The venerable Radio Shack Tandy TRS-80 Model 100 was a portable computer when the word laptop had not even been invented yet.
Wayne Lorentz discusses using this marvel for reporting the news:
After a while, I developed a routine. Go to place where there was news. Take notes and gather sound. Drive to a place where there was cell service. Phone in a few facts from a giant Motorola AMPS bag phone for the anchors to use. Write my story on my TRS-80. Phone in a live report. Drive back to the newsroom. Put together three versions of a proper story with sound. Repeat.
The Model 100 proved to be a reliable companion. It’s supposed to run for a week or so on a set of AA batteries. I don’t remember if I got that kind of performance out of it, but I do remember never worrying about running low on juice the way I do with my modern laptops.
He goes into detail on the interfacing done with the Associated press and more. See the full article here.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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