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From: john@moncol.UUCP (John Ruschmeyer)
Newsgroups: net.micro.trs-80
Subject: Re: Model 102
Message-ID: <247@moncol.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 30-Jun-86 13:28:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: moncol.247
Posted: Mon Jun 30 13:28:42 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 3-Jul-86 01:19:09 EDT
References: <2701@sdcc6.UUCP>
Reply-To: john@moncol.UUCP (John Ruschmeyer)
Organization: Monmouth College, W. Long Branch, NJ
Lines: 33

In article <2701@sdcc6.UUCP> ir682@sdcc6.UUCP (Gerald Steinberg) writes:
>
>Does anybody have
>information on the
>new Model 102?  Is
>it really the 100 in
>another package?

In a word- yes.

The other night I got to spend a few minutes with a Tandy 102 (the TRS-80
moniker is no more), so let me give you my impressions of it:

The working surface of the machine is the same size as a 100, but the 102
is about as thick as the white upper part of a 100.

The connectors have been thought out better on the 102. The bus connector
is now in the back (ala the 200) and both it and the parrallel printer
connector come with little covers (also ala the 200). There is also a
larger opening around the serial connector.

Memory expansion is both cheaper and easier. On the bottom of the 200 there
is a little cover which covers the sockets for the expansion ROM and an 8K
memory expansion (the base unit is 24K expandable for <$20 to 32K).

The big letdown for me was the keyboard. Tandy has rearranged the function
keys so that they are the CENTER 8 keys above the keyboard. The PAUSE,
PRINT, etc. keys are now the leftmost four. The keyboard itself uses a very
different kind of key which is quieter, but has the feel of cheap springs.

On the whole, the 102 is really not much more than a trimmer, lighter 100.