Konata
Annoyance
Grandmaster Hack
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Posts: 812
Good job!
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« on: May 23, 2007, 10:34:18 PM » |
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With the box and original plastic wrap.  It was just sitting at my work, waiting for someone to claim it as theirs. The only thing it's missing is an RF switch-box, a replacement for which is sitting right here, on my desk. It has no add-ons, but it has two cartridiges. Block Buster or Brick buster or something, and some Math game. These both have manuals and boxes. It has the operations manual, and it has 2 Color BASIC manuals, but no Color BASIC cart, does it even need a Color BASIC cart? If it does, it's probably still in the part of the trailer we haven't unloaded yet. It also has 2 joysticks. My boss will probably sell it to me for at most $20. I am excited. |
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« Last Edit: May 23, 2007, 10:37:43 PM by Sinistar »
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t3hfr3ak
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« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2007, 11:36:39 PM » |
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very nice catch there my friend!
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Konata
Annoyance
Grandmaster Hack
Offline
Posts: 812
Good job!
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« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2007, 04:29:23 PM » |
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Thanks, I actually may pass it on to get a modern laptop (every dollar counts, LOL), but I dunno yet.
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RedWolf
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« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2007, 04:41:50 PM » |
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With the box and original plastic wrap. It was just sitting at my work, waiting for someone to claim it as theirs. The only thing it's missing is an RF switch-box, a replacement for which is sitting right here, on my desk. It has no add-ons, but it has two cartridiges. Block Buster or Brick buster or something, and some Math game. These both have manuals and boxes. It has the operations manual, and it has 2 Color BASIC manuals, but no Color BASIC cart, does it even need a Color BASIC cart? If it does, it's probably still in the part of the trailer we haven't unloaded yet. It also has 2 joysticks. My boss will probably sell it to me for at most $20. I am excited. Cool. Sounds like a decent deal for $20 if the box and manuals are in good shape. By the way, the CoCo has basic built in, so you don't need a cart for that. I say go for it. |
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Konata
Annoyance
Grandmaster Hack
Offline
Posts: 812
Good job!
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« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2007, 05:08:58 PM » |
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Hmmm, the built-in BASIC sold me on it. I'll be picking this up next time I go to work. Thanks RedWolf! Do I have to get a certain type cassette player, or will any player work? (I read about the emulation trick, I'm eager to download games for the real hardware.) |
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« Last Edit: May 25, 2007, 05:11:16 PM by Sinistar »
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RedWolf
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« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2007, 08:02:47 PM » |
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Hmmm, the built-in BASIC sold me on it. I'll be picking this up next time I go to work. Thanks RedWolf! Do I have to get a certain type cassette player, or will any player work? (I read about the emulation trick, I'm eager to download games for the real hardware.) Any player will work. You need a special cassette cable, though. You should be able to plug it into your sound card on your PC and play back recorded programs in WAV format. If you have any. |
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Konata
Annoyance
Grandmaster Hack
Offline
Posts: 812
Good job!
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« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2007, 09:29:53 AM » |
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Awesome. Thanks for all your help! I'll post pics when I get it! |
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RedWolf
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« Reply #7 on: May 27, 2007, 12:33:26 PM » |
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Awesome. Thanks for all your help! I'll post pics when I get it! Hey, no problem. If you need any more tips or hints, let me know. By the way, I still consider the TRS-80 Color Computer manual for Color BASIC one of the best computer manuals ever. It's laid out in such a way that it's easy to learn how to program that variety of BASIC. You should try going through it and writing some programs. I had a blast with it when I was younger. |
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belmont
Novice Tinkerer
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« Reply #8 on: May 29, 2007, 02:28:38 PM » |
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At $20, that thing is a steal! Especially since you don't have to pay extra for shipping and handling. There used to be a lot of old books around with the BASIC programs that you'd enter by hand and could then play with. I think that the ones by David Ahl were the best. They're no longer in print, but you can scoop them up on ebay or Amazon occasionally. I had a TRS-80 growing up and I absolutely loved that thing. It's a lot easier to learn BASIC on an old machine than to try and tinker with the Visual Basic .NET platform!
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RedWolf
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« Reply #9 on: May 29, 2007, 03:01:37 PM » |
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At $20, that thing is a steal! Especially since you don't have to pay extra for shipping and handling. There used to be a lot of old books around with the BASIC programs that you'd enter by hand and could then play with. I think that the ones by David Ahl were the best. They're no longer in print, but you can scoop them up on ebay or Amazon occasionally. I had a TRS-80 growing up and I absolutely loved that thing. It's a lot easier to learn BASIC on an old machine than to try and tinker with the Visual Basic .NET platform!
Welcome to the forum, belmont! |
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Konata
Annoyance
Grandmaster Hack
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Posts: 812
Good job!
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« Reply #10 on: May 29, 2007, 07:46:26 PM » |
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OK, so the TRS-80 has been in my house today, and it's TERRIBLE. I didn't think it'd be THAT bad, but it's absolutely CLUNKY to program on! I have MAJOR respect for those who programmed on these things.
This is not staying in my house. Sorry, but I guess I'm just a 16-bit and up guy.
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RedWolf
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« Reply #11 on: May 30, 2007, 01:53:48 PM » |
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OK, so the TRS-80 has been in my house today, and it's TERRIBLE. I didn't think it'd be THAT bad, but it's absolutely CLUNKY to program on! I have MAJOR respect for those who programmed on these things.
This is not staying in my house. Sorry, but I guess I'm just a 16-bit and up guy.
Haha.. clunky in what way? The keys are probably dirty. Not only that, but the key contacts (assuming you have an original chiclet keyboard model) get dirty over time and make it frustrating to register key presses. When I first got my TRS-80 CoCo 1 around 1992 or so, the keyboard worked like a dream, and I actually found it a pleasure to use. Now, 15 years later, the keyboard response isn't so hot -- even from just sitting around, mostly unused, all this time. Anyway, to each his own. But at least you can say you've started your vintage computer collection! |
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Konata
Annoyance
Grandmaster Hack
Offline
Posts: 812
Good job!
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« Reply #12 on: May 31, 2007, 02:23:37 PM » |
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OK, so the TRS-80 has been in my house today, and it's TERRIBLE. I didn't think it'd be THAT bad, but it's absolutely CLUNKY to program on! I have MAJOR respect for those who programmed on these things.
This is not staying in my house. Sorry, but I guess I'm just a 16-bit and up guy.
Haha.. clunky in what way? The keys are probably dirty. Not only that, but the key contacts (assuming you have an original chiclet keyboard model) get dirty over time and make it frustrating to register key presses. When I first got my TRS-80 CoCo 1 around 1992 or so, the keyboard worked like a dream, and I actually found it a pleasure to use. Now, 15 years later, the keyboard response isn't so hot -- even from just sitting around, mostly unused, all this time. Anyway, to each his own. But at least you can say you've started your vintage computer collection! Nah, it's clean, it's like it's been in a cleanroom forever, great condition. It just wasn't that responsive, even the real C64 I've played on before has a better response time. I'm not starting my collection with that, but I've called up a game store, and apparently they might have an Amiga 500 in stock. I'm crossing my fingers. ^_______^ |
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RedWolf
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« Reply #13 on: May 31, 2007, 07:24:01 PM » |
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OK, so the TRS-80 has been in my house today, and it's TERRIBLE. I didn't think it'd be THAT bad, but it's absolutely CLUNKY to program on! I have MAJOR respect for those who programmed on these things.
This is not staying in my house. Sorry, but I guess I'm just a 16-bit and up guy.
Haha.. clunky in what way? The keys are probably dirty. Not only that, but the key contacts (assuming you have an original chiclet keyboard model) get dirty over time and make it frustrating to register key presses. When I first got my TRS-80 CoCo 1 around 1992 or so, the keyboard worked like a dream, and I actually found it a pleasure to use. Now, 15 years later, the keyboard response isn't so hot -- even from just sitting around, mostly unused, all this time. Anyway, to each his own. But at least you can say you've started your vintage computer collection! Nah, it's clean, it's like it's been in a cleanroom forever, great condition. It just wasn't that responsive, even the real C64 I've played on before has a better response time. I'm not starting my collection with that, but I've called up a game store, and apparently they might have an Amiga 500 in stock. I'm crossing my fingers. ^_______^ What do you mean, exactly, by "response time?" Are you talking about how slowly it runs BASIC programs or something? |
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Konata
Annoyance
Grandmaster Hack
Offline
Posts: 812
Good job!
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« Reply #14 on: May 31, 2007, 08:08:16 PM » |
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Yeah, it's generally slow, even for the letters to appear on screen. Bustout was fast, but it probably used the machine language like it says you can do in the advanced manual for BASIC.
BTW, does it use the same chip as the Atari 2600? They look alike, and are both called Television Interface Adapter, but the Atari sounds better...
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