Most liked posts in thread: Researching the TRS-80 Coco 1/2/3 repairs & upgrades and differences between them.

Yes, nice write up Matt. Always remember a range of game ads for the Coco in early UK computer magazines. Think the main character was called Cuthbert.

 

Cheers for the updates, Matt.

So this Coco sits somewhere in size between the 800XL and 1200XL but a fair amount of under the keyboard space is pure fresh air, yeah? Will be interesting to see then how the mobo compares in size with the 600XL, as you say.

Looks in lovely condition so you may well have bagged a near pristine bargain here.

So, just to check on details once more, these beasts have the 6809 CPU within, is that correct, just like the UK Dragon 32/64?

Which, if I remember right, is also mainly casing when you open up...



Keep us posted, Matt, as I'm sure many on here will be gaining a lot of new info on these mythical beasts.

 

Looking good there in the command center, Matt.

The mystery of all those obscure leads is now solved and the previous owner was one time fan of Coco and Ti-99 gear then?

Know what you mean about irritable snags with CRTs.

I have 3-4 (at least) either kicking around in the attic or garage (we always need a spare or 3 don't we?) and every single one has SOMETHING wrong with it.

I kinda recognise the styling of yours and if I do come across any spare remotes I'll let you know.

What make/model is it out of interest?

Nice work continuing to restore, mod and expand your impressive collection, Matt.

 

@Vyper68 , now correct me if I am wrong, but you bought a Dragon 32 and so with the 32K board you'll have 64K like the Dragon 64?

 

Actually, that's a scart port there that I thought was a pass-through, until I realized during close inspection that it's too short to fit an edge connector. That's the problem with only and overhead image...

 

So like an Atari 8-bit NTSC vs. PAL with it's numerous (if not as high per-capita as Coco) high-res games.

I'll think about it, but right now I have two MPI ports with the OojiFlip and the SuperSprite FM+ has sound generator chips on board which can also give a lot of voices/channels if used together and there are already plenty of apps and music players for different formats.

• Yamaha YM2149 Programmable Sound Generator (licensed variant of General Instruments’ AY-3-8910).
• Yamaha YM2413 FM Sound Generation

Not to mention my already having a Pokeymax Quad + COVOX and a Pokeymax 3 on my Atari 8-bits, with all the features below.

• Quad Pokey
• Dual SID
• Dual PSG
• Four channel Covox, with Paula style DMA
• GTIA audio digital pass though

As well as the Dragonfly device for my Atari 7800 which has Dual Pokey's and Covox and Yamaha YM2151 onboard, so really, between those three systems and my Coco 2 & SSFM+ I have all I want and definitely more than need in sound generation possibilities and access to libraries of music for all these different formats.

I doubt I'll want more in the sound department from my Coco 2. For a long while anyway, maybe someday, but the fact is I've been working on hardware for the better part of 2 years, maybe longer, and am on the cusp of finishing some of the backlog and additions I've picked up in the meantime, that in all that time I haven't even explored all the new upgrades and software I've gotten in that time on any of my vintage machines. I've overloaded as it is atm with stuff to explore, and probably next winter before I'll have time to give it all the time and attention it deserves!

I appreciate the offer of the board, but I have to draw the line somewhere of stuff I drop onto this mountain of unused goodies before I bury myself alive and never get to try any of it out. The last item I'm getting for any of my systems for a long while will be the MOOH board for my Coco 2 to fill my one additional MPI/SPI port, which does include the following features, so I will have room for "slave" devices like floppy drives, etc., in the future too, that will use the same MOOH board as the controller. A big reason I chose it over the CocoSDC . Extra memory was another, but I got that with the SSFM+ board. But also compatibility for both MPI and SPI standard peripherals! (just a matter of a jumper or no jumper on two pins and can hot-swap it too!) The OojiFlip also supports both SPI/MPI of course, but only one or the other, SPI with resistors and MPI without, so I leave it as MPI compatible and then can switch to SPI if need be through the MOOH.

• 512 KB RAM, handled by a DAT (dynamic address translator) mostly software compatible with the DAT in the Tandy CoCo 3
• SPI/MPI interface with 4 slaves, one connected to the micro-SD card slot
• ROM socket for 27C512 type EPROMs (64KB)

 

If you are familiar with Dragon computers at all, then you know as much about Coco's too. Graphically on a par with a BBC or Oric I think, sound is minimal without external sound carts. The CPU being a 6809 is a bit harder to compare, but it was a contemporary of the Z80 and 6502 and fits snuggly around them somewhere. But there are tons of new and old upgrades for it. I've got mine upgraded to be on a par with an Atari with VBXE and Pokeymax 3 and extended memory...and about as much software available to make use of the upgrades as the Atari has...