knudsen@ihwpt.UUCP (mike knudsen) (04/07/86)
Last weekend I got some pretty solid rumors over the phone from our Coco club president about the new Coco III. Are you ready? Lower case (at last!!!) and a Shift-Lock key. That's it. 80 columns? 40? 128K? OS9 Level II? Control key? Escape key? Monitor out? UART? Uh-uh. The mountain labored and didn't even bring forth an 8-bit mouse. If TandyShack wanted to make a good computer, they'd copy it from I've Been Maced, right? --mike k "You better hurry up and order one... Our limited supply is very nearly gone."
rsanderson@watale.UUCP (Roger K. Sanderson P.Eng.) (04/10/86)
In article <807@ihwpt.UUCP> knudsen@ihwpt.UUCP (mike knudsen) writes: >Last weekend I got some pretty solid rumors over the >phone from our Coco club president about the new >Coco III. Are you ready? > >Lower case (at last!!!) and a Shift-Lock key. That's it. > >80 columns? 40? 128K? OS9 Level II? Control key? >Escape key? Monitor out? UART? >Uh-uh. That sounds more like one of the Korean CoCo IIs that have been out for a while. I am not sure but I believe I read something in "Rainbow" about a CoCo II that had a lower case Video Display Generator and a slightly different keyboard. We can always hope that this is the case and that the Real CoCo III will be along the rumpored lines of 128k, parallel port etc. -- Roger Sanderson P.Eng. Electrical Engineering Dept. University of Waterloo Waterloo Ontario Canada N2L 5E6 519-885-2122 Ex.6184 {decvax,allegra,ihnp4}!watmath!watale!rsanderson
knudsen@ihwpt.UUCP (mike knudsen) (04/18/86)
[reposted due to backbaone failure here; originally 4/7] Last weekend I got some pretty solid rumors over the phone from our Coco club president about the new Coco III. Are you ready? Lower case (at last!!!) and a Shift-Lock key. That's it. 80 columns? 40? 128K? OS9 Level II? Control key? Escape key? Monitor out? UART? Uh-uh. The mountain labored and didn't even bring forth an 8-bit mouse. If TandyShack wanted to make a good computer, they'd copy it from I've Been Maced, right? --mike k "You better hurry up and order one... Our limited supply is very nearly gone."
ralphw@ius2.cs.cmu.edu.UUCP (04/18/86)
In article <2439@watale.UUCP> rsanderson@watale.UUCP (Roger K. Sanderson P.Eng.) writes: >In article <807@ihwpt.UUCP> knudsen@ihwpt.UUCP (mike knudsen) writes: >>Last weekend I got some pretty solid rumors ... about the new >>Coco III. Are you ready? >> >>Lower case (at last!!!) and a Shift-Lock key. That's it. >> >>80 columns? 40? 128K? OS9 Level II? Control key? >>Escape key? Monitor out? UART? >>Uh-uh. > >That sounds more like one of the Korean CoCo IIs that have been out for a >while. I am not sure but I believe I read something in "Rainbow" >about a CoCo II that had a lower case Video Display Generator and a >slightly different keyboard. >We can always hope that this is the case and that the Real CoCo III >will be along the rumpored lines of 128k, parallel port etc. > Think big! Ask Tandy for a machine with AT LEAST the above features, plus: - A faster 6809 (E version?) - A memory management unit (6821) - 256K memory expandable to 1 Meg onboard (can the 6821 handle this?) - OS9 level II to go with above - A 680X0 coprocessor/high-bandwith expansion port, to provide for moving up to 680X0 OS-9. Imagine! Real multiasking on an Atari ST or Macintosh class machine. (presumably the high-resolution graphics would be on the 68K card) Hopefully Tandy isn't too smug about their IBM Clone successes, and they'll see the need for a Mac/ST/Amiga class machine in the product line. -- - Ralph W. Hyre, Jr. Internet: ralphw@c.cs.cmu.edu (cmu-cs-c.arpa) Usenet: ralphw@mit-eddie.uucp Fido: Ralph Hyre at Net 129, Node 0 (Pitt-Bull) Phone: (412)CMU-BUGS
mc68020@gilbbs.UUCP (Tom Keller) (04/23/86)
In article <331@ius2.cs.cmu.edu>, ralphw@ius2.cs.cmu.edu.UUCP writes: > In article <2439@watale.UUCP> rsanderson@watale.UUCP (Roger K. Sanderson P.Eng.) writes: > >In article <807@ihwpt.UUCP> knudsen@ihwpt.UUCP (mike knudsen) writes: > >>Last weekend I got some pretty solid rumors ... about the new > >>Coco III. Are you ready? > >> > >>Lower case (at last!!!) and a Shift-Lock key. That's it. > >> > >>80 columns? 40? 128K? OS9 Level II? Control key? > >>Escape key? Monitor out? UART? > >>Uh-uh. > > > >That sounds more like one of the Korean CoCo IIs that have been out for a > >while. I am not sure but I believe I read something in "Rainbow" > >about a CoCo II that had a lower case Video Display Generator and a > >slightly different keyboard. > >We can always hope that this is the case and that the Real CoCo III > >will be along the rumpored lines of 128k, parallel port etc. > > > Think big! Ask Tandy for a machine with AT LEAST the above features, plus: > > - A faster 6809 (E version?) The 'E' version of the 6809 is no faster than the regular version. What you are looking for is the 68B09 (2 Mhz clock). > - A memory management unit (6821) The 6821 is a PIA (parallel interface adapter). It can be used for many things, and I suppose it could be used to implement a simplistic memory management system, but I suspect you are confusing this with another Motorola product. > - 256K memory expandable to 1 Meg onboard > (can the 6821 handle this?) > - OS9 level II to go with above > - A 680X0 coprocessor/high-bandwith expansion port, to provide for > moving up to 680X0 OS-9. Imagine! Real multiasking on an Atari ST > or Macintosh class machine. > (presumably the high-resolution graphics would be on the 68K card) > > Hopefully Tandy isn't too smug about their IBM Clone successes, and they'll > see the need for a Mac/ST/Amiga class machine in the product line. Tandy seems to be *VERY* smug about their Messy-DOS clones. Don't count on seeing any significant improvements to existing lines, or additions that are not Messy-DOS compatible. -- Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim any and all responsibility for disclaimers. tom keller {ihnp4, dual}!ptsfa!gilbbs!mc68020 (* we may not be big, but we're small! *)
rb@ccird2 (04/25/86)
In article <331@ius2.cs.cmu.edu> ralphw@ius2.cs.cmu.edu (Ralph Hyre) writes: >In article <2439@watale.UUCP> rsanderson@watale.UUCP (Roger K. Sanderson P.Eng.) writes: >>In article <807@ihwpt.UUCP> knudsen@ihwpt.UUCP (mike knudsen) writes: >>>Last weekend I got some pretty solid rumors ... about the new >>>Coco III. Are you ready? >>>Lower case (at last!!!) and a Shift-Lock key. That's it. >>> >>>80 columns? 40? 128K? OS9 Level II? Control key? >>>Escape key? Monitor out? UART? [nope]. >Think big! Ask Tandy for a machine with AT LEAST the above features, plus: > > - A faster 6809 (E version?) > - A memory management unit (6821) > - 256K memory expandable to 1 Meg onboard > (can the 6821 handle this?) > - OS9 level II to go with above > - A 680X0 coprocessor/high-bandwith expansion port, to provide for > moving up to 680X0 OS-9. Imagine! Real multiasking on an Atari ST > or Macintosh class machine. > (presumably the high-resolution graphics would be on the 68K card) - SCSI interface - so WE can get some of those neat 3'rd party products RS won't produce. - Put the "High Res display adapter" as an accesory. Possibly on the SCSI, then Tandy could sell one "display manager" for all of its machines, and other SCSI based machines. >Hopefully Tandy isn't too smug about their IBM Clone successes, and they'll >see the need for a Mac/ST/Amiga class machine in the product line. Good Ol' Tandy, "Last years technology in next years product". I think they are the only ones left actively producing a 16K, 32Col,16 line, 8bit computer, let alone selling it for the "bargain price" of $70. Then of course, there's that $300 SS/SD disk drive. For $5 more, I can get 64K, 40Colx25line,8 bitter, with more storage. Actually, they have Mac/ST/Amiga class hardware. The model 16, and 6000 are even slightly better (they have REAL memory management). Of course price is no object to Tandy, you can pay as much as they want you to :-). Does the 6000 have high res graphics? Considering the underwhelming support Tandy has given it's other computers, especially the CoCo, I can't see even looking at the $1000 1000. Tandy wants a monopoly on their hardware/software/peripherals. That's OK with me, I'll look elsewhere. For the price of a 1000, I can get almost twice the memory, twice the speed, twice the disk storage, AND DMA. Tandy has a great marketing organisation, but their engineering department seems to come out with a real price/performance innovation about once every 2 years, then abandons it for "more interesting" persuits. Meanwhile, the prices are relatively "fixed" to uncompetitive levels, driving any potential support away. It's too bad Tandy can't go after the small third party developers the way Amiga and Atari did. Can you imagine the benefits of the distribution channels!!! :-). Way to go Tandy :-). Burned once :-(.