Pre-Color Computer Terminal??

From: Ward Donald Griffiths III <gram_at_cnct.com>
Date: Fri Jun 12 19:58:42 1998

Cord Coslor & Deanna Wynn wrote:

> I was wondering if anyone might have any information on an old
> machine produced by Tandy/Radio Shack. It came out _prior_ to the
> Color Computer, but it looked like a CoCo. However, it was a
> modified with a phone jack in the back for a TV/monitor and ran off
> of a 6809E (???). It basically was a videotext terminal of some
> sort.

It was announced the same day as the Color Computer and was 90% the
same machine. The original Videotex Terminal. Basically, it was a
Color Computer with the Vidtex ROM instead of BASIC and a built-in
DCM-1. IMHO, not one of the company's smartest moves, but it was
announced August 3, 1980 along with the Color Computer, the Pocket
Computer One and the Model III, and I didn't join the company (at a
non-policy-making level) until November 2nd that year.

> If anyone might have some information on this little unit, your help
> in learning more about it, and it's purposes, and maybe some history
> on it, would be much appreciated.

It was more or less a dedicated CompuSlave terminal -- while its
terminal emulation used more-or-less VT-52 commands, its graphic
command set was CompuSlave specific. (CompuServe had a demo page
that looked fine on a Vidtex terminal or a Color Computer with the
ROMPAK, but it was terminally ugly if you accessed it with the
Videotex software for the Mod 1/3 or the Mod 2, as the graphics
were not oriented for monochrome displays -- there was a package
for the Apple II [sold by Radio Shack] but I never saw it in
action]).

> Oh, yeh... an off-topic question? Is this text formatted correctly.
> I had some problems with my mail software and had it completely
> messed up trying to fix the original problem. Anyway, let me know if
> the text is going off the right of your screen or whatever, and if
> my signature box at the bottom of the page is formatted ok, ok? If
> it is, great! If something's wrong, feel free to send a private
> e-mail back to me to let me know ok?

Formatting seems OK from here.
-- 
Ward Griffiths
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows.
Of course, the main reason they cuddle up is to screw somebody else.
				Michael Flynn, _Rogue Star_
Received on Fri Jun 12 1998 - 19:58:42 BST

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