akermanis@troa02.dec.com (01/23/89)
I hear that the COCO III is dead in Canada and has 1-2 years life left in the U.S.. I also hear that there are no plans to replace this powerful piece of hardware either. The COCO III's size and purchase price has always been 'Good Bang For The Buck' and this combined with OS-9 Level II leave the MS-DOS machines dead in their tracks in my opinion. For a machine that sold so well, I kind of wonder why Tandy is dumping the COCO ? Is the COCO so good that Tandy's other inferior MS-DOS machines are being threatened ? Oh well, the COCO III will remain as my work horse for some time. When I do move on to another, it shall be something else other than a Tandy machine. John
reyn@trsvax.UUCP (01/24/89)
I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but Tandy's "other inferior" MS-DOS machines aren't too seriously threatened by the CoCo. Soon you'll be able to buy them with DEC or Panasonic nameplates if you don't want to be seen in a Radio Shack. As for "dumping" products ... to my great amazement we still sell Model 4s, and the CoCo is still even advertised on T.V. As long as it makes a profit, I doubt if it will disappear. Remember how much Steve Jobs wanted to get rid of the Apple II? Machines live or die based on the amount of good software available for them. We all know that the IBM P.C. doesn't rank too highly on the basis of its hardware. So if you love the CoCo, write some great software :-) I think OS-9 may extend the CoCo's life, especially since CD-ROM uses it. But then again, by the time you buy all of the necessary peripherals, the CoCo isn't so cheap anymore. How much have you invested in your system? I don't do CoCo software myself, but alot of the people who did Personal Deskmate for the CoCo are still around, and they really enjoyed working with it. For you trivia buffs, Tandy's first graphically based DeskMate was written for the CoCo, not the MS-DOS machines. As usual the opinions expressed here aren't Tandy's fault. John Reynolds
greggt@VAX1.CC.UAKRON.EDU (Gregg Thompson) (01/27/89)
In article <193300093@trsvax> reyn@trsvax.UUCP writes: > > >I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but Tandy's "other inferior" MS-DOS machines >aren't too seriously threatened by the CoCo. Soon you'll be able to buy them >with DEC or Panasonic nameplates if you don't want to be seen in a Radio Shack. > Please correct me if I am wrong but my brother says that the "tandy" machines being sold by DEC will only be produced by tandy NOT designed by Tandy. He got this straight from the Tandy press release. -- To live is to die, to die is to live forever; GRegg Thompson Where will you spend eternity? greggt@vax1.cc.uakron.edu
laverman@prismab.prl.philips.nl (Bert Laverman) (01/27/89)
In article <193300093@trsvax> reyn@trsvax.UUCP writes: > >As for "dumping" products ..to my great amazement we still sell Model 4s, YOU STILL SELL THEM?!?!?!?!? (Threatening total breakdown from pure and utter amazement) Some 2 years ago Tandy stopped selling them in The Netherlands. There were even some firms that bought the Tandy stocks for fantastic discount rates and upgraded/sold them to - stil willing - public. I myself bought one like that. Brought them my Model 3 (with my own TEAC 80Tks DS drive), got back a Model 4 with everything over the CPU board transplanted and 128K RAM. It had the lowest serial number I ever saw, but it works and was worth the price. (1/3 of what Tandy was asking for a new one) I have since added a graphics card (compatible, but Dutch-users group design) and a second drive replacement, and it has kept me from buying some brain-damaged PC. (no offence ment for users, just the type of computer) At this moment you will cause utter amazement and hilarity if you expect Tandy to have ANYTHING for the Model 4, be it hardware - even spare parts - or software. ("TRS-DOS, is that some special MS-DOS version?") You can be considered lucky if you even FIND a shop with sombody that knows what a Model 4 is. 3 Years ago it cost me some 8 MONTHS to get a replacement for the 'K' key of my Model 3. > > John Reynolds Bert Laverman P.a. Dilgtweg 14 9751 NG Haren The Netherlands # Disclaimer: # I don't exist, # I don't speak for my employer, # I never posted this.
tech@auvax.UUCP (Richard Loken) (01/31/89)
From article <8901231329.AA10884@decwrl.dec.com>, by akermanis@troa02.dec.com: > I hear that the COCO III is dead in Canada and has 1-2 years life left in > the U.S.. I also hear that there are no plans to replace this powerful piece > of hardware either. The CoCo III is listed in the 1989 Canadian Radio Shack catalogue along with its accessories so don't bury it too quickly. It is noteworthy that the Model IV has not been listed in Canada since about 1986 but it is still sold in the USA so the markets are not identical. We don't have the new Radio Shack 10 metre ham rig listed up hare either. Sigh. Since this is an article about old products (mostly) does any one know off hand if National Parts still has a print head for a Lineprinter III and what the price range is? And.... I got US National Parts to send me a photo copy of the TRS80 Model II technical manual but it didn't include the schematics or the manuals for oem stuff like the disc drives. Is this an oversight that I should complain about or normal behaviour? ********* 73 ********** Richard Loken VE6BSV . **** .. **** Athabasca University .... **** Athabasca, Alberta Canada ..........**** alberta!auvax
tif@cpe.UUCP (02/08/89)
Written 9:39 pm Jan 26, 1989 by VAX1.UUCP!greggt in cpe:comp.sys.tandy >Please correct me if I am wrong but my brother says that the "tandy" machines >being sold by DEC will only be produced by tandy NOT designed by Tandy. He >got this straight from the Tandy press release. I think there were words like "to DEC specifications" and "under DEC supervision." I think that's a cute way of saying they'll run a QC on what we ship them and they'll make sure our specs are up to their specs. Disclaimer: This is merely an individuals interpretation of the Press release and should not be construed as "official" information regarding the Tandy-DEC dealings. i.e. I don't know what in the * I'm talking about. Paul Chamberlain Computer Product Engineering, Tandy Corp. {killer | texbell}!cpe!tif
reyn@trsvax.UUCP (02/10/89)
The model 4D is listed in the 1989 Radio Shack catalog number 432, page 173. It sells for $1199.00 (U.S. dollars). I have no idea how you can get one in the Netherlands. John Reynolds DeskMate Type Programmer Tandy R&D in beautiful Ft. Wuth
pa1044@sdcc15.ucsd.edu (pa1044) (02/12/89)
In article <193300098@trsvax> reyn@trsvax.UUCP writes: >The model 4D is listed in the 1989 Radio Shack catalog number 432, page 173. >It sells for $1199.00 (U.S. dollars). Ah yes, but until February 20, you can get one for the bargain price of only US$599.00! And all software 25% off! Of course, that's only at authorized U.S. Radio Shack dealers, which still doesn't solve the problem of getting it to the Netherlands . . . -- John C. Fowler, pa1044@iugrad2.UCSD.EDU (I could list others, but why?) Disclaimer: Could you imagine the ramifications if the Regents of the University of California held MY opinions? --