TRS-80 MC-10

TRS80 MC-10The TRS-80 MC-10, is one of the smallest computers in the TRS-80 range of home computers, that where produced in the early 80’s by Tandy Corporation. Mainly sold in their retail Radio Shack outlets, it was mainly produced as a low-cost alternative for the Tandy range of computers and targeted as an entry level user. Due to this the MC-10 is very limited in its features, and high price tag, it influenced its success in the market. Tandy Computers had to discontinue its production just a year after its launch and to make things worse software was very limited. Nevertheless, in France it did a bit better, after it was re-branded as Alice in collaboration with Tandy, Matra and Hachette.

Its Manuals are well explained and detailed. Tandy promised additional accessories such as ram, printers, plotters and disc drives, which most of them did not make it to the market, or where launched late. Today it’s still not popular or considered not collectable but overall, we consider it a nice machine to have in a collection.
TRS-80 MC-10
US$119.95 in US £95 in UK
N/A
1983
Motorola MC6803 running @ a frequency of 0.89 MHz
8 KB (Micro Color Basic, developed by Microsoft) in ROM. RAM 4 KB on-board, expandable to 20 KB via external expansion pack
White plastic squared case very similar to the ZX Spectrum except that the keyboard keys are made of plastic. QWERTY keyboard layout with a black base and white keys.
The graphics are being generated by a motorola MC6847 and can generate the following text and graphics mode:
Text Mode : 32 x 16 2 Colours
With Basic : 64 x 32, 8 colours
With machine code : up to 128 x 192, 2 colours
With machine code and 16k expansion RAM : 256 x 192, 2 colours
Simple Beeper driven by CPU.
1 x Bus expansion
1 x Cassette port.
Other modules could be fitted to expand the system such as RS 232C, printer ports, and External Disk Drives.
External Power Supply with an output voltage of 8V 1.25A AC
Dimensions (216mm x 178mm x 51mm) (W x L x H) Weight Approx 788g.
Around 50,000 units Worldwide including the Alice Model produced in France.

The club currently owns 2 boxed with manuals, power supplies and cables. One is the US version with the usual FCC shielding while the other is the European version. They both look the same esthetically but manuals are a bit different due to the power wall cords, shielding and FCC notices.

 

Cassette Port

5 Pin Din 180
at the computer
Pin Name Dir Desc
1 REM IN Remote Control
2 GND N/A Ground
3 REM OUT Remote Control
4 AIN IN Audio In
5 AOUT OUT Audio Out
 

 

Power

DIN Power Jack Female
at the Computer
Pin Name Dir Desc
1 8V IN 8V AC
2 8V IN 8V AC
 

 

RF

Phono Jack
at the Computer
Pin Name Dir Desc
1 SIGNAL OUT RF Signal OUT
2 GND N/A Ground
 

 

RS 232

4 Pin Din 360
at the computer
Pin Name Dir Desc
1 RS232 IN RS232 IN
2 CD IN/ OUT status input line
3 GND N/A Ground
4 RS232 OUT RS232 OUT
 

 

Expansion Port

34-pin Edge Connector
at the computer
Pin Name Dir Desc
1 GND N/A Signal Ground
2 GND N/A Signal Ground
3 D0 IN/ OUT CPU Data Bit 0
4 D1 IN/ OUT CPU Data Bit 1
5 D2 IN/ OUT CPU Data Bit 2
6 D3 IN/ OUT CPU Data Bit 3
7 D4 IN/ OUT CPU Data Bit 4
8 D5 IN/ OUT CPU Data Bit 5
9 D6 IN/ OUT CPU Data Bit 6
10 D7 IN/ OUT CPU Data Bit 7
11 R/W IN/ OUT CPU Read/ Write Signal
12 A0 OUT CPU Address Bit 0
13 A1 OUT CPU Address Bit 1
14 A2 OUT CPU Address Bit 2
15 A3 OUT CPU Address Bit 3
16 A4 OUT CPU Address Bit 4
17 A5 OUT CPU Address Bit 5
18 A6 OUT CPU Address Bit 6
19 A7 OUT CPU Address Bit 7
20 A8 OUT CPU Address Bit 8
21 A9 OUT CPU Address Bit 9
22 A10 OUT CPU Address Bit 10
23 A11 OUT CPU Address Bit 11
24 A12 OUT CPU Address Bit 12
25 A13 OUT CPU Address Bit 13
26 A14 OUT CPU Address Bit 14
27 A15 OUT CPU Address Bit 15
28 E OUT Main CPU Clock (0.89 MHz)
29 SEL IN Input to Disable Device Selection
30 RESET IN Main Reset and Power-up Clear Signal to the System
31 NMI IN Non-Maskable Interrupt to the CPU
32 +5v OUT +5 volts (250 mA)
33 GND N/A Signal Ground
34 GND N/A Signal Ground