[Coco] [Color Computer] Re: Sad News For Canadian's

[Glen VanDenBiggelaar]

You know, I never really though that RS was all that expensive. Maybe the 
fact that we didn't have anything to compare them too. I mean the Science 
Fair kits started at $15. Was this too expensive for a cardboard box wth a 
bunch of springs and wires? Probably, but the cool factor of turning that 
into a crystal AM Radio, out weighed the price. I know most of my paperroute 
money went straight to the shack. I don't think anyone can argue that they 
didn't always have something cool to sell you.

>
>Glen, Yep, the local RS's were quite popular....even back in the
>early seventies when I was a teen...
>Sure parts were expensive, but they were readily available at RS
>ONLY where I lived...
>Science Fair was great stuff, built my first regenerative Short Wave
>Receiver back then...got me hooked on DX'ing....
>CB was cool then and the Shack was the place to buy towers, roters,
>antenna's, etc....most gone now or special order....
>H3ll, they even sold Shure cartridges at a decent price (re-branded)
>for your turntable....
>During school break they would have the summer battery special where
>you brought in an item adn they FILLED it with batteries...
>Those were the days but I digress....
>Then the Model 1 TRS appeared and the rest is history....!
>We had a Tandy Computer Store here, "not" an RS Store, that's how
>popular they were back then.....and owned most of the computer
>market locally....
>The CoCo filled in nicely with the Extended Basic we ahd to learn in
>college...the Commodores and Atari's Basic were too weak until MS
>released MS Basic for the Atari 800XL......(one of my fav's)
>I used to pick up the U.S. RS catalog in Watertown N.Y. every year
>and marveled at what was available south of the border.....as
>compared to up here.....
>Cheers Dave
>
>--- In ColorComputer at yahoogroups.com, "Glen VanDenBiggelaar"
><glenvdb at h...> wrote:
> >
> > I have to agree dave,
> > If you were fortunate to be a teen in the '80s, The local Shack
>was so much
> > more than "just a store" in many ways it was a "first" computer
>club and if
> > you had a good owner that didn't chase the kids out, you got so
>much more
> > there. From my first "Science Fair" project kit (i had many) to my
>rocket
> > supplies (engines and such) to our first remote control cars. If
>you had a
> > good owner, late at night, before the mall was closing, we would
>have RC
> > races with the trucks. We could actually play with the computers,
>and on
> > Weekends we all would be huddled around the CoCo at the back,
>while someone
> > was demonstrating the latest games or software that they had
>written.
> > All the free battieries, my god, sometimes those were the only
>batteires in
> > the house. It was a hang out for kids, and that proved to be many
>sales for
> > the owner.
> >
> > -Glen
> > >
> > >Never got any free batteries at the computer clubs I belonged
>to....
> > >
> > >:-)
> > >
> > >Cheers Dave
> > >




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