Vintage TRS-80 Model 100 Computer Upgrade

Trammel Hudson upgraded a TRS-80 Model 100 computer with modern hardware.

The TRS-80 Model 100 was introduced in 1983 and was one of the first notebook-style computers.  It features an 8-bit processor and 32k of RAM.  Trammel Hudson came across one of these and while it’s motherboard had failed, the LCD and keyboard were still working.  He decided to take this non-working model and give a new brain.  The original, bulky motherboard (check out all those  through hole parts) was replaced with a Teensy ++ 2.0

There was a bit of a challenge with making the original LCD and keyboard work with the Teensy.  He first identified how the LCD drivers worked and wrote libraries to replace them.  The LCD did not have a character generator, so a font set had to be created.

Check out this project page for details on how it came together.