CoCo3 Emulation under MESS 0.145

First, I’d like to say that it’s been a challenge getting this configuration to run. Not because of software issues but because there doesn’t seem to be anyone else that wants to do exactly what I’m doing.

For those who might not know, CoCo3 refers to the Radio Shack/Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer 3, which hasn’t been available for over a decade. However, it was a nice piece of consumer-grade kit, not quite at the level of the Amigas but still pretty decent. MESS refers to the Multi Emulator Super System, designed to provide emulation for many different pieces of computer hardware.

Just to quickly sort things, make sure your version of MESS is 0.145 and the ROMs that you are using were created with that version in mind. I am using the 48 TPI DS DD NitrOS9 image, but something to watch out for is that OS9 compatible disks must be named with an os9 extension rather than dsk in order for MESS to properly recognize them. Otherwise, it assumes a corrupt image but doesn’t report it as such.

Anyone interested in specifics is welcome to post a reply; I’ll try to update the system to the point that I have it working at that time.