Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!osu-cis!att!ihnp4!ihlpl!knudsen
From: knudsen@ihlpl.ATT.COM (Knudsen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.m6809
Subject: Re: CoCo 3 suggestions
Summary: Need MPI for OS9!
Keywords: Cyrus  ROMpaks  MPI
Message-ID: <6259@ihlpl.ATT.COM>
Date: 15 Aug 88 19:05:05 GMT
References: <4503@saturn.ucsc.edu>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 27

Frank points out that the MPI will only postpone the plug & unplug
syndrome for heavy cartridge users.

However, I need the MPI just to run my OS9 system.  In fact
I whish I had 1 or 2 more slots.  What I keep in there is:
	Floppy controller
	Hard disk controller
	MIDI interface
	RS232 Pak

and if I hd another slot would keep my 256K DISTO RAMdisk in there.
Then maybe speech synthesizer, etc.
At least I don't need an 80-column pak any more.

It's NOT true that an MPI upgraded for Coco 3 will not work
with older Cocos, just certain peripherals (like Coco Max)
that use out-of-range addresses.

Of course the MPI's biggest problem for OS9 users --
its screwed-up interrupt-mishandling -- is caused by its original
design intent as a 4-game-cart manifold, and Tandy's early use
of constant interrupts to signal a game cart's presence.

Finally, without excusing Tandy's $60+ price for the MPI,
remember the TI/99, which needed a bookshelf-speaker-sized
expansion box just to add more RAM, let alone a disk?
Cost a few hundred $$, too!