Rebirth of the American Super Boss Road

"Of course there is. No other store has a more comprehensive range of computer software than our RadioShack store," Frank said with pride on his face: "We have dozens of commonly used computer software here, including Mr. Gary Kilbaul of Digital Research Company developed the CP/M operating system specifically for the TRS-80 computer. This only costs $90. There is also word processing software such as ElectricPencil, which only costs $45. There is also spreadsheet software. CalculStar, the price is not expensive..."

Frank introduced several commonly used software to Li Hongfei non-stop, and then said: "These are currently the best-selling software with the most users' choices. Which one do you need, sir?"

Li Hongfei responded: "I want a copy of these software you introduced... By the way, Frank, I remember that the TRS-80 can use a 5.25-inch floppy disk drive, right? Do you offer the option of a 5.25-inch floppy disk drive? The price is How much does it cost? How much does a floppy disk cost?"

Hearing Li Hongfei ask about the floppy disk drive, the smile on Frank's face became even brighter. He raised his thumb and praised: "Mr. Li, you are really knowledgeable. The TRS-80 can function better only when it is paired with a floppy disk drive." With its capabilities, the price of a 5.25-inch disk drive is $499..."

"Wait a minute!"

Li Hongfei interrupted Frank in surprise and asked, "How much do you think a floppy disk drive costs?"

The price of US$499 made Li Hongfei wonder if he heard it wrong: a TRS-80 computer including a monitor is only US$599, but a floppy disk drive costs US$499?

Frank had long been used to Li Hongfei's reaction. He had encountered similar situations once or twice, so he didn't find it strange at all. He said with a smile: "Yes, you heard it right, the price of a 5.25-inch floppy disk drive is For $499, we will give you five additional 5-inch floppy disks with a single capacity of 360Kb. If you need more floppy disks, we also have a set of 5.25 10-inch floppy disks for $5.25...

There are also data tapes. A pack of 10 data tapes is available at a discounted price of US$22.9. Would you like to get a pack too?

By the way, there is also a printer. We at RadioShack have specially developed the WP-80 daisy wheel printer for the TRS-50. The price is only US$2960. Do you want to take a look? "

"The printer costs $2960?"

Li Hongfei felt a bit toothache after hearing this.

Before that, he really had the idea of ​​buying a printer. After all, in this era, the purpose of companies purchasing computers is to process various documents and reports, and since he wants to train students on how to use computers, he must teach the students how to use and Setting up the printer was their immediate need, but the price of US$2960 was beyond Li Hongfei's imagination.

After hesitating for a while, he decided not to buy a printer for the time being: Forget it, with such an expensive price, let's wait until we accept a few more students and earn some tuition fees.

In addition to the price of the printer being higher than expected, the price of floppy disk drives and floppy disks was also beyond Li Hongfei's expectation: a computer is only US$599, and a floppy disk drive is US$499?And floppy disks, 10 5.25-inch floppy disks cost $49.96, a total of nearly $5 per floppy disk?It’s so expensive!

But is the price outrageous?

It seems a bit outrageous. After all, a TRS-80 computer is only US$599. However, if you compare it horizontally, you will find that this price is not outrageous at all: a wang2200 computer costs US$4500, and an IBM5100 computer costs US$8475. The starting price of a DEC PDP-11 minicomputer is more than 10000 US dollars, and depending on the configuration, it can even reach more than 30000 US dollars...

Therefore, compared with the price of these computers, a Daisy Wheel printer only costs US$2960, which is actually completely acceptable. The reason why it feels expensive is entirely because the comparison object is the TRS-80.

Li Hongfei actually understands this truth, but he has no choice but to be short of money...

"Sir, this price is not expensive at all," Frank said with a smile: "The computer-specific printers on the market are all priced like this. Our WP-50 printer adopts the most advanced daisy wheel structure. You can understand The prices of daisy wheel printers on the market are all above US$3000, so the price is really cheap. An IBM selectric II letter ball electric typewriter costs US$2400.”

IBM's Selecric Alphabet Electric Typewriter is a very interesting thing. Mr. Smith's accounting firm has two of them. Compared with traditional purely mechanical typewriters, the Selecric Alphabet Electric Typewriter has the help of a motor, which greatly reduces the cost. The intensity of the keys is reduced, and the intuitive feeling is similar to the intensity of the keys of a familiar computer keyboard. Typists no longer have to worry about getting tenosynovitis.

The biggest innovation of this electric typewriter is a metal letter ball similar in size to a golf ball. The surface of the metal letter ball highlights English letters, numbers and various commonly used characters. When typing, the letters on the letter ball automatically rotate. Go to the corresponding position and print by hitting the ribbon between the letter ball and the paper.

You ask, what if it is some extremely special characters?

This is a good question, but IBM has already thought of it. It specially designed the metal letter balls of the selectric letter ball electric typewriter to be replaceable. When you buy it, it comes with several letter balls. If there is no thought on the commonly used letter ball, If you want a character, change it to an alphabet ball with this letter.

Compared with traditional mechanical typewriters, the IBMselectric letter ball electric typewriter more than doubled the typing speed. Therefore, it was welcomed by major companies in the United States as soon as it was launched. Even white houses are using this electric typewriter. .

As for the daisy wheel printer, this thing is also called a daisy wheel printer. When many people hear printers, they may think that printers only have three basic structures: dot matrix, inkjet and laser. But in fact, Epson launched the world’s first daisy wheel printer this year. Before the Epson TP-80, the first dot matrix printer, daisy wheel printers were the mainstream office printers for computers.

The daisy wheel printer is somewhat similar to the IBMselectric letter ball electric typewriter. However, the daisy wheel printer is different from the IBMselectric letter ball electric typewriter in that it places protruding letters on metal sheets that look like chrysanthemum petals. All the letters The metal sheets form a circle and look like a blooming chrysanthemum, so this type of letter wheel is called a daisy wheel or daisy wheel, and a printer using this structure is called a daisy wheel/daisy wheel printer.

"Forget it," Li Hongfei shook his head: "The price is too expensive, I can't afford it..."