25 years ago...

[altivo]

While looking up some information on the TRS-80 Model 100 portable computer, I found a PDF file on the web containing all the articles that were published in the "C-Notes" section of 80 Micro magazine back in 1983 and 1984. The Model 100 is arguably the first practical laptop computer ever marketed to the general public (and very successfully too, until other manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon and out-featured Radio Shack's products.) The "C-Notes" first appeared in July of 1983, and one of the very first articles published was entitled "But Will It Fly?" by John P. Mello, Jr., News Editor for the magazine.

Mello notes that FAA rule 91-19 at that time barred the use of any electronic device on an airplane unless specifically approved by the airline. There were exceptions for only four classes of device: hearing aids, pacemakers, electric razors, and tape recorders. Why electric razors were exempted I have no idea. "Tape recorders" undoubtedly was meant to cover the Sony Walkman personal stereo, which was just at the peak of its newfound popularity back then.

Note that pocket and electronic calculators are not listed. Mello surveyed eight major airlines to find out just what their policies were. Northwest and United both stated explicitly that personal computers were allowed to be used on board as long as they would fit under the seat. At that time, only the newly-introduced Model 100 would have qualified. On the other end of the scale, Delta and Eastern explicitly barred computers from use during flight. In fact, Eastern went so far as to ban any electronic calculator from being used. TWA took a middle ground, saying that their policy was to permit use of any device until and unless it was determined to cause interference with in-flight instruments, in which case it must immediately be turned off. American required that passengers obtain approval from the captain before using computers on board. Imagine a world where laptop computers could not legally be used on airplanes while they were in flight. But there it was.

Interviews with journalists and frequent flyers revealed of course that what the airlines said their policies were didn't always match with their practices. In fact, Richard Shaffer of the Wall Street Journal had just written an article a few weeks earlier while traveling on a Delta flight, where computers were supposedly forbidden. He said that fellow passengers and the stewardesses were mildly curious about the device, but no one suggested that he stop using it. In fact, he was testing a pre-release Model 100, one that had all the identifying marks covered with tape to conceal its identity. A fellow traveler asked him if it were "one of those minicomputers" to which he responded "No."

Radio Shack offered sample machines to the individual airlines if they were willing to test them in flight and approve them for future use, but most refused the offer. Avionics experts queried by Mello noted that they had only two incidents on record where consumer devices had apparently interfered with an aircraft's operations. One was attributed to an electronic Pac-Man game, but had not been successfully duplicated in later tests so the claim was suspect. The other was a bona fide problem involving a mobile telephone (no cell phones then, it was certainly a "bag" phone with a radio transceiver and a whip antenna) that interfered with the pressure and temperature controls in the cabin, causing discomfort and inconvenience to the passengers aboard the flight.

Of course this is ancient history that took place before some of you who are reading this were even born. On the other hand, it really isn't that long ago in my own memory, and that of others, but I had forgotten just how novel the concept of portable computing was just such a short time ago.

Comments

[tinbender.livejournal.com]

PC's were new and exciting at that point. Some had them, most didn't. Apple II was the way to go. Computers were far from cheap. Internet? Amazing how far things have come.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes. In the summer of 1981 I bought my first computer, a TRS-80 Model III with all of 16K memory and a tape drive (no disks.) It cost $999. I had been working as a mainframe assembly language programmer for about eight months at the time, so I could afford it. My boss commented, when she heard about it, that they were paying me too much.

I remember paying about $400 later for an Epson dot matrix printer. Considering that two years ago I bought a Hewlett Packard Laserjet, new, with PostScript and double-sided printing ability, for about the same number of dollars (much less if you correct for inflation) we can see how far prices have dropped. In 1981 a Laserjet was close to $2000 and had nowhere near the capabilities or speed that one has today.

I upgraded the memory in the Model III in two phases. Memory was very costly. The next 16K cost me about $120. But when I added the last bank of 16K, it was only $29. Adding the floppy disk drive was a really big deal, almost $600 for the controller and a single-sided 5 1/4 inch drive. Now you can buy a whole computer for that, with half a gigabyte of RAM, hi-res color display, and more disk storage than the entire mainframe complex I worked on had.

One thing of which I'm glad, though. I've been thoroughly exposed to operating systems, starting with IBM mainframe MVS and VM, and including VAX VMS, UNIX, TRS-DOS, LS-DOS, and Macintosh as well as PC-DOS from version 2.1 to 6.2 and Windows from 2.0 to XP. I feel quite confident and comfortable with my conclusion that Microsoft's operating systems are crap. ;p

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

I didn't know Radio Shack had a laptop until you mentioned it. And the first computer I laid hands on was a TRS-80 that one of my friends had (complete with the cassette tape "drive" and the thermal printer that printed on cash-register-tape-like silver paper). Ah, those were the days.

I was in Marquette at the time; I don't think we ever got the latest news in technology there.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Radio Shack actually produced three different laptop computers in the TRS-80 line before they followed the lemmings and abandoned their own systems in favor of IBM clones. The Model 102 was a lighter, thinner version of the 100. The Model 200 had a folding display similar to todays notebook computers and featured multiple memory banks for more onboard storage. People sneer at Radio Shack and call their original products "Trash 80" but they were an industry leader and innovator at that time. They also had a line of business oriented microcomputers, the Model II and its successors, the 1200 and 1600, that were impressive in their ability to deliver bang for the buck.

[alaskawolf.livejournal.com]

wow that is pretty interesting on how airlines handled electronics back in the day.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8_U8SKSlKSo
MCN - Media Computer Network
TRS-80, Model 100 circa 1986. Delivering stories about crimes and fires, heroes and felons, LIFE AND DEATH!!...news commentary analysis

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I can't look at the video until I get to work where there's more bandwidth. But I take it you're referring to the use of the Model 100 by news reporters and yes, it was very popular for that. They could write an item up on it, plug it into the phone line, and squirt the article through the built-in modem to their home editorial office. A terrific improvement on anything they had before that. Radio Shack leased the machines to newspapers and other businesses at special rates for quantity contracts.

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

I was barely born. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Most of us were born bare. ;p

Someday, though, you'll tell your nephews and nieces about the old days when computers actually weighed a kilo or more and had to be plugged into the wall, just as I can talk about the first one I worked on. It occupied two full floors of a high rise building, used megawatt hours of electricity, and had a supporting staff of 60 or 70 people, yet it was slower and had less memory and storage than my little desktop Dell (for which I paid all of $600 two years ago.) There's a major difference in the software, though. That mainframe had a throughput in sheer work done that still isn't matched by today's desktops because they have a completely different focus and design.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

I remember all this, I drooled over that machine at the time.

But, like Minimoogs, I can emulate it now for the price of
a DSL download.

Isn't it cool living in the future? ^.~

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm enjoying living in the past by actually using this one. Better yet, I just discovered today that for about $65 you can get an upgrade to install that expands it to 4 GB of memory, using the non-volatile memory that's in USB keys. No worrying about losing your files if the batteries die unexpectedly, and no more memory constraints. It's an incredibly clever little trick they used to make that possible. (Of course it's technology that wasn't available back in 1983.)

It still won't compete with Palm Pilots or whatever. But they don't have nice full-sized keyboards with full motion keys, and nice large type text displays. ;p

I giggled at one guy's description of what he does to impress kids who think old stuff isn't good for anything any more. He puts a bluetooth serial adapter on it and another one on a nearby Linux machine, logs into the Linux machine, then connects to IRC or some other text-based internet application. He says it makes a real impression: wireless internet access on a 1983 device that runs on 4 AA batteries and has only 32K of RAM. ;p

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Thats very cool really.

*licks his fox finger and paints
the air*

Technological Scavangers Unite!

^_^

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Hmm... how often do you ponder the different perspectives of what other people have... for example, those who would find this a "faded memory"?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean here.

I do consider history and past events in general to be of great importance. "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it," is one way of expressing that. Because something happened 25, 50 or 100 years ago does not make it irrelevant to what is happening today by any means.

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

It's merely curiousity.... I was wondering if you can relate very well with, um, "young people"...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I seem to relate pretty well with some young people, yes.

No, I probably don't relate well to any who consider anything not immediately in touch with their present transitory interests to be irrelevant. But that's true of older people as well, and there are many in my age group who are just as short sighted.

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Well said. Carrot? *offers*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*takes the carrot and resists the temptation to nip your fingers instead*

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

*cautiously pats your head* Good horse :P Heh, I had someone nip my fingers before, and I wasn't even holdng a carrot for them :P

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

I wish I still had one of those original mobile phone "suitcases" there's convenience for you.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, we could throw the phone away and lock you up inside it, couldn't we?

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Are you trying to hint that I'd be more easily managed if I was in a suitcase?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Do you deny that this may be true? ;p

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

*ponders* Well no....