What's the modern day barrier to creating a "hobby" TRS-80 Model 100?
40x8 LCD display, one of the best keyboards ever made.
I see the custom keyboard community seem to be able to make any keyboard they like.
The keyboard on the Model 100 consumed the majority of its space, but at the same time, it was usable. I don't know what a reasonable display would be. The notable thing about the 40x8 is that it was big enough to be usable, and it was readable. I've seen some decks with tiny 640x480 displays, and they're not readable, particularly to my aging eyes.
The Psion 5 had a very usable keyboard, and better display than the M100. I don't know if that kind of keyboard can be made by a hobbyist like the other ones can. I don't know enough about keyboards. I don't know if one of those could be gutted and repurposed. (No doubt considered sacrilege to some.)
We see these "decks" with these matrices of buttons, but I'd dare say they're not really keyboards. The PET 2001 kind of proved that (and I did a lot of coding on a PET back in the day).
So, just curious what's stopping "real" ones, "nice" ones from showing up. I'd dare say money, but I see what folks spend money on for their hobbies, so it can't be that alone. Doesn't have to be a viable product for market.
Finding big low resolution displays is a pain. Pixel density has increased a lot, so larger displays are high resolution, which means you need a much faster device to drive them, and at that point it starts to feel a little silly because your display controller is way more powerful than the actual computer.
That's the stumbling block I've run into, anyway. It's plenty doable, it just feels sillier than I intend.
I have a Model 100 that I regularly use for writing purposes ... its kind of cute to have it wired up to a raspberryPi for whenever some server work needs to be done, too ..
Would surely be nice to see a re-invented M100 out there. ClockworkPi came close, but it was disappointingly diminutive ..
Why would you? Back then, keyboards weren't peripherals. Now they are. Restricting peoples choice doesn't make sense. Get whatever keyboard you want. What's stopping you from using whatever keyboard you want? Nothing, at that's what progress looks like. Buy whatever keyboard you want.
Right it's a computer. Where parent misses the point is he can buy an old TRS if that's what he wants or he can try to build one himself. Wondering why people aren't building custom keyboards and 4x8 displays or whatever is pretty obvious, it's not 1972.
40x8 LCD display, one of the best keyboards ever made.
I see the custom keyboard community seem to be able to make any keyboard they like.
The keyboard on the Model 100 consumed the majority of its space, but at the same time, it was usable. I don't know what a reasonable display would be. The notable thing about the 40x8 is that it was big enough to be usable, and it was readable. I've seen some decks with tiny 640x480 displays, and they're not readable, particularly to my aging eyes.
The Psion 5 had a very usable keyboard, and better display than the M100. I don't know if that kind of keyboard can be made by a hobbyist like the other ones can. I don't know enough about keyboards. I don't know if one of those could be gutted and repurposed. (No doubt considered sacrilege to some.)
We see these "decks" with these matrices of buttons, but I'd dare say they're not really keyboards. The PET 2001 kind of proved that (and I did a lot of coding on a PET back in the day).
So, just curious what's stopping "real" ones, "nice" ones from showing up. I'd dare say money, but I see what folks spend money on for their hobbies, so it can't be that alone. Doesn't have to be a viable product for market.