[Coco] Color computer these days...

[Gary]

On Tue, 9 Dec 2008, Michael Robinson wrote:

> coco 1,2, and 3, what about dreams of a coco 4?  Could a
> coco 4 be done?  What would it look like?  Would it have a
> modern AT keyboard, a gig of ram, the original instruction

I've given this a little thought -- like those "What if--" stories where 
someone goes back in time and changes some facet of history and throws the 
whole thing into a different path.

(Please correct for any of the REAL history I have wrong in setting up 
this hypothesis)

Suppose Apple had flamed out along with Commodore, TI, Atari, and everyone 
else, leaving Radio Shack holding the Color Computer as the primary 
competition to the IBM PC compatables.  A different management team is in 
charge, and they decide to focus on the machine -- to make it better, keep 
it competative, and move it forward in the market.  What would the 
machines introduced in sequence be like, keeping with the times.

The COCO3 was available from 1986-1991.  Suppose, in 1990, realizing how 
long in the tooth the machine was, Tandy introduces a Color Computer 4.
It would have to have filled the same niche -- that $250 or so cost point.

Microsoft had already forced the issue of the ROMs by making Tandy go to 
Microware to build patches on top of the existing Extended BASIC. 
Presumably this would have continued -- maybe forcing a move to OS9 in ROM 
with some kind of emulation for old Disk BASIC.

Would Motorola have continued the development of the 6809 processor, or 
forced this hypothetical Radio Shack to use something like the 68302 
microcontroller -- to get the benefits of a 68000 based architecture AND 
serial ports, etc. in a single chip?  And then again use an emulator to 
run old programs?

Other machines of the day were offering true RS232, stereo 8-bit sampled 
and synthesised sound, and 256 color 640x480 graphics.  How close COULD 
Tandy have come to those features?

I dunno -- just something I've been mulling around.  I no longer have 
catalogs and such to know what off-the-shelf components were available in 
1990, nor any idea what agreements Tandy could have made with 
manufacturers for custom parts.

In any case, it would probably be x86 based by now.  (I actually miss the 
diversity of 1980s machines... my pals envied the CPU on my machine, and I 
envied the graphics and sound on theirs.  Those were the days!)

Peace,
Gary

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