======================== Micro Color Computer MC-10 ======================== "Un-official technical micro addendum for the MC-10" Here you will find some information on the MC-10, heck!!, it might as well be the begining of a "MC-10 Pokes, Peeks and Execs". This information is provided as-is since I have absolutely zero technical background on this computer besides the provided in the Users Manual, and its the result of a 100% non-scientific approach with a small memory monitor I wrote and a lot of lockups and assorted strange ocurrences when POKEing all over the MC-10's memory. =============== ON THE KEYBOARD It is sometimes useful to monitor the keyboard without the use of INKEY$, as this function doesn't provide for auto-repeat just by itself, so the following locations might help: LOC# Does ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 00002 contain 0 if no key is pressed and changes to 127 as long as any key is pressed. 00003 contain 78 when the SHIFT key is released and changes over to 79 as long as SHIFT is pressed. 49151 contains 255 when no key is pressed contains 239 when the number 7 key is pressed contains 223 with the ? key pressed contains 247 when the SPACEBAR is pressed contains 251 when W is pressed contains 253 when O is pressed contains 254 when G is pressed ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A couple of locations with interesting effects are: LOC# Does ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16955 it seems that it is here where the MC-10 looks for the BREAK key. Try POKEing a 255 to disable this key. The normal contents of this LOC is 0. 17023 return the ASCII code of the last key pressed, it is analogous to INKEY$ 17026 change the cursor character code. The best result is obtained when a graphic block character code is entered. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============== ON THE SCREEN When you do a POKE 49151,4 the MC-10s screen changes over to another semi- graphics mode, remember, this is undocumented. When in this mode, the normal text codes are not displayed correctly, but you can try some graphics that resemble the TRS-80 Model I & III block graphics characters. This mode gives you a resolution of 64x64 rows-columns, but the character codes from the old TRS-80 and the MC-10 are not the same. What follows here is a table that aids in the conversion of such codes: TRS-80 MC-10 TRS-80 MC-10 TRS-80 MC-10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 128 -- 128 151 -- 186 174 -- 157 129 -- 160 152 -- 134 175 -- 189 130 -- 144 153 -- 166 176 -- 131 131 -- 176 154 -- 150 177 -- 163 132 -- 136 155 -- 182 178 -- 147 133 -- 168 156 -- 142 179 -- 179 134 -- 152 157 -- 174 180 -- 139 135 -- 184 158 -- 158 181 -- 171 136 -- 132 159 -- 190 182 -- 155 137 -- 164 160 -- 129 183 -- 187 138 -- 148 161 -- 161 184 -- 187 139 -- 180 162 -- 145 185 -- 167 140 -- 140 163 -- 177 186 -- 151 141 -- 172 164 -- 137 187 -- 183 142 -- 156 165 -- 169 188 -- 143 143 -- 188 166 -- 153 189 -- 175 144 -- 130 167 -- 185 190 -- 159 145 -- 162 168 -- 133 191 -- 191 146 -- 146 169 -- 165 147 -- 178 170 -- 149 148 -- 138 171 -- 181 149 -- 170 172 -- 141 150 -- 154 173 -- 173 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- For reference on the TRS-80 Model I & III block graphics characters look in (if you can find any) their respective manuals, and in one big blue book called TRS-80 Graphics for the Model I and Model III written by David A Kater and Susan J Thomas. ============== ON THE PRINTER On the printer side of things, the MC-10 can do more than the "standard" 600 baud described on the Users Manual. The following table came from Bob Rosen, at that time president of the long gone Spectrum Projects: LOC#: 16932 --> serial port printer baud rate Baud POKE this value ------------------------------- 300 241 600 118 1200 57 2400 26 4800 10 9600 9 ------------------------------- This should be helpful to those having a serial-parallel converter since these can handle the 9600 baud transmission rate. If you have the TP-10 then 600 baud (rate on power-up) is top speed but if you have a DMP-105 or DMP-106 lying around you can put it to work on the MC-10 at 2400 baud. Let's pull out the MC-10 from the basement/closet/box/whatever its stored and try this. Maybe someone also has some hints on the insides of the MC-10 that could be useful....... If you'd like to comment or add or correct this information please feel free to contact me, as always: NO SASE required if you want a reply!! ^^^^^^^ Rogelio Perea