[Coco] Why was the Coco abandoned?

[jdaggett at gate.net]

On 9 Nov 2008 at 15:49, Michael Robinson wrote:

> I've heard that an engineering problem in the GIME chip lead to the
> demise of the Coco.  I've heard that the GIME was too expensive.
> 
|=====================

That may very well be true if the product was cancelled in 1988. The GIME 
chip was frought with problems with the original 1986 version part. the 1987 
part works as designed. or at least what we think it was designed for.

It is hard to tell whichcame first. Tandy's cancellation of the Coco or 
Motorola's cancellation of the MC6809 chip. If my memory serves me 
correct the notice of cancellation and call for lifetime buys came in late 
1988 or 1989. Motorola ceased official production in late 1989 ot early 
1990. They still fullfilled warranty runs up to late 1999. I have week 42/46 
of 1999 chips on hand.  That would make it about November of 1999 when 
the last MC6809's were made.


> 1990, wasn't the 386 out at that point?
>

Yes.
 
> In the old days when the Coco was hot, there was real competition in
> the personal computer market.  It wasn't just Apple and vendors
> selling Windows compatible PC's.  Even the Alpha is gone now.
> 
There was competition in the home computer market but 8 bit processors 
had basically fallen into embedded use by 1990. The HC11 by far was 
outpacing the MC6809 in the embedded market. The flavors of HC11 were 
more integrated with peripherals that made it a better single chip solution 
for embedded work. 

I still relish what would have been a fantastic processor would be to have 
the peripherals of the HC11 processors with the CPU core of the 6809 with 
some expanded instructions. Would have made a better embedded 
processor. The HC12 is the closest to that now. If it had the U register it 
would be that microcomputer. 

james