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From: pbrown@monsoon.Berkeley.EDU (Philip Brown)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.m6809
Subject: Re: SHOULD I BUY COCO3 NOW?
Message-ID: <1990Oct20.193811.16562@agate.berkeley.edu>
Date: 20 Oct 90 19:38:11 GMT
References: <1990Oct18.104630.17418@cbnewsl.att.com> <-286509998@hpcupt1.cup.hp.com>
Sender: usenet@agate.berkeley.edu (USENET Administrator)
Reply-To: pbrown@monsoon.Berkeley.EDU (Philip Brown)
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In article <-286509998@hpcupt1.cup.hp.com> stachnik@hpcupt1.cup.hp.com (George Stachnik) writes:
>/ hpcupt1:comp.sys.m6809 / rl@cbnewsl.att.com (roger.h.levy) /  3:46 am  Oct 18, 1990 /
>
>==>  To get the most out of the COCO3, you need to buy their RGB monitor,
>     which (the last time I checked) was about $200.  This is what always
>     made me think twice about upgrading my COCO2...

  While it won't be anywhere near perfect, a GOOD (read very new) color
tv can handle displaying text in 80 columns.  Just always use black on
white as your pallet (a quick way do do this in RS-dos is CLS 5)
the graphics won't be Quite right, but are quite bearable unless you're a
perfectionist.

>	OS9 Level I, C Compiler, Pascal Compiler (all version 1.0 ?)
>===> While this stuff will work on the COCO3, it will not work any better
>     than it did on the COCO2 - i.e. it won't take advantage of memory
>     beyond the 64K line.  To use the (up to) .5 Meg you can pack into 
>     a coco3, you'll need OS9 Level II and you'll probably need to replace
>     some (if not all) of the compiler software.  Make sure you still can.
WRONG!  (well, half wrong)  os9 level I cannot be used on the coco3.
that's what os9 V2.00.00 is for (a total wate of money.  why buy that when
  you can get level 2.00.01 [the "real" level 2, with windows, for roughly the
  same price?!!!)
BUT: all the software, like the compilers, can be used in level 2 (sometimes
  with a few minor patches)

>	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?
    it's a drop-in board, usually populated with 16 16-pin 256chips

>	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?
>===>  If you like Un*x, you'll like OS/9 and its app's.  Personally, I'll
>      stick with my PC until I feel like hacking....
hey.  I resent that.  you don't have to be a hacker in it's proper sense.
similar to UNIX, once you learn the commands, it's easy (and it IS sort of
similar to UNIX in a wierd way.  But the Apps generally aren't as good
as the $X00.00$$ PC applications
>
>	Are there games that will make my 8 year old son stop wishing
>	   for a Nintendo?
>===>  Only until his best buddy at school gets a Nintendo.  Then he'll
>      want one too.  You could have a Cray, and he'd want a Nintendo.
>      This is ghod's honest truth.  Trust me.
  True.  if they had any brains, the kiddies would go with a Turbo-Grafix 16
:->

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