[Coco] Did you know that...

[Christian Lesage]

Frank Swygert wrote:
> I also have a copy of "Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer" 
> which should be required reading for anyone really interested in the 
> history of computers. 

I'm not lucky enough to own that book, but I knew of the web site 
(www.pc-history.org). I agree with you; this is a required reading.

> The book has an ad from Veit's computer store for the SWTPC 6800 with 
> a price of $395 with 2K RAM, $125 for each additional 4K. That would 
> be just over the $495 price that the 78 RS catalog has for a 4K 
> machine. I'd think a 4K board in place of a 2K would be about 2/3 the 
> price of a 4K board (not half), so that puts RS at $15-20 over Veit's 
> price, which isn't bad (roughly 5% higher at RS). 

Except that with the SWTPC, you had to buy an RS-232 terminal (which 
probably cost over $500), while the TRS-80 only required the dedicated 
monitor. The latter sold for $200 alone, but you could buy a bundle 
(system). A 4k Level I system (computer + monitor + cassette recorder) 
sold for $600, and a 16k Level II system sold for $988. I believe the 
TRS-80 system was a lot cheaper if you take that into account.

>
> So the TRS-80 had just come out when that catalog was printed, and 
> Tandy obviously started selling computers before the TRS-80 was 
> developed. 

There are other RS computer catalogs (the RSC-xx series) available 
online at http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/extra_stuff.html. Go and 
browse them, it is really worth it. What's "strange" is that the 1977 
(RSC-01) and 1978 (RSC-02) catalogs do not include any non-Tandy 
product. So the 1978 catalog at 
http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bill_r/Tandy_TOC_Frames_Page.htm remains a 
mystery to me.

Christian