See also: Announcing the MM/1 and Announcing the TC-70.
Here is another one from the archives. Uploaded on March 31st, 1990 to the GEnie online service Tandy RoundTable, these documents were the original product announcement from Frank Hogg Labs Tomcat OSK machine. The TC-9 was a 6809 based machine that used the CoCo 3’s GIME chip for compatibility, and the TC-70 was a 68000-type system similar to the MM/1.
I will also attach the original price list.
Number: 4376 Name: tomcat.txt Address: F.RESLER Date: 900331 Approximate # of bytes: 7560 Number of Accesses: 49 Library: 9 Description: This is a file describing the new CoCo4, officially called the TC9 Tomcat, from Frank Hogg. Very interesting and exciting! Keywords: coco4,tomcat,hogg,computer,announcement
I N F I N I T E
E X P A N S I O N
P O S S I B I L I T I E S
from 6809 to
60030 and
beyond,
with your
PRESENT
HARDWARE,
at your own
pace...
at Super Prices...
(About what the CoCo 3 was when it first came out.)
INTRODUCING....
THE...
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TM
____________________________________________________
The TC9 TOMCAT (TM) is a major improvement over the CoCo 3.
The TC9 is over 25% faster!
The TC9 uses a PC compatible keyboard.
The TC9 has two 'real' serial ports.
The TC9 supports a serial mouse.
The TC9 has a parallel printer port.
The TC9 has provision for 512K on board RAM or it can use a
CoCo 3 512K memory upgrade.
The TC9 can be upgraded to 1 megabyte with the Disto 1 Meg
upgrade with no soldering, just plug it in.
The TC9 has 8 bit D to A and A to D. 8 bit provides better
sound and a higher resolution joystick, 256 vs 64.
The TC9 supports an internal speaker.
The TC9 has the standard CoCo bus so that CoCo cartridges
can be used.
The TC9 board can be powered by any PC power supply. This
also allows installing the board in most PC clone
cases.
The TC9 will work with most, if not all OS9 software.
The TC9 will have RSDOS compatibility thru 3rd party
vendors.
The TC9 is K-Bus compatible.
K-Bus capability is important because it allows interfacing the TC9 to
the 68000 and even the 68030! By installing the TC9 in a K-Bus 68K
system the Tomcat becomes a dual-processing system! When in OS9 Level II
mode the 68000 becomes a co-processor to the TC9, like a accelerator to
Level II. We can expect a 2 or 3 fold improvement in performance!
When the 68000 is the master under OS9/68K, the TC9 acts as a co-
processor to 68K. Switching back and forth between systems will be easy
and will allow a smooth transition from OS9 to OSK. It is not necessary
to jump to OSK to get the benefits of the 68000, but it provides a
smooth transition when and if you decide to make the move. You go at
your own pace, upgrading as you desire, and at each point you get a
significant improvement in performance, for a very slight cost.
E X P A N S I O N
Once a K-Bus backplane is added, (It is not required for TC9 operation)
the world of 68K is open to you. The logical first step is to add a
68000 CPU which will immediately speed up Level II operations by several
factors and opens the door to running OSK. No other additions are needed
to run OSK, as OSK will run in the TC9 memory and use TC9 I/O. For
further performance increases additional boards, memory, I/O etc. can be
added to the K-Bus. It is even possible to have several TC9's in the K-
Bus for a multi-processing system! Memory limits are 16 Megabytes of
which more than 14 Megabytes can be RAM!
They are backplane sizes from 4 to 16 slots and a 20 slot bus is under
consideration. The backplane itself is inexpensive so that if you
outgrew your first bus you could transfer all your cards to a bigger
backplane for little cost. Because of the bus concept upgrades to future
CPUs only requires adding that CPU to accomplish it. For example, you
could start with a 68000 and later replace that with a 68030 and still
use ALL of your other cards.
When new cards such as the 68040 become available, you could add those
too. Even capabilities, not thought of today can be added by just adding
a card!
This is upgrading without having to throw anything away. Even if you
eventually switched over to 68K completely the TC9 still functions as a
multi-function graphics co-processor. Our Hi-Res graphics board, now in
design, will have its own keyboard interface and video memory so that it
can be used with the TC9 . Several of either cards can be used in the
same system, making for the first multi-processor, multi-user, multi-
graphics system for OS9 and OSK! Because of the wide variety of K-Bus
boards available and those under development, the possibilities for the
future are unlimited.
The TC9 Tomcat truly is the CoCo 4 that Tandy should have made, for
that matter it could well be the CoCo 5, 6, 7, 8.............
SHOULD YOU GET ONE?
If you currently own a CoCo 3 and use it for both RSDOS and OS9 Level II
the TC9 Tomcat is your road to the future. It will run your current
software faster and give you powerful new features and performance at
modest cost. You get the ability to expand at your own pace, at low
cost, the way you want to do it, for your future.
THE FUTURE.
FHL, in business since 1976, has been manufacturing 680x0 based
computers for over 6 years! The Tomcat is the computer for the 90's. We
have put all of our knowledge and experience into the creation of the
Tomcat. We believe it is the best choice for you and for us. We create
computers because we like to use them, not because we like to sell them.
Every computer we've made has been one we've wanted for ourselves. The
Tomcat is the best we've done... so far.
TOMCAT is a trademark of FHL
FHL
For more information and price/availability:
Call or write:
FRANK HOGG LABORATORY, Inc.
204 WINDEMERE ROAD
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK 13205
315/469-7364
FAX 315/469-8537
CIS 70310,317
DELPHI FHOGG
3/29/90
ty:
And here is the original pricelist, though I do not remember where I got this file from. I slightly altered it for readability since it looks like blank lines got stripped somewhere along the way… Note the date of March 31, 1990.
FHL TOMCAT COMPUTER PRICE LIST March 31, 1990 ENCLOSURES Low Profile for TC9 - 4 high holds 2 5.25 and 2 3.5 drives, 220W PS $179.95 Mini Tower for 8 slot K-Bus, 2 5.25 and 2 3.5 drives, 220W PS 199.95 Desktop for 12 slot K-Bus, 3 5.25 and 1 3.5 drive, 200W PS 199.95 Big Tower for 16 slot K-Bus, 8 1/2 drives, 250W PS 399.95 Portable with keyboard and screen. Price to be announced. K-BUS BASED PRODUCTS TC9 TOMCAT 6809/Multi-I/O/Color Graphics (COCO4) $299.95 (2nd 1/4) K-BUS 4 SLOT BUS 59.95 K-BUS 8 SLOT BUS (Under Development) K-BUS 12 SLOT BUS 189.95 K-BUS 16 SLOT BUS 289.95 K-CPU-030 68030 CPU 16MHZ 799.95 K-CPU-68K/10 10 MHZ 68000 CPU Board 189.95 K-CPU-68K/12 12 MHZ 68000 CPU Board 219.95 K-CPU-68K/16 16 MHZ 68000 CPU Board 269.95 K-MATH-0 MATH CoProcessor less chip 89.95 K-MATH-81 MATH CoProcessor with 68881 installed 299.95 K-DRAM-0 2 MegaByte Dynamic Memory (no memory chips) 299.95 K-DRAM-2M 2 MegaByte Dynamic Memory 80NS Chips 499.95 K-MEM-0K 256K Static RAM or 27256 Type EPROM (64K Blocks) 89.95 K-TIMER Timer, Battery RTC/RAM,Parallel Printer Port 149.95 K-DMA 2 Channel DMA (68440) 189.95 K-SCSI SCSI Controller (5380) 149.95 K-FDC Floppy Disk Controller (1772) 4 drives 149.95 K-ACI 2 Port Async Serial (68681) 149.95 K-ACI4 4 Port Async Serial (68681) 249.95 K-PAR 4 Port Parallel Interface (6821) 149.95 K-BUSMON Bus Monitor with LED's and Single Step Switch 189.95 K-PROTO General Purpose Wirewrap 59.95 K-GRAPHICS Hi-Res Color Graphics VSC W/PC Keyboard Interface (2nd 1/4) SOFTWARE PRODUCTS OS9/68000 Includes Editor, Assembler, Debugger, Scred $249.95 BOOT-ROM SET Required for OS9 50.00 PC-DOS UTILITY Utility to Read/Write/Format PC-DOS under OS9 99.95 FHL reserves the right to change prices and specifications without notice Delivery: Stock to 30 Days except where noted Terms: Payment with order in U.S. Funds Check, VISA, MC (AMEX & DINERS add 5%) Shipping/Handling: $8.00 Per Order (UPS Ground), Foreign and Air Extra FRANK HOGG LABORATORY, Inc 204 WINDEMERE ROAD SYRACUSE, NY 13205 315/469-7364 FAX 315/469-8537
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