Last
year (2011) computer enthusiasts mourned the passing of a man whose
singular vision led him to passionately focus on and promote a particular style of hardware and software.
No, I'm not talking about Steve Jobs.
I'm talking about Richard “Rick” Hansen Founder of the Club 100. Rick believed in “simple computers for simple tasks.”
He
almost single-handedly kept alive and in real everyday use a computer
manufactured in the days when Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were still
young punks with talent and dreams. That computer is the Tandy Portable
100 and a limited number of its heirs.
In the early 1980's the the Portable 100 was the first truly successful portable laptop computer with low-power liquid crystal screen and magnificent keyboard. While it did include a programming language (including code allegedly hand done by Bill Gates), its main use was to produce up to 10 pages of plain ASCII text.
This was an absolute boon to journalists, as they could type a story and then plug the unit into a telephone line and send the story back to the main office using the built-in modem. There were even optional acoustic couplers that could be stuck on the ear piece and microphone of old-fashioned dial telephones when it was impractical or impossible to plug-in the modem line. So it was actually possible to send a story back to headquarters from a telephone booth!
While laptop technology slowly improved, the P100 and thinner P012 still got the job done. In 1987 I vividly recall still seeing a cadre of international journalists hammering away on their Tandy portables under a tent in the outdoor “press room” located on the edge of a field in South Texas where Pope John Paul II was celebrating mass to hundreds of thousands of people. I wish I had taken a picture of that, but as a radio reporter, I was more focused on the event.
It wasn't long after that that primitive DOS-based laptops from Toshiba and others began to steal some of the Tandy's fire. But still, there were faithful users (often writers)who enjoyed the rugged nature of the unit as well as the ability to run it for many hours on simple AA batteries. The units could also interface with manufacturing gear to control machining processes, and were often hidden inside metal cases at factories.
Rick Hansen shrewdly observed that these users would continue to want support for their units and even new items. As demand for Tandys shrank, Rick became a veritable repository for software and specialized hardware from companies such as the “Portable Computer Support Group.” As these companies moved on to support newer laptops, he would buy up their "obsolete" inventory of Tandy items.
Through Rick, owners of the Tandy 100, 102 and a few others were able to get memory upgrades and software on chips as well as repairs and spare parts. As the use of the Tandy continued to decline, Rick acquired large numbers of used units, which enabled him to keep a stock of parts and fully refurbished 100s and 102s for both “diehard” users and companies that used the the units in factories.
As we ended the last century, Rick was determined to keep his fair number of users supplied into the 21st century. This he did well with the support of a handful of other programmers and enthusiasts. He would even sponsor programming contests and other events to keep the ancient computer from becoming a thing of the past.
The most bold and audacious action on Rick's part happened only a few years ago. Working with a friend who designed electronics and had a fabrication facility in China, Rick offered users of Tandy's 1982 vintage laptops a way to easily save their text files to a modern SD camera type storage card! Prior to this amazing device, users needed to save to a special disk drive, some hook-up to a PC or Mac…or even to an audio cassette! Suddenly the 100/102 was viable as a great "writing wrench!"
At around $200, these units actually surpassed the market value of the laptops themselves. But both enthusiasts (myself included) and a number of manufacturing companies snapped up every one that was made. You can read more about it by clicking on this link to a previous article. If I dare borrow a term from Mr. Jobs, the whole idea was “insanely cool!"
The Club 100 website is still operated by friends of Rick. With the Commodore 64 and other 8-bit computers being remembered at the 30 year mark in 2012, it is amusing to find that this original laptop of that same era is still being used for useful, practical work.
Admittedly, in a world of iPads, netbooks and ultrabooks, using a Model 100 or 102 is certainly extreme retro. But for writers, the experience of typing and not have a lot drop down menus and other gee-gaws get in the way is refreshing. Plus, what a hoot it is to bring one of these into an Internet coffee shop or bookstore and begin tapping away, surrounded by students who were not even born when this machine was made.
So, thank you Rick Hansen for your dedication, service, sharp business sense and also being an all-around nice guy. Rest in peace.
No, I'm not talking about Steve Jobs.
I'm talking about Richard “Rick” Hansen Founder of the Club 100. Rick believed in “simple computers for simple tasks.”
In the early 1980's the the Portable 100 was the first truly successful portable laptop computer with low-power liquid crystal screen and magnificent keyboard. While it did include a programming language (including code allegedly hand done by Bill Gates), its main use was to produce up to 10 pages of plain ASCII text.
This was an absolute boon to journalists, as they could type a story and then plug the unit into a telephone line and send the story back to the main office using the built-in modem. There were even optional acoustic couplers that could be stuck on the ear piece and microphone of old-fashioned dial telephones when it was impractical or impossible to plug-in the modem line. So it was actually possible to send a story back to headquarters from a telephone booth!
While laptop technology slowly improved, the P100 and thinner P012 still got the job done. In 1987 I vividly recall still seeing a cadre of international journalists hammering away on their Tandy portables under a tent in the outdoor “press room” located on the edge of a field in South Texas where Pope John Paul II was celebrating mass to hundreds of thousands of people. I wish I had taken a picture of that, but as a radio reporter, I was more focused on the event.
It wasn't long after that that primitive DOS-based laptops from Toshiba and others began to steal some of the Tandy's fire. But still, there were faithful users (often writers)who enjoyed the rugged nature of the unit as well as the ability to run it for many hours on simple AA batteries. The units could also interface with manufacturing gear to control machining processes, and were often hidden inside metal cases at factories.
Rick Hansen shrewdly observed that these users would continue to want support for their units and even new items. As demand for Tandys shrank, Rick became a veritable repository for software and specialized hardware from companies such as the “Portable Computer Support Group.” As these companies moved on to support newer laptops, he would buy up their "obsolete" inventory of Tandy items.
Through Rick, owners of the Tandy 100, 102 and a few others were able to get memory upgrades and software on chips as well as repairs and spare parts. As the use of the Tandy continued to decline, Rick acquired large numbers of used units, which enabled him to keep a stock of parts and fully refurbished 100s and 102s for both “diehard” users and companies that used the the units in factories.
As we ended the last century, Rick was determined to keep his fair number of users supplied into the 21st century. This he did well with the support of a handful of other programmers and enthusiasts. He would even sponsor programming contests and other events to keep the ancient computer from becoming a thing of the past.
The most bold and audacious action on Rick's part happened only a few years ago. Working with a friend who designed electronics and had a fabrication facility in China, Rick offered users of Tandy's 1982 vintage laptops a way to easily save their text files to a modern SD camera type storage card! Prior to this amazing device, users needed to save to a special disk drive, some hook-up to a PC or Mac…or even to an audio cassette! Suddenly the 100/102 was viable as a great "writing wrench!"
At around $200, these units actually surpassed the market value of the laptops themselves. But both enthusiasts (myself included) and a number of manufacturing companies snapped up every one that was made. You can read more about it by clicking on this link to a previous article. If I dare borrow a term from Mr. Jobs, the whole idea was “insanely cool!"
The Club 100 website is still operated by friends of Rick. With the Commodore 64 and other 8-bit computers being remembered at the 30 year mark in 2012, it is amusing to find that this original laptop of that same era is still being used for useful, practical work.
Admittedly, in a world of iPads, netbooks and ultrabooks, using a Model 100 or 102 is certainly extreme retro. But for writers, the experience of typing and not have a lot drop down menus and other gee-gaws get in the way is refreshing. Plus, what a hoot it is to bring one of these into an Internet coffee shop or bookstore and begin tapping away, surrounded by students who were not even born when this machine was made.
So, thank you Rick Hansen for your dedication, service, sharp business sense and also being an all-around nice guy. Rest in peace.