Technabob » trs 80 http://technabob.com/blog Cool Gadgets, Gizmos, Games and Geek Stuff Sun, 27 May 2012 20:00:08 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 2012 Wall-E Toy Controlled by a 1983 Portable Computer http://technabob.com/blog/2012/05/17/wall-r-controlled-by-1983-pc/ http://technabob.com/blog/2012/05/17/wall-r-controlled-by-1983-pc/#comments Thu, 17 May 2012 13:00:31 +0000 Conner Flynn http://technabob.com/blog/?p=94341 Old technology meets new technology here, and in this case they can actually interface very well despite their age difference. YouTuber Aliencurv modified an old 1983 TRS-80 portable computer with 20kb of memory to control a 2012 Wall-E robot. I hear ya. That’s crazy and pointless you say. I agree. And it’s still awesome. Wall E
With the easy addition of a Bluetooth module, it can intercept the TRS-80′s keyboard input and beam it somewhere else. After that, it just took a terminal program and some extra code to turn the keystrokes into information that Wall-E can use. With that in place, you have yourself a remote controlled robot.

That computer is almost 30 years old. If not for this mod, it would be a useless paperweight. It is proof that by thinking out of the box, we can use some of our old gadgets and rescue them from obsolescence, while doing some cool things.

[via Hack A Day via Geekosystem]

]]> http://technabob.com/blog/2012/05/17/wall-r-controlled-by-1983-pc/feed/ 0 Video of the Day: Trs-80 Dancing Demon http://technabob.com/blog/2007/09/01/video-of-the-day-trs-80-dancing-demon/ http://technabob.com/blog/2007/09/01/video-of-the-day-trs-80-dancing-demon/#comments Sat, 01 Sep 2007 19:37:31 +0000 Technabob http://technabob.com/blog/2007/09/01/video-of-the-day-trs-80-dancing-demon/ Here’s a blast from the past that I stumbled upon earlier today. I don’t know why I found it so entertaining, but I guess it just reminded me of when I was just a geektot. There’s something about the simplicity of computer graphics back in the day that just makes me all gooey. So with that said, I give you the TRS-80 Dancing Demon.

dancing demon ad

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Dance demon, dance! You go! You can reminisce about Leo Christopherson’s Dancing Demon BASIC game for the old Radio Shack Trash-80 here. If you’re feeling really nostalgic (and ambitious) you can grab a TRS-80 emulator and try it out for yourself.

]]> http://technabob.com/blog/2007/09/01/video-of-the-day-trs-80-dancing-demon/feed/ 1