Video game designer and programming genius, David Jones, has donated his Tandy TRS-80 Model III computer to the Centre for Computing History.
David’s computer was welcomed into the collection because this was the machine that he used to create his classic games featuring ‘Magic Knight’, Finders Keepers and its sequels: Spellbound, Knight Tyme, and Stormbringer.
David Jones said "I posted on Facebook that my computer was available, but there were so many comments saying that it should go to the Centre for Computing History, that I contacted them and was really pleased to find that they would preserve it for future generations to see.”
It seems the Model III was an FCC-compliant re-do of the Model I, one of the trinity of machines from 1977. (In between, the Model II was CP/M compatible, and more extensible, and gave rise to the Model 16 which demoted the Z80 to I/O service and brought in a 68k. And then the 12 took the 68k out again - a cost-reduced model which could be upgraded to a 16. The rest of the TRS-80 range is even less related!)
This, Tandy’s naming convention is really strange. I understand the Model I to IV, but the Model 100, the PC-1, etc? I could understand that they would want to build on the “TRS” brand, but “TRS-80” as in Z80? – Is there a backstory to this?