TRS-80 Color Computer
The RadioShack TRS-80 Color Computer, later marketed as the Tandy Color Computer and nicknamed the CoCo, is a line of home computers developed and sold by Tandy Corporation. Despite sharing a name with the earlier TRS-80, the Color Computer is a completely different, incompatible system and a radical departure in design and compatibility with its Motorola 6809E processor rather than the Zilog Z80 earlier models were built around.
16K TRS-80 Color Computer | |
| Developer | Tandy Corporation |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Motorola |
| Release date | September 1980 |
| Introductory price | US$399 (equivalent to $1,420 in 2022) |
| Discontinued | 1991 |
| Operating system | Color BASIC 1.0 / 2.0 / OS-9 |
| CPU | 6809E @ 0.895 / 1.79 MHz |
| Memory | 4 / 16 / 32 / 64 / 128 / 512 KB |
| Graphics | MC6847 video display generator |
| Sound | 6-bit DAC |
The Tandy Color Computer line started in 1980 with what is now called the Color Computer 1. It was followed by the Color Computer 2 in 1983, then the Color Computer 3 in 1986. All three models maintain a high level of software and hardware compatibility, with few programs written for an older model being unable to run on the newer ones. The Color Computer 3 was discontinued in 1991.
All Color Computer models shipped with Color BASIC, an implementation of Microsoft BASIC, in ROM. Variants of the OS-9 multitasking operating system were available from third parties.