Tandy's Little Wonder, the Color Computer 1979-1991
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Tandy's Little Wonder, The Color Computer 1979-1991 A complete history and reference guide to the CoCo and all related hardware, software, and support sources. by F.G. Swygert published by FARNA Systems "the FARNA Fox!" writing conventions used in this book.... In the course of writing, some standards were set so as not Jameco Electronics to confuse the reader. 1355 Shoreway Road Belmont, CA 94002 * Hardware modifications, upgrades, and repairs are Order phone 415-592-8097, call for catalog. $20 minimum referred to throughout this book. At times, the references order plus 5% shipping and handling. Catalog usually has given may not seem clear. They are written in such a way that some IC pin-out information and RAM/EPROM cross ref- a person with some understanding of electronics and the erence... good reference source. CoCo can easily figure out what to do. If you do not understand the directions, you probably should not at- * The following abbreviations are used: tempt the operation alone... get help! THE AUTHOR, A/L - Assembly Language PUBLISHER, NOR PRINTER ARE RESPONSIBLE IN ANSI - American National Standards Institute ANY FASHION FOR THE RESULTS OF ANY ASCII - American Standard for Computer Information In- PROJECTS OR REPAIRS MENTIONED IN THIS terchange BOOK, TO INCLUDE BODILY HARM, LOSS OF BASIC - Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code EQUIPMENT, OR LOSS OF DATA! BPS - Bits Per Second CCx - Color Computer, x = 1, 2, or 3 * All references to hexadecimal addresses are written as CMOS - Complimentary Metal Oxide Silicon (chip con- “&Hxxxx”. The “&H” is used to precede the actual hexa- struction) decimal value when poking into memory to let the computer CoCo - Color Computer know the value will be in hexadecimal. Some other texts use CPU - Central Processing Unit (actual processor chip) a dollar sign ($) in front of a value to mark it as being DECB - Disk Extended Color BASIC hexadecimal, others use an asterics (*) or don’t mark it at all, DOS - Disk Operating System as eight bit hexadecimal values usually contain numbers and DRAM - Dynamic RAM letters. EDTASM or EDT/ASM - Editor/Assembler, usually the Tandy product * When Radio Shack lists an item mentioned in their EMAIL or E-Mail - Electronic Mail catalog (especially parts), the part number will be listed in EPROM - Electronicly Programmable Read Only Memory parentheses. This is not to encourage patronage of Radio GIME - Graphics, Interrupt, Memory Enhancement (chip, Shack, but there is a Radio Shack in or near almost every in CC3) town across the U.S. One would be better served to find an GUI - Graphic User Interface electronics parts store with a better small parts stock then IC - Integrated Circuit (a “chip”) RS, or mail order parts from one of the following: I/O - Input/Output M/L - Machine Language All Electronics Corp. MPI - Multi-Pak Interface P.O. Box 567 MS - Milli-Seconds (millionths of a second) Van Nuys, CA 91408 MS-DOS - MicroSoft Disk Operating System Order phone 1-800-826-5432, call for catalog. Minimum NMOS - Negative Metal Oxide Silicon (chip construction) order is $10 plus $3.50 shipping and handling. OS - Operating System OS-9 - Operating System (for the 680)9 Mouser Electronics PIA - Peripheral Interface Adapter 2401 Hwy 287 North PCB - Perforated Circuit Board Mansfield, TX 76063 P/S or PS - Power Supply Phone 817-483-4422, call or write for catalog. RAM - Random Access Memory, usually meaning DRAM ROM - Read Only Memory Digi-Key Corp. RS - Rat Shack... er... Radio Shack (division of Tandy Corp.) P.O. Box 677 SAM - Synchronous Address Multiplexer Thief River Falls, MN 56701-0677 SECB - Super Extended Color BASIC Order phone 1-800-344-4539. No minimum order, mini- SIG - Special Interest Group mum shipping charge of $5 (no shipping if order over $25). SP - Slot Pak (also used for Slot Pak II) No Motorola chips listed, but will supply non-listed items if VDG - Video Display Generator available. Volume discounts for orders over $100. VOM - Volt and Ohm Meter (multimeter) WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get (and probably others not listed!) page 4 Tandy's Little Wonder Introduction... Alfredo Santos, December 1990 While skimming through the pages of a popular Color Computer magazine recently, my thoughts traveled back through the 12 years of Color Computer history. Back to a time when there was NOTHING. I recalled the events leading up to my introduction to this wonderful machine. It seems like only yesterday... Christmas morning 1980: Pam, my wife, must have known that I was very interested in getting a computer because, there, under the tree was the new Mattell Intellevision!? Pam bought that machine due, in part, to the computer capabilities the unit would have with a keyboard console, scheduled for release in the spring. After several days of gunning down waves of aliens, we both suffered from blurred eye sight, blistered fingers, lack of sleep, and video game burn out. Spring seemed so far away. A couple weeks after Christmas, I came across an ad in the New York Daily News for a new Radio Shack computer which, like the Intellevision, had game cartridge capabilities, an important feature because, if I didn’t like computing, I could always go back to cleaning up the galaxy. For the refund price of the Intellevision (sorry Pam) plus another $150, I had enough money to purchase the new TRS-80 Color Computer. I celebrated the arrival of an early "spring". It was January 9th, 1981. It seems like only yesterday....... This project was, to say the least, a labor of love. Every attempt was made to ensure an accurate account of the Color Computer’s evolution. Extensive use of various computer magazine articles and ads were used as the basis for "dating" events. This "dating" method was used because most of us probably heard about various developments through these sources. Keep in mind, however, that sometimes ads can precede product availability by as much as a month or more. Those of you who ordered the very first "Super 'Color' Writer" program from Nelson Software know what I mean. Other information sources included printouts and files from old bulletin board sessions, telephone interviews, and correspondence with various users. Before starting, let me just say that, while looking through the numerous back issues for Color Computer information, a strange thing started happening. Remember that frustrated feeling, of the early years, when YOU looked for Color Computer information and none could be found? It all started coming back to me....... Francis G. Swygert, March 1993 Al graciously allowed me to use his existing text which was written for submission to The Rainbow Magazine. Rainbow decided not to print it, so Al released it to the public over Delphi (a major computer database). Als’ format and style were used pretty much intact for the history portion of this book, though heavily edited and added to in places by myself. The original text only went up to June of 1986. All history text after that date and all additional information was written by myself (except where noted). Many thanks goes to Al and the other contributors! I can also echo Als’ opening statement: this project was definitely borne out of a love for the little computer we affectionately call CoCo.. It is also important to remember just how this text is written. This was not intended to be a definitive history. Indeed, it is the authors’ belief that the CoCo is far from being relegated to history as of yet. Instead, the history portion is more of an overview of what has happened in the life of the CoCo over the years, almost a "time line" type of chronology. The entire book itself is a complete CoCo reference book... the "CoCo bible", so to speak.. Don’t let the past tense used in the text fool you. It was deemed the best way to present the majority of the history and was used throughout for uniformity. Many of the later products were still available and supported by the authors and distributors at the time this was written. They simply don’t get enough response to maintain advertising costs. So go ahead and write- ask for information! The only cost will be a stamp- is that to much for your CoCo? Tandy's Little Wonder page 5 Color Computers and yes, Virginia, some jumpered C- CoCo History boards were sold. Tandy, meanwhile, was rumored to have a quality control hold on the Color Computer following sev- From Birth to the Present... eral reported failures after only a few hours of operation. HOW THE COCO WAS BORN: '68 Micro Journal published the first data sheets for the The initial Tandy/Motorola connection occurred sometime new MC6883 (SAM) chip in November, but there were few in the mid-70s when the two were invited by the U.S. Color Computer owners out there to read it. Radio Shack, at National Weather Service to assist in developing a "weather the same time, released the first Color Computer software. radio" system. In 1977, a year after starting talks with This ROM-Pak cartridge software included Chess, Check- Motorola about the possibility of designing a low-cost ers, Quasar Commander, Personal Finance, and a Diagnostic home computer that could be hooked up to a regular TV set, Pack. By the time December rolled around, there was a 16K Tandy was invited to participate in an agricultural experi- upgrade available from Radio Shack, Which would be re- ment. Project "Green Thumb", as it was called, would employ quired for the delayed Extended Color Basic ROM, which information retrieval to give farmers data, updated hourly by was only a month away from introduction.