RICK: Here's a very informative series of articles on the history of the
CoCo by Alfredo Santos.  I acquired my copy of the chronicles from our 
friend Arthur Hallock.  After reading them, I immediately set out to locate
Alfredo and ask permission to reprint them for our friends.  Al quickly
replied, "okay."  Last issue we included the Table of Contents and intro to
the CoCo Chronicles.  This time we'll look at "The Renaissance".  More CoCo 
history next issue.  Enjoy!
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THE RENAISSANCE

Three major events, instrumental in paving the way for the Color Computer 
information explosion, occured in the opening months of 1981. 

THE MICRO WORKS and COMPUTERWARE shared the distinction of being the first 
folks to offer software for the Color Computer. The "CBUG" monitor program 
and the "80C" disassembler, both from THE MICRO WORKS' ANDREW PHELPS, are 
released in January. Accompanied by documentation containing information 
about the Basic ROM, these fine programming tools will, in the right hands, 
reveal even more information about how the Color Computer works. 

With the arrival, in February, of Radio Shack's DIRECT CONNECT MODEM I, a 
feeling of "community" began spreading among the isolated Color 
Computerists. Using "VIDEOTEX", the first communications package for the 
Color Computer, users start "meeting" on COMPUSERVE or, more frequently, 
local area bulletin boards to share information and "discoveries". 

Of less significance but, certainly of interest, SPECTRAL ASSOCIATES 
introduced a 16K upgrade, ($75.00) an editor/assembler, plus several other 
utilities and one of the first games: SPACE INVADERS. They were also in the 
process of developing MAGIC BOX which would enable Model I & III tapes to 
be loaded into the Color Computer. 
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The CONNECTION-80 BBS of Woodhaven, New York, which went "on-line" March 
22nd, was like hundreds of other Model I boards providing information for 
the Model I & Model III....with one exception. The sysop, having just 
purchased a Color Computer, started putting things on the BBS about the 
Color Computer and at 300 baud, news spread quickly about BOB ROSEN's BBS. 

One of the main topics of BBS "conversation" at this time was the article 
in BYTE magazine's March issue entitled: "WHAT'S INSIDE RADIO SHACK'S COLOR 
COMPUTER?". Authored by Tim Ahrens, Jack Brown, and Hunter Scales, the 
article contained the most comprehensive information ever assembled, 
including an in-depth look at the 6809E architecture, the job-discription 
of all the major chips, the expansion port pin-out, the famous POKE 65495,0 
speed poke, plus "... a tricky way to get 32K bytes of memory"! 

Although occasional Color Computer "tid-bits" show up in various computer 
publications, they are usually in the form of reviews with no more 
information than found in the "Getting Started With Color Basic" manual. 

If, in those early days, you looked for information in WAYNE GREEN's 80 
MICROCOMPUTING, you missed out on lots of material appearing regularly in 
a publication called 68 MICRO JOURNAL. 

68 Micro carried the first information on the MC6883 SAM chip (Nov'80), 
the first Color Computer software ads and a tip on disabling the ROM-PAK 
auto-start (Jan'81), MICKEY FERGUSON's letter mentioning plans for starting 
COLORWARE (Jan'81), talk of an expansion interface from F&D ASSOCIATES 
(Mar'81), and a letter from TALLGRASS TECHNOLOGIES about their proposed 
disk system (Apr'81). The April issue also premiered the first dedicated 
Color Computer column, BOB NAY's "TRS80CC". 

Only in retrospect can DON WILLIAMS' 68 MICRO JOURNAL be truly appreciated. 

With a reader base made up of Motorola's 6800 users, they, were among the 
first to realize the potential of the 6809E powered Color Computer. 

Names like STAR-KITS, The Micro Works, Computerware, MARK DATA, CER-COMP, 
FRANK HOGG and others were in the pages of 68 MICRO long before there was 
ever a Color Computer. 

With its support of the Motorola 68xx series, 68 Micro, attracted some 
early seekers, most, however, gravitate toward 80 MICROCOMPUTING, others 
look to 80 U.S., while still others try BYTE. 

As more and more interest grew, it was inevitable that somebody, somewhere 
would start a publication exclusively for the TRS-80 Color Computer. 

COLOR COMPUTER NEWS,(CCN for short) was the first Color Computer 
publication to hit the stands. 

Edited by Bill Sias and published by REMarkable software of Muskegon, CCN 
premiers with its May/Jun issue, a 48 page beauty, filled with program 
listings, reviews, letters from other users, and articles! 
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Don Inman, Ron Krebs, Wayne Day, Tom Mix, Ken Kalish, Jorge Mir, Gary & 
Susan Davis, Tony DiStefano, D.S. Lewandowski, and Andrew Phelps were just 
some of the "new" users (weren't we all back then) whose names appeared 
within the first few issues. 

Another feature of CCN was all those lovely ads! Did I say ads?? Yup! 

As much as we may sometimes say we hate commercials, I'll bet during the 
opening months of 1981, you, like many other users, pour through various 
computer magazines searching, not only for articles but, for that 
occasional ad which may mention the Color Computer. Lets face it, ads ARE 
an information source. 

Although there were only a handful of companies supporting the Color 
Computer in its first year, it may come as a surprise, the amount of 
sophisticated software and hardware that was available and/or in the 
development. 

The Micro Works had its CBUG, 80C disassembler, and 16K or 32K upgrades. 
editor/assemblers and "space invader" games were both available from 
Computerware and Spectral Associates. EIGEN SYSTEMS was putting BASIC 
programs on a ROM-PAK. The WOLFBUG monitor from MIKE WOLF accessed 64K of 
RAM. F&D Associates released a ROM/EPROM BOARD, and a PROTO BOARD while 
announcing plans for an EXPANSION INTERFACE. Both Tallgrass and ATOMTRONICS 
were developing disk systems, and Steve Odneal's Color Computer FLEX 
conversion was reportedly just about completed. 

Microsoft's Bill Gates (the daddy of Color Basic and Extended Color Basic) 
is interviewed in the May/Junn issue of 80 U.S. and says, in the future, 
there will be a book dealing with the overall structure of both ROMS. 

As the Color Computer's first year came to a close in June, third party 
support was starting to gather momentum but, if Fort Worth doesn't step up 
support, the TRS-80 Color Computer may die of neglect....... 
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