Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed for August 31, 2018

Ah, what memories… I remember when I got my first TRaSh-80 computer. It was an amazing machine, considering the most complicated electronic device I had used up until then was a pocket calculator.

I started with a TI-99/4A. The first 16-bit personal computer, and Extended Basic!

The TRaSh-80 III had a build in BW screen (monitor) and no video out. As for color, forget it, I mean really f o r g e t it.

The TRS-80s had so many proprietary bugs that a couple of employees quit Radio Shack and started MicroCenter.

Would you settle for a Banana Junior 6000?

I’ve thrown AWAY computers more powerful than a TRASH 80.

Ah, the 80s…

Ah, the Trash-80. A fitting icon for an era.

Wow – I actually had the TRS-80 model II. 7k memory, level 2 Basic, no hard drive, no floppy disks, used a cassette recorder for storage. Fun times

When did the TRS-80 come out? ’83?

TRS-80 (with Z-80 CPU) didn’t have a color option. That was the totally different Radio Shack Color Computer with Motorola 6809 CPU.

Gumby had a bit of a resurgence in popularity in the early ‘80s, largely due to Eddie Murphy’s SNL skits (I’m Gumby, damn it!)

I earned my B.S. using a slide rule. My HP-21 was a revelation!

There is a place on the other side of our hill that has a ten foot Gumby figure in the front yard… with a matching Pokey on the other side. We smile every time we go by.

Wow! A 12 inch screen – he’s gonna need a bigger desk for that.

I started with an 8-bit, 2 floppy drive portable (sewing machine-like) with a built-in 4" amber monitor. It came with a full suite of software (word processor, spreadsheet, etc.) and two printer ports. I loved it!

Started with a Atari-400 and immediately took it back for the Atari-800 great little computer, had a separate floppy drive and 48K.

Boy things have changed!

When I first started dating my husband in 1981 he had just bought his first house. I was astonished to see one of the small bedrooms totally consumed by a Digital PDP-11 he was buying on time. Really. Took up the whole space. He was so proud of it.

With all the old Bloom County strips they can choose from, they give us a Christmas story in August?

Get with The Program, Santa Cutter!

Twelve inches? I think my iPad has an 11 inch screen.