new additions: tandy mc10

From: Adam Jenkins <adam_at_merlin.net.au>
Date: Tue Dec 16 11:36:47 1997

>just acquired a little computer called a trs80 model mc-10. at first i though
>it was a timex sinclair variant, but it really seems to be a baby coco. doesnt
>look to be expandable though and of course, i'm missing the ac adaptor. anyone
>have additional info?

I might be able to help - I came across one recently but haven't had the
chance to stop by to pick it up. Anyway, the MC-10 or Micro Color Computer
(I assume they are the same thing here - if I'm wrong please discount any
comments I make here) cost around $120 when first released, and it was
intended to compete with the Timex and VIC-20. (And, I imagine, the TI 99/2
- did any of these ever appear?) I don't know of its success as such, but
as I have only seen the one I suspect it was far from great, especially
considering that it was released late (for a ultra-cheap throw-away
computer) against stiff competition. According to my info, video was 16
lines by 32 characters (uppercase only) with 8 colours. Apparantly there
were also 16 graphics characters. It came with 4k RAM, expandable to 16K,
and used the Motorola 6803. It has sound, but I have no idea about how
good it was, and, as per normal, used cassettes for storage.

They look keen, anyway. The one I am after was marked at $100 - they tried
to tell me that was the price. I doubt it was much more here when new. :) I
managed to talk them down to $15, but that was $14 more than I had on me -
so I need to go back and get one of my own. Maybe this weekend.

Hope that helps,

Adam.
Received on Tue Dec 16 1997 - 11:36:47 GMT