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Volume: 5 Issue: 25
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The mass-market personal computer battle continues to heat up. Timex and Radio Shack have announced new home computers.
Radio Shack’s TRS-80 Model MC-10 Micro Color Computer, retailing for $119.95, is now available in all Radio Shack retail stores now. The MC-10 generates eight colors and is aimed at first-time computer buyers.
The 4K capacity of the MC-10 will be expandable to 20K by means of a user-installable plug-in module, which will be released later this year. Text and graphics are displayed in a format of 32 characters on 16 lines.
The MC-10 is similar to the Timex/Sinclair 2000 in appearance, with small pad-like keys that have graphic symbols and BASIC commands assigned to each letter. The MC-10 has a serial port to allow use of modems and printers and a cassette port for loading and saving programs to cassette tape.
Radio Shack stated that virtually all standard Color BASIC programs that work on a 4K TRS-80 Color Computer can be keyed in and run on the MC-10, with minor modifications. Software written specifically for the MC-10 will be available soon.
Timex Computer Corporation of Middlebury, Connecticuty, continues to tinker with its line of computers. Timex has upgraded its T/S 2000 Color Computer models to display 64 characters by 24 lines and announced a T/S 1000-compatible middle-range computer, the Timex/Sinclair 1500.
The black-and-white T/S 1500 computer, aimed primarily at the educational market, will sell for less than $80 when shipped next month. The 1500 features 16K RAM, which can be expanded to 32K RAM with the addition of the optional $49.95 T/S 1016 Memory Expansion Module.
The T/S 1500’s 40-key “chiclet” keyboard can generate 22 graphic characters and 22 special characters. Unlike the T/S 2000, the 1500 is compatible with all peripherals and software that are available for the T/S 1000.
Home computer price wars encouraged by Timex itself this spring have forced the company to redesign the two Timex/Sinclair 2000 computers that were announced at the January Consumer Electronics Show.
Those two computers, a 16K and a 48K version that would have sold for $149 and $199, respectively, have been replaced by a 40K built-in RAM version and a 70K RAM version selling for $149 and $199, respectively. The 2000 now includes bank-switching to enhance the speed of applications.
Timex will have 40 proprietary software packages for the 2000 when it goes on sale this summer, the company said. Timex currently offers more than 1000 cassette software packages for the T/S 1000, all fully compatible with the T/S 1500. First shipments of a line of instant-load, mini-cartridge software packages are scheduled for August. The cartridges will sell for $12.95 to $29.95.