[Coco] (Probably stupid and newbie-ish) CoCo hardware question

[Boisy G. Pitre]

Take it from an ex-Microware engineer and employee who questioned the source directly.

Mark Hawkins and I had a conversation about the CoCo 3 project years ago.  He told me then, personally and specifically, that ROM to RAM and subsequent patching was the approach that they (Microware) took in '86 to avoid any legal entanglements with Microsoft.  I don't know if Tandy advised them to do it, or if Microware made the suggestion, but legality was the motivating factor for the approach that was taken.

What we need is a book that brings all of this information in... something I've been working off and on for a long time....

Best Regards,
Boisy G. Pitre

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On Jun 27, 2012, at 7:24 PM, Frank Swygert wrote:

> I'm going out on a limb here... I know it for a fact. I just can't remember the exact source. I'm sure it was one of the Microware guys who modified the system ultimately, but I got the info second hand from an article in some magazine or other... I think. Could have been an on-line article, but I think it was actually in a Rainbow article sometime after the CC3 was released... maybe an interview with one or more of the Microware guys involved? I can't recall exactly where I got the info, which is why I say I'm going out on a limb by saying it's a fact. If Tandy had the rights to mod the MS code, they'd have done it rather than use a patch system though. Would have been cheaper to do it that way, I'd think. I believe the CC3 had two ROM chips, ECB and SECB, or were they both burned in different banks of the same chip? I don't remember...
> 
> -------------
> Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2012 14:42:08 -0400
> From: Arthur Flexser<flexser at fiu.edu>
> 
> Frank, that's the first time I've heard that explanation for why the
> CoCo 3 runs in all-RAM mode.  (That Tandy had rights to use, but not
> modify, the Microsoft ROMs.)  It seems very plausible to me.  Do you
> know this for a fact, or is it just a reasonable conjecture?
> 
> -- 
> Frank Swygert
> Editor - American Motors Cars Magazine
> www.amc-mag.com
> 
> 
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