It's time for a little "computer archaeology."
Other than pictures in
"CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer" and a showing at the VCF East 9.1 (April 4-6, 2014 in Wall, New Jersey) and the 23rd Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST (April 24-25, 2014 in Lombard, Illinois), the Deluxe Color Computer has not been seen in the wild. There are two that I know of in existence, and both are in my possession. One is in better shape than the other, and that's the one I brought to the above events.
Chatter on Facebook about a "better CoCo 2" brought me to the idea of finally taking this beauty out of the cabinet she lives in and show her to the world. There is no technical or service manual available anywhere that I know of. The web is rife with speculation about what's in it, so I figured it's time to delve into the details. Who knows where this will lead...
For this post, I'll show pictures of the case.
The Top
The top case looks exactly like the case from a 64K Color Computer. In fact, I think that's exactly what it is. The indention for the badge features prominently in the middle, and the side vents on the left and right match those of a 64K Color Computer case.
The label "CC-23" taped to the top is of unknown significance, but I speculate that it has something to do with where it came from. The provenance of this computer is revealed in the above mentioned book, so I won't give it away here.
The layout of the keys indicate the keyboard to be just like a CoCo 3, but with a black bezel instead of the familiar grey on the CoCo 3. Radio Shack sold keyboards like this in baggies for a time, and it's widely speculated that those keyboards were salvaged from the scrapped Deluxe Color Computers in order to get some value out of the aborted computer. I tend to concur with this explanation.
The Top (Underneath)
There's always something interesting to glean when you see handwritten markings. Underneath the top case and written in red permanent marker are two pieces of information:
SNI JN
5-11-83
The dashes between the dates are actually dots, but it's clear this was marked on April 11, 1983.
The Bottom
The bottom is nothing spectacular. No serial number sticker, no manufacturing code or location, nothing... The only thing there are the common rubber feet. Again, the screw holes and vent holes match that of the bottom of a 64K Color Computer case.
Turning over the bottom and looking at the inside of the bottom case reveals another set of markings:
NB3
5/2/83
KJW
This date is 9 days earlier than the one written on the inside top of the case. Again, the significance isn't clear, but KJW appears to be someone's initials. This more than likely is documentation of some type of quality assurance check -- a "stamp of approval" if you will.
The Back
The back of the Deluxe Color Computer clearly indicates new hardware features. Again, it's clear that the case itself derives from the 64K Color Computer, and I've stacked one on top in this photo to illustrate this:
It's obvious that the back-top of the Deluxe Color Computer case had to be cut to accommodate the new connectors. In addition to the omnipresent RF modulator, there's composite audio/video and a 9 pin port. Cassette, serial, and joystick ports are where they normally are, as well as power and reset (the power button is missing its black cap on the Deluxe Color Computer).
