Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I Level I (1977-1981)

✅ Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1 

🥇First Mass-Market, Fully Assembled Personal Computer Sold at Retail 

The Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I, affectionately dubbed the "Trash-80" by enthusiasts and rivals alike, was one of the "1977 Trinity" of computers that sparked the home computing revolution. Launched for $599—a price point that undercut the Apple II and Commodore PET—the Model I was powered by a 1.77 MHz Zilog Z80 processor and initially came with just 4K of RAM and a basic programming language. Its distinctive industrial design featured a silver-and-black chassis that sat atop a separate 12-inch monochrome monitor, which was famously a modified RCA television set. Because it lacked a built-in disk drive, users had to save and load programs via a standard cassette recorder, a process that was notoriously temperamental and prone to data errors. Despite its tendency to leak massive amounts of radio-frequency interference that could scramble nearby televisions, the TRS-80 became an overnight sensation, selling over 10,000 units in its first month and turning Radio Shack stores into the epicenter of the early hobbyist microcomputer market.

Curators Note: This system features a rare four-digit serial number (#006534), marking it as one of the first 1% of TRS-80s ever produced. It remains in its original physical configuration, with serial matching TRS-80 monitor. 

Donated by: Louis Roloff, New York

Realistic CTR-41 Tape Recorder 

The Realistic CTR-41, sold by Radio Shack starting in 1977, is best remembered as the temperamental but essential storage lifeline for the original TRS-80 Model I microcomputer. Priced at $49.95, this battery-and-AC portable recorder was not initially built for data; it was a standard consumer tape deck rebranded for computer use, which led to its notorious reputation for "data dropouts" if the volume and tone levels weren't set with surgical precision. To interface with the TRS-80, the CTR-41 utilized a specialized three-plug cable—connecting to the EAR, AUX, and REM (Remote) jacks—allowing the computer to physically start and stop the tape motor during the CLOAD and CSAVE commands. A unique quirk of the setup required users to insert a "Dummy Plug" into the MIC jack to disable the internal microphone, preventing room noise from being recorded onto the data tracks. While Radio Shack eventually replaced it with the more stable, dedicated CCR-81 "Computer Cassette Recorder," the silver-faced CTR-41 remains a definitive icon of the early hobbyist era, representing the days when saving a simple BASIC program required a steady hand and a high-quality 10-minute "Certified" cassette.

Acquired from: eBay.com

"Microchess" for TRS-80 

🥇First Commercially Successful Microcomputer Software Game

🥇First Microcomputer Game to Sell 1 Million Copies

Microchess, developed in 1976 by Canadian programmer Peter Jennings, was a landmark title that became the very first commercial software success for early home microcomputers. Programmed over six months to run on the bare-bones KIM-1 single-board computer, the entire game engine was an incredible feat of engineering that managed to fit inside just 1 kilobyte of RAM. Because the earliest consumer microcomputers lacked standard graphic displays, the game was sold for $10 alongside a manual, requiring players to set up a real physical chessboard on their table, input their moves using a calculator-like keypad, and read the computer’s counter-moves off a six-digit LED display. Though it played at a novice level and took up to ten seconds to calculate a turn, the program proved to skeptics that tiny home microcomputers could perform complex logical tasks rather than just blinking lights. As it was ported to early systems like the Apple-1, TRS-80, and Apple II, Microchess went on to become the first microcomputer program to sell over 50,000 copies, generating the profits that helped fund the launch of VisiCalc and laying the foundation for the commercial PC software industry.

Donated by: Louis Roloff