--- title: Tandy Radio Shack Color Computer categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1980' cpus: - Motorola 6809 E params: name: Color Computer image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_coco1_1.jpg company: /companies/tandy-radio-shack company_name: Tandy Radio Shack specs: - label: NAME value: Color Computer - label: MANUFACTURER value: Tandy Radio Shack - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: '1980' - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: Tandy (Microsoft) BASIC interpreter - label: KEYBOARD value: QWERTY, calculator type keyboard - label: CPU value: Motorola 6809 E - label: SPEED value: 0.895 MHz (or 1.79 MHz) - label: RAM value: 4 KB (up to 64 KB) - label: ROM value: 8 KB - label: TEXT MODES value: 'max : 16 x 32, min : 16 x 8' - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: 'Several graphic modes, max : 256 x 192 (with 2 colors)' - label: COLORS value: '9' - label: SOUND value: 1 voice - label: SIZE / WEIGHT value: 36.9 (W) x 34.4 (D) x 9.4 (H) cm - label: I/O PORTS value: Tape, RGB, Joystick (2), Monitor, Cardridge, Serial RS232 - label: OS value: OS-9 Level 1 - label: POWER SUPPLY value: Built-in power supply unit - label: PRICE value: $400 tabs: - photos - adverts - hardware - connectors - emulators - links forum_thread: 106 photos: - title: TANDY COLOR COMPUTER subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_coco_ebay_1.jpg - title: UNDER subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_coco1_under.jpg - title: REAR subtitle: '' text: |- From left to right :\ \- Reset button\ \- Video out\ \- Channel select A/B\ \- Cassette\ \- Serial\ \- Right joystick\ \- Left joystick\ \- ON/OFF button image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_coco1_rear.jpg - title: OPENED subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_coco1_opened.jpg - title: LATER MODELS subtitle: '' text: 'This late model of the Coco is quite similar to a Coco2 in aspect : mechanical keyboard and beige case.' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_coco_late-model_1.jpg - title: INSIDE COCO subtitle: '' text: |- **(1)** Video clock. Fixes the number of displayed characters and lines.\ **(2)** System init button (Reset).\ **(3)** Connector for ROM cartridges or disk drives.\ **(4)** Memory chips holding RAM memory.\ **(5)** 6809-E microprocessor running at 895 Khz. (One of the few computers using a processor clock speed < 1 Mhz.).\ **(6)** Socket for an additional 8 Kb. ROM circuit.\ **(7)** 8 Kb. ROM circuit holding the Microsoft Basic interpreter and Input/Output routines.\ **(8)** Video 6847 chipset. Manages text and graphic displays.\ **(9)** Keyboard connector.\ **(10)** This switch allows two different TV channels to be used.\ **(11)** Standard tape recorder DIN connector with remote control.\ **(12)** Serial RS-232 DIN connector.\ **(13)** Integrated power supply transformer.\ **(14)** Power regulation components.\ **(15)** Power On/Off switch.\ **(16)** Connector for analogue joysticks. Can be used as well for various analog peripherals. image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_color1_inside_1.jpg - title: BOX subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_coco_box_1.jpg - title: BOX subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_coco_box_2.jpg adverts: - title: 'US ADVERT #1' subtitle: '' text: Picture courtesy of [Steve Browning, www.sbrowning.com/vintage](http://www.sbrowning.com/vintage). image: /media/museum/pubs/tandy_trs80-coco1_pub_1.jpg - title: US ADVERT SEPT. 1981 subtitle: '' text: Courtesy of **[Attached](http://www.aci.com.pl/mwichary/)** image: /media/museum/pubs/tandy_color1_pub_s3.jpg - title: 'ISAAC ASIMOV #1' subtitle: '' text: |- This November 1982 advert introduces the new CoCo 1 price : $299 instead of $399. Even if the advert said:\ "Hurry - this fantastic offer ends december 31, 1982"\ the price never came back to $399. image: /media/museum/pubs/tandy_color1_asimovad_1.jpg - title: 'ISAAC ASIMOV #2' subtitle: '' text: Courtesy of **[Attached](http://www.aci.com.pl/mwichary/)** image: /media/museum/pubs/tandy_color1_pub_s5.jpg - title: CHRISTMAS 1982 subtitle: '' text: |- Advert said: **A smart investment**\ Radio Shack's popular TRS-80 Color Computer is now on sale. You can get this complete, versatile system with a 16 K-byte memory and Standard Color BASIC language for only $299.95 (Cat. No. 26-3004, reg. $399.95). It's the affordable way for the entire family to start computing. The Extended BASIC - 16 KB version was priced $399.95\ The 32 KB version was priced $549.95. image: /media/museum/pubs/tandy_color1_chpub_1.jpg - title: 'DISK DRIVE #1 JAN. 1982' subtitle: '' text: Courtesy of **[Attached](http://www.aci.com.pl/mwichary/)** image: /media/museum/pubs/tandy_color1_pub_s4.jpg - title: 'DISK DRIVE #2 FEB. 1983' subtitle: '' text: |- Advert says: These 35-track, 51/4" double-density drives will give you the high-level performance you want from your Color Computer. Each drive puts over 156K of on-line data and program storage right at your fingertips. And you can chain up to four drives together for a total of more than 626K. Yet all that extra storage is available at a seek time of 30 milliseconds and a data transfer rate of 250 bits per second... image: /media/museum/pubs/tandy_color1_pub_2.jpg - title: COCO CLONE ADVERT subtitle: '' text: Sampo, a Taiwanese company specialized in monitors and video terminals production also attempted to produce a CoCo clone computer, but the marketing little lasted. image: /media/museum/pubs/tandy_color1_clonesampo_1.jpg - title: PRINTERS ADVERT subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/pubs/tandy_color1_printeradv_1.jpg hardware: - title: TRS-80 COLOR COMPUTER DISK SYSTEM subtitle: '' text: It includes single external disk drive (uses standard DS, DD 5.25” floppy) with plug in disk interface, and 92 page users guide. image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_color1_fd500_2.jpg - title: FD-501 subtitle: 5''1/4 disk-drive text: |- This picture show the case housing a double disk-drive, the controler cartridge and the box. The cartridge has the "Microsoft Extended Color Basic 2.1" in ROM. image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco_fd501-disk_1.jpg - title: PLUG AND POWER subtitle: Domotic hardware ! text: An incredible extension for any Coco computer ! It turns your lights and other equipment on and off at designated times. image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco_plug-and-power.jpg - title: PLUG'N'POWER subtitle: 'Pic #2' text: This is the x10 (x-10) "Plug 'n Power Appliance and Light Controller" that goes with the cartridge of the same name. This can be used to program lights and other electrical devices in your home or office to turn on or off using the x10 protocol (you need to have x10 controllers on devices you would like to control) image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_plugnpower_2.jpg - title: RS232 PACK subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco_rs232-pack.jpg - title: SPEECH & SOUND CARTRIDGE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco_speech-sound-cartridge_1.jpg - title: SPEECH-SOUND PAK subtitle: cat. no 26-3144 text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_speech-sound-pak.jpg - title: SERIAL TO PARALLEL CONVERTER subtitle: '' text: |- It is a serial to parallel converter (DB25 connectors). A sticker on the bottom tells of all of the DIP switch settings, and a little LED shows the power status image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_serial-parallel_converter_1.jpg - title: 512K TURBO RAM subtitle: from Speech Systems text: This board installs in a coco 3 to give it a whopping 512k of ram ! image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco3_speech-system-512k-turbo-ram.jpg - title: WICO JOYSTICK ADAPTER subtitle: '' text: The Wico TRS-80 adapter allows you to use Atari 2600 joysticks (and other various controllers using the Atari standard) on your Color Computer image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_vcsadapt_1.jpg - title: TRS80 COLOUR MOUSE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_trs80colormouse_1.jpg - title: TRS-80 TOUCH PAD subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_trs80-touch-pad.jpg - title: TANDY JOYSTICK subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_color1_joystick_1.jpg - title: GT-116 subtitle: Tandy graphic tablet text: A4 size. It is used for transfering pictures or drawings, and also as a menu pointing system. image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_color1_tablet_1.jpg - title: VINYL KEYBOARD COVER subtitle: '' text: Suitable for models 2 and 3. image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_plastic-cover_1.jpg - title: DC-2212 subtitle: 1200-baud modem with automatic dialing and answer text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_color1_modem2212_s1.jpg - title: MULTI-PACK INTERFACE subtitle: Model 26-3124 text: The Multi-Pack plugs into the cartridge slot on the side of the Color Computer and allows up to four devices to be plugged into the computer at the same time. A switch on the front of the MPI allows to switch between the 4 ROM Paks. This can be done also with software commands. With the MPI, a disk drive, an RS-232 Program Pak, and a game cartridge could be used simultaneously. image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco_multipack-interface_1.jpg - title: OLDER MODEL subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_multipack-old_1.jpg - title: OLDER MODEL subtitle: Box text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_multipack-old_box_1.jpg - title: TANDY COLOUR PRINTERS subtitle: '' text: |- **CGP 220** : (left) 7 colours Inkjet printer\ **CGP 115** : (right) 4 colours plotter image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_color1_printers_1.jpg - title: 'CGP 115 #2' subtitle: '' text: |- 4-pen color graphic printer.\ Cat. 26-1192A image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_color1_4penprinter_s1.jpg connectors: - title: JOYSTICK CONNECTOR subtitle: '' text: |- Looking at the outside of the Joystick jack on the computer **(1)** Comparator input (Right-Left)\ **(2)** Comparator input (Up-Down)\ **(3)** Ground\ **(4)** Fire button 1, High when open, Low when closed\ **(5)** Vcc, current limited +5VDC\ **(6)** Fire button 2 image: /media/museum/connectors/tandy_color3_con_joystick_s1.jpg - title: SERIAL RS232 CONNECTOR subtitle: '' text: |- Looking at the outside of the DIN socket on the computer **(1)** **CD** Carrier detect (Status input line)\ **(2)** **RD** Receive Data\ **(3)** **GROUND** Zero voltage reference\ **(4)** **TD** Transmit Data Out image: /media/museum/connectors/tandy_color3_con_serial_s1.jpg - title: TAPE RECORDER CONNECTOR subtitle: '' text: |- **(1)** Remote control\ **(2)** Signal ground\ **(3)** Remote control\ **(4)** Input from recorder\ **(5)** Output to recorder image: /media/museum/connectors/tandy_color3_con_taperec_s1.jpg emulators: - title: TRS-80 Colour Computer 2 Emulator url: http://www.vavasour.ca/jeff/trs80.html#coco2 platform: MS DOS text: This DOS emulator (freeware) will run original CoCo as well as CoCo 2 software - title: Virtual CoCo for MacOS url: http://www.maya.com/Local/phil/coco/ platform: Apple text: '' - title: MOCHA url: http://members.cox.net/javacoco/ platform: Other platform text: TRS-80 Color Computer (CoCo) Emulator Written In Java - title: MESS url: http://www.mess.org platform: Multiplatform text: MESS emulates Coco systems, among many other computers links: - title: Cloud-9 url: http://www.cloud9tech.com/Order/index.html text: The place where you can even buy a brand new CoCo3 - title: CoCo Quest Color Computer Games and More! url: http://www.prowler-pro.com/coco/ text: '' - title: Coco Webring url: http://nav.webring.yahoo.com/hub?ring=CoCo&id=40&list text: It says it all ! - title: CoCo Zonz url: http://www.bat-soft.com/coco/ text: '' - title: Color Computer Links url: http://coco3nuts.tripod.com/ text: '' - title: Color Computer Transfer Utility url: http://home.netcom.com/~tlindner/CTU.html text: '' - title: NitrOS9 url: HTTP://NITROS9.LCURTISBOYLE.COM text: Various Coco webpages, including 100+ downloadable games - title: RadioShackCatalogs.com url: http://www.RadioShackCatalogs.com text: Here, you can actually/virtually flip-through the pages to view the content of every RadioShack catalog. - title: www.coco3.com url: http://www.coco3.com text: The title speaks for itself ! It includes among many things, a Coco FAQ - title: Web Wiz CAPTCHA url: http://www.webwizcaptcha.com text: Discussion about Tandy computers related: - /museum/tandy-radio-shack-color-computer-2 - /museum/tandy-radio-shack-color-computer-3 oc_id: 91 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230326032528/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=91 date: '2023-03-26' --- The Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer was known to be called "coco" (Color Computer) by its users. It uses its own version of BASIC, "Tandy Color BASIC" instead of the world famous Microsoft BASIC. It was followed by the [TRS-80 Color Computer II](/museum/tandy-radio-shack-color-computer-2/) in 1982. The Welsh [Dragon 32](/museum/dragon-data-ltd-dragon-32/) was one of its many clones... --- More information about the various Tandy Color BASIC versions from **Lee Veal** :\ In reality, the 'dialects' of BASIC on all versions of the TRS-80 Color Computer 1s & 2s were written by Microsoft for Tandy. That includes Color BASIC (**CB**), Extended Color BASIC (**ECB**) and Disk Extended Color BASIC (**DECB**).\ In fact, with very few modifcations, BASIC programs from an [IBM-PC](/museum/ibm-pc-model-5150/) or compatible using Microsoft BASIC could run on a CoCo and vice versa. (The way I know that is that I did it. Some were quite complex graphics oriented programs.)\ Within one-half K of the beginning the Color BASIC ROM address, there's a character string that reads "*COLOR BASIC 1.0(C) 1980 TANDYMICROSOFT*". When you fire up a CoCo 1 that has only the Color BASIC ROM, you'll see on the screen\ **COLOR BASIC 1.0**\ **(C) 1980 TANDY**\ The authors of Tandy's Color BASIC (Microsoft) left their name in the code, but they left it off the opening display.\ Subsequent levels of CoCo BASIC (Extended CB and Disk Extended CB) had Microsoft prominently displayed in the opening display. Thus, Color BASIC was quite compatible for obvious reasons with the BASIC that Microsoft develped for the PC. Extended and Disk Extended versions of CoCo BASIC were even more compatible with Microsoft's BASIC for the PC. On the other hand, the BASIC dialects contained in computers like the [Commodore-64](/museum/commodore-c64/), [TI-994A](/museum/texas-instruments-ti-99-4a/), etc were quite incompatible with any version of Microsoft BASIC. The BASIC developed by Microware (the developers of the OS-9 operating system and originally Tandy's first choice of a BASIC developer), called **BASIC09**, was NOT compatible with Microsoft BASIC. BASIC09 is and was a powerful language that compiled to intermediate code but it is more akin to Pascal then BASIC.