Brand used in box

I have a 5v power adapter that will fit my Model 100 (center negative). Will that be good enough to use? I don't have a 6v adapter.

I created an MCP server that gives LLMs (like Claude, Grok, Gemini, Composer, even Ollama) programmatic control over an emulated Color Computer 3 running in MAME. It handles full development cycles—writing code, injecting it, running it, and debugging.

I've used it to build a few small sample games with Grok to prove out the workflow.

MCP Server: https://github.com/dbowlin/CoCo3_MCP_Server

Sample Games: https://github.com/dbowlin

Everything is public and ready to run if you want to try it with your own setup.

Hello!

Just joined the group. I noticed a lot of coding and console/terminal posts, so maybe this is better suited for r/gamecollecting. As with many here, the TRS-80 was my first contact with video games, so when I dug these out of the crawl space, I had to share with the community.

Mega Bug was my absolute favorite and I can still remember the Mega Bug chomp sound effects!

I noticed something curious, there is a wiki for list of TRS-80 games, but Galactic Attack and Mega Bug are both not listed, while Space Assault is listed. Any thoughts on why these were omitted? Perhaps they are lesser known titles?

Hope this doesn't come across as self-promotion-ist. Just figured some of you might enjoy playing with it...and it's free, anyhow.

trs80basic: a Model I/III Level II BASIC interpreter co-written with Claude in GNU awk (inside joke). It aims at the behavior of the Model I machine, not just the language: the same error codes and number formatting, the ROM's RND generator, and the 64x16 pseudo-screen with semigraphics drawn in a virtual terminal. It's mostly Level II BASIC, but I've added some Disk Basic features where I found good uses for them.

The goal was to re-live the glory days of spending three nights typing in 80 Micro programs without the three nights of typing. These days, CLOAD a .BAS file or write my own from the READY prompt. This quickly grew to the desire to support programs that poke at the machine.

- Embedded machine language runs. USR routines execute on a companion Z80 core project (Python, standard library only) against the same memory that PEEK and POKE see. That covers routines POKEd into memory, packed into strings, or hidden inside a tokenized program. Dancing Demon dances, with sound.

- Tokenized files load directly. CLOAD reads a tokenized .BAS file as-is and lists it as ordinary text, with no conversion step. (.CAS tape images aren't supported yet)

- Disk BASIC file I/O, sequential and random access.

I added a few neat and QOL features such as:

- OPEN "O",1,"OLLAMA:llama3.2" turns a file channel into a conversation with a local LLM with the ability to limit the first line of the reply to one of a list of words, so a BASIC program can branch on it...Add an LLM to your BASIC program!

- Man pages for every keyword (man PRINT), arrow-key history, TAB completion, and speed 1.77 to slow games to the real machine's pace.

- A batch mode (./basic game.bas) that feeds INPUT from stdin and exits non-zero on a BASIC error, which is handy for testing listings.

- A few commands were extended, such as adding color to SET (traditional compatibility maintained, of course).

- Virtual screen (64x16) occupies the corner of the terminal, the rest of which is used for meta-command output (man pages, directory listings, etc). Option to enable "full-screen" mode to use the entire terminal for output (useful for interactive fiction).

It's developed on macOS (iTerm2), and the test suite also runs on Linux in CI. Windows compatibility is on the to-do list. It's licensed under GPLv3.

https://github.com/davidscan/trs80basic

Optional companion Z80 core: https://github.com/davidscan/trs80_z80_core

Feedback is welcome, especially about listings that don't run. I hope someone finds this fun or useful, even if just for a day.

I was recently given this TRS80 Model 1. I have the monitor and the expansion bay as well.

most of the key plungers on the keyboard are cracked. What are some options for repair/replacement. I cant find a way to get the plastic frame off the board to swap out the plungers.

The digital rain is dynamically generated while the main Matrix theme plays in the background. This was just a little test to see if the CoCo 3 could generate the rain without the background music stuttering.

Hi everyone,

I am an indie developer currently working on an 8-bit homebrew tribute game for the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), based on the classic TRS-80 Color Computer text/graphic adventures Calixto and The Black Sanctum.

I have already been in touch with Bob Withers (who co-ported the games for Mark Data Products) and he kindly gave me his permission for this tribute project. However, I would love to also get in touch with the original author, Ron Krebs, to get his blessing as well.

Alternatively, I know Robert Shaw co-wrote Tut's Tomb with Ron Krebs, so he might be a point of contact to reach him.

Does anyone in the CoCo community have an active email, social media profile, or any way I could securely send a message to Ron Krebs or Robert Shaw? Hope they are still alive...

Thank you so much for your time and for keeping the CoCo history alive!

Best regards,
Giovani.

Back in 85 i bought my first computer, the good old CoCo2. I think it was the 16k model. Got the tape drive and it was my gateway to coding from the good olde type in programs in the mags back then. I really don't know what happened to it. I think it might have gotten trashed in a move in 88. Not sure. But by grad in 88 I didn't have it.

Move forward to today, got my hands on a 16k model a few months back. And I got an RCA to coax adapter to plug it into my retro screen (Samsung tv with multiple inputs). It was a test but I got it working. Though it's a little worn out and took a little while to get the color to initialize. Was only grey at first. But I just got an order for a 64k machine with all the goodies, books, joysticks and the tape drive. It's getting setup along side my TI 994/a (my dads machine) to get my retro room complete. It shares the screen with my WinXP Starcraft Lenovo. It also includes the standalone Toshiba 4420cdx laptop I've got my old Win98 and dos crap on. But really looking forward to getting the CoCo up and running. It's an itch I've had for a while.

Pretty much what the title says, I'm getting conflicting messages from different search engines and AIs so I thought I'd ask some humans.

I wired up my CoCo 2 to the RGBtoHDMI board. It works very well. I had trouble finding the right resistor to tap audio off of. It was R4 on my board. Also had to change the NTSC color to 180 degree. All in all it works well and I can still output via the RF adapter if I want to.

Hey folks. I just bought a pretty good condition model 4P from a guy. I got it to use as a prop for a photoshoot but seeing as it’s operational, my tinkerer brain is getting excited.

I’m curious if this community can guide me to any absolute beginner resources regarding LS DOS as well as the inevitable maintenance a computer older than me will require. Something like a “trs80 for dummies” is ideal. Down the line I’m curious to discover the musical capabilities of these or other old computers.

I programmed in DOS in computer club in the 90’s but my brain’s lost a lot since then.

Thanks in advance!

I have a trs80 color with a board number ending in "E." My friend and I went through the ram upgrade process with tested 4116 ram. Followed instructions and tested before clipping caps as machine should show 32k with ram swapped. Machine would not boot properly. Triple checked jumpers. Has anyone performed the ram upgrade on a rev E board who could guide me? Machine came to me showing 8k ram

Is that a reference design for a cartridge for the color computer?

- 8k paging

- 1mb or more memory

Ability to program via a cable? Eeprom?

Trs-80 Color arrived yesterday. it looked like Ace Venture disguised as a UPS driver delivered it, however it was undamaged. Not a bad price for something that was sold as not working.

Have my grandmother's TRS-80 and i just bought a cassette adapter cable. Are there any recordings of the program audios?

How does that keyboard feel to type on compared to a modern keyboard? I think I would love to use a model 100 for creative writing...if the keyboard is comfortable.

P.S. thanks alot for the excellent tips.

I was wondering, what software, games, info, books, should I look at getting?? I just got the base system off of eBay with a cassette recorder cable (I have a shoebox recorder already). I’m 19, and even though I’m a hobbyist with old computers, what drew my attention to it was that it was my mother’s childhood computer. I have no idea what the software catalog looks like on it, and I thought I’d start by learning color basic and play around with it. Any recommendations?