Orion Pax Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 I have been living with my wife for 13 years. I moved in with her in her trailer. She had 2 buildings. 1 is a work building which is my area now. The other is a tin storage building. Today the extreme winds that we have been experiencing blew the tin building walls over. Leaving its contents untouched. Wow...really...wow! So quickly after we started to take a look at what was left! And as I am looking around I find a whitish tan box that looks like it could be an old air conditioner or a something really old and electronic which was enough to peak my interest. I tilt it back and I see a keyboard. WTF? A TRS-80 MODEL III!!!! Not in very good shape but definitely a worth the time to try and restore! I have been sitting on top of this for 13 years! We have talked many times about going through that stuff but never did! Wish I did it LONG time ago! This thing would have been in way better condition! It formally belonged to one of the schools in the area around here! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accousticguitar Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 That is way cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Considering the condition you found it in, it gives new meaning to the term "Trash-80" 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nathanallan Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 (edited) HAUL! It kind of does look like an air conditioner from the bottom Nice find!! I took my first typing class on one of these. The teacher thought I wasn't getting the best, when everybody had things that were newer, but it made me love the feel of the old keyboard and been hooked on the classics ever since. Edited April 5, 2011 by nathanallan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatta Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Pretty cool! I picked one of those up at a Goodwill around the holidays. Haven't done anything with it, as it has no media. If you get this thing up and running, I'd sure like to hear about how you do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion Pax Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 Wow! Its a model 4! Not a model III like i had originally thought! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Wow! Its a model 4! Not a model III like i had originally thought! I was about to say that, you can tell by the position of the arrow keys. Funny how these 'Trash 80's' seem to be turning up in the trash. I found my Model III on the side of the road a few years ago and I love it. The graphics are very primitive, but there are tons of fun games for them. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorclu Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Does it power on? How good is it? I used Model IV P's at school. Those were kinda cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion Pax Posted April 7, 2011 Author Share Posted April 7, 2011 Not sure yet! Had other issues to take care of first! I might open it up in the morning and clean it, then give it a try! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbersan Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 I can remember replacing keys on the Model 3. They were all individually soldered in. You can pull a bad key out a replace it with another if you have the parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lastkill3r Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Very cool find! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion Pax Posted April 7, 2011 Author Share Posted April 7, 2011 I turned it on and the screen just shows a bunch of lines zig zagging! I dont have any software for it! The lights on the drives flash for split second! This normal if no disk in the drives? I took a blank disk and put it in to see if the drives would attempt to read it and they did! Should i see any thing on the screen other than lines with no software? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 (edited) The Model III had BASIC in ROM and so, if memory serves, it would default to that if there was no bootable disk in the drive. While very few people did so, it was possible to operate the Model III as a cassette-based system and I think it was even sold in a low-budget, no-drive configuration. (That said, the I last saw/touched a Model III in Junior High in 1985!) Given that the Model 4 was backwards-compatible with the III, I expect that it too would boot into BASIC. I'd suggest opening the case and checking to make sure that all of the cables are properly connected, etc. This may be useful: "][18] My Model 4 or 4P has video problems in Model 4 mode, but is fine in Model III mode. How can I fix it? Edited April 7, 2011 by jhd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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