There were 22,112 views and 101 comments made on the video prior to the refresh on Sept. 30th. 2023. Those comments appear below...
@tezzaNZ
10 years ago
Another of my vintage computers on YouTube. This time that lesser known sibling of the TRS-80 Model 100, the NEC PC-8201a.
It was the second computer I owned!
@jimmyharris1481
6 years ago
If I remember right there was also the OLIVETTI M10... Same style and interior...
@lawrencemanning
7 years ago
Really interesting learning the history of this computer. I had a Tandy 200 back in the early 90s which I used for taking notes in college class. Gorgeous machine! I wasn't aware of the relationship between these variants.
Love your videos.
@tezzaNZ
7 years ago
+Lawrence Manning Thanks for the support Lawrence
@johnyoung4747
8 years ago
Thanks, Terry, for the interesting video. I still have my 8201, which I got in 1990 in an even trade for an Apple II. I had used the Trash 80 Radio Shack model in my work as a newspaper reporter, phoning in stories with the "ear muff" acoustic coupler and the screaming 300 baud modem. It was a step up from the fax-based "Mojo" wire we had used before. Back then to get the data on political campaign contributions, I had to drive to the state capitol, go to the Secretary of State's office, get the file folders and transcribe the numbers into the computer. I remember the file clerks were quite impressed with this latest technology! Now reporters can just log on and get it. I never used the 8201 for work because a Powerbook came on the scene soon after I got it. Mine still works, runs for a month on four AA batteries.
@tezzaNZ
8 years ago
Great memories John, thanks!
@diggydude5229
5 years ago
I got a good deal on an Ebay bundle that included a mint Model 100, a TTXpress portable thermal printer and cable, and the direct connect modem cable. I later bought the acoustic coupler for it. I saw a NIB barcode reader afterwards, still kicking myself for not buying it. I have an aftermarket cassette cable that also works with the Color Computer 2. It does indeed run for months on 4 AAs, and retains programs in RAM with a small battery on the motherboard. It's not a good idea to leave the AAs in for that long without using the machine because they'll start leaking.
@TahreyUK
10 years ago
Is it wrong that I want one of these now? :)
Bit surprising that it doesn't have any external video options... but it'd still make a handy compact-sized portable keyboard that happened to have some memory in it and a built-in screen as well! I wonder how easy it might be to add a backlight, with an EL panel or a couple of LEDs...
@dunxy
7 years ago
I had one of these in the early 90's and I remember programming and playing that tank game!Thanks for refreshing my memory.
@tezzaNZ
7 years ago
You're welcome!
@525Lines
7 years ago
The screen is slanted towards the user. That's an improvement over the model 100.
@diggydude5229
5 years ago
The Model 100 has a knob to change the viewing angle. It's quite ingenious, really. It works by manipulating the AC current that drives the LCD elements somehow or another.
@FairwayJack
8 years ago
I had one back in '85...great little computer...used it mostly for WP on the go and sending documents over the 300 baud modem...I also wrote a little program for sales personnel to log in orders but they never used it...it was a big ask...like telling them to split the atom....they stuck with the paper and fax machine...back then not everybody was proficient on a keyboard...lol
@tezzaNZ
8 years ago
Great recollection, thanks.
@tarstarkusz
9 years ago
Would I be correct in assuming this holds about 14 pages of double spaced text (80x66/2 with an 80% usage on average per line)? Was there any compression to help get more pages of text crammed into that 32k? Seems like an interesting machine, thanks for the video.
@tezzaNZ
9 years ago
I'm not sure how many pages it could cram in there. Sounds about right.
@Retromicky82
5 days ago (edited)
Just found the nec one one a carboot sale today it came with battery cases, leather case, extra ram cart and book I'm so happy
@gettingpast4391
1 year ago
I sure with the Model 100 and 102 had this visual editor. You can' t move up and edit lines in basic.
@stevelane8041
1 year ago
Great memories! I had to go pull mine out of the closet, I thought mine was a PC-8201a but turns out it's a PC-8300 which is a slightly upgraded version. Tested it out and it still works! My first 'real' job out of school (early 80s) was writing the control software for a CATV (cable television) automated test system that a tech could take out into the field and diagnose cable plant issues. The tech would climb a pole and plug cables into the input and output of a device (amp, splitter, coupler, etc..) and this thing would check all the cable channels for things like signal level, signal to noise, crossmod, and more that I can't even remember anymore This system was first developed on an Osbourne 1 in MBASIC, later converted to CBASIC for speed improvments and later I converted it to run on a TRS-80 model 100 for better portability. My "development system' was a loaded model 100 with every option you could get I think, external monitor, dual 5.25 floppies, expansion chassis, etc... I still have printouts of the basic source for m100, such great memories!
@miked4377
1 year ago
you have a knack for doing these computer videos! thank you mr.stewart!!
@chaburchak
2 years ago
OMG, that takes me back. Had a Kaypro 2 but yearned for something even more portable. Bought a NEC 8201 and a writers bundle that included a ribbon cable and a special transfer program for sending files over to the Kaypro. What an epiphany that was...
@michaelcanode7256
4 years ago
Kia Ora, Terry! I used the Tandy version "back in the day" with the barcode scanner, to track printed-circuit boards with heat-resistant "Kapton" barcode labels for a power instrumentation company where I worked. I'm still in the electronics business, and (oddly enough) one of six USA members of the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association (#19250).
@tezzaNZ
4 years ago
Awesome. I wondered if anyone ever used that barcode reader port. Thanks for commenting.
@310McQueen
4 years ago
I actually had one of these. I wish I still had it. I had a TRS-80 Model III also but I think I liked this one better.
@vubhuhjkbhubohjb
4 years ago
That moustache has to be a crime :)
@enrico4776
4 years ago
Hi. I m a olivetti m10 user. Ypu can send me this file ?
@tezzaNZ
4 years ago
Hmm...I'm not sure which file you mean? Get in touch via email from my classic-computers website.
@enrico4776
4 years ago
@tezzaNZ
limonity2know@gmail.com tanks is compatibily if shift 2 byte in hex editor
@crappyatlife
4 years ago
How to access adult websites with this computer?
@tezzaNZ
4 years ago
With great difficulty (:
@enrico4776
5 years ago
hi, ou have the spot of this machine ?
@enp1047
5 years ago
Hi i have a olivetti m10 . Please you can do a tutorial for programming this machine
@mspenrice
5 years ago
I kinda feel they missed a trick by still using a big clunky tape deck like that. By the time these machines were on sale you could get compact cassette dictaphones that were barely any larger than a regular walkman (my dad had one, and I often caught hell for "borrowing" it to play with as it was so much cooler than my fisher-price kiddie model that was more the size of the NEC device shown here), mainly due to having a built in speaker and mic, and of course they could record and had line in and out sockets... Or as demonstrated with the Epson HX20's built in drive, microcassettes and their recorders were also already a thing and would have been entirely high enough quality and capacity for the data rates and program sizes typical of these portables... Could even have made one as a snap-on module that plugged directly into the cassette port and clipped to the case and worked under direct computer control for much greater portability than having the main unit plus a separate full size tape deck.
@CP200S
5 years ago
Hello sir, thank you for the great video about these beautiful portable machines. I own myself a NEC-PC 8210a and spent great time programming it in BASIC with SOUND and PSET commands. Recently I took it out of its box and noticed that the LCD became slightly darker in the middle, where the darker region is more or less a cloud shaped blob. I am afraid that this problem grows with time and render the display useless. Due to the form of the blob, I am taken to believe that, due to hot weather, the plastic enclosure of the LCD may have become a little bit soft and collapsed in the middle. Does your show any sign of the same problem? Would you know how to fix this?
@tezzaNZ
5 years ago
I'm sorry, I do not. No, my display is fine.
@AppalachianMotors
5 years ago
I am an 18 year old collector so I don't have nostalgia I guess except for my first two computers the Compaq armada e500 and the Compaq Presario 5000 but I love buying old computers and game consoles to learn how they got to were they are now
@diggydude5229
5 years ago
The simple Telcom program is fantastic. I've used the Model 100 as a terminal for my Raspberry Pi with a USB-to-serial cable and null modem cable, and to connect to dialup BBSs with the built-in modem. There's actually an old Model 100 driver for Linux from the 1990s still floating around the Web somewhere.
@chadcastagana9181
5 years ago (edited)
6:27
"no boot-up time for our phones and tablets today" WRONG!
11:30
Sure does look back-lit here.
@gearratio380
5 years ago
So it is a portable trs 80?
@tezzaNZ
5 years ago
The Model 100 shown is a TRS-80 yes. A very different computer to the other models though.
@diggydude5229
5 years ago
Not compatible. Tandy put the TRS-80 brand on a lot of different computer architectures. The Model 100 uses an Intel 80C85 CPU. The Model 1 had a Zilog Z80.
@alansolomon113
6 years ago
I had (and still have) a PC-8201a, and I used it the same way you did. I'd write something during my daily c9mmute, and when I got home, I'd use Telcom to downlad it to my IBM PC, edit it and format it, and print it out for sending to the magazine I was freelancing for.
A really great keyboard, and massive battery life for 4 AA batteries.
@tezzaNZ
6 years ago
Yes there were awesome machines for note taking and preparing draft reports and letters on the go. So easy to hook up to a standard PC. I also used mine for some statistical number crunching. Did this well too.
@davidpalmer9780
2 years ago
I still have mine too. I was a student pilot back in '85 and wrote flight planning programs on it to save me using a map, protractor, scale ruler, etc. As I developed, I'd run out of memory and expanded into Bank #2 then paid $385.00 for the Expansion RAM Cartridge to get another 32K of storage. Upon reaching this 96K Memory limit, I had to replace all program variable names to become 2 & 3 characters in length to squeeze more memory. I even used the PC 8201A sitting on my lap for in-flight, real time, dead reckoning navigation using the plan data created from these planning programs. I wondered if there would be a way to obtain position information (Lat. & Long.) as you flew along without having a strapdown, expensive, inertial system. 10 years later GPS became operational in 1993 and today everyone has a GPS derived position in their phones. BTW... that protect switch was only good for protecting data in Bank #2 if I recall. The Expansion Cartridge also had the same switch on it and when inserted, was identified as Bank #3.
@mr.nobody6829
6 years ago
Back in those days you was a good-looking cowboy, wow...
@Yamahoela
7 years ago
I have this computer :) Still working like new.
@yaboimaxwell9031
7 years ago
Could you make a video specifically on the Trs 80 model 100?
@tezzaNZ
7 years ago
No. These two are very similar and I do mention the model 100. There wouldn't be much more to say.
@GeneWarren
7 years ago
The NEC was my third computer, after a Kaypro II and a TI 99/4a. Thanks for posting!
@tezzaNZ
7 years ago
+Gene Warren You're welcome Gene
@rabidbigdog
7 years ago
80's NZ moe Tezza w/cardigan is just how our we Aussies still imagine Kiwis. :)
@QuaaludeCharlie
8 years ago
Pretty cool , not many guys left who can say that was their 2nd computer :) QC
@commodoremax7995
8 years ago
Great video. I used to love these "Portable" computers when I was a kid. Especially if it came with those tiny printers and tape recorders. I wanted one really bad for programming but for some reason, we never had a chance to get one. My parents always supported me when it came to programming and technology so it really wasn't the price either. So I ended up programming on my Sinclair ZX for a while with the infamous tape recording until I got my Commodore 64 and so on. Must have been really useful during the times at the University.
@okhouri
8 years ago
Thanks for the video. I also collect vintage computers. I wish I had more space for them! Have you ever considered getting the HP 71b? It's an amazing portable computer from the early 80's.
@tezzaNZ
8 years ago
okhouri I'd like to collect more but I'm really running out of space now (:
@diggydude5229
5 years ago
My Casiotone instrument collection takes up most of my space. As far as computers, I've limited myself to a C64, CoCo 2, a small modernish HP thin client running MS-DOS / Windows 3.1, and my main Windows 7 box. (The Raspberry Pi and other SBCs are tiny, so I just hang them on wall hooks in the lab.)
@Pablos544
8 years ago
while you were recording this video it felt almost as if your Tandy in the background wanted to join in creating of this video. I guess it must have got savvy. I've never seen anybody's computers on their computers channel do this before
@Willibef
8 years ago
Such a nice design. Logically you'd expect that NEC had opted for a folding screen.
@tezzaNZ
8 years ago
Yes, in fact there was a later NEC model related to this one, which did have a folding screen. It ran a variant of CP/M and had Wordstar onboard.
@alansolomon113
9 years ago
I used it on my commute into London, this was long before anyone else took a computer on a train. I'd spend the hour writing an article, the hour back writing another, upload them to the PC using Procomm, spell check using Turbo Lightning, format and tidy up using the IBM Professional Editor or PC Write, and then print them out onto paper, double-spaced, to send to the magazine, because in those days, that was the only format they could accept articles!
Another thing I did with the NEC, was hook up a barcode reader, just for fun. It worked well!
@tezzaNZ
9 years ago
I imagine you were a figure of curiosity on the train Alan. Yes, they were great from writing on the go. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
@alansolomon113
9 years ago
I had one of these; I used it for writing articles for magazines. I was very surprised at the cost you quoted. Mine cost £200, and I got a 30% discount on that as trade price. I really loved that computer, although not as much as the IBM PC!
@Zito773
9 years ago
really enjoying your channel
@tezzaNZ
9 years ago
Thanks!
@gn1l1am
9 years ago
Hi Tezza, amazing video! Me too I have one NEC PC-8201a, great machine! Only one question, what's the name of the software shown at
22:14
and where I can find it? Thanks in advance.
@tezzaNZ
9 years ago
Thanks for the compliment. That software doesn't have a name. It was one I wrote (or maybe I co-wrote...I can't remember now) for communication between our work PCs and mainframe (and other micros) in 1985 or so.
@gn1l1am
9 years ago
Hi Tezza, TNX for the kindly reply. Really nice piece of software, would be fun to have it here. Me too I have all the kyocera family's laptops and more, Nixdorf, Panasonc, Atari, Epson and so on. One thing I'd like to have on the software side is the Sigea Systems' Telecommuter Plus for remote access. That surely is one of the best remote control for all the kyocera family's laptops, a must! Thank you again, see you next time!
@tezzaNZ
9 years ago
gn1l1am No problem. I'm happy to share the software. Contact me via email through my site at
http://www.classic-computing.org.nz
and I'll send you the program.
@RosePhoto1
9 years ago
My father worked for a newspaper in London, Ontario and all the field reporters were given Model 100's and later 102's. As a teenager I used it more than he did. We had the disk/video interface for it with a really old CRT monochrome monitor. I wrote a war-dialer program and used it to find open modems in my area. So much fun.
@tezzaNZ
9 years ago
The disk/video interface is a rare beast these days! "war-dialer". Love it!
@luisluiscunha
9 years ago
One more thing: besides being much grateful for your fantastic work, I would suggest that (please... and if not begging to much...), that you made the videos available at 1080p, because the (so good) editing you are making, the quality of the contents, and the amount of work you put into making these videos sure deserves it. You are making History, for many people. We are at a time in which the machines we can get by eBay (and the like) are becoming rustier, and even those machines we tried to preserve in our attics are becoming more and more rusty also, despite all our efforts. So, it may very well be a decisive decade to capture these machines working for the last time, in cases that still resembles what they were once.
@tezzaNZ
9 years ago
More recent videos are in high definition and I'm redoing some of my older ones which were REALLY low-res. I don't think I'll redo them all though. They take a while as you can imagine! (-:
@luisluiscunha
9 years ago
Thank you for these videos. It's amazing how it is becoming easier and easier to find about the history of home computing, and all those computers that we only knew by their reference in computing magazines. You have done an amazing work. By now I only see a couple of videos per week, but it's good to know they are "there", and I that gives me the prospects of spending an amazing time in a future where I can afford it ;) .
@tezzaNZ
9 years ago
You're welcome Luis
@tezzaNZ
9 years ago
The usual way is cassette tape although loading in from another machine across the serial port is also possible.
@CP200S
9 years ago
Hi there! How do you get the games around 20:05 in the machine? Are they in cartridges, or which type of media? Thank you and great video!
@clangerbasher
10 years ago
I would so like one of these. In many ways my Z88 is superior. But that keyboard.....
It would make a nice terminal for my Linux boxes.
@tezzaNZ
10 years ago
Thanks!
@tezzaNZ
10 years ago
I don't think NEC would worry too much about these games being shared between people.
@microheliaddict
10 years ago
Thanks for letting me know. Keeping an eye on eBay as would like to add a NEC PC-8201a to my collection, don't seem to be many around for sale though especially with cassettes. I wonder if these games are freeware or are they copyrighted?
@tezzaNZ
10 years ago
No it's just the instructions. I don't think those games are compatible with the Model 100. The BASIC does have differences, in particular the LOCATE command which I think is used a lot in those games.
@microheliaddict
10 years ago
Thanks for your reply. I wonder if these would be compatible with TRS-80 Model 100? I see the tank and snake game are shown in the pink application guide, does it have the program in there or just the instructions? If so will try get hold of a copy.
@tezzaNZ
10 years ago
Sorry, I'm not sure where you would find those. I have them on cassette.
@microheliaddict
10 years ago
Thanks for your videos. Any idea were i can find the snake and tank games? Didn't see them on club100 site..
@tezzaNZ
10 years ago
Much obliged Jim. The MC-10 is a machine I've read about but I've never seen it in action. I'll check it out
@BenevolentChum
10 years ago
Very nice video. I especially liked seeing the Snake game. It inspired me to make a port of that game for the TRS-80 MC-10, which is my favorite retrocomputing machine. Just look for SNAKE.BAS here on YouTube if you're interested, or go to my channel. Liked the stash too.
@cameronblaze92
10 years ago
Thanks again.
@tezzaNZ
10 years ago
Thanks. If people enjoy them it makes them worth doing.
@tezzaNZ
10 years ago
Yes, I've heard about these. The 8201a had similar peripherals designed to be added to those serial interfaces. I've never seen one in the flesh though.
@tezzaNZ
10 years ago
Thanks Vint. Yes, they are rugged little machines.
@Hiraghm
10 years ago
I was brought here by the M100 mailing list...
@orinokonx01
10 years ago
I was itching for another video! Thanks Tezza!! Awesome video as always!
@vwestlife
10 years ago
Radio Shack had two later models after the 100: the Tandy 200, which had a larger, flip-up LCD with 40x16 text and a built-in spreadsheet program (Microsoft Multiplan), and the Tandy 102, which was the same thing as the Model 100 except in a slightly smaller and lighter case. They also offered a 3½" external disk drive, and a Disk/Video Interface expansion unit, which turned the Model 100/102 into a full-fledged desktop computer with 5¼" disk drives and a CRT monitor output with 80-column text.
@tubz2965a
10 years ago
Enjoyed this video - mainly because I have a fine working Model 100 myself. I should have bought one of those nice looking NEC machines off eBay a few years back because I do think they are better looking. Still I'm plenty happy with my Model 100. I think these machines will run another 30 years, they are so durable.
Looking forward to your next video.
Vint (from VCF)
@tezzaNZ
10 years ago
Yes, at some stage. There a still a few earlier machines to cover before I get there though.
@tezzaNZ
10 years ago
I had to look it up. They would be the same as the RAM chips as in the unit itself (which are 2k static RAM chips with the code MSM81C55RS).
@strictlysega
10 years ago
not to give away too much,, but can we expect a apple gs vid in the future?
@keithclark
10 years ago
What kind of memory chips were in the expansion slot RAM PAC?
@tezzaNZ
10 years ago
Err....No. LOL!
@tezzaNZ
10 years ago
I know exactly what you mean as a colleague of mine bought a 8401a (inspired by my 8201a). He gave it to me around 1993. I stored it but when I dragged it out years later it had been damaged by leaky batteries )-:
@256byteram
10 years ago
Excellent video as always. I used to have an NEC PC-8401A laptop in about 2002. I got it from a fete at my school. It was at the toys stall because no one had any idea what it was. It ran CP/M and had a word processor, spread sheet, database and telecom software in ROM. I typed a few school assignments on it and wired it up to an Epson dot matrix printer to print them. Eventually the cable between the board and the LCD failed and I didn't have the ability to fix it so I threw it away.
It was the second computer I owned!
Love your videos.
I still have my 8201, which I got in 1990 in an even trade for an Apple II. I had used the Trash 80 Radio Shack model in my work as a newspaper reporter, phoning in stories with the "ear muff" acoustic coupler and the screaming 300 baud modem. It was a step up from the fax-based "Mojo" wire we had used before.
Back then to get the data on political campaign contributions, I had to drive to the state capitol, go to the Secretary of State's office, get the file folders and transcribe the numbers into the computer. I remember the file clerks were quite impressed with this latest technology! Now reporters can just log on and get it.
I never used the 8201 for work because a Powerbook came on the scene soon after I got it.
Mine still works, runs for a month on four AA batteries.
My first 'real' job out of school (early 80s) was writing the control software for a CATV (cable television) automated test system that a tech could take out into the field and diagnose cable plant issues. The tech would climb a pole and plug cables into the input and output of a device (amp, splitter, coupler, etc..) and this thing would check all the cable channels for things like signal level, signal to noise, crossmod, and more that I can't even remember anymore
This system was first developed on an Osbourne 1 in MBASIC, later converted to CBASIC for speed improvments and later I converted it to run on a TRS-80 model 100 for better portability. My "development system' was a loaded model 100 with every option you could get I think, external monitor, dual 5.25 floppies, expansion chassis, etc...
I still have printouts of the basic source for m100, such great memories!
11:30 Sure does look back-lit here.
A really great keyboard, and massive battery life for 4 AA batteries.
Have you ever considered getting the HP 71b? It's an amazing portable computer from the early 80's.
Another thing I did with the NEC, was hook up a barcode reader, just for fun. It worked well!
Me too I have one NEC PC-8201a, great machine!
Only one question, what's the name of the software shown at 22:14 and where I can find it?
Thanks in advance.
Really nice piece of software, would be fun to have it here.
Me too I have all the kyocera family's laptops and more, Nixdorf, Panasonc, Atari, Epson and so on.
One thing I'd like to have on the software side is the Sigea Systems' Telecommuter Plus for remote access.
That surely is one of the best remote control for all the kyocera family's laptops, a must!
Thank you again, see you next time!