Old Computers That Never Die

As computers become more sophisticated, hard-core hardware fans are clinging to their older machines, like the Atari, Altair and, of course, Tandy--which celebrates the 20th anniversary of the TRS-80 this month. This ancient--in technological years--model was one of the early PCs that helped popularize computers in the home.

Hundreds of Tandy fans wax poetic online about the “Trash 80” in newsgroups, via mailing lists and at Web sites. Like a fondness for disco or flashbacks to punk, these fans indulge in a retro love of a cultural icon long past.

Jon Cruz of Costa Mesa remembers picking up his first computer--a TRS-80 color PC--when he was 16 years old. It cost him $200. For years, he used the machine to hone his programming chops, to meet other computer fans through electronic bulletin boards and to write his English reports.

When he graduated from Valencia High School in Placentia and moved on to Fullerton College, the Tandy came along.

“I remember I had to get permission from my college professors to turn in papers that were printed on a dot-matrix printer instead of typed on a typewriter,” said Cruz, 30, a senior engineer for an El Segundo software company.

Cruz eventually traded his Tandy for a more powerful machine. But he never threw it away, partly because of his fondness for the machine and partly because “no one would buy something that old.”

Someday, Cruz said, the TRS-80 sitting neglected in a corner of his office will be embraced by another generation of computer fans.

“I’m going to write a simple browsing program for my 3-year-old daughter,” Cruz said. “That way, she can do her own simple text browsing online while I’m on my Pentium.”

P.J. Huffstutter covers high technology for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7830 and at [email protected].