MediaWiki:Sitenotice:
2024-03-02: The wiki ran out of disk space, so things were not working. This has been resolved by adding another 5GB of quota ;-) Thanks to Tim Lindner for reporting the issues. 2020-05-17: If a page gives you an error about some revision not being found, just EDIT the page and the old page should appear in the editor. If it does, just SAVE that and the page should be restored. OS-9 Al (talk) 12:22, 17 May 2020 (CDT)

CoCo3 Easter Egg: Difference between revisions

From CoCopedia - The Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Line 17: Line 17:
==Tandy's Shock==
==Tandy's Shock==
[http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.tandy/msg/eaa2bf487fb3e538?hl=en& Frank Durda IV] writes:
[http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.tandy/msg/eaa2bf487fb3e538?hl=en& Frank Durda IV] writes:
 
<div style="padding: .5em 1em 1em; margin: 3px;">
Microware demanded and grudgingly got an 8K ROM budget, then they used 2K for the ordered improvements and almost 6K for the photo. Tandy hardware and R&D management were really, really irritated with Microware over this once it was discovered, as they could have put a cheaper 2K ROM in instead and gotten the wanted fixes. (In those days, the difference in price between the 8K masked ROM and 2K masked ROM was significant.)
<div style="clear:left"> <i>Microware demanded and grudgingly got an 8K ROM budget, then they used 2K for the ordered improvements and almost 6K for the photo. Tandy hardware and R&D management were really, really irritated with Microware over this once it was discovered, as they could have put a cheaper 2K ROM in instead and gotten the wanted fixes. (In those days, the difference in price between the 8K masked ROM and 2K masked ROM was significant.)<br>
You don't know how many internal projects got put under the microscope by hardware management after that stunt, looking for what we now call "Easter Eggs" and as part of the witch hunt, killing what hardware management was calling "trivial" or unapproved functionality. A lot of good things died as a result of that stunt.  It probably helped doom the Deluxe CoCo project too.
You don't know how many internal projects got put under the microscope by hardware management after that stunt, looking for what we now call "Easter Eggs" and as part of the witch hunt, killing what hardware management was calling "trivial" or unapproved functionality. A lot of good things died as a result of that stunt.  It probably helped doom the Deluxe CoCo project too.
</i></div></div>
But since the Deluxe CoCo project was cancelled before the CoCo 3 project started a causal relationship can hardly be asserted.


==Q&A at Pennfest 2000==
==Q&A at Pennfest 2000==

Revision as of 18:21, 14 September 2005

The Color Computer 3 contained an easter egg.

The Egg


The above picture can be displayed on every Color Computer 3 ever made. But the instructions on how to bring it up were kept secret. That is what makes it an Easter Egg. To see the picture hold down the Control and Alternate keys on the CoCo's keyboard and press the reset button on the back right of the Color Computer. This puts the CoCo into a special mode where the only thing it can do is display this picture. A nitfy side effect of this easter egg is now there is an easy way to to generate a cold restart of the machine. Pressing the reset button again will produce the standard Color Computer 3 power on sequence.

Tandy's Roll

During the design of the Color Computer 3 hardware Tandy commissioned Microware to extend the internal BASIC interrupter.

Microware's Roll

The three people pictured in the Easter Egg are Mark Hawkins, Todd Earls and Tim Harris. They worked on the additional functionality of the the internal BASIC interrupter for Microware.

Were they the only ones? Why were they included in the picture? Did they work on OS-9 Level 2?

Tandy's Shock

Frank Durda IV writes:

Microware demanded and grudgingly got an 8K ROM budget, then they used 2K for the ordered improvements and almost 6K for the photo. Tandy hardware and R&D management were really, really irritated with Microware over this once it was discovered, as they could have put a cheaper 2K ROM in instead and gotten the wanted fixes. (In those days, the difference in price between the 8K masked ROM and 2K masked ROM was significant.)

You don't know how many internal projects got put under the microscope by hardware management after that stunt, looking for what we now call "Easter Eggs" and as part of the witch hunt, killing what hardware management was calling "trivial" or unapproved functionality. A lot of good things died as a result of that stunt. It probably helped doom the Deluxe CoCo project too.

But since the Deluxe CoCo project was cancelled before the CoCo 3 project started a causal relationship can hardly be asserted.

Q&A at Pennfest 2000

Mark Hawkins attended the Pennfest Color Computer Festival in the year 2000. During a question and answer session Mark answered qeustions regarding the Easter Egg.
Include transcript.

Special Discovery