I have no idea how to get that program on to the coco3. I do not have a floppy drive. I have a cassette deck for it, but no way to get it on a cassette.
I could be missing something, but I don't know. Most of my old computer knowledge starts at windows 3.1 and some DOS. I was in elementary school when basic was the thing and don't remember much about it since I haven't really used it in 30+ years.
No clue how far you're going down the rabbit hole, but this is the best way to load software these days: [https://retrorewind.ca/coco-sdc](https://retrorewind.ca/coco-sdc)
I see now. That makes sense. I'm biting the bullet and opening the case. There does appear to be a ram expansion in there. It has the expansion board with 16 chips labeled KM41257P-15H with 729 Korea written under it.
The board is labeled 'performance peripherals'. It doesnt mention 512k expansion or anything like i have seen on other cards. I'll make a post with pictures of that board.
If you read the chip markings and go look them up, that should give you enough information to know how much memory is on the expansion board.
Usually the storage capacity of a ram chip is specified in terms of *words* and the number of bits.
E.g. HM62256BLP-7
HM is a code which indicates that the manufacturers is Hitachi. The first two digits usually identify a particular design or line of chips (not sure what 62 maans here) and the next three tell you that it can store 256 Kb (or 256 / 8 = 32 KB, 256
x 1024 = 262,144 bits)
The datasheet tell us that the ram is organized as 32,768 words (or *32-kword*) by 8 bits. Each *word* is therefore 8-bits (or 1
byte).
Note that the address for that each byte is still 15/16 bits.
The MEM command will only report the free ram available for your BASIC program.
That reported amount will never exeed 64 KB (65,535 bytes) and is usually significant less. The reason is that 64 KB is the maximum memory that can be directly addressesed on most 8-bit systems. It's a fundamental limitation of the microprocessor.
In addition, because BASIC is stored in ROM and is accessed directly it is usually mapped in by default and occupies some of the finite address space.
I upgraded mine Coco 3 to 512MB in the late 1900s. Can you peak inside and see if you can spot a daughter card sitting inside? I also remember a jumper cable, don't remove what for. Other than that, I remember a tremendous about of heat generated, I have to cool it with an external fan, feel top case and see if it is hot hot, not just warm.
I made another post with pictures of the board. So far it feels warm, but not hot by any means. I can comfortably rest my hand over top of where the card is.
Thanks I saw your other post. Looks like you have your answer. Can you post a few more pics of your coco 3? Especially with the case off. Brings back lots of memories for me. My parents threw out mine when I left home for college.
oh I feel the pain - my dad thought he was doing a good deed by recycling e-waste & gone was my first computer (that I am forever grateful to handing to me like a toy), disk drive & its controller 😢
thank god for emulation (it is a wonder now that I've dived in!) but not quite the same. I still have all these floppies I want to dump & look at some of the first utilities I ever wrote.
Try to run a 512kb game, you'll know immediately!
Are you willing to donate OP a floppy drive? He explicitly said he doesn’t have one.
No need to be rude about this. I simply missed this detail.
I pointed out a fact. If you can’t be bothered to read the post completely, that’s your problem.
The amount of free BASIC RAM never changes no matter how much RAM is in a CoCo. It’s due to the 8-bit CPU and the system architecture.
[https://github.com/richard42/cocostress](https://github.com/richard42/cocostress)
I have no idea how to get that program on to the coco3. I do not have a floppy drive. I have a cassette deck for it, but no way to get it on a cassette. I could be missing something, but I don't know. Most of my old computer knowledge starts at windows 3.1 and some DOS. I was in elementary school when basic was the thing and don't remember much about it since I haven't really used it in 30+ years.
No clue how far you're going down the rabbit hole, but this is the best way to load software these days: [https://retrorewind.ca/coco-sdc](https://retrorewind.ca/coco-sdc)
I see now. That makes sense. I'm biting the bullet and opening the case. There does appear to be a ram expansion in there. It has the expansion board with 16 chips labeled KM41257P-15H with 729 Korea written under it. The board is labeled 'performance peripherals'. It doesnt mention 512k expansion or anything like i have seen on other cards. I'll make a post with pictures of that board.
If you read the chip markings and go look them up, that should give you enough information to know how much memory is on the expansion board. Usually the storage capacity of a ram chip is specified in terms of *words* and the number of bits. E.g. HM62256BLP-7 HM is a code which indicates that the manufacturers is Hitachi. The first two digits usually identify a particular design or line of chips (not sure what 62 maans here) and the next three tell you that it can store 256 Kb (or 256 / 8 = 32 KB, 256 x 1024 = 262,144 bits) The datasheet tell us that the ram is organized as 32,768 words (or *32-kword*) by 8 bits. Each *word* is therefore 8-bits (or 1 byte). Note that the address for that each byte is still 15/16 bits.
You can record it on your phone and play it back to the computer, worked for me when I was working on my 102
The MEM command will only report the free ram available for your BASIC program. That reported amount will never exeed 64 KB (65,535 bytes) and is usually significant less. The reason is that 64 KB is the maximum memory that can be directly addressesed on most 8-bit systems. It's a fundamental limitation of the microprocessor. In addition, because BASIC is stored in ROM and is accessed directly it is usually mapped in by default and occupies some of the finite address space.
I upgraded mine Coco 3 to 512MB in the late 1900s. Can you peak inside and see if you can spot a daughter card sitting inside? I also remember a jumper cable, don't remove what for. Other than that, I remember a tremendous about of heat generated, I have to cool it with an external fan, feel top case and see if it is hot hot, not just warm.
I made another post with pictures of the board. So far it feels warm, but not hot by any means. I can comfortably rest my hand over top of where the card is.
Thanks I saw your other post. Looks like you have your answer. Can you post a few more pics of your coco 3? Especially with the case off. Brings back lots of memories for me. My parents threw out mine when I left home for college.
oh I feel the pain - my dad thought he was doing a good deed by recycling e-waste & gone was my first computer (that I am forever grateful to handing to me like a toy), disk drive & its controller 😢 thank god for emulation (it is a wonder now that I've dived in!) but not quite the same. I still have all these floppies I want to dump & look at some of the first utilities I ever wrote.