TRS 80 Model III Exatron Stringy Floppy, front panel. Click on image for larger view.

THe Model III Exatron Stringy Floppy is not compatible with the Model 1 version because the model III reserves the memory location the model 1 version needs. For whatever reason, Exatron required that the model III version boot from a wafer. Most wafers have turned to powder at this point so I dare not mess around too much with this one. I was able to boot it up once. Click on image for larger view.

Switching to a 2nd TRS 80 Model III (note the grey text vs. green text on the unit above).... Pictured is the boot screen ROM 4.1.

This photo is a continuation of the boot process. AS you can see menu selection 1 was used to activate the program to copy of the boot wafer. This is important because if you have no boot wafer the Model III version of the stringy floppy system is useless. I accidentally inserted a 6' wafer so I decided to @new (format) the wafer instead. So far I have not been able to make an working copy of the boot wafer. I don't want to erase wafers that have programs on them.

Exatron single Stringy Floppy drive with cover removed. Note the speaker. This speaker works with certain games, a nice feature. Click image for larger view.

On the rear of the Model III version, you find ports for a standard 3-wire cassette cable, as if the wafer drive were a cassette player. The other end attaches to the cassette port of the TRS 80 Model III. Click image for larger view.