When the modern web meets vintage computers, anything can happen. In some cases, the technological gaps are too wide, but with patience and creativity, almost no system can resist a bit of TCP/IP. This time, we're talking about the TRS-80 Model 100, one of the most popular machines of the 1980s and often considered the first true laptop.
Occasionally, I feel the urge to throw ideas into a virtual machine and do crazy things like connecting old operating systems to the Internet. The main barrier to such an activity is not a lack of software solutions, but the natural evolution that the network has undergone in recent years. Needless to say, backward compatibility of modern websites with outdated browsers is close to zero, and there is no interest in changing that—quite the opposite. Developers and manufacturers do everything they can to push users toward increasingly newer browser versions. Yet, with a series of "precise sacrifices", it is possible to access a very simplified version of the Internet using retro computers.
Recently, we took a close look at the odyssey of connecting a Macintosh Plus from 1986 using a Raspberry Pi for the heavy lifting. Today, the microcomputer's presence becomes necessary again as a helper for a historical system: the TRS-80 Model 100. Appreciated by journalists and with astonishing battery life for its time, the Model 100 sold more than six million units worldwide across all its variants. Sean Gallagher of Ars Technica managed to get a relatively intact unit and began his battle to connect it to the Internet. The first step was to build a custom serial cable to serve as a link between the computer's RS-232 port—which is also shared with an internal modem at 300 baud!—and the USB-to-serial converter used to connect to the Raspberry Pi.
The rest of the project demanded several modifications to the standard Raspbian image, tracking down the terminal definitions file on the TRS-80, various adjustments in the TELCOM application (including the maximum speed, which had to be reduced to 1,200 bits per second), and frequent battles with the command line to perform tasks such as sending emails and posting messages on Twitter. General browsing was done through Lynx, but Gallagher himself admits that custom code will be needed if the aim is to extract a better web experience from the Model 100. Still, a fabulous achievement. His next targets are an Apple II Plus and an Amiga 500, two platforms that in theory should be more friendly.
Ars Technica
