[Adrian] had a TRS-80 model IV that looks like it was stored in a mulch pile. However, it seemed to have some surprises. The first hint that something was up was that the keyboard looks like a model ...

August 3, 1977: The Tandy TRS-80 personal computer makes its debut. The first affordable, mass-market computer gives the Apple 1 some serious competition. The success of Tandy’s TRS-80 built on the ...

Quick — name the most important personal computer of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Those of you who mentioned the legendary Apple II–that’s fine. I respect your decision. Forced to think objectively ...

It may be hard to believe now, but back in 1977, the company that owned the Radio Shack retail store business helped begin the personal computer revolution. Along with the Apple II, which we talked ...

Quick – name the most important personal computer of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Those of you who mentioned the legendary Apple II – that’s fine. I respect your decision. Forced to think ...

Don French, a buyer for the consumer electronics chain Tandy Radio Shack (TRS), believed that Radio Shack should offer an assembled personal computer and hired engineer Steve Leininger to design it.

Even if you didn’t own a TRS-80, the widespread footprint of Radio Shack in malls meant that if you are old enough, it is a good bet you have seen one and maybe even played with one. The games were ...

If you pressed me to name the most important year in the history of personal technology, I might come up with 1977. That’s the year that three groundbreakingly consumery personal computers were ...

Even back then, there were computers for people who couldn’t afford the more expensive stuff. Take this Tandy, which costs little more than a upgraded Netbook today. From Core Memory, photographed by ...

Quick – name the most important personal computer of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Those of you who mentioned the legendary Apple II – that’s fine. I respect your decision. Forced to think ...