[Coco] CoCo 2 vs CoCo 3 changes

[Diego Barizo]

On 17/7/2018 14:02, Kevin Becker wrote:
> So I finally broke down and bought a CoCo 3 on eBay.  It arrived today but
> I haven't had a chance to try it out yet since I'm at work.  It suddenly
> occurred to me though that I don't actually know that much about the CoCo
> 3.  I had a CoCo 2 back in the 80s and I bought a CoCo 2 last winter that
> I've been having fun with.
>
> I know it has more RAM, different keyboard layout, composite and RGB
> video.  I know the GIME provides better graphics.  Anything else I should
> know?  I'm especially curious about the MicroWare additions to BASIC to
> support the improved graphics.  Should I just RTFM or is there any sort of
> quickstart list of things to know for someone upgrading from CoCo 2 to a
> CoCo 3?
>
Hello Kevin.

If you are already familiar with the CoCo2, just a quick read of the 
CoCo3 manual, specially the graphic commands (page 167 onward), will get 
you up to speed.
You may eventually want to learn about how to swap memory pages in an 
out of the graphics memory, since there is no PCOPY or equivalent.
When it comes to BASIC, I believe that there are no other changes, but 
it's been so long since I had a CoCo1/2, that I can't be sure... The 
BUTTON function to read the joystick button state?

Diego