The more I read about the coco, the more it seems that it was just a machine that Tandy put together to make some income with, and dumped it as soon as the other computers starting taking off. It's sad that it seems they didn't take the coco serious. It's also a good thing that users of the machine did take it serious and kept it going until today.
I think it really was more a victim of rapidly changing times than a "greedy" move by Tandy, though I agree they could have done a lot more with the platform. I suppose the upcoming book will reveal more about how/why the CoCo came to be.
I agree, Asa.It would be a far better combo. Even better would be if Hitachi had published the capabilities of the 6309 soon enough that Tandy could take advantage of it.
OTOH, I am glad that Motorola moved to the 68000 family. The 6809 is great for what it is, but extending it very much would lead to the same kind of obscenity that is the 80x86 architecture.
Coco 4?
ReplyDelete256 colors ?
ReplyDeleteThe Color Computer Deluxe.
ReplyDeleteSuper Color Scripsit IV
ReplyDeleteThe more I read about the coco, the more it seems that it was just a machine that Tandy put together to make some income with, and dumped it as soon as the other computers starting taking off. It's sad that it seems they didn't take the coco serious. It's also a good thing that users of the machine did take it serious and kept it going until today.
ReplyDeleteI think it really was more a victim of rapidly changing times than a "greedy" move by Tandy, though I agree they could have done a lot more with the platform. I suppose the upcoming book will reveal more about how/why the CoCo came to be.
DeleteMight it have something to do with the 68000/6809 Tandy Model 6000 that was never put into production?
ReplyDeleteI always thought that was a better combo than the 68000/Z80.
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I agree, Asa.It would be a far better combo. Even better would be if Hitachi had published the capabilities of the 6309 soon enough that Tandy could take advantage of it.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, I am glad that Motorola moved to the 68000 family. The 6809 is great for what it is, but extending it very much would lead to the same kind of obscenity that is the 80x86 architecture.