[Coco] [Color Computer] The evolution of the Coco..

[Mike Pepe]

James Diffendaffer wrote:
> 
> The CoCo 1/2's VDG does support the use of an external ROM for it's
> character set.  

Actually that's not true.

The 6847 does support an external character generator. It's fairly 
trivial and only requires a couple of chips in addition to a ROM/EPROM 
containing the new character set.

I think Green Mountain Micro made a little adapter card you stuck in the 
6847 socket and gave you real lower case. LowerKit(?) I thought. Maybe 
it's in one of my old Rainbow mags.

> I don't see why someone shouldn't do it.  So what if it's slow.  If a
> faster CoCo becomes available in the future if could run fast enough.
> 

I'd like to see a faster CoCo in the future. The stuff Cloud9 is doing 
is impressive but I think it might be in the wrong direction.

The "C-64 on a chip" is probably the better direction to go.

Emulating the CoCo on some CPLD devices releases us from reliance on the 
old chips and hardware which- while not rare- are no longer in production.

In addition all these plastic packaged chips in our CoCos are slowly 
degrading. Not sure how long it takes but they're not hermetically 
sealed and will eventually oxidize.

Just my opinion.

-Mike


Brought to you by the 6809, the 6803 and their cousins! 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ColorComputer/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ColorComputer-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/