website/content/museum/tandy-radio-shack-color-computer-3.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Tandy Radio Shack Color Computer 3	Computers	Home Computer	U.S.A.	1986	Motorola 68b09e	name image logo company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos hardware connectors emulators links related oc_id source Color Computer 3 /media/museum/photos/tandy_color3_system_s1.jpg /media/museum/logos/tandy_color3_logo.gif /companies/tandy-radio-shack Tandy Radio Shack label value NAME Color Computer 3 label value MANUFACTURER Tandy Radio Shack label value TYPE Home Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1986 label value END OF PRODUCTION 1992 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE Disk Extended Color Basic 2.1 (Microsoft BASIC, with enhancements by Microware) label value KEYBOARD Full-stroke keyboard label value CPU Motorola 68b09e (uses an external clock generator) label value SPEED 1.79 MHz (0.89mhz under RS-DOS for compatability with FD expansion unit) label value RAM 128 KB (up to 512 KB. There were 1MB and 2MB upgrade boards as well) label value ROM 32 KB label value TEXT MODES 32x16, 40x25, 80x25 label value GRAPHIC MODES Several graphic modes, the most interesting were: 320x200 (16 col.), 640x200 (4 col.), 640x400 (4 col. if 512 KB RAM) label value COLORS 64 label value SOUND See comment below label value SIZE / WEIGHT Unknown label value I/O PORTS Tape, Composite Video, analog RGB connector for use with Tandy CM-8 monitor, 2 joystick ports, cartridge slot, RS232 label value OS with optional disk drive : RS-DOS, OS-9 Level 2 was also popular label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in PSU label value PRICE $219.95 (USA, 1986) photos hardware connectors emulators links 123 title subtitle text image COCO 3 /media/museum/photos/tandy_color3_system_s2.jpg title subtitle text image TOP VIEW /media/museum/photos/tandy_color3_topview_s1.jpg title subtitle text image BOTH SIDES Note the cartridge slot on the right side. /media/museum/photos/tandy_color3_sides_s1.jpg title subtitle text image KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP /media/museum/photos/tandy_color3_keyboard_s1.jpg title subtitle text image UNDERNEATH Stangely, the RGB connector is located underneath the computer. /media/museum/photos/tandy_color3_bottomside_s1.jpg title subtitle text image REAR CONNECTORS From left to right: • Reset switch\ • Audio jack\ • Composite video jack\ • RF channel selector\ • TV/RF jack\ • Tape recorder I/O DIN socket\ • Serial I/O DIN socket\ • Right and left joystick DIN sockets\ • Power switch. /media/museum/photos/rearcon_s1.jpg title subtitle text image OPENED The keyboard is simply put on the shell and connected to the motherboard by a thin flat cable. /media/museum/photos/tandy_color3_opened_s1.jpg title subtitle text image MOTHERBOARD **(1)** Four 41464 chips hold 128 KB of RAM\ **(2)** TV/RF modulator\ **(3)** Motorola MC68B09EP microprocessor\ **(4)** ROM cartridge connector\ **(5)** 32 KB ROM chip holding the Tandy BASIC interpreter\ **(6)** Custom GIME chip, especially made for the CoCo3, handles graphics and text display, system bus and various I/O\ **(7)** Keyboard connector\ **(8)** Expansion card (mainly RAM cards) connectors\ **(9)** Motorola LSC81001 I/O chip\ **(10)** Motorola 6821 PIA (Peripheral Interface Adapter)\ **(11)** Power regulator and it's cooler\ **(12)** AC power transformer. /media/museum/photos/tandy_color3_mainboard_s1.jpg title subtitle text image THE BOX /media/museum/photos/tandy_color3_box_s1.jpg title subtitle text image COCO3 MANUALS The BASIC reference guide is missing /media/museum/photos/tandy_color3_manuals_s1.jpg title subtitle text image TRS-80 COLOR COMPUTER DISK SYSTEM It includes single external disk drive (uses standard DS, DD 5.25” floppy) with plug in disk interface, and 92 page users guide. /media/museum/hardware/tandy_color1_fd500_2.jpg title subtitle text image FD-501 5''1/4 disk-drive 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. /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco_fd501-disk_1.jpg title subtitle text image PLUG AND POWER Domotic hardware ! An incredible extension for any Coco computer ! It turns your lights and other equipment on and off at designated times. /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco_plug-and-power.jpg title subtitle text image PLUG'N'POWER Pic #2 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) /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_plugnpower_2.jpg title subtitle text image RS232 PACK /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco_rs232-pack.jpg title subtitle text image SPEECH & SOUND CARTRIDGE /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco_speech-sound-cartridge_1.jpg title subtitle text image SPEECH-SOUND PAK cat. no 26-3144 /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_speech-sound-pak.jpg title subtitle text image SERIAL TO PARALLEL CONVERTER 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 /media/museum/hardware/tandy_serial-parallel_converter_1.jpg title subtitle text image 512K TURBO RAM from Speech Systems This board installs in a coco 3 to give it a whopping 512k of ram ! /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco3_speech-system-512k-turbo-ram.jpg title subtitle text image WICO JOYSTICK ADAPTER The Wico TRS-80 adapter allows you to use Atari 2600 joysticks (and other various controllers using the Atari standard) on your Color Computer /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_vcsadapt_1.jpg title subtitle text image TRS80 COLOUR MOUSE /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_trs80colormouse_1.jpg title subtitle text image TRS-80 TOUCH PAD /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_trs80-touch-pad.jpg title subtitle text image TANDY JOYSTICK /media/museum/hardware/tandy_color1_joystick_1.jpg title subtitle text image GT-116 Tandy graphic tablet A4 size. It is used for transfering pictures or drawings, and also as a menu pointing system. /media/museum/hardware/tandy_color1_tablet_1.jpg title subtitle text image VINYL KEYBOARD COVER Suitable for models 2 and 3. /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_plastic-cover_1.jpg title subtitle text image DC-2212 1200-baud modem with automatic dialing and answer /media/museum/hardware/tandy_color1_modem2212_s1.jpg title subtitle text image MULTI-PACK INTERFACE Model 26-3124 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. /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco_multipack-interface_1.jpg title subtitle text image OLDER MODEL /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_multipack-old_1.jpg title subtitle text image OLDER MODEL Box /media/museum/hardware/tandy_coco2_multipack-old_box_1.jpg title subtitle text image TANDY COLOUR PRINTERS **CGP 220** : (left) 7 colours Inkjet printer\ **CGP 115** : (right) 4 colours plotter /media/museum/hardware/tandy_color1_printers_1.jpg title subtitle text image CGP 115 #2 4-pen color graphic printer.\ Cat. 26-1192A /media/museum/hardware/tandy_color1_4penprinter_s1.jpg title subtitle text image RGB CONNECTOR Looking at the outside of the RGB out jack. **(1)** Ground\ **(2)** Ground\ **(3)** Red\ **(4)** Green\ **(5)** Blue\ **(6)** Polarity (No pin)\ **(7)** Sound\ **(8)** Hsync\ **(9)** Vsync\ **(10)** No Connection /media/museum/connectors/tandy_color3_con_rgb_s1.jpg title subtitle text image JOYSTICK CONNECTOR 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 /media/museum/connectors/tandy_color3_con_joystick_s1.jpg title subtitle text image SERIAL RS232 CONNECTOR 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 /media/museum/connectors/tandy_color3_con_serial_s1.jpg title subtitle text image TAPE RECORDER CONNECTOR **(1)** Remote control\ **(2)** Signal ground\ **(3)** Remote control\ **(4)** Input from recorder\ **(5)** Output to recorder /media/museum/connectors/tandy_color3_con_taperec_s1.jpg title url platform text TRS CoCo3 Emulator by Jeff Vavasour v.1.6B http://www.vavasour.ca/jeff/trs80.html#coco3 MS DOS A very good DOS based emulator that the author kindly made freeware with the source code in hopes others can port it to other OSes and platforms title url platform text TRS-80 Colour Computer 2 Emulator http://www.vavasour.ca/jeff/trs80.html#coco2 MS DOS This DOS emulator (freeware) will run original CoCo as well as CoCo 2 software title url platform text CoCo 2 Emulator v1.5 for MS-DOS http://www.bpwl.com/pub/ar/trs80/coco2-15.zip Windows title url platform text CoCo III Emulator http://www.voicenet.com/~swyss/cocoemul.html Windows title url platform text Virtual CoCo for MacOS http://www.maya.com/Local/phil/coco/ Apple title url platform text Virtual CoCo for MacOS http://www.maya.com/Local/phil/coco/ Apple title url platform text MOCHA http://members.cox.net/javacoco/ Other platform TRS-80 Color Computer (CoCo) Emulator Written In Java title url platform text MESS http://www.mess.org Multiplatform MESS emulates Coco systems, among many other computers title url text Cloud-9 http://www.cloud9tech.com/Order/index.html The place where you can even buy a brand new CoCo3 title url text CoCo Quest Color Computer Games and More! http://www.prowler-pro.com/coco/ title url text Coco Webring http://nav.webring.yahoo.com/hub?ring=CoCo&id=40&list It says it all ! title url text CoCo Zonz http://www.bat-soft.com/coco/ title url text Color Computer Links http://coco3nuts.tripod.com/ title url text Color Computer Transfer Utility http://home.netcom.com/~tlindner/CTU.html title url text NitrOS9 HTTP://NITROS9.LCURTISBOYLE.COM Various Coco webpages, including 100+ downloadable games title url text RadioShackCatalogs.com http://www.RadioShackCatalogs.com Here, you can actually/virtually flip-through the pages to view the content of every RadioShack catalog. title url text Sock Master's Web Page http://www.axess.com/twilight/sock/ Dedicated Tandy Color Computer 3 page, full of info! title url text www.coco3.com http://www.coco3.com The title speaks for itself ! It includes among many things, a Coco FAQ title url text Web Wiz CAPTCHA http://www.webwizcaptcha.com Discussion about Tandy computers /museum/tandy-radio-shack-color-computer /museum/tandy-radio-shack-color-computer-2 109 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230609154716/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=109 2023-06-09

The "TANDY Color Computer 3" followed the Color Computer 2.

The CoCo3 came with 128K RAM, an analog RGB video port, enhanced 640x192 graphics capability, a 64-color palette and much more. (All ports contained on the CoCo 1 and 2 models were also available on the CoCo3, e.g. RS-232 serial, cassette, right and left joystick and a 40-pin expansion slot.)

The built-in Language, named Disk Extended Color Basic 2.1, was a Microsoft BASIC with enhancements by Microware. It was similar to that of the CoCo2, but Microware added the commands/functions to take advantage of the higher resolution graphics and text.

The CoCo3 was upgradeable to 512 KB RAM. (After-market RAM upgrades have gone as high as 8MB, with rumors that 16MB and 32MB RAM upgrades may also be possible). A Multi-Pak (a 4-port bus expander) plugged into the Expansion Slot allowed use of controllers for floppy disk drives, hard drives (MFM, RLL, SCSI and now even IDE), multi-port true RS-232 devices, MIDI units and much much more.

As its microprocessor was still an 8 bit (strange choice when Atari and Commodore were using a 68000), it couldn't access simultaneously to the 128k (or 512k), and thus used several RAM banks which could be switched (as the Thomson TO8, or MSX 2 computers).
Unlike the CoCo and CoCo II the 3 had an interrupt controller. This did away with a lot of the timing loops used in its predecessors, and actually took some of the fun out of programming in Machine Language.

Tandy made several prototypes of a Color Computer model IV but it was never released.

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Contributors: D. Francis