Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer

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TRS-80 Color Computer 1

Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer , also called CoCo, is a series of home computers from the TRS-80 series by Tandy RadioShack . A Motorola 6809- E was used as the processor . Unlike its predecessor, it was able to display color graphics.

Versions

TRS-80 Color Computer 2
Screenshot of a CoCo2 with all available standard characters
CoCo 3 system

Color Computer 1 (1980–1983)

The processor 6809 was clocked with 0.895 MHz and the computer had 4 Kbytes of main memory . It was partially compatible with the Dragon 32 series.

The home computer is connected to a television or monitor and can display nine different colors with 64 × 32 pixels . The highest resolution is 256 × 192, the display is then reduced to monochrome. He initially cost 400 US dollars . Color BASIC was used as the programming language. A datasette or a 5¼-inch floppy disk drive was used for data storage . Unlike the TRS-80 Model 1 , there was also an expansion slot for game modules.

Color Computer 2 (1983–1986)

Technically it is identical to the model 1. The case is smaller, the operating system has been modified and there were more expansion options, as well as 16–64 KByte RAM.

It was priced at $ 240 and the Model 2 came with the OS-9 multitasking operating system.

Color Computer 3 (1986-1991)

This is equipped with 128 KByte RAM (expandable to 512 KByte). The resolution is 640 × 225 pixels with 64 colors.

success

With the TRS-80 Color Computer, Tandy competed in the USA with only moderate success against the Commodore's VC 20 , the Atari home computers and the Commodore 64, despite the nationwide RadioShack sales channel . The Model 3 was even less able to prevail against the emerging 16-bit computers such as the Amiga and Atari ST . The entire TRS-80 series was practically insignificant on the German market, as it could only be obtained from Tandy specialist stores, which were only available in this country between 1983 and 1985 and in very small numbers.

Despite the failure, there were about 1,000 programs for this machine, both applications and games.

See also category: TRS-80 game .

Web links

Commons : TRS-80 Color Computer  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Milestones in Electronics , Electronics Practice, Vogel Communications Group, 2019