[Milsurplus] IBM-PC

[Jim Klotz]

Listers,

One machine that hasn't been mentioned and IMHO was more capable, but not as 
well supported as others, was the Radio Shack Color Computer (COCO - see:
http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=91).

Starting in 1980, it came originally with 4K RAM, later 8K, then 64K, then 
128K at the end, and used a single-sided 156K floppy and a cassette tape for 
storage at first.  I remember punching extra holes in floppies to gain 
access to the other side to double storage to a whopping 300K or so!

The COCO ran a MS BASIC that was the interface language.  I recall using 
POKE 65535,1 to double the clock rate, and POKE 65534,0 to slow it back down 
fer instance.  It was based on the 6809 chip, grandpa to the 68XXX series 
that powered the pre-PowerPC Macs.  There was Telewriter for word processing 
(later Telewriter64 that could be used with a 80 column display 
modification) and DynaCalc a fully functional spreadsheet.  It was very 
programmable and I recall running OS-9 multiple users (3), each with his own 
terminal - a COCO back in the mid-80's.

Cool it was and (I blushingly admit that) I still have 5 or 6 of them and 
all attendant peripherals languishing in storage.

- Jim Klotz