Favourite System 80 Software

Software Stable

The System 80 was designed to use software developed for the TRS 80 Model 1, and a lot of good software there was!  It's inappropriate (and impossible) to review them all on this site, so I've just written brief notes on just a few of the games and packages that were popular "down under" and that I grew to love.  These are described in the pages under this section.  

All of these programs (plus a lot more) can be found in the Disk Image and Cassette Image Archives on this site.

There were a few programs commissioned by Dick Smith written specifically FOR the System 80.  The photo above shows one.  All avoided using the TRS-80 Model 1 arrow keys thereby negating the missing right-arrow key problem. As they are part of System 80 history, they are given special mention on this site.

Before you check out this software section, it's worth placing these TRS 80/System 80 programs in context. Looking at them now they seem lame and primitive. The graphics are clunky, there is no colour and the user interface is often cryptic. Before being too dismissive though, consider that they were written for 1978-80 technology, where the contemporaries of the System 80 (and TRS 80 Model 1) were the Apple II computer and Commodore Pet. Typical memory to play with was 16-32 Kilobytes of RAM. By today's standards that is tiny! Also everything was done by the CPU (running at only 1.76 MHz). There were no custom graphics or sound chips. Set in that light, many programs are remarkable and a feat of coding excellence.