From: erg@atl1.america.net (Eric Robert Greene)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.tandy
Subject: Re: 80 Micro memories
Date: 23 Mar 1995 11:02:19 -0500
Organization: Access America(TM), P.O. Box 1222, Alpharetta, GA 30239-1222
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Yeah... there are some of us out here to remember that stuff AND 
(especially!) the prices we paid for it.  I bought my first TRS-80 
computer (a Mod I) in 1979 - 16K, Level II BASIC and I think it was right 
at $1000.  Added the expansion interface and a floppy (and thought I had 
died and gone to heaven) for another exorbitant fee that I don't recall.
 
Got a copy of Dennis Bathory Kitsz (sp?) book on the "Custom TRS-80" and 
decended into the innards with soldering iron in hand to get lower case, 
improve memory addressing with the E/I and other fun projects.  Added 
disk doublers and upgraded the system to 8" drives.  
 
Played with TRS-DOS, DOSPLUS, LDOS and finally settled on NEWDOS-80 as my 
operating system of choice.  And the first game - FLYING SAUCERS!  
Remember that hokey cannon shooting @@@ characters at the top of the screen?
 
I don't know if computing well ever be as much fun as it was in the "good 
old days!"  How many people today know the satisfaction of adding a 
memory chip and seeing lower case suddenly appear on the screen?  How 
many know the agonies of trying to load a 16k program from tape!  
 
Started telecommunicating with an old Bell 103A3 modem in 1980 (this 
sucker had 11 circuit boards and RELAYS in it!) and put online one of the 
early bulletin boards in South Florida.  Wrote the software for the 
fairly popular TRS-80 based BBS called "The Greene Machine" (and would 
enjoy hearing from anyone that might have run that program).  First time 
I downloaded Bill Blue's BBS list it showed about 200 boards in the US.
 
Computin' was a lot of fun in those days....  frustrating, but still a 
lot of fun!
 
Eric


-- 
Eric R. Greene                      Deep-Sky BBS (1:133/208)
erg@america.net                     (404)321-5904