[Coco] Re: Coco Digest, Vol 1, Issue 310

[farna at att.net]

The C-one board does indeed look like the best "upgrade" possibility to a 
CoCo 3. Apparently the FPGA isn't permanently programmed? I'm not that 
familiar with those devices -- I thought they were "burned" sort of like a 
ROM or PAL. What I'm reading in the C-one literature is that the FPGA can be 
programmed on the fly? Okay, I'm way out of touch with electronics... haven't 
messed with any in quite a while, and didn't do much back then... 
The only drawback I see is the $200 price tag -- and that doesn't include a 
real 6809/6309, case, power supply, or other peripherals. Could one of you 
guys write the software to prgram one of these to work like the CoCo but 
still keep the enhancements like PS/2 keyboard and VGA monitor? That would be 
the real issue. And what about CoCo software? If games and such (DECB types) 
won't run on it, is it worth the effort? Surely OS-9 fanatics have better 
resources such as the Amiga 68K boards, other 68K machines, or even OS-
9000??? The only reason I can see an OS-9 person staying with the CoCo as a 
platform is cost, which the C-one doesn't address. You can still find 
complete CoCo3 systems for $200, monitor and all, maybe a bit more -- it 
would cost around $400 for a complete C-one even if software for CoCo 
compatibility was already available. Experimentation is a big issue, but that 
usually circles back to cost. 

Another possibility for the OS-9 users are the 68K Amiga boards also sold by 
some of the C-one suppliers. Isn't there a version of OS-9 for the Amiga? But 
then there's os-9000 too... 

--
Frank Swygert
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