[Coco] Another Radio Shack Article

[Bill Loguidice]

Just to clarify, I think you meant the CoCo's descent from "Project Green
Thumb" rather than the Videotex, since as we showed in the book, the
Videotex and CoCo were more or less concurrent creations. Also, I'd
certainly classify the choice of 6089E as a gamble because most processors
in use at the time were variants of the Z80 like the one in Tandy's own
TRS-80, or 6502. That would mean a smaller pool of individuals experienced
with that particular processor. Obviously, it had some nice advantages to
go along with some of the downsides. Obviously, familiarity from the
previous project and the special relationship with Motorola made the choice
a bit more obvious.

-Bill

===================================================
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director; Armchair Arcade,
Inc.<http://www.armchairarcade.com>
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Authored Books<http://www.amazon.com/Bill-Loguidice/e/B001U7W3YS/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_1>and
Film <http://www.armchairarcade.com/film>; About me and other ways to get
in touch <http://about.me/billloguidice>
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On Sun, Jan 5, 2014 at 1:31 PM, Arthur Flexser <flexser at fiu.edu> wrote:

> Boisy, where in the book are the Roach and Patterson quotes you're
> referring to? Either they did not stand out in my mind, or else they
> are in the second half of the book that I haven't gotten to yet.  (I
> again have occasion to lament your indexer's lack of diligence in not
> including any names of people.)
>
> I think a lot of the reason why the CoCo in the early days attracted a
> lot of tech-minded hobbyists was twofold:
>
> 1.  Microsoft did an excellent job on the Basic ROMs.  Way too good,
> in terms of features crammed in to the limited ROM space, to be
> congruent with Tandy's very narrow conception of the CoCo's role.
>
> 2.  The choice of the 6809E processor stands out also.  Its inclusion
> seems less an "interesting gamble" on Tandy's part, as you
> characterize it in the book, than an accidental byproduct of the
> CoCo's descent from the Videotex terminal, which I presume also had a
> 6809E.
>
> Art
>