15 Facts About Model 100

TRS-80 Model 100 is a portable computer introduced in 1983.

Model 100 was promoted as being able to run up to 20 hours and maintain memory up to 30 days on a set of four alkaline AA batteries.

Also because TRSDOS 6 included a communications application, the Model 100 proved a popular "peripheral" for the Model 4 customer.

The Model 100 firmware was the last Microsoft product that Bill Gates developed personally, along with Suzuki.

Optional ROMs can be installed in the Model 100, providing a range of customized application software.

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Model 100 ROM has a Y2K bug; the century displayed on the main menu was hard-coded as "19XX".

When introduced, the portability and simplicity of the Model 100 made it attractive to journalists, who could type about 11 pages of text and then transmit it for electronic editing and production using the built-in modem and TELCOM program.

Model 100 was used for industrial applications and in science laboratories as a programming terminal for configuration of control systems and instruments.

Third-party peripherals for the Model 100 extended its battery life and file storage capacity.

Systems of about the same size and form-factor as the Model 100, aimed at journalists, were sold by companies such as Teleram, as the Teleram T-3000 and GRiD Systems, as the GRiD Compass, which was used by NASA.

Tandy stated that the Model 100's sales "have only been moderate", and an InfoWorld columnist later claimed that "it was only journalists" who had been buying it.

Model 100 concluded, "I'm not used to giving Radio Shack kudos, but the Model 100 is a brave, imaginative, useful addition to the realm of microcomputerdom" and "a leading contender for InfoWorlds Hardware Product of the Year for 1983", an award which it indeed won.

Dave Winer in 1984 described the Model 100 in the magazine as "the first useful portable computer", listing its screen, keyboard, and software as why it was "a breakthrough".

PC Magazine criticized the Model 100 display's viewing angle, but noted that the text editor automatically reflowed paragraphs unlike WordStar.

Creative Computing said that the Model 100 was "the clear winner" in the category of notebook portables under $1000 for 1984, although cautioning that "the 8K version is practically useless".