The Laser 100/110 was the first model of the Laser 100/200/300 family.
The ROM was nearly identical to the one of the Tandy Radio-Shack TRS-80 Color Computer, with only minor changes. It's so close that when people write Laser emulators, they use TRS-80 CoCo ROM documentations (Laser detailed documentations are hard to find, especially about the ROM itslef).
The Basic was a Microsoft Basic just slightly modified to avoid lawsuits, some statements being stored in the ROM but not available on the machine!
Like the most of the Vtech products, the Laser 100/110 was "cheaply" conceived: chicklet keyboard, plastic case, light-weight... It was produced to compete against the first wave of micro-computers like the famous Sinclair ZX-81.
The difference between the Laser 100 and the Laser 110 must be the RAM size (like the Laser 200 and 210), though very little information on the Laser 100 is available.
The biggest difference with its big brother the Laser 200 was that it only had a black & white display.
An obscure VZ-100 version was also released but this wasn't the same machine as the VZ series sold in Australia and New-Zealand by Dick Smith Electronics.
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More information about the BASIC ROM from James Diffendaffer:
Actually, the Laser 100/110 (and VZ200/300 etc...) are TRS-80 Model 1
clones (also Z80 machines). The major difference is in the use of the
6847 video chip which is also used in the TRS-80 Color Computer (based on the
6809 so it's ROMs wouldn't be suitable).
The ROMs are a very close copy of the Model 1 with patches for different
hardware (video for example). They use a different line editor than
Tandy; and to help keep Tandy off their back, designers intentionally
disabled some ROM routines in the BASIC function tables so it wouldn't
be 100% compatible. Some of the routines were easily re-enabled by
patching the ROM vector table (pointers in RAM to the ROM routines).
People writing emulators use the COCO docs for the video chip but most
of the ROM docs are based on the Model 1. It's common to use the Model
1 ROM disassembly.
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please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.
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Laser 100 was a TRS-80 copy, unlike the 200 In the 200 the ROMs are changed substantially and the memory locations are different. The extra commands equivalent to level II Tandy Basic on the 200 (which are in the extra 8 kb of the BASIC ROM) are different and were coded by VTech, they are not direct copies.
The 100 afaik was not sold outside of the far east because it would violate Tandy''s copyrights.
BTW, is there any reason why the VTech Creativision (aka Dick Smith Wizzard) is not listed ? They were a lot more common than the Laser 100.
Tuesday 24th August 2021
John (australia)
Laser 100 was a TRS-80 copy, unlike the 200 In the 200 the ROMs are changed substantially and the memory locations are different. The extra commands equivalent to level II Tandy Basic on the 200 (which are in the extra 8 kb of the BASIC ROM) are different and were coded by VTech, they are not direct copies.
The 100 afaik was not sold outside of the far east because it would violate Tandy''s copyrights.
BTW, is there any reason why the VTech Creativision (aka Dick Smith Wizzard) is not listed ? They were a lot more common than the Laser 100.
Tuesday 24th August 2021
ohn (australia)
Laser 100 was a TRS-80 copy, unlike the 200 In the 200 the ROMs are changed substantially and the memory locations are different. The extra commands equivalent to level II Tandy Basic on the 200 (which are in the extra 8 kb of the BASIC ROM) are different and were coded by VTech, they are not direct copies.
The 100 afaik was not sold outside of the far east because it would violate Tandy''s copyrights.
BTW, is there any reason why the VTech Creativision (aka Dick Smith Wizzard) is not listed ? They were a lot more common than the Laser 100.
Tuesday 24th August 2021
ohn (australia)
NAME
LASER 100/110
MANUFACTURER
Video Technology
TYPE
Home Computer
ORIGIN
Hong Kong
YEAR
1983
BUILT IN LANGUAGE
Microsoft Basic
KEYBOARD
QWERTY, 45 rubber keys Basic instructions and graphic symbols
CPU
Z80A
SPEED
3,58 Mhz
CO-PROCESSOR
Motorola 6847 video processor
RAM
Laser 100 = 2 KB or 8 KB? Laser 110 = 4 KB or 8 KB ? Upgradable to 64 KB
ROM
16 KB
TEXT MODES
32 columns x 16 lines (Mode 0)
GRAPHIC MODES
128 x 64 dots (Mode 1)
COLORS
Monochrome
SOUND
Beeper, 1 voice & 3 octaves
SIZE / WEIGHT
29 (W) x 17 (D) x 4 (H) cm / 800g
I/O PORTS
Tape-recorder (600 bauds), RF tv out, Composite video out, Memory upgrade port, Expansion port
