Dinosaur sightings: The Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer (CoCo)

The Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer 2

Before Microsoft and Bill Gates took control of the personal computer market, personal computers such as the Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer (aka CoCo) were all the rage. The Model 3134 TRS-80 shown in this TechRepublic Photo Gallery, came with a whopping 16K or RAM memory. Our TRS-80 CoCo is slated for a Cracking Open Gallery in the near future.

That's right Radio Shack

The name on the TRS-80 would eventually change to Tandy.

A bevy of ports

A closer look at the ports

Besides the standard power and reset buttons, the TRS-80 had ports for a cassette tape player, serial interface, two joysticks, RCA video, and a switch to designate which channel your television should be set to — that’s right, no monitor shipped with the CoCo.

Plugs were big back in the 1980s

Oh, Joy...stick

The joystick is made up of a basic analog middle stick and an single button.

Broken button

The button on our joystick is missing its button.