Retro Scan of the Week: Isaac Asimov’s “Favorite Color Computer”
April 2nd, 2007 by Benj Edwards
Take it from Isaac. Now you can save $100 on any TRS-80 Color Computer.
Let’s see. Texas-Instruments had Bill Cosby, Commodore had William Shatner, and Atari had Alan Alda. But did you know that Tandy-Radio Shack’s computer spokesperson in the early 1980s was science fiction author Isaac Asimov? I’ve seen a number of TRS-80 ads featuring him, and he always looks way too happy. But that was his job. And I’ve always loved Asimov’s sideburns. It’s like I’ve always said: nothing sells a home computer like a hairy man with a joystick. Take that, Commodore.
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April 2nd, 2007 at 9:45 am
According to his posthumous autobiography, Asimov actually used a TRS-80 (to the end of his life) as a word processor. He would only endorse a product he actually used. And he never moved on to a newer machine.
Did any of the other spokesmodels actually use their computers? _Maybe_ Alan Alda with Atari. I doubt Cosby (or anyone else) used a TI. No way Shatner gave a fuck.
April 2nd, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Ooh, ‘Super Bust-Out’? If only it came with Space Intruders, Ping, and Mariano Bros.
April 2nd, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Was this the same thing as the Coco?
April 2nd, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Kitsune: Yes. “CoCo” is short for “Color Computer.”
April 2nd, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Cool, I’ve heard good things about that computer. ^_^
April 3rd, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Those sideburns have always scared me…
Indeed, the TRS-80 Color Computer is a nice system. It was the first computer I ever owned, and I currently have one hooked up to my television. I do not know if this system is upgraded or not, and I am trying to figure that out.
April 3rd, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Oh and about this ad; Asimov might have said the first two quotes, I could even go out on a limb and say he might’ve had said the THIRD quote, but there is NO WAY he voluntarily uttered the fourth. No way.
April 9th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Isaac Asimov had the coolest sideburns of all times.
April 26th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Gasp! Look at the URL!
This is page 300! This should be dedicated to SPARTA!!!!!!!! and not a color computer >:(
April 26th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Hehe. I’ll let you lead the tribute, David. 🙂
August 3rd, 2010 at 9:58 am
Those sideburns are awesome!! Maybe when I reach that age in life I will have a pair just like them and I will also be playing retro games!!! 🙂
November 30th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
One of the reasons that I liked my old Color Computer was that it could run an operating system from Microware called OS-9 (which is still available!).
I sold that machine to a friend who at last count was writing CAM programs on it, porting them to his PC via a serial cable, and running them.
Not bad for an 8-bit processor running at 1 MHz with 64K of ram.