[Coco] Coco2 on eBay without Extended Color Basic ?

[Little John]

Fedor,
I purchased a CoCo 2 when they were being closed out locally around 1985 or 
1986. It did NOT have Extended BASIC. I ordered an Extended BASIC ROM for it 
from CRC (DISTO's Distributor) and upgraded it myself. This particular CoCo 
2 is very likely the single ROM version - it came with an 8K ROM w/Color 
BASIC - the upgrade ROM was a 16K ROM containing both Color BASIC + Extended 
BASIC. There will be jumpers onboard - they must be jumpered to the 128K 
position - this does NOT refer to RAM - it refers to the ROM The Color BASIC 
ROM included will be an 8K 24-pin - the socket is actually 28-Pin and thus 
the need to set the jumpers to the 128Kbit position to take a 27128 
compatible ROM w/ext+color BASIC. You will also notice inside this machine 
that it has four RAM sockets - it takes 64Kx4 DRAM chips (instead of the 
older 64Kx1) - you will also notice a set of memory connectors that allow 
the machine to be upgraded to 64K with a board much like the CoCo 3's 512K 
RAM board. Tandy did this to allow them to upgrade with either four 64Kx4 
RAMS or an RAM upgrade board with eight 64Kx1 RAMS - this allowed them to 
use whatever was cheapest at any given time.
Hope this helps - JohnT
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fedor Steeman" <petrander at gmail.com>
To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 3:02 AM
Subject: [Coco] Coco2 on eBay without Extended Color Basic ?


> Hi all,
>
> I just noticed this eBay auction on my side of the Atlantic, starting (for
> once!) at a reasonable price level (except perhaps for the shipping). It 
> is
> a late model CoCo2, very close to the CoCo3 style, but there is something
> odd about it:
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400167384199
>
> Looking at the startup screen, I can see that it only has Color Basic, not
> Extended! But weren't all these CoCo2 models equipped with Extended? Could
> someone have swapped the ROMs or is it perhaps defect? I may have some 
> spare
> ROM for it, if I would go for it.
>
> Cheers,
> Fedor
>
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