The inverted mode looks like: Inverted text color 1. But, you can enter it in a program and then loop using a GOTO: Alternate color set for text mode!Īs soon as you hit BREAK and return to BASIC, the color resets to the green mode. But, when BASIC returns to the OK prompt, it resets the mode to 0, so you can’t use this to type things in (without a special POKE to bypass this reset). 0 was the normal dark green on nuclear green.
Note: If type or color set is any positive number greater than 1, your computer uses 1.Īlthough not explained in the manual, you could select two color sets for the text mode. Type is 0 (text screen) or 1 (graphics screen) SCREEN type, color set displays the current graphics or text screen You can also do that with the SCREEN command in Extended Color BASIC. I recall reading a POKE or something that let you toggle it. The Xroar emulator has a menu option to toggle this inverted video (see screen shot above).īut there was also a weird “pink” mode that I saw used in some early CoCo games. I did that on my CoCo 1 since I thought that looked alot better (but not as good as if it was white on black like an Apple II or TRS-80 Model III). I remember reading an article (probably in Rainbow Magazine) that showed how you could remove the VDG chip, pull up a pin, then plug it back in to the socket and get inverted video. Easy to do with a menu setting in the Xroar emulator. I guess I sorta remembered this, because there was a way to invert the video to get light text on a dark background, and that background clearly wasn’t black: Inverted text. Here’s a zoomed in look, showing what color the text is compared to the black border: CoCo “dark green” text on a nuclear green background with a black border. Well, except it was really a dark green on a light green. The semigraphics modes supported up to 8 colors on the screen at the time, but text mode was limited to two colors: black on green. The Motorola MC6487 VDG chip contained a number of graphics modes, but only one text mode: 32×16 characters. The “nuclear green” screen of the Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer is certainly iconic.
This reminded me that the CoCo truly did have two screen modes, though one was rarely seen outside of some game intro screens. The answer should have been “no,” but Australian CoCo programmer Nick Marentes mentioned a way to make the CoCo’s VDG display chip hold on to an alternate screen color in BASIC.
Robin even posted in our CoCo Facebook group asking if it was possible to change screen colors. You’ll notice it’s really just covering the screen up with a text graphics block of a solid color, but the green background is still alive an well behind it. Robin notices that it didn’t actually change the screen color, and the “nuclear green” screen would immediately start showing up again… Here is the result of “CLS 8”: “CLS 8” on the CoCo fills the screen, but doesn’t change the screen color itself. The CLS (clear screen) command can be followed by a value from 0 to 8 to pick a color to fill the screen with. One in the TRS-80 Color Computer was accessed by clearing the screen to a non-supported color value. Recently, Robin from 8-Bit Show and Tell posted some YouTube videos covering easter eggs in various Radio Shack computers. What is the background color? Red? Maroon? I’m a guy, so I only see one shade of white, but going in to the paint store proves I am wrong. – Updated color from “pink” to “amber” per MiaM in the comments.
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