About eight years later, I bought a TRS80 for $398. Yes, you could buy
it without the video monitor and cassette recorder.
If I had a little more spending money, I might have gotten a PET, instead,
or, not much later, but more money, an Apple2.
Those were absolutely not the first home computer, either. But I consider
them TIED with each other as to which was first of that group. (do you
count announcement, production, going on sale, or being able to walk into
a store and buy one without pre-order?)
About eight years later, I bought a TRS80 for $398. Yes, you could buy
it without the video monitor and cassette recorder.
If I had a little more spending money, I might have gotten a PET, instead,
or, not much later, but more money, an Apple2.
Those were absolutely not the first home computer, either. But I consider
them TIED with each other as to which was first of that group. (do you
count announcement, production, going on sale, or being able to walk into
a store and buy one without pre-order?)
On Wed, 8 Mar 2023, Sellam Abraham via cctalk wrote:
I'm sure specific dates are out there, but as far as generally, the Apple
][ and PET were available for actual purchase prior to the TRS-80, and
between the Apple ][ and the PET, I believe the former shipped first.
LOCALLY, apparently different in other towns, TRS80 was the first one that
I could walk into a store in Berkeley/Albany and walk out with one.
Also, by supplying my own monitor and cassette player, $398 was by far the
cheapest. (I did not say "best") It was easy to find RAM cheaper than
the dealer. And, after I had splurged on the Expansion Interface when it
came out (bringing the total price back up), It was easy to find cheap
drives. A neighbor and I immediately got into building drive cases and
power supplies and peddling those, RAM, and minor other odss and ends.
(Such as the Berkeley Microcomputer Flip-Jig)
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
