Tandy TRS‑80 Model II
After the success of the Model I, Tandy realized that the device wasn’t truly suitable for business use, since it only had a cassette recorder as a storage medium—floppy drive support didn’t arrive until 1979. As a result, a real business computer was developed: the Model II.
Tandy TRS‑80 Model II
After the success of the Model I, Tandy realized that the device wasn’t truly suitable for business use, since it only had a cassette recorder as a storage medium—floppy drive support didn’t arrive until 1979. As a result, a real business computer was developed: the Model II.
The Model II could also boot CP/M, which was widely used in the business world, making a large library of software available.
Inside the machine was a single 8-inch disk drive capable of storing 500 KB of data. A separate 35 kg external unit could be connected, containing three additional 8-inch drives, bringing the total capacity to 2 MB.
Quote from CREATIVE COMPUTING VOL. 10, NO. 11 / NOVEMBER 1984 / PAGE 292:
“The original TRS-80 was a limited machine with 4K of memory, upper case only, a restricted Basic, and cassette storage. Even with the disk system and extended Microsoft Basic, the improvement was not enough to make it a serious contender in the business market.
Tandy executives recognized that, and on May 30, 1979, the TRS-80 Model II, a state-of-the-art business machine, was announced. It had dual 8" disk drives and might have taken the business market by storm had it not had a nameplate reading ‘Radio Shack’.”
The system came standard with 32 KB RAM, which could theoretically be expanded to 512 KB using memory expansion cards. However, since there were only four expansion slots, in practice the usable maximum was around 320 KB.
These expansion slots could also be used to install a hard disk controller or later even a processor upgrade card, allowing the system to be converted into a Model 16B.
