Talk:TRS-80 Model 100 line

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"No current portable computers has the appearance of the Model 100 line. More powerful systems are found as pocket-sized PDAs, or palm tops. Laptop computers with full size keyboards are larger, heavier, and have much shorter battery life than the Model 100 style of machine."

I have no idea what this means. Is it comparing to laptops of the time, or laptops of today? Any info on how much the Model 100 weighed for comparison? --Ntg 07:25, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)

The mass is given in the article - 1.4 kg. No current laptop has so little mass. By "current" I mean present-day.
The edit is incorrect in that it says the 100 booted faster than disk-based computers of the time - the Model 100 still boots faster than *any* disk based computer. I will fix the sentence to say what I mean. --Wtshymanski 08:05, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] What to say about the Model100 ?

how-tos? cold starts, recovery, data-on-cassette, telcom, ni-cad replacement, keyboard elastics, "the HOT setup" ? (club100.org) TPDD specs, pinouts and protocols BoosterPac Description of available ROMs, (Super, URII, Cleauseau, XR4, TSDOS, Rombo, etc) Control; servo, cassette motor , X10, using BCR

hey, I could take some photos ! djp

Please do! And add as much information as you can.  ProhibitOnions  (T) 20:11, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Original Tandy manuals

What is the status of the copyright of the original owners/service/basic manuals ? Can we HTMLize them and post them here ? They comprise the bulk of required reference for these systems.

Please sign your comments. The manuals don't belong here, because Wikipedia is not a how-to manual (WP:NOT). Put them on a free website, link to them, and all will be fine. I doubt Tandy will care, but don't quote me on that.  ProhibitOnions  (T) 20:12, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Binary Prefix Edit War

This edit war appears to be over historical accuracy vs. numerical accuracy.

The Manual of Style states that the new binary prefixes are optional. WP:MOSNUM#Avoiding_confusion
"The use of the new binary prefix standards in the Wikipedia is not required, but is recommended for use in all articles where binary capacities are used."

The main page of the Manual of Style covers how to handle style disputes. Wp:mos#Disputes_over_style_issues

"when either of two styles is acceptable, it is inappropriate for a Wikipedia editor to change from one style to another unless there is some substantial reason for the change."

"If it has been stable in a given style, do not change it without some style-independent reason. If in doubt, defer to the style used by the first major contributor."

The Manual of Style is a guideline, not a policy. Guidelines are not set in stone and should be treated with common sense and the occasional exception.

Building consensus is a Wikipedia policy.

I would suggest that the contributors to this article try to reach a consensus on this talk page (and not in the edit summaries.)

Perhaps the article could explain that in 1983 memory was expressed as 32K. (Often just 32K not 32KB.) Today the difference in decimal and binary sized have lead to kibibytes and mebibytes. The specification section could state that this is how thing were expressed in 1983. Both points of view could improve the article,

There is not a correct answer but the most weight should go to the major contributors. SWTPC6800 02:46, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

I agree, you can add that in 1983 memory was expressed as 32K, though I don't think it is relevant. Sarenne 12:24, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
I made a change to the Specifications section. This gives an example of the changes in binary prefixes over the years. Please note the optional new binary prefixes are not a ban on the previous units. Also 8K Model 100 and 24K Model 100 are proper names. SWTPC6800 15:33, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
Ok for the models but the specifications are not quoted so it is accurate to use IEC prefixes. Sarenne 09:29, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
I will update the Specification section to exactly quote the 1984 catalog SWTPC6800 15:20, 6 April 2007 (UTC)
It's useless to quote such things in an encyclopedia... It's not an article about the 1984's catalog.Sarenne 17:39, 6 April 2007 (UTC)
It's even more useless to try to use binary prefix terms that are not included in any of the sources. Fnagaton 23:56, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
Removing ambiguity is not useless, especially in an encyclopedia. Sarenne 15:53, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
You are causing more problems than you claim to be fixing with your changes. Fnagaton 16:12, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
Sarenne claims to be able to decide, after the fact, if "k" means 1024 or 1000 without any apparent self-doubts. If its possible to correct the original sources in this way with no other knowledge, then obviously there's no need to have the binary prefixes at all. I'm ver frustrated by the eccentricities that get imposed on Wikipedia by those with more free time on their hands than I have. I think Sarenne would be better employed resolving the much more important debate on spelling "colour" vs. "color" and "aluminium" vs. "aluminum", which are even more ambiguous. --Wtshymanski 17:56, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
Actually, Sarenne, you have no reference for how much storage the disk drive had - was it 90 * 1000 or 90 * 1024 bytes? And you *know* this was historically ambiguous. Don't change it without a reference. --Wtshymanski 17:53, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Currently it means 1024 * 90 bytes. Do you have a reference ? Sarenne 18:01, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Of course, as do you. --Wtshymanski 00:37, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Then I have a reference and 90 KiB is correct. Thanks. Sarenne 00:40, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Really? You have a 1984 Radio Shack document that says "KIBIBYTES" ? Fascinating... (If only we could harness all this energy for good, instead of pointless edit wars.) --Wtshymanski 20:59, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
The Portable Disk Drive did not have 90 kilobytes or 90 kibibytes of storage. The exact amount is easy find. You should look up correct value before you make erroneous changes. -- SWTPC6800 02:01, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
I didn't change anything about the meaning so stop telling me what I have to do and change the value yourself if you have better sources ! Sarenne 02:05, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Images?

Does anyone have an image of this computer? --Raulpascal 16:02, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Easter eggs in RAM or ROM?

From the article:

Invisible files in the system RAM named "Hayashi" and "Suzuki" commemorate the names of designers Junji Hayashi and Jey Suzuki. Another invisible deleted file named "RickY" refers to Rick Yamashita.

Since nothing in RAM survives power loss, these Easter eggs are at the very least implemented in ROM code. However, I'm willing to believe that they're implemented in such a way that the file names appear to be in system RAM, or even are automatically populated in system RAM when the system initializes after power loss. (Of course, "appear" might be the wrong word, since they're invisible...)

It's been a long time since I've powered my Model 100 up, so I don't remember how one would ever see these files names. Dim flickering neurons seem to be saying that one had to write a BASIC program that traversed the menu list in a non-standard way, perhaps by ignoring a "deleted" flag here and there.

Anyway, am I right in believing that saying these are "in the system RAM" is not the (most) accurate way to say this? Would it be better to say "Invisible file names in the system menu list" or something of the sort?--NapoliRoma (talk) 22:21, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

In the system RAM is precisely accurate. Battery-backed - just because the CPU stops doesn't mean the RAM evaporates. What happens to your documents and programs when you switch off the 100? Same thing happens to the Easter eggs - though you are most likely correct that some subsystem in the ROM re-creates these files if they are deleted or if the system is cold-started. Fire up your 100 and PEEK at everything above 32,768 - and you'll find them. --Wtshymanski (talk) 04:52, 9 January 2008 (UTC)