Raspberry Pi vs TRS-80

Posted Jul 6, 2013 16:14 UTC (Sat) by giraffedata (guest, #1954)
In reply to: Raspberry Pi vs TRS-80 by pboddie
Parent article: Trying out the Raspberry Pi

Just because they didn't do digital audio and video doesn't make them toys: arguably the mere existence of the cheapest systems was enough to disrupt demand for expensive and cutting-edge systems from the likes of Xerox, ICL and other big names. And what was there to compare those systems against? Unless you had access to a system at work, you were comparing them against having no capabilities at all.

The reference to toys was to Timex/Sinclair and VIC-20, i.e. a class of computer that was introduced after the microcomputer revolution for the sole purpose of being affordable, sort of like some are saying about Raspberry Pi. So what people were comparing them against was existing microcomputers that they would have liked but couldn't afford: computers that had enough memory to run a bookkeeping program; computers with persistent storage; computers that could display more than a few lines of text. I suspect buyers of these dirt-cheap computers found them more recreational - or educational - than actually productive, which could earn them the toy label.