[Coco] Remembering the Deluxe Color Computer....

[Rogelio Perea]

On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 4:22 AM, Nick Marentes wrote:

>From a video display point of view, the CoCo 1/2 was pitiful and archaic
> compared to most of the competing computers of the time (not counting budget
> systems like the sinclair).


I recall going to a store back in 1980 and they had both a TI 99/4A and a
VIC-20 on display - the local Radio Shack was on the same shopping mall and
it was easy and convenient to compare the machines. Since the beginning the
CoCo's limited 32x16 text display was a winner for me as compared to the
other two computers mentioned above, mainly because it was clean and
uncluttered... the VIC-20 paled in comparison; the TI's was better but it's
price and awkward keyboard were enough to dent my interest.

Always have thought of the CoCo's VDG display as more of a technical needs
oriented one than a people's eye-candy pleaser. I could go on for hours
typing and editing BASIC and EDTASM programs using that limited display than
- say - the C64's 40x25, then again the C64 was introduced almost two years
after the firs CoCo came to be, so its graphics capabilities were more on
par with the times.

As a former TV repair-kid I understood why Motorola went the 32x16 route on
regards of a display that could be easily accommodated by a wide range of TV
sets, emphasis on the *wide* - so early in the game of of the home computers
there was the potential on many customers plugging their new toys into aging
TV sets and start complaining. So for the time maybe it was a good idea to
'stick' to the low text res display, play it safe.

So it is pitiful and archaic, it prompted cool gadgets like the 80 column
cards and clever software solutions to use the hi-res graphics screens.

When the CoCo 3 came out the hi-res text screens were the happening thing
for me. To this day when using OS9 on the CoCo 3, I still keep a VDG window
available just a few CLEAR hits away :-)


-- RP