Chess (TRS-80 Color Computer, 1980)

Chess (TRS-80 Color Computer, 1980) - Let's Play!

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Күн бұрын

Is this my first stream for the Coco? I think it might be! Chess for the TRS-80 Color Computer was published by Radio Shack. It is essentially just Microchess 2.0 by Personal Software. Radio Shack previously published Microchess 1.5 for the TRS-80 Model 1. Let's check it out!
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Пікірлер: 6

@goofyrulez7914 4 ай бұрын

True about the original TRS-80, they did EVERYTHING possible to save money (like using a defective character ROM and then limiting us to uppercase only so we wouldn't know).

@CurtisBoyle 4 ай бұрын

You are right on the graphics - the 6847 VDG chip is from 1978 (the Coco got released in the fall of 1980). The Coco 2 (the original melted keyboard version) actually came out in the fall of 1983, then the Coco 3 in the fall of 1986. The line kept going until 1991. The graphics modes basically were 4 color or 2 colors at a time; Chess uses the 4 color mode but in a medium resolution (128x96, if I remember) mainly so that he cartridge would run in a 4K RAM machine. I see that your Coco 2 has the full travel keys (not the "melted keys" version; does it have a "Radio Shack" or "Tandy" nameplate? If the latter, there is a chance you have a T1 VDG (came out around 1985) that actually supports true lowercase, inverse video and full border on text screens. Of course, Tandy/Microsoft never upgraded BASIC to use them, but OS-9 Level 1 did. (The Deluxe Coco's BASIC did, however). At the beginning programmers had not figured out that artifact colors work in the black&white graphics modes, which gave a better 3rd palette of 4 pure colors (black, blue, orangish/red, white) and could even coax some extras. This is similar to the Apple II artifacting. I should mention that a much better Chess came out later from Tandy called Cyrus. The Chess that you are playing here was one of the launch titles, so this was written in early 1980 (it's author, Peter Jennings, did a lot of Chess programs for early, smaller computers in the late 1970's/early 1980's). The Deluxe joystick should work fine on the Coco 2 (although if you have a 2 button version, only the red button will work - the black secondary button only works on the Coco 3 (or the never released Deluxe Coco from late 1984). Buff is what Tandy called white. I have no idea why they called it that. For Galactic Attack - you are right that it is meant for analog (not digital), where your X position on the joystick itself is your X position on the screen (64 possible positions), but it has some "momentum" and has to move to the X position that you have moved the joystick to (it isn't instantaneous like in a game like Polaris). So in this case you want to flip the X switch on the bottom to free float vs. centering (while holding the joystick to a corner). The top rollers are for adjusting the center of the joystick on each axis. If you try some of the other launch titles that happen to be written by R.G. Kilgus (Robert), like Quasar Commander, Music, or a few that came out a few months after launch like Dino Wars and Skiing, we did an in depth interview with the author at the beginning of May. It's a 4 part interview, and includes covering both his TRS-80 Model 1/3 software (in part 2) and his Coco software (part 3 and the first part of part 4). kzbin.info/aero/PLuQFtgtJihmTnq6DYCOkNAEy-mXI5pM3X

@StusGameReviews 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for the detailed comments!!! The Coco I was using has a Radio Shack nameplate. I have another one with what I think you were calling the melted keys. I am not sure what's up with the joystick but I was having trouble putting it in free float mode. When I have the joystick in a corner, those switches don't want to move. When not holding the joystick, they move freely, but all they seem to do is control the tension of the stick or something... I need to figure that out and possibly get a different joystick...

@CurtisBoyle 4 ай бұрын

@@StusGameReviews - The two switch on the underside of a Deluxe joystick are to switch free-float to spring-to-center, one for each axis. If you push them while the joystick is not in the corner, it goes into a weird partially spring-based but with too much pressure needed to move. If you push and hold the joystick to the corner, and then switch one or both of the switches, bit should fix it up properly. Springback should be the same tension across the entire axis; if it is not (and is harder to push the further from the center you move it), that indicates that it was switched without the joystick in the corner. (The two rotators on the top are to adjust where the center is - some games have an odd idea of center, or you may want a bias in a certain direction depending on the game, so those adjust that).