The TRS-80 -- short for '''T'''andy '''R'''adio '''S'''hack Z'''-80''' -- was Radio Shack's entry into the consumer microcomputer market; introduced in 1977, it was soon outselling the AppleII and Commodore PET. The first version offered, known as the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Model 1]], had a black-and-white display with character mode graphics, and could not support a disk drive or more than 16K of memory without adding on a special "expansion interface" that normally sat beneath the monitor. It had no sound hardware, though games managed to produce sound effects by manipulating the cassette port with some sort of speaker plugged in.

Since the keyboard was built into the CPU cabinet -- indeed, in the case of the Model 1, the keyboard ''was'' the CPU cabinet -- it was impossible to change out your keyboard if it went bad. This made the keyboard's susceptibility to "keybounce" paarticcullarlllly annnnoyyyingg.[[hottip:*:Radio Shack even sold keyboard debounce software called KBFIX, which introduced a slight delay between keystroke detections, to get around this problem.]] This and other "features", such as the abysmally low resolution graphics, led many of its detractors to refer to the computer as the [=TRaSh-80=].

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The TRS-80 (short for '''T'''andy '''R'''adio '''S'''hack Z'''-80''') was Radio Shack's entry into the consumer microcomputer market; introduced in 1977, it was soon outselling the AppleII and CommodorePET. The first version offered, known as the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Model 1]], had a black-and-white display with character mode graphics, and could not support a disk drive or more than 16K of memory without adding on a special "expansion interface" that normally sat beneath the monitor. It had no sound hardware, though games managed to produce sound effects by manipulating the cassette port with some sort of speaker plugged in.

Since the keyboard was built into the CPU cabinet--indeed, in the case of the Model 1, the keyboard ''was'' the CPU cabinet--it was impossible to change out your keyboard if it went bad. This made the keyboard's susceptibility to "keybounce" paarticcullarlllly annnnoyyyingg.[[note]]Radio Shack even sold keyboard debounce software called KBFIX, which introduced a slight delay between keystroke detections, to get around this problem.[[/note]] This and other "features", such as abysmally low-resolution graphics, led to the derisive nickname of "Trash-80"--which some fans have since reclaimed as a term of affection.

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* The ''Dunjonquest'' series by Automated Simulations (later Epyx):
** ''Temple of Apshai''
** ''Datestones of Ryn''
** ''Morloc's Tower''
** ''Hellfire Warrior''
** The ScienceFiction game ''Rescue at Rigel'' used the same basic game engine.
* ''VideoGame/{{Starfighter}}'' (SC-78503)
* Several arcade-game clones by Bill Hogue and Jeff L. Konyu of ''Big 5 Software'', including:
** ''Supernova'' (VideoGame/{{Asteroids}})
** ''Galaxy Invasion'' (VideoGame/{{Galaxian}})
** ''Attack Force'' (Targ)
** ''Cosmic Fighter'' (Astro Fighter)
** ''Meteor Mission II'' (Lunar Rescue)
** ''Robot Attack'' (VideoGame/{{Berzerk}}), the first TRS-80 game to feature a digitized voice sound
* The twelve ScottAdams [[InteractiveFiction adventure games]] he sold through ''Adventure International''
* The games of [[http://www.leochristopherson.com Leo Christopherson]], whom ''80 Microcomputing'' magazine called the Creator/WaltDisney of TRS-80 animation, including:
** ''Android Nim''
** ''Bee Wary''
** ''Dancing Demon''
** ''Duel-N-Droids'' (in which he produced grayscale, by flickering between black and white rapidly)
** ''Voyage of the Valkyrie''
* Doug Carlston/Brøderbund Software's Galactic Saga, consisting of:
** ''Galactic Empire''
** ''Galactic Trader''
** ''Galactic Revolution''
** (A fourth game, ''Tawala's Last Redoubt'', was available for the AppleII but not the TRS-80.)
* A few independent versions of the StarTrekTextGame, including:
** ''Star Trek III.5'' (shown in the page image). Used graphics-character strings to represent the ships and obstacles.
** ''Invasion Force'', licensed (or stolen) by Radio Shack as a port of ''TREK 80'' with all the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' trademarks removed.
** Simutek Package 1's ''Graphic-Trek 2000'', which toggled the built-in cassette run/stop ''relay'' to produce sound effects.
** ''[[http://www.rogermwilcox.com/apps/ Another Star-Trek Game]]''
* ''Eliza''
* TabletopGame/{{Mastermind}} (called ''Quick, Watson!'')

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[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* Radio Shack teamed up with Creator/DCComics to produce comics featuring mainstream DC superheroes and the "TRS-80 Whiz Kids". Said Whiz Kids would use their TRS-80s to help Superman, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman save the world, usually by doing things like converting Fahrenheit to Celsius. ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' reviewed two of these comics.
* B.A. from ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'' has a TRS-64, which is mistaken by a character for a TRS-80.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* In ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'', a TRS-80 is an important PlotCoupon.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* The iconic "Vicki's Birth" promotional image for ''Series/SmallWonder'' shows Tiffany Brissette emerging from the screen of a TRS-80.
* On the [[http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/thu-april-4-2013-danny-boyle 4-April-2013 episode]] of ''Series/TheDailyShow'', when describing the abyssmal state of technology in the Veterans' Administration, Jon Stewart pointed out that a recommendation was made all the way back in 1982 to computerize their data. "Somewhere in a basement there's a guy hammering away on a TRS-80. And he's almost there."

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9th Apr '13 6:37:48 PM tracer

Send tracer a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

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