terry Stewart has been spearheading the effort to get Exatron Stringy Floppy images moved over for use in Matthew Reed's emulator. Terry has a blog [Link Deleted] on a fairly diverse set of topics, sometimes discussing TRS-80's, but in almost all cases, involving problem solving. Terry's blog can be found at http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/.

The few issues I had of the French magazine, Trace, has had its tables of contents added to the searchable table of contents. Of course, since it is in French, results which search for words (instead of, for example, by issue number, year, etc) are unlikely to show up given the incompatibilities of the international character set.

I have updated the TRS-80 Microcomputer News page with bigger thumbnails and not-yet-implemented links to separate pages which will contain their tables of contents. I am slowly adding new pages (and updating the Searchable Table of Contents page to include the TRS-80 Microcomputer News. This part will be slow going.

Matthew Reed has issued an interim update to his FANTASTIC TRS32 emulator. Changed in this update is:

• Added sound to the Stringy Floppy emulation
• Improved the sound used by the floppy disk emulation
• Fixed a problem with returning Stringy Floppy status
• Changed the floppy autostart order to favor the Model I
• Fixed emulated floppy disk sector not found behavior
• Added copy and paste features
• Corrected behavior of an emulated Model I without lowercase

For those who have not yet registered Matthew's emulator, I encourage you to do so. This emulator (unlike 98% of the others) is still in development and is phenomenal. You can register at Matthew's site.

Issues 1 through 27 of TRS-80 Microcomputer News have now been added to the Searchable Table of Contents page, and their TOC's have been added to their respective pages.

I realize this is off topic, but when you come across something really cool, sometimes you gotta mention it. Although my TRS-80 was the last system I had purchased as an assembled unit (preferring to build my own), I have been familiar with Puget Systems [Link Deleted] for a while. Puget allows you to select brands and types (A corsair TX 850 power supply or w WD Caviar SE16) rather than just generic (850 watt; 200GB Hard drive, etc). I elected to go with them and, although I have not yet received the system, every question I have asked them (and I have asked a TON) has always been met with a quick and technologically correct answer. What I just noticed, though, is their order status page. This thing not only has each component and each test they ran, but temperature logs of the system under load over time, and performance benchmarks. They also email pictures of the inside, front, and back of your computer once its built, including a thermal picture of the inside. Crazy stuff.

Oh, and for the skeptics out there, NO I am not getting any payment from them. I am just THAT impressed (kinda like the way I talk about Matthew Reed's emulator).

George Philips has released v1.5 of his TRS80GP Emulator which is available for download from the emulator page.

George describes the emulator as "built primarily as a development tool for software written for real TRS-80's and for experiments in improved emulation fidelity. It can load programs in .cas, .hex, .bas or .cmd format directly but has no disk emulation nor can use use CLOAD or SYSTEM to load .cas files (as in most normal emulators).

I would say that this 'emulator's strength is that you do not need to set up a ROM (it is built in), import files onto DSK/DMK's, have boot disks, etc. If you have a /CMD file or a /BAS file or a /CAS file, you would simply execute the emulator FROM A COMMAND LINE, and your program would run. No fuss.

More details can be found by running the emulator with a -? flag will also provide details.

Issues 1 through 43 of TRS-80 Microcomputer News have now been added to the Searchable Table of Contents page, and their TOC's have been added to their respective pages.

Miguel Dutra has released v0.2 of his new Virtual Disk Manager utility for Windows. This is a small utility which allows you to access virtual TRS-80 disks at a file level, as if they were normal PC disks.

The TRS-80 Virtual Disk Manager shows the file name, size, date and attributes of each directory item, supports reading both .DSK and .DMK image files, and allows exporting TRS-80 files to the Windows file system.

Miguel lists each possible DOS for the TRS-80 and whether or not it is currently supported, with his ultimate goal being 100% of all OS's.

Explanations and the program can be found on the TRS-80 Disk and Tape Conversion Utilities page.

Miguel Dutra has released v0.2.2 of his new Virtual Disk Manager utility for Windows. This is a small utility which allows you to access virtual TRS-80 disks at a file level, as if they were normal PC disks.

Explanations and the program can be found on the TRS-80 Disk Utilities page.

All issues of TRS-80 Microcomputer News have been added to the Searchable Table of Contents page.

Miguel Dutra has released v0.4 of his command line version of his Virtual Disk Manager utility for Windows. This is a small utility which allows you to access virtual TRS-80 disks at a file level, as if they were normal PC disks.

Explanations and the program can be found on Miguel's web site and on the TRS-80 Disk and Tape Conversion Utilities page.

Miguel Dutra has released v0.5 of his GUI version of his Virtual Disk Manager utility for Windows. This is a small utility which allows you to access virtual TRS-80 disks at a file level, as if they were normal PC disks.

It appears that this utility can read all known TRS-80 DOS's except for (1) CPM and (2) anything made by Percom.

Explanations and the program can be found on TRS-80 Disk and Tape Conversion Utilities page.

The new version brings:

• Open DSK and DMK files by just double-clicking over them
• Choose whether to detect file formats automatically or manually
• Choose whether to show or hide system and invisible files
• Sort files by name, extension, size, date and attributes
• Export multiple selected files at once
• See disk properties including name, date, DOS version etc.
• Navigate through disk sectors

The drives have been claimed. Thanks.

A site visitor has four external floppy drives with power supplies for the TRS-80 Model III. He is not sure if they work, but advised advised that they are from a working system that was retired two decades ago.

He has popped the cover off of one of them and confirmed no unusual corrosion, and the belt appears to be in decent shape. The ribbon cables are also with the drives, and the set includes a matching, under-desk bay that can hold two of the drives.

He is willing to give them away as long as he is not out-of-pocket. If you want to pick them up (Prior Lake, MN) that's fine, and if you want to pay pack/shipping, that's fine.

Email me if interested - first come first served.

Orange Country TRS-80 Users Group
Issue: July 1980
TOSEC: Orange Country TRS-80 Users Group 1980-07 (1980)(Octug)
Page Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Pages: 24

Orange Country TRS-80 Users Group
Issue: January 1981
TOSEC: Orange Country TRS-80 Users Group 1981-01 (1981)(Octug)
Page Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Pages: 24

Orange Country TRS-80 Users Group
Issue: April 1980
TOSEC: Orange Country TRS-80 Users Group 1980-04 (1980)(Octug)
Page Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Pages: 24

8-Meg Hard Disk Service Manual
Pages: 114
Year: 1982
TOSEC: TRS-80 8MB Hard Drive Service Manual (1982)(Tandy)
Cat: 26-4150/4151
Publisher: Tandy

Orange Country TRS-80 Users Group
Issue: March 1980
TOSEC: Orange Country TRS-80 Users Group 1980-03 (1980)(Octug)
Page Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Pages: 28

Orange Country TRS-80 Users Group
Issue: May 1980
TOSEC: Orange Country TRS-80 Users Group 1980-05 (1980)(Octug)
Page Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Pages: 28

Level III BASIC Reference Card
Pages: 16
Year: 1979
TOSEC: Level III BASIC Reference Card (1979)(GRT Corp)
Publisher: GRT Corp

Orange Country TRS-80 Users Group
Issue: September 1980
TOSEC: Orange Country TRS-80 Users Group 1980-09 (1980)(Octug)
Page Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Pages: 24

Orange Country TRS-80 Users Group
Issue: November 1980
TOSEC: Orange Country TRS-80 Users Group 1980-11 (1980)(Octug)
Page Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Pages: 24

Attila Grosz has updated his HT/Videogenie/TRS-80 emulator to v1.6.2. New Features/Changes:

• custom screen refresh frequencies (between 5 and 200)
• copy screen contents to the clipboard (text format)
• better AY-3-8910 sound IC emulation (mixer)
• bugfixes (reenabled breakpoints)

Download from the emulator page.

A page listing all unofficial TRSDOS 1.3 zaps which I had has been added here. If you have any to contribute, please let me know.

A page listing unofficial Model 4 TRSDOS zaps has been added here.

If you have any to contribute, please let me know.

Although it happened in July, I just found out that Tim Mann's TRS-80 Emulator in Unix, XTRS, was updated to v4.9. The updated version can be downloaded from Tim Mann's XTRS web page [Link Deleted] or from the emulator web page.

Mark Grebe has ported Tim Mann's XTRS emulator for Macintosh OSX, Windows, and Linux. While it is always good to have a new emulator on the scene, this is big news for those MAC users out there, as there has not been a workable TRS-80 emulator for the MAC in many years.

As many know, Tim Mann's XTRS offers Model 1, 3, and 4/4P emulation, with cassette, 5", 8" and hard drive emulation. It emualtes sound, mouse, joystick, and printer, and can do data I/O between the emulator and the host operating system.

SDLTRS expands on this and adds:

• Windows and Mac OS X support.
• Fullscreen display.
• Text based GUI on Windows and Linux, and in Fullscreen mode on the Macintosh.
• Configuration files.
• Disk LED Indicators on screen.
• Creation of Disk images inside of the program.
• Saving and loading of disk sets.
• Saving and loading of emulator state.
• Copy and Paste of text to/from host and emulator.
• USB Joystick support.

The MAC version also adds:

• Graphical interface, include Media management with graphical representation of the disk drives and cassette.
• Printer emulation of Epson FX-80 and CGP-115 Plotter/Printer, with output to PDF files.
• Debugger in seperate program window.

SDLTRS can be downloaded via the SDLTRS Web Page [Link Deleted] or from the emulator web page.

A page with TRSDOS 1.2 patches has been added, the page of the TRSDOS 1.3 patches has been GREATLY expanded, and Miguel Dutra's VDISK utility has been added to the Virtual Disk Utilities page.

Matthew Reed, author of the wonderful TRS32 emulator [Link Deleted] has released "TRSTOOLS," a utility that makes it easier to work with virtual disk images.

TRSTools features include:

• Open an existing virtual disk image
• Create a new virtual disk image
• Add files to or extract files from the disk image (with file dates preserved)
• Preview files (with integrated viewer)
• Rename files
• Delete files
• Change the disk label and volume date
• Drag and Drop support to and from Windows Explorer
• Integrated file viewer

That last point, the built-in viewer, can preview several different types of TRS-80 file formats, including:

• Text files, with any line ending
• Tokenized Model III BASIC programs
• Model III and Model 4 high-resolution images (/HR)
• Model 4 compressed high-resolution images (/CHR)
• Model 4 super-compressed high-resolution images (/SHR)
• Binary files (which can be viewed as a hexadecimal dump)

TRSTools supports the following TRS-80 Operating Systems:

• TRSDOS 2.3 (Model I)
• TRSDOS 1.3 (Model III)
• TRSDOS 6 and LS-DOS (Model 4)
• LDOS (Model I and III)
• DOSPLUS (Model I, III, and 4)
• MULTIDOS (Model I, III, and 4)
• NEWDOS (Model I)
• NEWDOS/80 (Model I and III)
• ULTRADOS (Model I)
• DBLDOS (Model I)
• VTOS (Model I)
• RAPIDOS (Model 4)

TRSTools v1.0 can be downloaded from Matthew Reed's web site [Link Deleted] or from the Utilities Section of the DSK and DMK Image Utilities Page.

Sorry for the lack of recent updates, I have been struggling with the (apparently well-known) problem of WordPress 2.9 requiring MySQL 5, but the site having been set up with MySQL 4. This might not otherwise be a problem if my host didn't include a 2MB maximum on MySQL importing, roughly 30 times smaller than I needed. Only today did I manage to overcome, and WordPress is now MySQL 5 upgraded to the latest version.

In the interim, I have received some disk sets, been making boot disks for people, and procured a new CatWeasel 4+ (which seems to be working just fine).

I hope to get things moving again soon ...

Tim Mann has updated his CatWeasel read/write utilities to v4.4. Changes are:

• The Linux binaries included in this distribution are compiled on a 32-bit Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS system. The MS-DOS binaries are still compiled with a version of djgpp from the year 2000, under djgpp. The MS-DOS binaries are untested at the time of this release.
• Updated to the current Catweasel MK4 firmware from Individual Computers, moving from pre29.cw4 to rel2f2.cw4. Changed catweasl.c slightly to work with the new firmware -- the write pulse width now must be set.
• Fixed cw2dmk bug where the total sectors read in each encoding counted all retries, not just the last one.
• Added -r option to cw2dmk and dmk2cw to reverse the sides. This is mostly to help split/join disks that have a separate one-sided image on each side but were written with a double-sided drive (that is, they are not flippy) to/from two separate DMK images.
• Fixed an incompatibility with newer versions of libpci that had prevented recompiled Linux binaries from recognizing a PCI Catweasel.
• Added a dmk2cw option to use only a prefix of the track in the DMK file.
• Changed the way dmk2cw generates fill data when the DMK track is shorter than needed to fill the disk. Added an option to select some alternative fill methods.
• Some small fixes and cleanups, mostly in documentation and messages.

George Phillips has updated his TRS80GP emulator to v1.5.1 to correct a bug. It can be downloaded from the emulator page or from George's site. His explanation for the change, as posted on his site is:

The pause/break key wasn't activating the TRS-80 BREAK key on some computers. The problem was a little more involved than I realized. As Wikipedia hints, Pause/Break is a little unusual. On some systems, especially laptops, Windows will report the key is down and then immediately say it is up again - well before the key is actually released. I'm guessing this is a consequence of they key not actually reporting the up state at the hardware level. Windows is faking it to help programs operate.

This would be fine except that the emulated TRS-80 takes 2 or 3 frames to recognize the key. I presume that's to avoid keyboard bounce. Now what I do is artificially sustain the down time of any key which takes care of Pause/Break and should help with the emulator's propensity to miss keys. It wasn't so bad, but I did notice dropped letters when I was typing things into the emulator.

I even documented the keyboard mapping while I was at it.

Model II TRS-80 Hard Disk Owner's Manual
Pages: 100
Year: 1981
TOSEC: Model II Hard Disk Owners Manual (1981)(Tandy)
Publisher: Tandy
Cat: 26-4150

Those of you who are on comp.sys.tandy (which should be all of you) probably know that I have uncovered a notebook I kept back in the day which had weird routines, pokes, peeks, factoids, etc. I have been updating the Zaps/Mods/Pokes/Tricks pages accordingly, and envision getting the notebook contents onto the site.

Mark McDougall has ported Lode Runner from the MSX computer (another Z80-based micro) to the TRS-80 Model 4/4P with MicroLabs Grafyx Solution hires board.

Update: Thanks to all those who responded.

Does anyone out there have a working Model 4P? If so, please contact me.

Matthew Reed has updated his wonderful TRS32 Emulator to v1.22. This update includes:

• Improved emulation of hard drive when formatting with NEWDOS/80 2.5
• Improved compatibility of text paste
• Miscellaneous improvements and fixes

TRSTools is a utility written by Matthew Reed that makes it easier to work with virtual disk images. Matthew has updated his TRSTOOLS utility to v1.01. The new version supports emulated hard drives as well as incorporates bug fixes.

The changelog includes:

• Added support for virtual hard disks in both LDOS and NEWDOS/80 formats
• Greatly improved the NEWDOS/80 support
• Improved the recognition of marginal disk formats
• Added the ability to view EDTASM source files
• Created a new format for TRS-80 memory card interfaces and added support for it within TRSTools

The new version can be downloaded from the DSK and DMK Image Utilities page.

As far as we know, the Model 4P had only 2 BOOT ROM's, v1(15) and v1(16), the former being dated October 11, 1983 and the latter being released 7 days later.

Although technically the v1(15) ROM would have been in every Model 4P released before October 18, 1983, the 7 day window leads us to believe that it would have applied only to very very very early models. However, there is no known dump of the v1(15) ROM.

If you have a Model 4P and are interested in helping, turn it on and hold down the "V" key. After a few seconds a message which reads "Boot ROM Version is ___". If you have a 4P where it is 1(15), and are willing to dump the ROM (instructions will be provided), please send me an email.

Matthew Reed has updated his wonderful TRS32 Emulator to v1.23. This update includes:

• Model 4P emulation mode
• Improved consistency of directory handling with drag and drop

Matthew Reed has released his command line DSK/DMK image utility pair TRSREAD and TRSWRITE. They perform many of the same functions as TRSTools, only on the command line.

TRSREAD is a command line Windows program that can extract files from a TRS-80 virtual disk, with optional flags for including "S"ystem files and "I"nvisible files. You can use wildcards or a list of files you want to extract.

TRSWRITE is a command line Windows program that copies files onto TRS-80 virtual disk files.

The site has been updated to include command references for DOSPLUS 3.5. The page is still under construction as far as I need to add information ABOUT the DOS, but the command reference is complete.

Matthew Reed has just released Z80Disasm, a new symbolic Z80 disassembler for TRS-80 CMD files.

The disassembler is a freeware Windows-based command line utility that makes it easier to develop TRS-80 software on a Windows machine.

Z80Disasm can read CMD files from the Windows hard drive or off of a TRS-80 .DSK file, and it supports MISOSYS-style screening files for maximum flexibility.

Z80Disasm can be downloaded from Matthew Reed's Z80Disasm Page [Hotlink Deleted].

Matthew Reed has released v1.02 of Windows GUI DSK/DMK image utility TRSTOOLS.

The changelog includes:

• Greatly improved the recognition of some marginal disk formats
• Added a new Z80 disassembly viewer as the default for CMD files
• Added the ability to switch between different file viewers
• Fixed the incorrect window sizes with larger DPI values
• Fixed the problem encountered when viewing blank binary files

Someone is porting Tim Mann's XTRS over to Android ...

YouTube Video of it running can be found here [Hotlink Deleted].

UPDATE 2: All Gone.

UPDATE: There is already one taker, but it is currently unknown if this is a done deal, and two other's on the waiting list.

Original Post:A long time site visitor would would like to get rid of his entire collection of TRS-80 computers, software, manuals, accessories, etc. This includes somewhere between 10 and 20 TRS-80s...everything from Model I's, Model III's, Model IV's, 4Ps, Coco's, etc.

There is enough stuff to fill the entire back of a pickup truck or suburban.

It will all be free, but pickup only in Phoenix, AZ.

It needs to be picked up by Thursday 4/22 or it will probably go in the dump; and is all or nothing.

First come first served; I will put you in direct contact in the order I am emailed.

The time of the year has arrived for my only charity solicitation! For those who have lost someone to breast cancer, or wish to donate toward the cure, my wife is participating in the Revlon Run/Walk for Cancer. If you wish to donate, go to this site.

NOTE: Nothing comes to me, nothing comes to the site; this is a direct matter between you and the charity. All donations are U.S. tax-deductible (to the extent allowed by law; the site says it and so will I).

Click to Enlarge

Matthew Reed has released v1.03 of Windows GUI DSK/DMK image utility TRSTOOLS.

The changelog includes:

• Improved Windows 7 support in several areas
• Improved viewing CMD files on MULTIDOS disks
• Eliminated extraneous beep when viewing files under certain sound schemes

The new version can be downloaded from the DSK and DMK Image Utilities page.

Pascal Holdry has provided the missing three TRACE MAGAZINES, and their information has been added to the TRS-80 Magazine Table of Contents Search. Thanks Pascal!

Click to Enlarge

Title: TRS-80 Pocket Handbook
Year: 1982
Author: William Barden
Publisher: Radio Shack

Click to Enlarge

Matthew Reed has updated his wonderful TRS32 Emulator to v1.24. This update includes:

• Eliminated "Parity error during read" errors sometimes generated by NEWDOS/80 while formatting double-sided virtual disks


• Corrected behavior when pasting TAB characters

UPDATE 2: I am limping along right now on a drive which may or may not be good. It is entirely possible that it is good, but the disk set remains bad. I will hold off restoring the link to the Disk Requests until the new drives come in.

UPDATE 1: I have now spent a fairly decent amount of money to acquire 4 floppy drives (will they work, who knows) on eBay.

A particularly dirty set of disks sent to me for conversion has knocked my disk drive out; and my attempts to use spares are proving futile. I will not be able to convert disks or make DOS disks until this has been resolved.

A. G. (Gil) Carrick, the Director of the Museum of Information Technology at Arlington, has asked that I post the following about the upcoming Vintage Computer Festival Southwest ...

The 1st annual Vintage Computer Festival Southwest will be held August 7th and 8th, in the Rio Grande Ballroom, in the E.H. Hereford University Center, University of Texas Arlington. The event is sponsored by the Museum of Information Technology at Arlington, the UTA College of Engineering, the UTA Office of Information Technology and Vintage Tech. The VCF is an international event that celebrates the history of computing. There have been VCFs at several locations since 1997

The mission of the VCF is to promote the preservation of early computers by allowing people to experience the technologies, people and stories that embody the remarkable tale of the computer revolution. Southern US companies played a large role in the early days of the computer industry and the VCF Southwest hopes to focus on their contributions.

VCF is not a swap meet, but you will have a chance to buy things or even come home with prizes. There will be speakers and videos each morning, exhibits each afternoon, and special events throughout the weekend. More details about the schedule will be available soon.

The VCF is held indoors, rain or shine. Admission is $10 for one day, $15 for both days, and free for ages 17 and younger. Parking is free. Hours are 9 A.M. - 5 P.M. on both Saturday and Sunday.

Jon Bokelman, creator of the ORCH-80/85/90, has updated his Orchestra/90-PC program to v2.0.

For those who don't know, Orchestra-90/PC is a simple, no-frills program that plays original Orchestra-80/85/90 and Piano-85/90 ASCII files on a PC using a sound card. It is launched from the command line.

The main change is that a new command line switch, "-w filename" has been added to output the ORC file to a WAV file of filename filename.

A readme file is included in the archive.

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Although not TRS-80 related, I would like to announce the newest member of the TRS-80.com family ... a 4 week old blue eyed siamese/tabby mix (a rescue) ...

Miguel Dutra has released v0.6 of his Command Line version of his Virtual Disk Manager utility for Windows. This is a small utility which allows you to access virtual TRS-80 disks at a file level, as if they were normal PC disks.

It appears that this utility can read all known TRS-80 DOS's except for (1) CPM and (2) anything made by Percom.

The new version brings:

• Write-capable
• Fixed a bug which caused it to read an invalid sector when the file size exceeded one disk track.

Vernon Hester, who wrote MultiDOS and a few other programs, had been updating his programs and DOSes. Vernon was in the process of updating a few more items, and getting together a real copy of the last Model I single density MultiDOS, when his Model 4 power supply went out. Does anyone out there have a source for a Model 4 power supply for Vernon? Thanks

Vernon B. Hester, author of MultiDOS and other wonderful programs, has made his software and manuals available:

• Astrocal Manual (5th Edition) - DOC Format
• Astrocal Manual (5th Edition) - PDF Format
• MultiDOS Manual - DOC Format
• MultiDOS Manual - PDF Format
• Zeus (9th Edition) - DOC Format
• Zeus (9th Edition) - PDF Format

When my host fixes my SQL upload, and I can get into the TRS-80 Archive Lookup, I will post the corresponding software packages here for download.

Also as previously noted, Vernon has a blown Model 4 power supply, which is preventing him from providing updated software. Any help is appreciated.

If you were the author, and are the copyright holder, of TRS-80 software and would like to give me permission to post your stuff, please email me.

Who knew that the anniversary of the TRS-80 would be the day where some downloads came back online.

Wayne Westmoreland & Terry Gilman have given the express ok to put their stuff online as well; so tonight look for their wonderful software as well.

Vernon Hester's downloads are live (so when doing an archive search you will get hotlinks with the findings). Since Scott Adams had long ago (and also today) allowed me to post his adventures, those links will go live tonight as well. If I can think of other authors who have authorized release, I will move those files over as well.

Since today is the anniversary date of the TRS-80 launch, wired.com has done a story which is on their front page today. The article is here [Hotlink Deleted]. Wish they would have consulted with me first, since they mis-attribute the historical accounts to me when I didn't say them (lord knows who did). I am embarrased I didn't realize it was the anniversary though :)

Dennis Bathory-Kitsz has given the ok to put his programs online.

David and Theresa Welsh have given the ok to put Lazywriter online.

Jon Bokelman has given the ok to put his Orchestra 80/85/90 driver software online.

Bill Hogue has given the ok to put most of the Big Five software online.

TRS-80 Daisy Wheel II printer free for local pickup from Colorado Springs, CO but arrangements could be made to meet in Denver, Colorado.

The person with the printer advises that it does not have the daisywheel, but it has the ribbon and everything else seems to be intact.

First come first served; I will put you in direct contact in the order I am emailed.

TRS-80 DMP2100 tractor feed printer (worked when last used) free for local pickup from St. Louis Park, MN but is willing to ship for the costs of pack & ship.

First come first served; I will put you in direct contact in the order I am emailed.

Miguel Dutra has released v0.7 of his Command Line version of his Virtual Disk Manager utility for Windows. This is a small utility which allows you to access virtual TRS-80 disks at a file level, as if they were normal PC disks.

It appears that this utility can read all known TRS-80 DOS's except for (1) CPM and (2) anything made by Percom.

The new version brings:

• CLI: Could not recognize the parameters "-td2" and "-td3"
• CLI: Crashed when "-k" was used with long file names
• CLI: Internal Win2Trs routine generated some ill-formed file names
• CLI: Internal Dump routine now prints blanks instead of dots in the ASCII column data
• TRSDOS1: Caused an abrupt program termination when allocating granules
• TRSDOS3: Caused an abrupt program termination when allocating granules
• NEWDOS/80: Created files with less than the requested space
• NEWDOS/80: Improved disk compatibility through better PDRIVE handling
• DMK: Improved disk compatibility through better geometry detection and sector addressing
• Other: Granule allocation routines failed to properly determine the available disk space
• Other: Improved GetFileDate routines to get date values with as little modification as possible
• Other: Improved OS detection routines to reduce the number of wrong identifications

TRS-80 Model 4P is free for local pickup in Oconomowoc, WI or, for those who do not live in Oconomowoc, the cost of pack and ship. Normally I would say to email me, but the owner has advised a number of sites of the availability, so all I can say is, if you want it, email him quick. His email is leemil at att dot net.

Alain Boudreault is working on a TRS-80 emulator running in flash player (using flashbuilder 4 mxml/as3 as the development tool). Eventually, it will emulate a MODEL I Level II BASIC with floppy drives, although the emulator is currently working in beta without floppy emulation.

A video of the emulator is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoXQssEC_8I [Hotlink Deleted].

Vernon B. Hester, author of MultiDOS and other wonderful programs, has provided some additional copies of his DOS's:

• Esoteric DOS v2.11 for Model 4
• MultiDOS v4.01 for Model I
• MultiDOS v4.01 for Model III
• MultiDOS v5.11 for Model 4

ESOTERIC is a Model 4 version of MULTIDOS with two differences: Video (Esoteric is 80x24 vs. MultiDOS which is either 80x24 or 64x16) and ESOTERIC is mapped significantly different than Model 4 MULTIDOS. The mapping of the Model 4 is very similar to the Model I, Model III, and MAX-80 version of MULTIDOS, while ESOTERIC's mapping difference was desired to keep the DOS in contiguous memory (0000H through 1AFFH) allowing one to ORG applications at 1B00H.

David Sutherland has provided a number of new magazines. It has already been added as a new section to the H & E Computronics Page and has been added to the Magazine Search Page.

Click to Enlarge

UPDATE: It has been claimed as of 9/23

A site visitor has a Model 4 for free for local pickup only in Oak Park, Michigan (USA). It appears to work. I will pass on the info in the order as I receive it.

In sorting thru the lastest software shipment I came across a little program which claims to identify whether your Model I ROM was v1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, or other. The ROMs out in the wild are either v1.0, v1.2, or v1.3. Does anyone have a Model I system with v1.1?? The program is as follows:

10 REM     PROGRAM TO FIND VERSION OF MODEL I ROM
20 CLS
30 FOR I=11264 TO 12287:V=PEEK(I):S=S+V:NEXT I: X=S/16
40 A=(X-FIX(X))*16:Y=FIX(X)/16:B=(Y-FIX(Y))*256
50 V=(A+B)
60 IF V=176 PRINT"ROM 1.0": GOTO 100
70 IF V=142 PRINT"ROM 1.1": GOTO 100
80 IF V=10 PRINT"ROM 1.2": GOTO 100
90 IF V=162 PRINT"ROM 1.3" ELSE PRINT"VERSION OF ROM UNKNOWN"
100 END

TRS-80 Monthly Newsletter
Issue 39
Date: October 1981
Publisher: H & E Computronics

Matthew Reed has released:

• v1.04 of Windows GUI DSK/DMK image utility TRSTOOLS; and
• v4.27 of his TRSREAD and TRSWRITE command line utilities for TRS-80 virtual disks.

The changelog for both includes:

• Improved viewing of MULTIDOS BASIC programs; and
• Improved recognition of DOSPLUS and NEWDOS/80 disks.

The copies of MultiDOS for the Model I have been reviewed by Vernon Hester who has explained some of the images, and provided information necessary to restore others to verified true copies. If you downloaded the Model I MultiDOS images in the past, you might want to re-download them.

Interesting Notes:

• MultiDOS for the Model I came in three formats: Single-Density, Double-Density (similar to DOSPLUS and LDOS), and "P"-Density (similar to NEWDOS/80 Double-Density which has track 0 as single density, and all other tracks as double density).
• MultiDOS v1.5SK (at least my copy) was really just a special kernel made for Computer Shack so they could distribute SuperDirectory (since a disk cataloging program needs to be able to read as many DOS's as possible; which is MultiDOS's specialty). That is why the system files are all called CSx/sys (Computer Shack) and the version is SK (Special Kernel)! It has only 16 Library commands: Auto, Boot, Clear, Clock, Cls, Config, Date, Dir, Forms, Kill, Lib, List, Print, Skip, Time, Verify.
• MultiDOS II (at least my copy) was really just a distribution diskette for ZEUS. This DOS will boot on a Model I and a Model III.

While most of my MultiDOS images were modified to some level, the copies of v1.4S, 1.4D, 1.6D, 1.6S, 1.7D, and 1.7P are all now "correct." Vernon *may* be providing "correct" copies of v1.0 and v1.5 in the future. Of course, Vernon has provided 2004 and 2005 updates to MultiDOS, but for those who want the classic versions, there you go.

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Matthew Reed has updated his wonderful TRS32 Emulator to v1.25. This update includes:

• BUG FIX: There was a a one bit error in the emulated interrupt status ports which caused one NEWDOS/80 boot disk to kept generating "Device not available" errors instead of displaying a directory.
• BUG FIX: There was a Model III boot disk which was being identified as Model 4 by the "Autostart" feature. Although the disk still worked (it just ran in Model III mode), recognition of this unusual boot sector was added to the autostart routine.
• NEW FEATURE: Hovering the mouse cursor over the floppy drive indicator light in the status bar will display the current drive status and position; making it easier to determine if a boot disk is loading or just cycling endlessly.

The updated emulator can be downloaded from the TRS-80.com emulator page.

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v1.0 of the Model I ROM has been dumped. Sadly, while the individual thought he had v1.1 too, it turned out to be v1.2. Anyone with v1.1, please give a shout out. Thanks!

Update: It was found in June of 2020!

Vernon Hester has kindly provided Model I MultiDOS versions 1.0, 1.5S, 1.5D, and 1.5P.

In hopes of answering all of the questions which have arisen from the realization that there are 4 versions of the Model I ROM and we (at the time) had only 1 of them, Matthew Reed [Hotlink Deleted], author of the amazing TRS32 emulator, has posted a brief explanation of the ROM versions.

v1.1 of the Model I ROM has been dumped by John Benson. Thank you John!

The Guestbook has been replaced AGAIN, as it became a spam magnet. Links have been updated. New guestbook is here and the old guestbook, converted to HTML for posterity, is here.

Kurt Baumgardner wrote a short BASIC program to allow those with Model I's to dump their ROM's to cassette if that is their only option. Kurt advises that it needs 16K of RAM and takes a little less than 3 and a half minutes to run. He did not test it on a Model III but assumes, at the very least, that the ROM line would need to be changed from ROM=12 to ROM=14

10 CLS : PRINT " ROM DUMP TO TAPE" : PRINT
					20 FOR T = 32512 TO 32537 : READ B : POKE T,B : NEXT T
					30 POKE 16526, 0 : POKE 16527, 127
					40 ROM = 12 ' 12K OF ROM ... CHANGE AS NEEDED
					50 POKE 32523, ROM * 4
					60 INPUT "READY CASSETTE"; T
					70 T = USR (0)
					100 DATA 175, 205, 18, 2, 205, 135, 2, 33, 0, 0
					110 DATA 14, 48, 126, 205, 100, 2, 35, 16 ,249
					120 DATA 13, 32, 246, 205, 248, 1, 201

A site visitor has 3 TRS-80 Model III's which he would like to give away free for local pickup. He has not tested extensively, but advises that they do not power up as currently configured. If anyone is interested in picking them up from Yorba Linda CA 92886 please contact me.

Jeremy Cyr made wallpaper of the Model II TRSDOS Boot Screen.

Michael D'Alessio continues to supply missing catalogs. Thanks, Mike!

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Dennis Bathory-Kitsz has posted his book, Custom TRS-80 and Other Mysteries online for free download.

Thanks to Peter Nield for the tip!

Peter Phillips has let me know that the TRS80GP Model III emulator has been ported to Javascript!

Code is provided which will allow anyone to put a TRS-80 Model III Emulator on their web page.

Creating a page with the emulator is as simple as this:

<!DOCTYPE html>
					<html>
					<head>
					<script type="text/javascript" src="trsemu-1.4.js"></script>
					<head>
					<body
					onload="trsEmu.screen('scrn').button('btn').perf('graph').focus();">
					<div id="scrn">
					<canvas width="512" height="384" style="background:black">
					</canvas></div><br>
					<div id="graph">
					<canvas width="512" height="100" style="background:black">
					</canvas></div><br>
					<input type="button"id="btn" value="Run"
					onClick="trsEmu.run('toggle');">
					<input type="button" value="Reset"
					onClick="trsEmu.run('reset');">
					<body>
					<html>

Thank you David Sutherland for winning the packet given out to attendees of the Beverly Hilton TRS-80 announcement in 1978. It contained the 1977 Tandy Annual Report, the first TRS-80 catalog, and a bunch of handouts.

David was nice enough to drop ship his eBay winnings to me first for scanning.

David Sutherland found an interesting Model 100 disassembled website at techrepublic.com.

Just a heads up as to some eBay auctions I have currently listed (ending Mar 14, 2011 at 09:03:54 PDT):

• TRS-80 Project Manager - Catalog Number 26-1580

Theresa Welsh let me know that there is now an eBook version of the TRS-80 related book "Priming the Pump: How TRS-80 Enthusiasts Sparked the PC Revolution". The announcement is as follows:

Priming the Pump: How TRS-80 Enthusiasts Sparked the PC Revolution, is in its second printing and we have just released it in two eBook formats: for the Kindle (sold by amazon.com) and for the Nook (sold by Barnes & Noble). These versions include illustrations in color (those that originally had color -- some illustrations are original black & white photos, but we have many old magazine ads that are color, but appear in the printed book as black & white). The price for the ebook version is only $9.95.

Here are the links to where the ebook versions can be purchased:

Kindle version: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004P8JNIS

People who don't have an eReader can still view these versions by downloading the "Kindle for PC" app or the "Nook for PC" app available at amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com.

Jurgen Buchmuller has resumed work on his EACA CG emulator.

Atila Grosz compiled the work in progress into a windows binary.

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Ian Mavric was kind enough to provide (the cover for) Volume 7, Issue 5 of the Sydney, Australia TRS-80 Users Group Newsletter from January 1987.

For those of you who like boobs and/or hate cancer, but DEFINITELY like U.S. tax deductions, then you will be pleased to learn that it is time for the Revlon Run/Walk for Cancer!

Steve Halber has a long list of Color Computer hardware and software (which has been boxed up for the better part of 20 years) which he would like to give away in exchange for shipping costs.

The list is:

Actual system and peripherals:

• TRS-80 Color Computer (I), originally 16K, upgraded to 64K [26-3002]
• CGP-115 4-Color Graphic Printer [26-1192]
• Box with extra graphic printer paper rolls [26-1428]
• DMP-110 Dot Matrix Printer [26-1271]
• Extra ribbon for dot matrix printer [26-1283]
• Cassette Player for TRS-80 [26-1206]
• Disk Drive FD 301 [26-3131]
• Original Joystick [26-3008]
• Deluxe Joystick, 2x [26-3012B]
• Mouse [26-3025]
• Multi-Pak [26-3024]

Program Pak File, and game cartridges:

• Bridge Tutor [26-3158]
• Bustout [26-3056]
• Canyon Climber [26-3089]
• Checker [26-3055]
• Chess [26-3050]
• Color Baseball [26-3095]
• Crosswords [26-3082]
• Color Scripsit [26-3105]
• Football [26-3053]
• Graphic Pak [26-3157]
• Math Bingo [26-3150]
• Mega-Bug [26-3076]
• Monster Maze [26-3081]
• Music [26-3151]
• Polaris [26-3065]
• Skiing [26-3058]
• Space Assault [26-3060]
• Typing Tutor [26-3152]



Software on 5.25 disks:

• Trivia Fever [26-3295]
• Coco Max (with Program Pak)
• One on One
• Flight Sim
• Telewriter-64
• Various saved data/program files on disk

Software on cassette:

• Zaxxon [26-3062]
• Madness and the Minotaur [26-3313]
• Hi Res Screen Print Utilities [26-3121]
• Dungeons of Death (Aardvark Software)
• Various saved data/program files on cassette

Books:

• Getting Started with Color BASIC
• Going Ahead with Extended Color BASIC
• TRS-80 Color Computer Quick Reference Guide [26-3194]
• Clark: 101 Color Computer Programming Tips and Tricks
• Barden: TRS-80 Color Computer Assembly Language Programming [62-2077]
• Rainbow Book of Simulations (with programs on cassette)
• Student Manual - Part 1: Introduction to BASIC [26-2151]
• Student Manual - Part 2: BASIC Programming [26-2153]
• Manuals for all software

I suspect it is first come first served. Steve can be reached at [deleted].

A site visitor has a Model III and a Model 4 available (+ dust covers) for free for local pickup only in Natick, Massachusetts. When last used in July of 2009, the Model III worked perfectly, and the Model 4 worked other than drive :1 (although the individual did not attempt to determine why).

To avoid the standard problem of people emailing the individual to ask if they will ship, you are asked to contact me. I will pass on offers to pick up the computers. First come first served.

Now that I moved the NEWDOS/80 Manual to be on a non-Wordpress page (like I had to do with the individual magazine pages), I can add pages again. I guess I am hitting some kind of memory/size limit on WordPress.

Anyway, I thought it would be useful to put all the "TRS-80 For Free" listings on their own page, and so I did.

Also, David Cooper has been kind enough to convert the Disk Request Page to be usable for systems without a mailto: configuration. Thanks David!

Instead of posting 3 pictures of a red cover - Let this just be an announcement that I have started to scan the Misosys Notes magazine, and have created a new magazine page for them here.

Click to Enlarge

Issue: 03
Date: July 1984
Pages: 60
TOSEC: Notes from Misosys Issue 3 (1984)(Misosys)

Table of Contents:

• THE BLURB
• CMD-FILE/PRO-CESS version 2
• CON80Z/PRO-CON80Z
• CONVCPM/PRO-CURE
• DSMSLR/PRO-DUCE
• EDAS/PRO-CREATE
• GRASP
• HELP/PRO-HELP
• LC/PRO-LC
• MACH2/PRO-MACH2
• PaDS/PRO-PaDS
• THE PROGRAMMER'S GUIDE
• SOLE
• ZCAT/PRO-ZCAT
• ZGRAPH/PRO-ZGRAPH
• ZSHELL
• CONTRIBUTIONS

Title: Machine Language Programming from the Ground Up, 1st Ed.
Year: 1980
Author: Hubert S Howe Jr
Pages: 160

For those of you tired of seeing endless numbers of scans, here is some big news.

As enthusiasts may know, Matthew Reed has been working on patching LDOS so that it can accept dates after 2012. A description of the problem and the technical solutions can be found at:

http://www.trs-80.org/ldos-and-ls-dos-2012-and-beyond/ for Part 1 - LDOS and LS-DOS: 2012 and Beyond

http://www.trs-80.org/ldos-and-ls-dos-2012-and-beyond-technical-information/ for Part 2 - LDOS and LS-DOS: 2012 and Beyond - Technical Info

http://www.trs-80.org/ldos-and-ls-dos-2012-and-beyond-a-solution/ for Part 3 - LDOS and LS-DOS: 2012 and Beyond - A Solution

Matthew has just released the new version of TRSTools, which includes the feature to automatically patch LS-DOS/LDOS boot disks to extend their file dating capability to 2079. No separate date conversion step is necessary. Just load the (non-write-protected) LDOS 5.3.1 or LS-DOS 6.3.1 boot disk into TRSTools and allow it to patch the disk when it asks. The LDOS patches don't take up any additional disk space and didn't require getting rid of any file passwords. The new TRSTOOLS also [1] improves recognition of all three MULTIDOS date formats, [2] fixes a problem with reading from a heavily fragmented Model III TRSDOS dsk, and [3] added an option in the file viewer to switch to a hexadecimal view.

Matthew has also released updated versions of TRSREAD and TRSWRITE that can handle the new extended dating format.

If you are good at C++ and good at modifying someone else's source code and knowledgable about the Catweasel, please read on ...

... as many of you know, TRS-80 disks were never meant to hold data for 30+ years, and one of the things I do for people is read their disks into DMK images. Much of the time, people are trying to get their old documents and records off the disks, so getting the best possible read off the disks can mean the difference between a corrupt file or a good one.

To do the disk reading I have a dedicated system set up with a Catweasel, a floppy drive, DOS boot, and Tim Mann's wonderful Catweasel utilities.

As any of you who have a Catweasel may know, Tim's utilities allow for a command line option to give a specific number of retries for any track which reads with errors BUT it outputs the track as read on the LAST read rather than the track as read on the BEST read. You could have 19 reads of "9 good sectors, 1 bad sector" but if the 20th retry is "6 good sectors, 4 bad sectors" that is what you get, and 3 otherwise good sectors are lost (you can restart the process again, but it is all going to be a roulette game). Those sectors being good could easily mean the difference between a good file and a corrupted one.

The reason for this, however (and as Tim has previously told me), is that the Catweasel works only on a Track level, which is the rub.

I am wondering if anyone out there has the C++ know how to modify Tim's CW2DMK.c program so that when a track is read (as currently written in the program), an array is populated with the actual sectors (which I guess might be one entry for any DMK header, and the remaining array equal to the track length divided by the sector size; but what do I know), and then if a successive retry produces a good sector where there was previously a bad one, the (bad) sector in the array is replaced with the newly successfully read one; and once the retry count is done, the array is assembled into a track; at which point the track is written out (as currently written in the program).

Tim has been busy with other projects (he has been well aware of the request for quite some time), and the track vs. sector nature of the Catweasel probably makes this a project he does not wish to tackle, but a recent set of disks where the person was desperate for their data has just triggered me to see if anyone out there can do it. Modifying the source code appears, on my quick read, to be permitted under the license under which it was issued, provided certain obligations are met.

However, it is Tim's project, Tim's source, and whether this is actually made public should be entirely up to Tim in my book. Certainly anyone who writes in the functionality is encouraged to send it to Tim; perhaps he will integrate it.

Links:

• http://www.tim-mann.org/catweasel.html - Tim's Catweasel Page (with links to v4.4; source code is included)
• The DMK format is explained at the bottom.
• The FREE MSDOS C++ compiler which is used to compile the Catweasel utilities is the DJGPP Compiler (http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/). Tim's makefile is makefile.dj for that reason.

David Sutherland has pointed me toward a web site which catalogs computers in movies. Check out the:

• Model I [Hotlink Deleted] page
• Model III [Hotlink Deleted] page
• Model 4 [Hotlink Deleted] page

Matthew Reed has published his patches to get LDOS to accept dates after 2012.

Matthew Reed has updated his wonderful TRS32 Emulator to v1.26. This update includes:

• BUG FIX: On some Windows 7 systems, a synchronization conflict led to sluggish responses by the user interface. This problem has now been fixed.
• BUG FIX: Keyboard handling is now improved to make certain SHIFT+CLEAR key combinations more consistent.

Matthew Reed has updated his wonderful TRS32 Emulator to v1.26. This update includes:

• BUG FIX: On some Windows 7 systems, a synchronization conflict led to sluggish responses by the user interface. This problem has now been fixed.
• BUG FIX: Keyboard handling is now improved to make certain SHIFT+CLEAR key combinations more consistent.

Matthew Reed, author of the TRS32 emulator, has updated his DMK and DSK Management Tools: TRSREAD / TRSWRITE (Command Line) to v1.29 and TRSTOOLS (GUI) to v1.06.

Changes:

• Fixed: Faulty format detection routine that was rejecting many NEWDOS/80 disks is now fixed.
• Added: Read-only support for the most common Montezuma Micro and LNW80 CP/M formats.
• Added: Read-only support for Color Computer RSDOS disks.
• Changed: The file properties and disk properties dialog boxes now only show information pertaining to the file system.

Peter and George Phillips' TRS-80 Emulator in Java has been updated to v1.3..

Larry Kraemer has provided instructions on how to install a 3.5" standard ibm floppy drives in a TRS-80 Model III or 4. The file is on the Hardware Modifications page.

Larry Kraemer has developed some step-by-step tutorials on how to run David Keil's DOS Emulators and Tim Mann's XTRS Emulator under Debian and Ubuntu. As of December 2019 it is almost all incorrect so the link has been removed.

George Phillips has updated his GP2000 TRS-80 Model I/III/4 Emulator to v1.8. Changes include:

• Works on displays whos width is not a multiple of 4.
• Recording in Flash video format (.flv).
• Supports Model 4 with hi-res graphics adapter.
• Debugger improved.
• Z-80 profiling has legend and branch taken percentages.
• HALT instruction now emulated properly.
• Model I double-wide video.
• Added "-time emulation" option to show CPU emulation time.

Stephen James Hurd and Ken Pettit have updated their Model 100 emulator, Virtual T, to v1.5. The update can be downloaded from the emulator page.

David Keil's site appears to have gone down. Since that site was the only source of David's emulators (and also because David's emulators were entirely incompatible with Windows XP or LCD monitors since Dave chose to use direct hardware writes for screen updates) references to David's emulators on the emulator page have been removed.

Model 4P with a DMP 110 printer for free, local pickup in Seattle, Washington only. The owner hasn't used the printer since the 80s, but worked then. The owner booted up the 4P last year (with TRSDOS) and it booted great.

If interested in picking these up in Seattle, please email me. Emails will be forwarded to the owner in the order received.

A site visitor is offering a non-working Radio Shack TRS-80 Network 2 switchbox (e.g., for parts or for tinkerers) for free for local pickup or the cost of shipping from Baltimore, Maryland

• model no. 26-1211, serial # 003505
• 16 channel mux, using rotary dial, leds indicating selection
• undamaged, dirty but it looks like it'll work
• no power supply or cables
• no disks or manuals

Owner originally bought it, but didn't really use it. Recently found cleaning out some old stuff.

As always, first come first served. If you want it, please contact me. The posting will be taken down once I pass on the first offer.

Lance Wolstrup, editor in chief of TRSTIMES, has advised that Roy T. Beck passed away in March of 2011. Roy was a member of all the Greater Los Angeles TRS-80 user groups, and a regular contributor to TRSTimes, where he wrote about hardware, primarily Hard Drives. He was 80 years old and is survived by his wife, Barbara.

A site visitor has a the following for sale:

• CoCo 2 (which he has verified as working)
• Some games
• Some program paks
• Some cassette tapes
• Some manuals
• Joystick (which he has verified as working)
• Hookup connections for a cassette player/recorder data storage
• Cassette player (won't turn the cassettes anymore; it needs new belts).
• "Using Basic" (textbook) Book
• "TRS-80 Color Computer Assembly Language Programming" Book
• "Getting started with Extended Color Basic" Book (missing back cover)
• "TRS-80 Color Computer Programs" Book

He is asking $40 plus actual shipping costs (from Raleigh, North Carolina, USA) on a first come first served basis. The lot weighs around 15 pounds, divided pretty equally between the books and the other stuff. He can be reached at jdstout at gmail dot com.

I stumbled upon a new TRS-80 site, trs-80.org.uk. They have a few links, and some downloads, but most notedly, a currently published TRS-80 newsletter, called TRS8BIT, available for download.

I have put together a TRS8BIT cover page here, but like all the other pages, there are no downloads. The address is trs-80.org.uk should you wish to download.

Always good to see new TRS-80 sites ... wishing them well!

UPDATE: Site no longer available.

VE2OUY has put up a web page which emulates most of a Model I in Flash (no source was found).

Added Migue Dutra's TRS-80 Virtual Disk Kit v0.1 utility to the DSK and DMK Image Utilities page. The VDK-80 is a command line utility which allows one to perform a series of operations (read, write, rename, delete etc.) on files stored in a TRS-80 virtual disk image.

I have added a page for those offering to do TRS-80 repairs. If you are someone who can repair TRS-80's and want to be added to the list, please contact me.

Visit the For trade/free page if interested in a somewhat working Model I in Ontario, Canada (local pickup only).

The TRS-80 Repair Page has been updated. If you are someone who can repair TRS-80's and want to be added to the list, please contact me.

Josh Bensadon has provided a TRS-80 Repair Story including pictures as to how he got a Model I with bad video running again.

Matthew Reed has updated his DMK and DSK Management Tools: TRSREAD / TRSWRITE (Command Line) to v1.30 and TRSTOOLS (GUI) to v1.07.

Changes:

• Fixed: A format recognition bug was causing TRSDOS 1.3 data disks to sometimes be treated as Montezuma Micro CP/M disks.
• Fixed: Under some circumstances, TRSTools would crash when loading LDOS disks, even ones it had created.
• Added: NEWDOS/86 disks are now recognized for both read and write access.
• Changed: File viewer will now default to a hexadecimal view when an improperly constructed CMD file is viewed.
• Fixed: Amount of free space on a disk is now correctly calculated for NEWDOS/80 disks.

Vernon Hester, author of the amazing MultiDOS operating system (and other programs) has provided a few guides to MultiDOS in DOC format:

• MultiDOS Features
• MultiDOS Library Commands
• MultiDOS Utility Commands

Vernon Hester has provided a few updated manuals, each in DOC format:

• Astrocal
• MultiDOS and Esoteric DOS's
• Zeus Editor/Assembler

Vernon B. Hester, author of MultiDOS and other wonderful programs, has provided some additional copies of his DOS's:

Model I

• MultiDOS v4.01 [a] for Model I

Model III

• MultiDOS v1.0 for Model III
• MultiDOS v1.3a for Model III
• MultiDOS v1.6 for Model III
• MultiDOS v1.7 for Model III
• MultiDOS v1.71 for Model III
• MultiDOS v2.10 for Model III
• MultiDOS v4.01 [a] for Model III

Model 4

• Esoteric DOS v2.12 for Model 4
• Esoteric DOS v2.12 High-Resolution BASIC for Model 4
• MultiDOS v5.11 [a] for Model 4
• MultiDOS v5.11 High-Resolution BASIC for Model 4

Don French, a buyer for Radio Shack who, after seeing a computer kit, designed a home computer which, together with Steve Leininger, became the TRS-80. Don has offered to answer your questions (to the extent he can). While no promises are made, please contact me with any questions you would like to see if Don French will answer. I will forward them to him and post questions and answers. I don't know how long I will leave this open, but will post another news item when its time to close it.

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Vernon B. Hester, author of MultiDOS and other wonderful programs, has provided a previously unarchived version of MultiDOS ... MultiDOS v2.00 for Model III. As always, Vernon is happy to allow the posting of his software for download, so click away. Thanks, Vernon!

I have received very few questions to pass on to Don French. No one has questions for the inventor of the TRS-80?!?!??!

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A little late in announcing, but Dusty has released his December 2011 issue of the TRS8Bit newsletter.

Added Migue Dutra's TRS-80 Virtual Disk Kit v1.3 utility to the DSK and DMK Image Utilities page. The VDK-80 is a command line utility which allows one to perform a series of operations (read, write, rename, delete etc.) on files stored in a TRS-80 virtual disk image.

Vernon B. Hester, author of MultiDOS and other wonderful programs, has provided some additional copies of his DOS's:

• MultiDOS v1.13 (Single Density)
• MultiDOS v1.14 (Single Density)
• MultiDOS v1.15 (Single Density)
• MultiDOS v1.16a (Single Density)
• MultiDOS v1.17 (Single Density)
• MultiDOS v2.00 (Double Density)
• MultiDOS v2.10 (Double Density)

He also supplied 4 others, but they are all problematic in one way or another and will not work, due to his lack of a working Model I. I have reached out to him to see what exactly he needs and will let everyone know, in case they can help.

I have sent in the Don French questions that I have received. When/if I hear back, I will post the questions and answers. Thanks to all those who sent them in.

I received back answers from Don French to many of the questions which were asked by the site visitors. The questions and answers can be found Here. Thank you very much Don!

Visit the For trade/free page if interested in a 128K Color Computer 3 (Model 26-3334) with Computer (keyboard), monitor, expansion chassis, hard drive with interface card, and RS-232 card.

Dave Huffman has given permission to make his RAMDISK drivers for the Model 4 available for download; so those search results are now live. Any other author that would care to do the same, please feel contact me!

Matthew Reed, author of the amazing TRS32 emulator as well as the DSK/DMK Utility TRSTOOLS, has just released Z80Asm, a new Z80 macro assembler for creating TRS-80 CMD files.

Z80ASM assembles TRS-80 assembly language programs and creates /CMD files that will run on a real or emulated TRS-80, but it runs on the command line of your Windows PC. The assembler is a shareware Windows-based command line utility designed to make it easier to develop TRS-80 software on a Windows computer.

The unregistered version differs from the registered version in that the unregistered version:

• Generates only CMD files, not HEX, core image, or COM files
• Does not generate an equate listing
• Does not allow reading from or writing to TRS-80 virtual disk files

In light of Matthew Reed having created a few utilities that do not fit into other categories on the site, I have created a new Misc Utilities page.

Matthew Reed, author of the amazing TRS32 emulator, has updated his DMK and DSK Management Tools: TRSREAD / TRSWRITE (Command Line) to v1.31.

Changes:

• Fixed: TRSREAD could sometimes crash when displaying the directory of a damaged disk with corrupt date entries. This bug has been fixed.

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Dusty has released his March 2012 issue of the TRS8Bit newsletter on his trs-80.org.uk web site. You can find all of the issues on his downloads page.

Updated the TRS-80 Software Archive page to point out that there are, in fact, downloads available for files where express permission was given. Added a second (optional) description line for those who want to do a boolean AND search.

If you are a copyright owner who has entries on the list, and wish to allow your program to be available for download, please contact me.

A site visitor has approached me looking for an ORCH-90. While I would not normally post such requests, there never seems to be any on eBay so I wanted to post a news item. If you have one you are willing to sell, please contact me.

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Shawn Delahunty has written a new "Retro Invaders" game for the TRS-80 and discussed the trials and tribulations of that undertaking on his Armchair Arcade site.

Vernon B. Hester, author of MultiDOS and other wonderful programs, has provided some additional copies of his DOS's for the Model I:

• MultiDOS v1.60S (Single Density)
• MultiDOS v1.60D (Double Density)
• MultiDOS v1.60P (Pseudo Density)*
• MultiDOS v1.60aS (Single Density)
• MultiDOS v1.60aD (Double Density)
• MultiDOS v1.60aP (Pseudo Density)*

* = Does not seem to work well with v1.26 of Matthew Reed's TRS32 Emulator; I have sent the images to Matthew for review.

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Matthew Reed has updated his wonderful TRS32 Emulator to v1.27. This update includes:

• BUG FIX: The bottom three screen pixels are no longer cropped in Model I mode.
• BUG FIX: The shifted behavior of the 7 key on the numeric keypad now matches the other numeric keypad keys.
• BUG FIX: The odd double-wide behavior upon boot-up of Model I MULTIDOS 1.60P is now fixed.

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Rob Cole has pointed me to an Android App (well, live wallpaper) on the Android Market called "TRS-80 Android Live Wallpaper." The company describes the app as:

"Now TRS-80 computer fans can personalize their android devices with something TRS-80 related! This recently released interactive live wallpaper from GNOTSOFT features the android that we all remember and love--an icon from our TRS-80 days!

This fun wallpaper features a lone android patiently looking around while you go about your business. It's also interactive and will look over to where you touch on the screen!

The developers at GNOTSOFT have a deep appreciation for the TRS-80 and are excited to be developing for the android platform. Many more fun projects are underway! All feedback and suggestions are welcomed."

The market entry indicates it requires no "Special Permissions" and costs 99 cents.