Tandy Color Computer 3 - with upgrades!
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- čas přidán 21. 08. 2024
- Welcome to #SepTandy!
In this video we take a look at the Tandy Color (Colour!) Computer 3 and give it some upgrades and modern conveniences.
For Coco (and other Tandy gear) and service; you can find Ian here:
members.iinet.n...
This is the schematic I used for the SCART cable:
Note the comment regarding adding extra resistors:
hackaday.io/pr...
Coco SDC Image/files:
colorcomputera...
SVI-CAS:
www.msx.org/fo...
You can find the rest of the SepTandy crew here:
Josh Malone: / @48kram
The Retro Channel: / theretrochannel
Adrian's Digital Basement: / adriansdigitalbasement
DaveJustDave: / mrdavejustdave
Jan Beta: / janbeta
MindFlareRetro: / mindflareretro
Tech Tangents: / akbkuku
Retro Spector: / retrospector78
LGR: / lazygamereviews
Patreon: / mrlurch
Twitter: / mr_lurch
Facebook: / mrlurchsthings
Instagram: / mr_lurchs_things
There is an old COCO 2 at the Perry County Coal Rail car loadout (Just Outside of Hazard,Kentucky) that controls the rate and position of how the rail cars are loaded.(using of all things a joystick). I installed this in 1988 and wrote the programming, putting it into a home made ROMPack. This machine has worked continuously for 33 years now with NO problems.(beside replacing a joystick in 2013) The old COCOs are very reliable and working in the dusty environment of a coal loadout and deep mine site hasn't affected it at all.(BTW yes the dust gets blown out every so often using a compressed air hose and a needle tip. Coal dust can be explosive.Ask any deep miner with any experience.)
In 1983, my parents got me the COCO 2. In 1986, I then purchased the COCO3. man I loved those computers. They really sent me on my life path. I received a degree in computer science and eventually became a lead network administrator, thanks to those early experiences with the COCO. I really miss those simple days. My Coco 2 burned out and I sold my COCO 3 system with all sorts of peripherals, software, Rainbow magazines. I wish I still had it.
Love the workshop/shed! Great overview of the Coco3 and some of its capabilities.
Thanks SepTandy I found your and this channels I was subscriber to Tech Tangents (AbuKuKu) and I found Tech Tangents channel thanks to Druga1
It's a Radio Shack.
LOL!!! That King's Quest part of the video was like a time machine for me.
My CoCo 3 hasn't been fired up in years. But I sure had fun modding it back in the day. Mine doesn't even still look like a CoCo. I spent months putting it into an AT full tower. I installed an XT keyboard adapter, 512k, RGB port on the back, 65 mb (yes, meg) hard drive, Disto Super Controller (aftermarket floppy controller), two 5.25 and one 3.5 (720k, not 1.44mb) floppy drives, ORC90 sound cartridge, ADos 3 (aftermarket FDD & basic language OS), OS9 from the HDD, built-in Multi-Pak, home-made Y-Cable for cartridge slot (which teams up with the Multi-Pak to allow for five devices to be plugged in at all times, (full) RS232 port adapter, Hayes 2400 baud modem (built-into and windowed through an unused 5.25 floppy bay), speech pak, Hi-res joystick adapters, and all original ports extended to the rear panel of the AT tower.
I do have a Tandy CM8. But I preferred my Magnavox 8CM515, because it had both analog RGB and composite video. That really came in handy when playing artifact games.
It's been so long since I touched it, that I'm sure I forgot some mods. I have more software for it than you can shake a stick at, both Tandy and 3rd party. I even have many many editions of Rainbow magazine, though I loaned a few that never came back. I even went to a Rainbow Fest (CoCo Fest??) in Chicago in 1988.
Funny thing, once I was done modding & building... some of the fun was gone. I bought the CoCo 3 in 1987, but did the entire mod in the early to mid 90s. So that's the kind of stuff that was available. No SD card adapters for me, LOL!
That sure brings back memories! In another life I worked for then Montreal based CRC Computers which, before becoming a run-of-the-mill PC retail store, started as the makers of the Disto line of products for the Coco's. Advanced cartridges with features such as ROM socket, ram drive, floppy controller, real time clock and a port replicator to plug in other cartridges. Pure magic back then! 😛
Had the original COCO 4K system. It was my 1st computer. I used to stay up all night coding in BASIC and making my own games. I loved that thing. Spent a lot of money on peripherals and upgrades though!
It was the CoCo 2 that got me into computers in a big way. I think I was about 5 when we got this. Thanks for a great video.
My first computer was an original 16k silver CoCo in 1981. I learned how to program in machine language on that thing using a hex editor. I still remember some of the op codes which is odd. I wrote and sold a few games for it and upgraded the RAM via piggybacking chips to 32k. That was my only Tandy computer.
I worked at a Tandy store (Australia) from 1983 to 1986 and was great times as a teenager. Bought a Coco 2 and 3 new back then. Thanks for the memories :)
Did you get an "Employee Discount"?
I just purchased a CoCo3 and I am looking forward to making the same upgrades. :)
An excellent opening video for #SepTandy 2020 and a great overview of the Color Computer line - I have already learned stuff I didn't know. And I'm diggin' that retro backdrop 👍. Thanks for organising #SepTandy 2020, @Mr Lurch's Things. This will be a month of funness!!!
Great video! Another system I didn't know anything about and learned a lot from this. Thanks so much for organizing SepTandy and having us other on board for it. This is great fun already. :)
Jan Beta Glad you’re enjoying it and I’m guessing learning something new with your own project!
Excellent! And thanks for starting #SepTandy! I'm following your lead and joining the fun with some videos of my 1000 HX!! I have a CoCo 3 as well.. I need to pull it out of the box!
Just picked up my new to me CoCo 3, upgrading from my CoCo 2 and MC-10, and am loving it! Getting ready to do a 512K upgrade soon. Also, a CoCo SDC is definitely a must have for the 1, 2 and 3 for all your gaming needs.
Hooray! I love SepTandy!
Came here from Adrian's Digital Basement. I enjoyed your take on Tandy CoCo 3 with modern upgrades and the SD cartridge with so many games. My first time here so I better go through your videos :-)
I had a Coco 1. I ordered Gantelet, a Gauntlet clone. I was so unhappy with it that I rewrote it in Assembly. I ran out of memory doing so on the Coco 1 but finished it after I got a Coco 3. I never learned how to do anything fancy with graphics, but I think I programmed it to my limit. It certainly gave me a great head start.
Yes, brilliant start to #SepTandy 2020. Thanks for doing the introduction of the whole CoCo range, I'm now pretty fimilar with the CoCo1 (especially the video circuitry 😉) but this is certainly a good way to learn about the rest. And seeing your CoCo3 in action makes me jealous!
I think alot of people were discouraged by both the hardware/software choices back in the day, but you will be AMAZED by whats available now. Everything from games to adlib sound chips to a multi-tasking OS that can get on the internet :) (proud member of the "dedicated bunch" here) :D
The image shown for the Melted Keyboard, is incorrect
The melted keyboard had low profile keys, was whisper quiet, and was originally released on late model Coco 1's, (with the white case), and PAL Coco 2's, that were released in countries like Australia, which were the same size and shape of the Coco 1, albiet white
They keyboard that was shown, is from a later model Coco 2, with a much shorter case
Excellent! I just acquired my first Coco3. This was the perfect video to get me started down the right path. Your style is great btw. Thank you!
Just a quick addendum: It may seem I was a little harsh on the Coco re: software support. There was was some third party support, and the Sierra games show that. It just wasnt as substantial as say the Commodore or Atari computers. And like I said, Tandy did a lot of in-house porting too.
Also, the modern community support shouldnt be underestimated. There is still really good new software and hardware development going on. They're very much a dedicated bunch.
Great video. Thanks for the clarification. I had to dash downstairs and look at my shelf to make sure, but I have both Shanghai (MahJongg) and Microscopic Mission published by Activision, as well as KQ3 and Thexder from Sierra, plus Sub Battle Simulator, Rogue, and Rescue on Fractalus by Epyx, alongside SubLogic Flight Simulator II. All of these were found on the shelves in Radio Shack stores. While I don't have any originals, Infocom also ported many of their games to the CoCo.
But it's true that this support from the big 3rd party developers and publishers didn't come until the CoCo 3 era, for the most part, and if you saw ads for the same games they would mention availability for Apple, Commodore, and DOS in the same sentence but almost never mention that there was a CoCo version. Even some of the manuals that came with the CoCo versions only included CoCo-specific information on a separate printed sheet.
Later on in the CoCo's lifespan, Tandy had a thing called 'Express Order', which allowed you to order some 3rd party CoCo stuff through a Radio Shack store. But of course the lifeline for CoCo goodies for many years was mail order from ads in magazines like Hot CoCo and Rainbow.
And in the early days there were very few licensed arcade conversions, but instead mostly clones. However, some of the clones were excellent. The Polaris cartridge for the CoCo has much better gameplay than the official Missile Command on the Atari 2600, for instance (due in no small part to the difference between the CoCo's analog joysticks and the extreme awkwardness of trying to use a digital joystick to quickly and accurately position a cursor). Buzzard Bait and Lancer are two very good CoCo 1 / 2 era Joust clones. And even though the Cornsoft Group did an official Frogger for the CoCo, I think some of the clones play better.
Because Sierra's adventure games used the same interpreter, most of the contemporary games that Sierra didn't make available for the CoCo 3 have recently been ported, so it's not just limited to KQ3 and LSL anymore.
Two final nitpicks. The video chip in the original CoCo was the 6847 VDG: Video Display Generator. And the CoCo 2 didn't have composite video output (though that would have been very welcome). It didn't come until the CoCo 3.
Another great modern way to load programs into the CoCo over the cassette port is a phone or tablet. Just plug the cassette cable into the headphone jack and play a .WAV file of the program. I have dozens of CoCo programs in my pocket.
Looking forward to the video on the SVI-CAS!
@@joelavcoco - The sad things about composite video out on the Coco 2 is that it *was* available, but only for the education market, and thus fairly rare.
@@CurtisBoyle Ah. Maybe I'd read that somewhere and forgotten.
and all the usual grifting and patreon money to make 20 minute videos that could have been 3-5 minutes tops. This whole video is filler material start to finish and even contains stock footage of games you weren't playing on this hardware.
tarstarkusz Clearly you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Expert Software brand had a great assortment of application software! 1992. Tandy 1000 RLX; I loved Desk Mate!
I was working on DOS games back in those days, and basic the deal was that you really really wanted Radio Shack to sell your Tandy 1000 game. They were a great customer, and everyone loved them. Mostly because they payed you actual money for you games, and they basic didn't return, ever. If they could't sell, they sold the product some other way.
Excellent video. Learned a lot.
This is what I call EXTREME nostalgia. So nice, thanks for that. COCO-3 Leisure Suit Larry, I was 13 and it was extreme. :D I loved that computer, learned to program on it.
Great video! The Coco3 was my first computer that I actually owned and I loved it!
I find the paging memory management of the GIME chip to be fascinating as it allows 8K pages of memory to be assembled to create a process virtual address space - which an enhanced OS-9 could take advantage of. It's a mystery to me why no retro channel has never drilled down on this capability with a deep dive, because as humble as the CoCo3 was as a home computer, it had the most sophisiticated memory management for breaking the 64K barrier and had by far the most sophisticated operating system (OS-9) to show it off
Great vids. I use to have a coco 3, it's was my entry into the computer world. Didn't had much money so no cassette or disk... We bought a book where you would have to code your game. I was taking me several hours to code a game and if my mom turn off the computer while I fall a sleep in the morning I was furious that I had to recode all that again. 🤣🤣🤣 I am always thinking about looking for one again
Cool Coco3. I grew up with a Coco2 and got many miles out of it.
Jam in all new ceramic caps too for visual effect. Also check out the new CocoDV mod board. Direct to HDMI with an audio jack.
Thanks for this video on all these options for upgrading and using this machine. I picked up a Coco3 about 6 months ago and did the memory expansion but then it's sat since then as I had no idea what to do next. I didn't know about the SD adapter so I'll need to get one of those and probably make up a scart cable as well. Games look a lot better than the ones I tried when I had a Coco2 (which i got rid of because I wasn't a fan of RF video).
Luckily the 1's and 2's can be easily modded now for composite (although its still rubbish). The Retro Channel as been working on an s-video mod that should be in an upcoming SepTandy vid.
A pre made Scart cable can be bought. It's the Switch-a-roo from Cocoman.
@@CanKenMakeIt Yeah, I'm sure theres folks out there that have cables.. probably on ebay too. I looked at the specs, looks pretty easy to make. I have a SCART cable I bought a while back for a couple bucks and just cut it in half so i can use it for a couple different type of cables.
A 16K CoCo2 was my first computer at age 12 in 1985. I had begged my father for it because two of my friends had received them as presents as they were on sale at our local Radio Shack. I had no idea what to do with the simple green screen and OK prompt so I checked out the very few computer related books from the school library and eventually taught myself BASIC from those and the included manuals. That CoCo stayed on for a long time because I had no way to save the programs I typed. A disk drive was far out of reach but I was able to save my money from mowing yards and such to finally get the cassette recorder. I wrote a few games with the best being a game I called Trapped which was a dungeon type crawler similar to Zork (I didn't know about Zork at the time) with crude ASCII graphics. I only ever had two game cartridges which were Mega Bug and Dungeons of Daggorath which a friend gave me since he didn't like it. I credit my dad for starting me off on the journey that led to my career and how I provide for my family today. I sure wish I still had that old CoCo2.
That's incredible that you persisted programming without a tape deck. I was 18 when I got my Dragon 32. The tape deck was essential for saving my programs.
Some of us on the group are contemplating the implications of trolling your about anti-static lol... Nice video Jase, well done.
The new shed isn't set up 100% next. But its coming
As a humble C64 owner I could only dream of playing those Sierra tittles. I recall going to Myer just to see them running on the PC. In fact one day a fellow customer came along and showed me the commands to get them going.
Great! I really love these #SepTandy cooperations. And what a success that all those well known others are joining in this year! Well done Jason! And I have to say that the Coco looks like an interesting machine too. But hard to get in Germany...
Damn what a flashback watching kings Quest 3!
Wonderful video! Glad you mentioned the GIME-X; I'm very much looking forward to it. (BTW, yes, cassette on the CoCo is slow... but it's faster than the C-64 floppy.)
Great video! Really been enjoying learning about Tandy's Really do look like nice machines I'll be keeping my eye out for one now!
Great Video Mr Lurch. I got a Coco2 last year, and the SDC cartridge helps with software. My only pain is the Video Outpot being RF. I am getting a COCOVGA from Brendan Donaher so i can use on a modern monitor. I should make a video when i get it delivered in the near future.
makes me want one.. I have my coco 2 that I love.. always wanted a coco3.. back in the day we just jumped right to a Tandy 1000 HX which was great also!
If you're gonna get one, make it sooner rather than later as prices on 3's have been going up and up
I was always very dismissive of the Coco, based on what I saw of the very similar Dragon 32 back in the day which despite the 6809 CPU never really stood up to even the ZX Spectrum in many respects.
However the games running on the 3 are genuinely impressive for an 8-bit micro. Shame the software support wasn't better really.
Whats funny is I also had a Dragon 32 when I was young. A few years ago I got a coco 2 and was surprised it was actually worse then the dragon in some respects (at least the dragon had composite video), so I got rid of that. Eventually I was able to get a CoCo 3 which is pretty nice and actually usable.
Great video.!
What a great video
My grandfather was a big Radio Shack fan in the 80's and as such my first pocket cassette AM/FM radio was Realistic branded from there, but I never got into their computers as my parents would yell at me NO!!, you already have a C64, & Apple II IE, along with an Atari, Intellivision, and a Nintendo lol!
Great video, Mr. Lurch. "...and then promptly lost all the footage." lol
*shrug* - It happens :p I'm sure it was on an SD card that I blew away without thinking.
"Mr. Lurch" - is that the frankenstien that says "you rang..?"
I will mention - with the correct cable, you can also hook up other Analog RGB monitors that support the 15.75 Khz frequency. Things like the Magnavox 85CM15, earlier NEC MultiSync monitors (I personally use a NEC Multisync II), Amiga monitors, Atari ST monitors, etc. If you happen to have one of those, you just need the custom cable. And, of course, there are now memory upgrades up to 2 MB RAM (and 8 MB is coming back now too, which was a fairly rare option in the late 1990's). By the way, would you want to come on our weekly live Coco Talk! show, and promote SepTandy? We would love to have you on.
Curtis Boyle Sure. Best to find me via Twitter or the email on the channels About page.
@@MrLurchsThings - I am not on Twitter, so I went the "About" on your CZcams page, but I don't see any email address. You can email me at curtisboyle@sasktel.net. Thanks!
Join Cocotalk. Mr Marentes is a regular panel member.
I am not sure why the Coco range is so alluring to me, but I keep coming back to it every few years. As demonstrated in this video, its most impressive games are VERY unimpressive - about on par with the most basic C64 games, the lack of dedicated sound chip is unforgivable, its software library (especially Coco 3 specific) is very sparse and lackluster and it is even quite an ugly machine to look at..... but there is just something about it that I find appealing...
Love this. I've got the same setup too
Hi, nice idea with the #SepTandy. I also made a #SepTandy video on my channel, but how can I participate officially, if there is something like that exists?
Great video, I know nothing about the Coco but it looks like my cup of tea :)
Great vid as usual, Mr. Lurch. Noticing a lot of audio issues though. Some scratchies and a couple of times things sounded... under water...y? Otherwise fun as always. Happy Sep-Tandy!
Never said I was a professional :)
@@MrLurchsThings Me either, but it's an odd thing so I thought I'd point it out in case it continues. Besides, nothing wrong with Mr. Lurch "from the depths". XD
#septandy idea is great I think Amstrad/Sinclair need month dedicated too!
Maybe do a video on OS-9, and show what good it made to have 512K in a Coco. Thanks!
Images of the "melted" keyboard were not actually "melted" keyboard but rather "full travel"
I just started my coco2 for the first time since I was a kid and it works. Unfortunately I lost my coco3, cassette drive, and floppy drive in a fire. Where do I find that sd cartridge?
The place I bought it from seems to be out of stock.
But I think this is he same thing retrorewind.ca/tandy-coco/hardware/coco-sdc
if you ever want to trade that coco3 for my coco1, I'll be happy to do a swap !
im lucky to have the display and all rare parts :)
Good stuff. LGR sent me. subbed.
I have a coco 2 and 3 that I'm getting ready to take in for recycling. I'm not sure I want to do that now after seeing things like this. I used to run a BBS with mine and have a ton of game cartridges and all the software that I wrote for it and purchased. What do these things sell for these days and where can you buy upgrades? I used to have the cm8 monitor but I sold it a long time ago after buying a more modern pc then. I wasnt sure I could plug it into anything until I saw this video.
Gentlemen! I too shall be joining you this #SepTandy, time and booze permitting! It is time to do all the Tandy projects I've been putting off!
My SepTandy plans: czcams.com/video/IifnJMVTpgo/video.html
Vertical arrows! So high end :)
I need software for my TRS 80 model 3 computer. Do you know where i can find disks for it. Thanks.
hello how can i run this on xroar?? do u know also how do i run xroar on mac and windows too? thanks.......
Hi.
If a GIME-X chips is in development, does this mean a New Coco 3 will be developed/designed in the near future ?
Harry62811 Hah, no sadly. The Gime-x is purely an add-on
Niiiiiice video! One thing: in Japanese, 日立 Hitachi is pronounced hee-TOT-chee.
You should see people flip out when I pronounce Sega; Seega.
@@MrLurchsThings Haha! I'm as nerdy about my Japanese as I am about my old computers. Love your work, and always enjoy when you release something new.
The game captures, were these recorded before or after the CPU upgrade, and does the CPU upgrade change the game speeds at all?
I find this machine rather interesting, as although I grew up in Melbourne, I never saw a coco, my local RadioShack/Tandy store when I was growing up only had their IBM-PC compatible Tandy computers on display. Curiously, they had a rather extensive selection of MS-DOS software, including one I actually purchased that had 688 Attack Sub, PGA Tour Golf and Indianapolis 500 all in the one box. I remember I wasn't sure if that would work, as the box said it needed DOS 3 or later, and I (being a kid) only saw a version of 2.1, but I didn't realise that was WINDOWS 2.1 and it had DOS 4.01 on our Amstrad PC2286/40 machine.
The captures were post-upgrade. Gunstar for instance needs the 6309 and 512k
@@MrLurchsThings Ahh, col, I did not know that Gunstar needs those upgrades in order to work. For games that don't need those upgrades, does that CPU upgrad provide any benefit?
there are no monitors that support SCART here in the U.S. SCART was not an interface here in the U. S. I did see you were using a SCART to HDMI upscaler. Do you have a video on this?
I haven’t, but Jan Beta did a while back
czcams.com/video/SK4p9B9Fit8/video.html
@@MrLurchsThings thank you for the video
How practical was the CoCo3 for interfacing projects?
I didnt grow up with the Coco, so I honestly dont know. IMO the ultimate 8bit machines for that kind of work would have to be either the Apple II or the BBC Micro.
If there's anything we can do with this very interesting venture. Please let me or my administration know.
FACEBOOK GROUP: All Things Tandy RadioShack.
Nice video. A few questions, where is your SCART cable getting the voltage to apply to pin 16 to put the SCART adapter into RGB mode? I see you didn't connect the composite video line, I guess that means that your cable can't switch to composite video mode for artifact colors, possibly you didn't add this because you are in Australia and you CoCo 3 is PAL and doesn't display artifact color anyway? Also, what did you do to get a stable horizontal and vertical sync signal since you don't seem to be stealing it from the composite video output like I did?
If you notice, there is a little extra two-pin plug on the cable? It pulls composite and 5v from inside the machine.
You forgot Realistic. 😉
Are these worth anything?
How does this perform as a crypto-coin miner?
I'm sorry I don't have any Trash-80 machines anymore. So no SepTandy for me. :p
Annoying things about Australians: When pronouncing "data" and "beta", they say "DARTa" and "BAYta", not "DAYta" and BEEta".
I remember my dad bought me one of these because my mom and him had basically divorced and she got me a tandy 1000.. I didnt have the heart to tell him that this was completely inferior to the tandy 1000.. But i do remember having a lot of fun on it while i visited him.. good memories