TS2068 vs TI 99/4A and TRS-80 Coco II

Many people have asked me which computer is the “best” computer. That has always been a tough question to answer. There ara so many computers on the market, so many different software packages for each,

The normal response is to say that the computer that I first purchased – the TIMEX – in the best there is. Many of you would probably agree. We tend to like the computer we feel the most comfortable with the best. Recently, however. I have had the opportunity to work on a variety of computers ranging from the TS 1000 to an IBM 4341 mainframe. I also recently bought the TI 99/4A and the TRS-80 Color Computer II. Though I am not, I repeat not!, an expert on computer systems, I have learned enough about the TI and the TRS to compare them to the TS 2068, at least in my own mind.

Now when someone asks me which computer is best my automatic response is, “for what application”. These three systems each have their strong points and their weaknesses. They are all capable of three basic functions; text handling, graphics, and number crunching. They handle these functions in basically the same way, but not with the same degree of efficiency. It is the small differences in the way they do things that makes them desirable for different applications.

First of all the text handling capabilities. All three computers can process text. That is one of the basic uses of a computer. Users are concerned with three basic parts of text handling: 1) screen width, or how many characters they can print across their screen; 2) string handling functions of their form of BASIC; and 3) word processors for their computer.

First the TI 99/4A. The TI has the smallest normal screen width with 28 characters across. Of course more are available in machine language but the normal screen is rather narrow. Also the screen displays upper case letters in the normal fashion but lower case letters are just a miniture version of upper case. The string handling function of the TI is SEG$ and it operates pretty much like the TIMEX string slicer. Strings are limited to 255 characters however. I haven’t used the word processor for the TI as it requires a disk drive and costs $99.00, so I can’t say how good it is.

The TRS-80 has a screen width of 32 characters. It has upper and lower case letters also, but the lower case letters are represented by inverse uppercase letters in normal operation. That can be pretty confusing. As for string handling functions, it is loaded with them. It has a maximum string size of 255 characters as well though. The string functions are LEFT$, RIGHT$, and two versions of MID$, as well as INSTR$. To describe how these functions work could take up a book. Having so many functions can make life complicated. I have used the TRS-80 wor processor. It comes in either a cassette or disk version and you almost have to be a programmer to use it.

The TIMEX has true upper and lower case letters and a screen width of 32 characters. Its string size is apparently unlimited as l have one program which uses 28,000 character strings. Like the TI, the TIMEX has only one string function – the string slicer, but I find that it is powerful enough for most any programming need. It will do just about anything that all the TRS-80 functions will do if used creatively. As far as word processors go, I haven’t found any thing as powerful as Tasword II with its ease of use. I’ve used word processors up to the mainframe level and I am constantly impressed with Tasword in comparison.

As for graphics, the TI can be discounted almost altogether. I say almost because user defined characters are very easy to use but nothing else in graphics is. Plotting can’t be done outside of machine code. The TRS-80 is the king in the graphics department. It comer with a wealth of powerful, easy to use graphic commands. One of the most impressive being the ability to paint a figure with one line of code. The TIMEX with all of the easy graphic commands available isn’t nearly as powerful.

The TRS-80 has one drawback that the TIMEX doesn’t have a problem with however, and that is mixing text and graphics. On the TRS-80 you must draw any text you want on a graphics screen. That can be a serious liability to the business programmer or any one who wants to label their graphics.

With its 16-bit microprocessor, the TI is the best number cruncher around. Long calculations are whipped out with ease in very short order. If the programmer is familiar with machine code, the speed improves dramatically, I know several engineers who use their TIs for work with good results. The TIMEX and the TRS-80 are both about equal in this department. For short number runs either machine is more than adequate. Outside of a specialist few people care about a great deal of speed or accuracy to a large number of decimal places.

All in all I think that the TIMEX is the best computer for the home user who doesn’t want to spend an arm and a leg for their system. Certainly word processing is a breeze with the TIMEX and it has plenty of power for other applications as well. The other two systems can be expanded with more ease than the TIMEX, but if someone is interested in a fancy system they would do better by spending more money and getting all of the extras up front. I would and do recommend the TIMEX 2068 just about every time.