Radio Shack Pocket Computers

Personal computing started in the late 70s and by the early 80s people already wanted their computers to be smaller. Eventually luggable computers were introduced, then laptops with notebooks first appearing in the 90s. But some of the first smaller computers were even smaller — the size of large calculators — and would usually let you program them using a limited version of BASIC.

One of the first pockets computers was the TRS-80 Pocket Computer sold here in the US by Radio Shack in 1980. This was actually a rebranded Sharp PC-1211 that was imported from Japan.

Before I get into that, let’s dig into Radio Shack for a moment.

Radio Shack

In the 80s, Radio Shack was one of my favorite stores. I loved their catalog of gadgets, electronics and other nerdy things. I would often flip through it like a magazine.

I never really was into their computers, though. They made and sold lots of computers and I think that was part of the problem. They just had too many variations, with newer models not often compatible with older ones.

The original TRS-80 computer was part of the trinity with the Apple II and Commodore PET and although it sold very well and was likely the most popular computer for a while, it never was one I paid attention to.

The later TRS-80 Model II, III and IV computers were even more unusual, looking more like mainframe terminals than computers I would want. I remember in the mid/late 80s my grandfather picked up on of those TRS-80 Model x computers at a garage sale and brought it by the house for me to check out. I was not able to do anything useful with it.

I actually worked at Radio Shack from 1992 to 1994, first in a small store in downtown Portland and then later at the bigger store in the mall. I enjoyed working for Radio Shack because I loved all the gadgets. They paid a small hourly wage plus commission and working there made me realize I was not a salesman. I knew just about everything in the catalog and could find nearly anything in the store, but I was terrible at convincing people to buy things and getting them to spend more money.

I was primarily the computer guy when I was there. At the time Radio Shack sold their Tandy PC clones and few knew anything about computers back then. I was the one that knew how to set them all up, demo them and help customers with problems. I remember seeing Windows for the firs time on a Tandy PC clone. I also remember spending lots of time in the store when it was empty playing Castle Wolfenstein.

TRS-80 Pocket Computer PC-1

Introduced in the summer of 1980, this was originally just called the TRS-80 Pocket Computer and sold for $230 ($875 in 2024). It didn’t get rebranded as the PC-1 until the PC-2 was released.

As you can see, it looks a lot like a calculator and ran on button cell batteries. The single-line LCD display greatly limited its usefulness as a full-blown computer, but for nerds the ability to write BASIC code was cool.

It supposedly had a memory of 1424 program steps, whatever that means. The BASIC was a very of Tiny BASIC and had a limited amount of variables that could be used.

There was also cassette and printer interfaces that you could get for this. They sort of worked like docks that the pocket computer would sit in, so you could not use both at same time.

TRS-80 Pocket Computer PC-2

In 1982 the PC-2 was introduced. It cost more at $280 ($910 in 2024) and was noticeably larger than the PC-1. It also had a single-line LCD, but used 4 AA batteries instead of button cells.

This model was essentially the Sharp PC-1500.

The PC-2 had 2K of RAM and was expandable to 8K. You could also get program modules for it that plugged in like little cartridges.

A printer dock was also available that had a cassette interface on it. Unfortunately the PC-2 was completely incompatible with the PC-1, which included its newer version of BASIC.

TRS-80 Pocket Computer PC-3

Release just a year later the PC-3 was much smaller than the PC-2 and slightly smaller than the PC-1. It can easily fit into a shirt pocket. It was also much cheaper at only $100 ($315 in 2024), which probably explains why this seems to be the most common one you can find today.

I actually own one of these!

The PC-3 has 4K of RAM and a single-line LCD display like its predecessors. It was also based on a Sharp pocket computer, the PC-1251. It was apparently more power-efficient as it also runs on button cell batteries.

I keep this handy near my Mac as it is often quicker to use it for calculations than to pull up a calculator app on the Mac (or my iPhone).

Other Pocket Computer Models

Radio Shack also sold the PC-4 through the PC-8. The PC-4, 5, 6 and 7 were all based on Casio pocket computers. The PC-8 went back to a Sharp design.

Looking at the PC-8, its smaller screen makes it appear even less useful than my PC-3.

More on the PC-3

After the break, I cover BASIC programming on the PC-3 and its accessories for Goto 10 paid members.