[Coco] Re: Color Computer 3 prototype

[John Kowalski]

At 01:27 PM 21/01/2005 +0100, Torsten wrote:
>> If the security fuses are not blown
>
>Why should someone have done this? I guess they are readable.

Unless Tandy feared some sort of corporate espionage, I figure they ought to
be readable as well.  But they're nearly all soldered in - I don't know how
possible it is to read them without having to desolder them.

>> Hard to tell with all the stickers on the 
>> board.
>
>...(maybe this helps later to 
>figure out a system *why* some ICs have been marked (I guess it's kind 
>of "tested" or "updated"). Then: remove carefully the stickers and have 
>a look on the chip numbers.

I'm guessing the "red dot" stickers were simply there to indicate that the
parts were tested and good.  (Easier to test parts before hand, than to have
something go wrong and then have to figure out where the problem on the
board is.)

The white stickers with part numbers or letter designations seem to all be
on PAL chips.  Many or all of those PALs have identical part numbers - so
there would be no other way to tell them apart after they've been
programmed.  The stickers are there to make sure the right PAL went in the
right place on the board - no mixups.

>Is there any kind of video output connector visible?

There's a 9 pin DB connector for RGB video, and another RCA connector that
appears to be composite video.

                                         John Kowalski (Sock Master)
                                         http://www.axess.com/twilight/sock/