Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Radio Shack put out the Color Computer 3 in 1986 for two hundred and twenty dollars, and under the hood it was quietly running one of the most respected chips of the entire 8 bit era. The Motorola 6809E is still called by a lot of people the most advanced 8 bit processor ever made. While everyone else built machines around the 6502 or the Z80, Tandy went with the 6809, and enthusiasts have loved it ever since.
But this machine is a lesson in budget compromises too. It shipped with no real sound chip at all, and the reason is almost funny. The lead engineer later said he was given money in the production budget for either a sound chip or a communication chip, not both, so he picked neither and spent it on timers instead. A computer built to show off color graphics went out the door with basically no sound hardware because of a single line in a budget.
There is a great software story here as well. By 1986 Microsoft was done improving the CoCo's BASIC and would not hand over the source code, but insisted any new Color Computer still had to carry Microsoft BASIC. So Tandy's machine boots up by copying that untouched Microsoft code out of ROM and into memory, then patching in all the new commands on the fly. A clever dodge to keep everyone happy.
A couple more things people forget. Radio Shack's own staff were famous for knowing almost nothing about the CoCo beyond the price tag, even though they happily supported and upgraded the older TRS 80. There was also a 256 color mode written into the original chip specs that has never actually been found in the hardware. And plenty of CoCos secretly shipped with more memory than the label claimed, because bigger chips were sometimes cheaper and Tandy just did not mention it.
Did you own a Tandy Color Computer 3, or was it the thing you stared at through the Radio Shack window? Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#tandycolorcomputer3 #coco3 #tandy #radioshack #trs80 #motorola6809 #retrocomputing #8bit #homecomputer #retrocommercial #vintagead #80stech #1986 #retrogaming #gameforestgf #youtubeshorts #gaming
Radio Shack put out the Color Computer 3 in 1986 for two hundred and twenty dollars, and under the hood it was quietly running one of the most respected chips of the entire 8 bit era. The Motorola 6809E is still called by a lot of people the most advanced 8 bit processor ever made. While everyone else built machines around the 6502 or the Z80, Tandy went with the 6809, and enthusiasts have loved it ever since.
But this machine is a lesson in budget compromises too. It shipped with no real sound chip at all, and the reason is almost funny. The lead engineer later said he was given money in the production budget for either a sound chip or a communication chip, not both, so he picked neither and spent it on timers instead. A computer built to show off color graphics went out the door with basically no sound hardware because of a single line in a budget.
There is a great software story here as well. By 1986 Microsoft was done improving the CoCo's BASIC and would not hand over the source code, but insisted any new Color Computer still had to carry Microsoft BASIC. So Tandy's machine boots up by copying that untouched Microsoft code out of ROM and into memory, then patching in all the new commands on the fly. A clever dodge to keep everyone happy.
A couple more things people forget. Radio Shack's own staff were famous for knowing almost nothing about the CoCo beyond the price tag, even though they happily supported and upgraded the older TRS 80. There was also a 256 color mode written into the original chip specs that has never actually been found in the hardware. And plenty of CoCos secretly shipped with more memory than the label claimed, because bigger chips were sometimes cheaper and Tandy just did not mention it.
Did you own a Tandy Color Computer 3, or was it the thing you stared at through the Radio Shack window? Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#tandycolorcomputer3 #coco3 #tandy #radioshack #trs80 #motorola6809 #retrocomputing #8bit #homecomputer #retrocommercial #vintagead #80stech #1986 #retrogaming #gameforestgf #youtubeshorts #gaming
