28 Apr
2004
28 Apr
'04
7:17 a.m.
On Wed, 28 Apr 2004, ben franchuk wrote:
In hindsight, the 6809 while the best 8 processer it
only has 64k of
memory space. Time has proved the 64k data and 64k program space and
about 1 meg of memory ( something the PC-XT had or PDP11/unix ) was
needed for useful programs with a resonable OS. Also since the only
Moore's law observes that size doubles every 18 months.
Boyle's law observes that software expands to fit all available space.
My corollary observes that Boyle's law leads Moore's.
But "needed"???!?
If the meg, or more, of memory is there, then it will be used.
That doesn't mean that it is necessary.
common 6809 system was by Radio Shack as games machine
you never got the
good I/O like lower case letters and a real serial and floppy drives.
I agree that Radio Shack crippled certain aspects of the Coco.
I always assumed that that was to avoid it outperforming their Model II
"business" computer.
But the floppy drives of the Coco were industry standard units,
with an industry standard (SA400) interface, with an industry
standard (WD179x) controller, to produce an industry standard MFM encoding.