[Coco] Re: [Color Computer] Re: CoCo video?

[Mike Pepe]

Well, not that anyone asked, but let me share my opinion on the "CoCo4" 
debate.

I'm still working on some ideas for high-performance CoCo-ish hardware. 
Not for any real practical purpose, just really for personal 
satisfaction. I think a majority of the CoCo community that is 
generating new and interesting hardware is probably in the same boat. 
Sad as it may seem, I don't really use a CoCo for any "practical" 
purpose anymore.

As a community, what would we like to see? The early 1990's competition 
for the Amiga/Atari ST and the CoCo 4 that never was? It would be nice 
to see, but when I evaluate the work involved to bring it to life, I'm 
not sure I see the point of it. CoCo 3's aren't particularly rare, and 
if you want to run the "real thing" they're readily available. If you 
want to run CoCo software faster, even a discarded PC is more than 
capable of emulating a  CoCo at higher than normal speed.

Here's what I would like to see in a CoCo-replacement:

The main shortcoming of the CoCo in my opinion is that for the most part 
it is a single-tasking system. Aside from OS9 applications, you can't, 
for example, run CoCo Max and a BASIC program at the same time. We need 
a new CPU. Think of what the 386 did to the 8088. Imagine a 32 bit cpu 
that can run 6809/6309 code but with 32 bit extensions, an internal MMU 
, and virtual memory capability. You can create "virtual CoCos" and 
emulate CoCo hardware without having to reverse engineer anything. You 
can run multiple programs at the same time with each believing it is a 
whole machine. A new version of OS9 could be written to take advantage 
of the new CPU. Just think of what the 68k could have been if it were 
compatible with the 6809. Maybe a "68932"

The nice thing about that approach is that it could be emulated and 
prototyped on something like MESS.

No, it's not much different than running multiple MESS windows at the 
same time, but it would satisfy the hardware junkies!

As a community, we can decide if there's any merit in introducing such a 
new architecture. Motorola's not going to dictate how the 6809 would 
have evolved into.