Professor Elam

Accounting & Investing Info for San Antonio A & M

recent posts

about

Back to the Future-TRS 80

Trs_80Click here to read about the TRS 80 .  Years ago there was a laptop that was a word processor, had a modem, worked in MSFT basic, an address book, and  went for hours and hours on AA batteries!  Why can’t someone do that now?

I want a simple computer like this with

simple word processor, not msft  word with 1,000 functions
simple spreadsheet, like 64 x 300
photo display
maybe wireless web and e mail, but keep it simple

And I want the battery to last, not die in 90 minutes.

Well Radio Shack had most of this back in the early 1980s. Where is the TRS 80 of today?

DLE

Posted in

4 responses to “Back to the Future-TRS 80”

  1. Stephen Davis Avatar
    Stephen Davis

    It’s interesting to see not only how things change so quickly but also the way things are reported from country to country. Elam has written that it was a few years ago that it appeared that Airbus would beat out Boeing. George Will stated that Boeing no longer has competitors.
    In a typical London train-station one may always pick up several types of free news-papers. Everyone reads on the trains over there. When I was in London just nine months ago and four months before that none of these papers were drawing to such conclusions about Airbus at the time.
    In fact, during early May of 2006, the British press’ were aiming to target interest and excitement out of the English about these soon to be in great production-jumbo-jets.
    From what I had read it sounded like it was the next mode of transportation. I recall that when I was very young I had thought that everyone would be flying in the Concord in the future. I was certain of it. That was the feeling that the London Papers gave to me just less than a year ago. “Here it is! The next mode of air travel! One day everyone will fly in one of these!” It really seemed as though that is what was being said…
    I wonder if they were truly that confident nine months back or if they were just trying to win the confidence from the civilians of the European Union?
    p.s. I’ll write an e-mail to my friend in London. Perhaps we can get an updated portrayel about Airbus in Europe. If so I’ll be sure to share.

    Like

    Reply
  2. April Y Avatar
    April Y

    I think this again is an example of how people are getting tired of having soemthing that could be simple, such as word processing, be made into something with so many bells and whistles, that no can figure out how to operate it, much less how to ring the bells or blow the whistles. This is similar to the demand for the Jitterbug cell phone. All people are looking for right now is a cell phone that will make a call. They aren’t looking to use it for power point, play games, send emails, or take pictures. They just want a phone that won’t drop their call in the middle of a conversation or break on the first drop.

    Like

    Reply
  3. Kristle Pegues Avatar
    Kristle Pegues

    Companies are constantly competing with each other to come up with most innovative ideas. They often stray away from the basics. Yes, technology is a wonderful thing to have but sometimes it becomes to complicated and overwhelming. When I really think about it, I usually use the same functions everyday like a word processor to type papers. It would be great to have a computer that does the simple functions and run on batteries. I think that if a computer just did the basic functions, then it will be more affordable for the average person to purchase. I agree the argument that creators need to make a simpler computer that can last a long time on batteries.

    Like

    Reply
  4. Dennis Elam Avatar
    Dennis Elam

    Thank you ladies, that is why I amde this post
    Now why can’t apple or for that matter radio shack and farm the work out to nec or someone, and to quote that great Michael Fox movie,
    get us back to the future?

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment