[Coco] 8-Bit Microcomputers

[KnudsenMJ at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/25/04 12:06:30 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
neilsmorr at hotpop.com writes:

> Commodore advertised it as their business model. In 2 page spreads
>  they would sell the idea of a cheap computer with expensive
>  accessories only available from their dealers, using the Gillette
>  model of making money on the blades and not the razor. When
>  after-market items came out they would rework their stuff to lock them
>  out.

Its nice to know that some companies (like Commode-door) had even nastier 
approaches to this than Tandy.  We always bad-mouthed Tandy, but that 
industry-standard floppy interface was a real gift, and we didn't waste it!

Also, despite the jokes about Tandy's serial printers and modems, that 
interface was standard RS-232, once you got past the 4-pin DIN connector (which hung 
from the walls in Rad Shack store).  And the manual documented the pinouts.

It is amazing how much good software got written fro the C=64, brain-dead 
6502 and weird peripherals and all.  If half those hackers had put their energies 
into the Coco, oh wow!  --Mike K.