The other night I picked up a TRS-80 model II from a seller on Craigslist. The computer
had apparently belonged to an account and it came with lots of binders of TRS-80
accounting software manuals and boxes of disks filled with old client information.
It came with some no-name 3rd party external dual 8" drive and a gigantic Centronics
703(?) printer. I tested out the computer when I got home and it looks like it probably
works fine, I was able to power it up without any smoke coming out and get it to boot into
one of the CP/M disks I found in the box. The keyboard is another matter, but I've
already been pointed to a few sites that discuss how to deal with the foam pads inside the
capacitive keyboard.
I didn't get a cable for either the printer or the external disks, although I'm
not really worried about hooking up to the parallel port since I doubt I'm really
going to want to print from the TRS-80 anyway. I did open up the external drive case and
it has two genuine Shugart drives in it, and I've already ordered some 50 pin IDC
connectors so I can make up a cable to connect it to the TRS-80.
I'm having a heck of a time hunting down a manual for the printer though. I *think*
it's a Centronics 703, but the 703 was blacked out on the nameplate on the back, and
there's no identification on the front. I definitely need to get a new ribbon for it,
but it looks like instead of replacing the ribbon as a cartridge, you pull the whole
ribbon out of the screwed in case and then have to pack a new one in. The pinch rollers
for feeding the ribbon are pretty old and now flat on one side, but after a touch of oil
they do *seem* to be turning and feeding the ribbon.
I've posted an album up on Google+ of the computer, you can see it here:
https://plus.google.com/112185595588625076298/posts/KT4mtRJtCAs