Newsgroups: comp.sys.m6809
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnewsl!rl
From: rl@cbnewsl.att.com (roger.h.levy)
Subject: SHOULD I BUY COCO3 NOW?
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 90 10:46:30 GMT
Message-ID: <1990Oct18.104630.17418@cbnewsl.att.com>
Keywords: coco os9
Lines: 34

I've noticed that Radio Shack is selling the CoCo 3 for $100 this month.
Is this a good time to buy or is the machine being phased out?  I am
interested in knowing if I can do some useful things with OS9 on a very
limited budget.  I have the following:
	CoCo 2
	J&M floppy controller
	2 double sided floppy drives
	TV as monitor
	OS9 Level I, C Compiler, Pascal Compiler (all version 1.0 ?)
Everything is 7-8 years old and has seen limited use.  If I can use it,
I have a surplus 20 Meg HD removed from my PC.  What is the lowest cost
route to a usable, but unspectacular, level II system?  Some questions:
	Do I upgrade to 512K by chip replacement, e.g. replace 16
	   4164 with 16 41256?  What speed?  I have surplus 41256.
	   Can I get more than 512K and do I need it?
	Is a hard disk as necessary as it has become for PC systems?
	Are there applications that I'll really like better than what
	   I have on a PC (e.g. Lotus, Wordperfect, DBase) or is the
	   attraction primarily hacker appeal?
	Can the programming environment really compete with C, C++,
	   Codeview, vi, Brief, MKS Toolkit, etc. available for the PC?
	Can I still get the software I need?  I know about the list
	   server at Princeton.  Can I get by cheaply?
	Are there games that will make my 8 year old son stop wishing
	   for a Nintendo?
	Is color graphics a big part of the attraction?  Will I be
	   unhappy with a monochrome setup?
	How will performance compare to my XT-style PC with a 12 MHz
	   '286 accelerator board?
Thanks for any response.  Sorry for the novice questions that have
probably been asked before but I haven't been reading this group.

Roger Levy
rl@groucho.att.com