From: god_free_jones@yahoo.com   
      
   On Wed, 5 Jul 2006 20:48:49 -0400, "Chris Young"  wrote:   
      
   >I picked up a second model 4 on eBay thinking it was at least a 64k model.   
   >But to my surprise (and lack of asking a question) it was a 16k model.   
   >A 16k model????? Why the heck would they make a 16k version of a model 4?   
   >Were they supposed to be remote terminals on a network? Even so, at 16k it   
   >still couldn't run too much right?   
      
   Its the tape based version.   
      
   >I bought the machine as a little experiment really. I thought it was a 64k   
   >version so I was going to use it to upgrade the memory in my main 64k   
   >machine. But since that fell through, I popped the top and saw it really WAS   
   >a bare bones machine! No floppy disk controller or power for them (or even   
   >the internal rack to mount floppy drives for that matter.)   
   >So I took apart my model 3 and started comparing the parts and they looked   
   >interchangeable. I started stripping the model 3 and now the model 4 has   
   >floppies & external floppy connector plus an RS232 card etc.. Everything   
   >looked good and went in very easily the machine even looks very clean. I   
   >fired it up and although everything works, this thing has a B&W screen.   
   >Man, a B&W screen??? They sure didn't go to far from the model 3 to make   
   >this model 4 did they? It's serial number is 000105 so it's one of the first   
   >built I'm assuming.   
      
   All model 4s had black and white screens. That was the standard back then.   
      
   >So just for conversations sake,  :-) could anyone tell me why they made   
   >model 4's with B&W screens, 16k of memory and stripped down like this one?   
      
   That is the lowest cost version for use with tape recorders.   
      
   >I did notice a row of empty chip sockets while it was apart. Could the 16k   
   >memory chips be removed and the machine be upgraded to a 128k machine?   
   >Are there any sources for the memory chips anymore?   
      
   There is very little TRS-80 stuff on eBay.   
      
   >As a side note...   
   >I'm still having a difficult time trying to upgrade to 3.5 floppies. All 4   
   >of the old 3.5 fujitsu floppies I bought (dated august 1990) turned out to   
   >still be 1.44 drives although they do have the changeable jumpers. Oh well,   
   >this has alls been a learning experience to say the least!   
   >;-)   
      
   Try running NewDOS/80.   
      
   >Thanks in advance,   
   >-Chris   
      
   Barry   
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