[Coco] BASIC program contest

[Stephen Blunt]

I think the first computer we had was a Sinclair. I don't remember which
model it was but I think it had 2K. This was definitely a "micro"computer. It
was kit that needed all the components soldered onto the pcb. The keyboard
was a tiny touch pad. It included a lot of typing shortcuts ie type P twice
and it would enter PRINT, etc.

Ah, good times...

Stephen Blunt
> 
> Yes, the TS 1000 came with 2K.  The Sinclair ZX81 only had 
> 1k, as near as I remember.
> 
> The ZX80 (from Sinclair) had 1K.  124 bytes of that was 
> reserved for the character set, so you only had 900 bytes for 
> programs and screen memory combined.  When your program got 
> big, the screen started to shrink because memory was used to 
> hold the program.  The goal was to have the screen go 
> completely blank when you hit RUN and pressed enter - that 
> meant you had used 100% of the memory.
> 
> What was really cool is that the machine had one single 8k 
> (bit) x 1 chip, but addressed it to get 1K of RAM.
> 
> Purists will notice the 124 characters for the character set, 
> and point out that ASCII calls for 127.  This machine did not 
> support ASCII, which was one of it's many quirks.
> 
> John
> 
> Didn't the Timex Sinclair 1000 come with 2k? I can't remember.
> 
> I'm really tempted to enter this guy's contest. I think I 
> could do it...
> 
> Fred
> 
> > 2K? That's just masochistic!
> > 
> > Even the first CoCo had 4K. Sheesh...
> > 
> > Not that it couldn't be done... did some home computer ever 
> come with
> > 2k? Historians?
> > 
> > Or is the idea that you run your 2K web browser in one 
> window and your
> > 2K adventure game in the other?
> > 
> > -- John.