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30 Years of the TRS-80 Model 100
An anonymous reader writes with this "interview with John R Hogerhuis, one of the key players in the still suprisingly active community for the TRS-80 Model 100 portable computer. As the Model 100 approaches its 30th birthday, John talks about what has kept the machine popular for so long, current software and hardware work that is keeping it relevant, and what modern developers could learn from spending some on a computer from 1983."
The thing was probably, what, about 2khz? It had, what, 4086 bytes of ram?
Modern laptops have clock speeds of 2 gigs or more. They have dedicated video cards that push bazillions of pixels around. They have 16gb or more of memory. They also have onboard wifi and full fucking color, HD displays. What the fuck do you expect?
Besides, your metric is way wrong anyway. I'll bet you that from a "horsepower" to "battery life" comparison (say, clock speed to battery life), modern computers kick the shit out of that TRS-80. In no way is the TRS-80 competitive with modern laptops in terms of battery life. And hell, you should be comparing the kindle or something, which also kicks the ever living shit out of the TRS-80 *and* laptops *and* the ipad. Course, it can't do as much.. but it can do way more than the TRS-80 ever could.
Isn't that how it should be? Who gives a shit if you know how to "use a computer"? They are fucking tools. No more. No less.
If anything, it is amazing how little you need to know to do really cool shit. Like, anybody can start a website using nothing but off the shelf tools... isn't that amazing? We live in amazing times. That 4khz proc is bullshit compared to it. "know how to use computers"... pshaw...