Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!uunet!mcrware!jejones
From: jejones@mcrware.UUCP (James Jones)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.m6809
Subject: Re: COCO upgrade
Message-ID: <4974@mcrware.UUCP>
Date: 8 Feb 91 13:11:33 GMT
References: <sbfCfTe00WB60DN1sG@andrew.cmu.edu> <1991Feb7.142856.10328@engin.umich.edu> <1991Feb7.164611.29356@cbnewse.att.com>
Reply-To: jejones@mcrware.UUCP (James Jones)
Distribution: na
Organization: Microware Systems Corp., Des Moines, Iowa
Lines: 41

In article <1991Feb7.164611.29356@cbnewse.att.com> gmark@cbnewse.att.com (gilbert.m.stewart) writes:
>There's a question.  Why?  It seems to be a pretty useful unit for a
>COCO, so why are they hard to find?  BTW, am I going to need a MP
>to use the hi-res box?  How does it interface?  Can I use the old "Y"
>connector I used on my COCOMAX I hi-res pack?

They're hard to find because Tandy stopped making them a while back
(and perhaps didn't have as big a stockpile as they had of CoCos).
At least a couple of companies make hardware that can be used in place
of an MPI.  (You *do* get RAINBOW magazine, don't you?)

The high-res joystick/mouse interface that Tandy sells plugs right into
the cassette I/O and joystick ports.

(BTW, Y-cables are heavily contraindicated in some circles.  Given the
unbuffered nature of the connector on the CoCo, I would think that one
should at least secure the Y-cable very well if one uses it.  Note also
that if one uses a Y-cable, the cartridges are drawing power from the
CoCo 3's internal power supply, instead of using a separate power source
such as is in the MPI or its substitutes.)

>Lastly, why are COCO-IIIs so cheap?  Cheaper to produce, on the way out,
>or is COCO-IV coming out?

I wouldn't be surprised if it were cheaper to produce--lower part count,
what with GIME replacing the old SAM/VDG (and perhaps there are other
examples of custom chips--I'm not a hardware dude).  Also Tandy evidently
has discontinued the CoCo 3 (so if you're going to buy one, you'd better
hurry).

A CoCo 4?  Highly unlikely, I'd say.  The change in status to discontinued
is fairly recent, but for a long time, I've personally seen no evidence of
Tandy's having made any effort to do anything for the CoCo, and with one
exception, the Radio Shack salesmen I've seen have not given evidence of
knowing much about the CoCo.

(I add here that all I know is what I read in the papers, opinions expressed
above are solely my own, and that I know no more about Tandy than the
average man in the street.)

	James Jones