So many personal touchstones here, including 8-tracks, the Crosby/Nash LP jacket on the '80 catalog cover and the TRS-80 bemoaned ("Trash-80") by Detroit News colleagues who griped about audio couplers incompatible with some pay phones and motel desksets.
We were lucky to be part of that era-straddling transition, with unimagined marvels "lurking just around the corner." Your skilled phrasemaking distills it perfectly as "the bridge from the 'Dazed & Confused' sensibility to 'Revenge of the Nerds.'" Good times.
Phrase-crafting chops shine again in "the pre-echoes of cyberspace." A lesser stylist might've gone with prequels.
And thanks for the time and rabbit hole tumbles that yield the bonus of rewarding links to nostalgic images, memories and the surprise that Sky Mall lives as an online catalog (https://skymall.com/).
You never disappoint, Ted, and this sundae is a sweet treat indeed.
. . . and as journalists knew them then too, with acoustic couplers that may or may not work on pay phones or motel desksets for remote article transmissions.
Thanks for the memories. The Trash 80 was my first laptop at the AP. We lost a cool computer museum in Seattle when Paul Allen died. The computers were kept in working condition and you were invited to play with some of them, including my first dummy terminal from my college paper and the TRS 80. I wrote about it for the AP.
So many personal touchstones here, including 8-tracks, the Crosby/Nash LP jacket on the '80 catalog cover and the TRS-80 bemoaned ("Trash-80") by Detroit News colleagues who griped about audio couplers incompatible with some pay phones and motel desksets.
We were lucky to be part of that era-straddling transition, with unimagined marvels "lurking just around the corner." Your skilled phrasemaking distills it perfectly as "the bridge from the 'Dazed & Confused' sensibility to 'Revenge of the Nerds.'" Good times.
Phrase-crafting chops shine again in "the pre-echoes of cyberspace." A lesser stylist might've gone with prequels.
And thanks for the time and rabbit hole tumbles that yield the bonus of rewarding links to nostalgic images, memories and the surprise that Sky Mall lives as an online catalog (https://skymall.com/).
You never disappoint, Ted, and this sundae is a sweet treat indeed.
Thank you, Alan. I think there's a whole piece to be written about the Columbia House 10-for-a-penny albums too! (#skymalllives)
Relatable again. I think we're first cousins, as well as professional brothers.
Very good read!
Thank you!!
Ah! a Trash-80, as we knew them as in high school in the 80s!
Always liked this version better than the flip-up with more lines of text on the screen.
. . . and as journalists knew them then too, with acoustic couplers that may or may not work on pay phones or motel desksets for remote article transmissions.
The connecting of the acoustic coupler and getting a signal is one of the lingering traumas of my early career!
Only a newsperson-turned-therapist could help ease the enduring nightmares.
Thanks for the memories. The Trash 80 was my first laptop at the AP. We lost a cool computer museum in Seattle when Paul Allen died. The computers were kept in working condition and you were invited to play with some of them, including my first dummy terminal from my college paper and the TRS 80. I wrote about it for the AP.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2012/11/03/seattles-living-computer-museum/1678271/
Thanks, Donna! I love the Living Computer Museum story. I actually miss the Trash 80s.