From Newsgroup: comp.sys.tandy

Think of weird quirks that have applied through various stages of the I/III/4 lineup, like:

- No lowercase
- No modifier key but Shift
- Awkward cursor key layout
- Left cursor key doubled as backspace
- Poor connector quality on expansion box
- Non-standard ports

Feel free to add your own.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.tandy

On Saturday, April 16, 2016 at 7:47:32 PM UTC-4, Kelli Halliburton wrote:

Think of weird quirks that have applied through various stages of the I/III/4 lineup, like:

- No lowercase
- No modifier key but Shift
- Awkward cursor key layout
- Left cursor key doubled as backspace
- Poor connector quality on expansion box
- Non-standard ports

Feel free to add your own.

The lowercase mod worked well on the Model I although you needed to load a driver to use it.
The replacement for the Ctrl key was shift-down arrow IIRC.
The cursor keys didn't seem awkward to me.
I don't remember the left arrow ever being billed as a cursor movement key. It was always backspace.
The last revision of the EI was of very good quality.
Simple cables converted the edge connectors in the EI to standard RS-232 and Centronics printer connectors.
All-in-all, the Model I became a good machine. I still have one with EI, 48K, RS lowercase mod, RS double density mod, RS RS-232 board, 4 RS floppy drives. I recently ran it for two weeks straight, 24 hrs/day without a hiccup. I did apply silver solder to the keyboard's expansion connector years ago. Until I did that, Deoxit would keep the connectors clean for a month or two at a time. Yes, I do wish RS had spent the extra to gold plate all the edge connectors.
Tom L

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.tandy

On 4/28/16 9:32 AM, Thomas Lake wrote:

On Saturday, April 16, 2016 at 7:47:32 PM UTC-4, Kelli Halliburton wrote:

Think of weird quirks that have applied through various stages of the I/III/4 lineup, like:

- No lowercase
- No modifier key but Shift
- Awkward cursor key layout
- Left cursor key doubled as backspace
- Poor connector quality on expansion box
- Non-standard ports

Feel free to add your own.

The lowercase mod worked well on the Model I although you needed to load a driver to use it.
The replacement for the Ctrl key was shift-down arrow IIRC.
The cursor keys didn't seem awkward to me.
I don't remember the left arrow ever being billed as a cursor movement key. It was always backspace.
The last revision of the EI was of very good quality.
Simple cables converted the edge connectors in the EI to standard RS-232 and Centronics printer connectors.

All-in-all, the Model I became a good machine. I still have one with EI, 48K, RS lowercase mod, RS double density mod, RS RS-232 board, 4 RS floppy drives. I recently ran it for two weeks straight, 24 hrs/day without a hiccup. I did apply silver solder to the keyboard's expansion connector years ago. Until I did that, Deoxit would keep the connectors clean for a month or two at a time. Yes, I do wish RS had spent the extra to gold plate all the edge connectors.

Tom L

Wow. You mean I am not the only one left with functional Model I,
Model 3, Model 4 and all three models of COCO hardware. :-)
Too bad I got rid of my Model 16. (of course, I do still have a full
set of boards for one, just no chassis,)

bill

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