[Coco] CPU speed in MIPS

[wdg3rd at comcast.net]

Diego, display speed can be a big factor in demonstrations.  I did my Color Computer vs. Tandy 1200 demos with a long loop of trigonometric functions, no display until the end (otherwise folks thought MDA/CGA display was a factor in the lousy performance of the 8088).  The Color Computer always won and with better accuracy even without sluggish IBM-compatible displays.  This was at normal 900KHz on the CoCo and the 4.77MHz speed on the 1200.  These demonstrations did _not_ please managers [I was an RSCC tech support rep in those days] until they found out the hard way about the warranty repair problem with the 1200 and they really didn't want to sell any more of those garbage machines.  (For some reason, the same poor performance didn't affect their enthusiastic acceptance of the Tandy 1000, idiots, but at least the 1000 didn't need to have as many mobos replaced under a warranty that came straight off of the store manager's bottom line).

This was back in the days when Steve Bjork's soon-to-be wife and my ex-wife (different women) were field service engineers for Radio Shack in Los Angeles County (for a while working out of the same shop).  I'd call it a small world except I've dealt with far larger "coincidences" at far greater distances in space and time.  Most at best peripherally connected with the computer industry and all before Google, which makes nothing a coincidence.

Diego, we have to get together over a beer.  I'm just up in Kearny (Exit 15W).  Do you plan to attend the TCF or VCF-East this year (both in the next month or so)?   Yes, I know you have a problem with the renamed INS [I can't keep track of what initials these idiots are using this week] still around your throat, so I don't know what your "allowed" sphere of activity is.  But I want to buy you a beer.  I have a bunch of Color Computer kit in the basement I'm merely _planning_ to get to (no way I'll let go of it, which causes marital friction) when I have time (outside of working a day job and planning a restaurant), you're actually doing stuff with yours, like developing.  (Well, there's the one Coco in the living room, but my wife thinks that Doubleback, Dungeons of Daggorath and Megabug are too young for me).
-- 
Ward Griffiths    wdg3rd at comcast.net

The reason folks don't think of installing Windows as a painful experience is roughly the same reason men don't think of childbirth as a painful experience.      Mike, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/30/letters_3003/

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Diego Barizo <diegoba at adinet.com.uy>
> I've got a few numbers from the wikipedia, but most are of "modern" CPUs
> I know about the issues that comparing MIPS present, but I don't think 
> that there are many ways to compare computers from the 80s.
> Anyway, I did some BASIC tests, and came up with some unexpected results
> 
> 
> 	FOR to 10000 	A+1 to 5000 	? “A”*1000 	Goto next 5000 	Gosub 	
> IF/THEN 
> Average
> Tandy 1100 	7 	10 	21 	5 	7 	10 	10
> CoCo2 Poke 	11 	18 	7 	8 	11 	30 	14.17
> CoCo3 Poke 	11 	16 	15 	9 	13 	24 	14.67
> Vic-20 	13 	42 	20 	9 	14 	32 	21.67
> Apple //c 	13 	31 	21 	10 	13 	32 	20
> CoCo2 	15 	24 	10 	11 	15 	40 	19.17
> CoCo3 	22 	31 	31 	19 	26 	47 	29.33
> Atari 800XL 	24 	26 	20 	20 	25 	22 	22.83
> Model III 	27 	38 	24 	21 	29 	36 	29.17
> Model 100 	32 	39 	50 	20 	24 	36 	33.5
> 
> 
> Surprisingly, the high speed poke turns a sluggish CoCo into a PC killer 
> (The T.1100 laptop)
> The poor rating on the Print test for the CoCo 3 is because I used one 
> of the hi-res text modes.
> But anyway, the CoCo3 seems slower than a 2. Might be because the 3 is 
> always in "all RAM"?
> 
> Diego
> 
> 
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