trs-80 model-100 is alive! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: 50ShadesOfDirt
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2022, 10:30:56 pm
content: ... after being manufactured in 10/1983, being purchased used (by me) some years later, and then stored in various places and moved around the country, and finally being unearthed a few months ago, and powered on with new batteries.Thru the efforts of the club 100 folks (found manuals and such), it's running, has 24kb ram, date/time/day is set, and now I know it's good for another 40 years (or thereabouts)!Ready to (re)learn basic ...In the opinion of y'all, what devices are best to next add to this basic unit? TS-DOS and it's drive, or the SD-Card unit? Something else altogether?

author: 50ShadesOfDirt
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2022, 11:00:13 pm
content: two more pics ...

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2022, 08:24:23 am
content: Quote from: 50ShadesOfDirt on August 23, 2022, 10:30:56 pmA damp cloth and a mild detergent?On a more serious note, it's hard to give advice. This is your personal trip down memory lane, and whichever accessories or extensions you used, or wished you had back then, will probably score highest on the wishlist today.

author: DiTBho
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2022, 09:41:08 am
content: Quote from: 50ShadesOfDirt on August 23, 2022, 10:30:56 pmEthernet

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2022, 09:54:10 am
content: By the way, the display contrast in the first picture seems rather low. Is that real or just an artefact of the photo? Has it always been like that? Is it adjustable? Does the unit need some new caps somewhere to get the voltages back to spec?And what's up with the top line of text being only partially visible?Overall -- if this were my device, I would spend some time on making it look and feel as close to "new" as possible before I think about upgrades. Clean it carefully; restore the display to its original glory; if the keyboard has contact issues address those, etc.

author: granzeier
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2022, 11:37:32 am
content: Quote from: DiTBho on August 24, 2022, 09:41:08 amOne thing that I thought was a cool idea was to connect up one of the serial ports to a Raspberry Pi 0W, and then, using a terminal program, work like you were connected to the internet through one of those old unix dial-up shell accounts. That is something that I would like to do with one of my Model Ts.

author: 50ShadesOfDirt
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2022, 03:46:53 pm
content: On the display: just powered it up when I started the thread; I think I adjusted the display with the "wheel" control, after the pic. will investigate the capacitors (looking for any that are swollen & such), the next time I'm under the hood.It seems the "ni-cad" battery gets charged somehow (ac adapter, which I don't have and need to make, and possibly the 4 x AA batteries), and I should open it again and check for leakage/voltage, or somehow determine if it needs replacing.I'd like to transfer files back & forth, so am investigating Club100's many possible ways of doing that. Their ordering process is "suspended" (covid?), so will need to figure out the old file xfer methods (laplink & such).Will next work on the cleaning of shell/screen ... 1st effort was just seeing if it would still "post", and it does, so more effort is underway!

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2022, 09:35:36 pm
content: Quote from: 50ShadesOfDirt on August 23, 2022, 10:30:56 pmWelcome to the club! I have a pair of these and they are quite fun for nostalgic folks.Looking at the photos I would definitely replace the NiCd battery - it seems it has a bit of a leakage. Years ago when I got mine, I managed to buy a very similar battery on Digikey. The code is shown in the attached photo*I also noticed that serial communications were quite feeble and replaced the 47µF apolar capacitors (also seen on the photo). A tiny leaky capacitor here and there and I ended up doing a full recap.* (edit) although nowadays I would maybe use a supercap.