[Coco] MC-10 mistakes was Re: [Color Computer] What's wrong with this Picture

[Charlie]

Count me as one of those 4 or 5 people, James. :-)

I love VMC-10. Every new version is better than the last.

Charlie



--- In ColorComputer at yahoogroups.com, "James the Animal Tamer" 
<emucompboy at y...> wrote:

> 

> > James and all,

> > IMHO the worst mistake Tandy made with the MC-10 was putting the 

> > hard-wired BASIC ROM system hooks between the video RAM and the 

> program 

> > RAM. This relegated medium res graphics to assembly only as BASIC 

> would 

> > crash if one tried to increase video RAM in BASIC. If they had put 

> the 

> > video RAM directly adjacent to the program RAM one could change 

the 

> > bottom or top of the BASIC program space to add RAM to the video 

as 

> one 

> > did on the big CoCos.

> 

> Yup, you're right about all that!

> 

> 

> > As far as I know the only way to increase the video RAM was to 

> actually 

> > add real 4K of physical RAM below the video RAM space; I've been 

> trying 

> > to find the instructions to do this for 20 years. I was in touch 

> with 

> > the Green Mountain Micro guy Dennis Kitz (sp?) for a time and he 

> > promised to look up the details for me. But I lost his email 

> address in 

> > a hard drive crash.

> 

> There was one fellow in the MC-10 club who did things like this... 

> don't remember his name.  But, with such a mod, the computer 

wouldn't 

> exactly be an MC-10 any more.

> 

> BTW, the Alice 32 and Alice 90 don't have this problem.  But then, 

> they're not MC-10 any more.

> 

> 

> > I loved the MC-10 in 1983 and still do. The MicroColor BASIC 1.0 

on 

> it 

> > ran at least 50% faster than on the big CoCos.

> 

> 'sides, the CoCos had the "double the clock speed" poke.

> 

> > It taught me most of what 

> > I know about hacking and assembly. I converted or wrote many 

> programs 

> > for it including a spreadsheet, word processor, 

> > graphics/drawing/printing program, educational and demo programs, 

> etc. 

> > in 1983-85 but no one seems to be interested in them even now...

> 

> I'm interested.  Digitize those tapes (WAV, stereo, 8-bit, 44100 

> samples/second), and mail 'em to me or use the casinlog program to 

> make them .CAS, and I'll have them on the next update of VMC-10.  

> Share your work with the world (well, actually, with the four or 

five 

> people who would download the next VMC-10)!






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