Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers (was: OT email response format)

From: Christopher Smith <csmith_at_amdocs.com>
Date: Wed Apr 24 09:36:15 2002

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Erlacher [mailto:edick_at_idcomm.com]

Knowing this it probably more rhetorical:

> I haven't looked at the insides of the COCO2 I've got sitting
> here, but I
> don't see any place for a FDD or a HDD. Are there serial

Yep, that's a problem. Mine had a Floppy controller that plugged
into the cartridge slot. The tape setup wasn't bad either, for the
time.

> ports anywhere that

Yeah, I'm certain there was a serial port, but I can't tell you
about it. It's been a while.

> I can use? How much R/W memory does it have? How do you

R/W memory? It has up to 64k of RAM if that's what you mean. If
it were a CoCo 3, it would have up to 512.

> expand it to do
> something useful?

It's not bad with _only_ the computer, and a disk setup.

> ... see what I mean? You have to do so much to the thing
> that RS sells you
> that it takes up a whole tabletop just to get to what's in
> the PC's box, and

You didn't mention that the PSUs were external on many peripherals
too ;)

> if you compare the price of a typical PC Clone available the
> same year the
> COCO2 was offered, how do they compare in price, avaialble
> software base, etc?

There's lots of software for CoCo, but I don't have numbers.

> With the COCO, you're better off starting from a wirewrap
> panel and a bucket

I think that may be an exaggeration. :)

> of parts, since the video on the COCO is not "up to snuff,"
> i.e. 80x24
> characters-capable. It uses that ridiculous 6847, IIRC, and

Actually, there are applications that do 80x24 in some high-res
video mode, for word processing and the like. I ran at least one
on my CoCo1 with 64k of RAM.

Chris


Christopher Smith, Perl Developer
Amdocs - Champaign, IL

/usr/bin/perl -e '
print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n");
'
 
Received on Wed Apr 24 2002 - 09:36:15 BST