Nice re Coco 3 - did not realize that ! Makes sense it is a "later" 8bit computer, 1986 iirc. The C64 soft80 idea I think also made it to the Atari 8bit but I don't recall any vintage software with it. Neat that it sounds like C64 at least had terminal programs using it. On Sat, Jun 25, 2022, 3:46 PM RETRO Innovations via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 6/25/2022 8:31 AM, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Hey all --
Which (popular) 8-bit computers gained "easy" or even "standard" 80 column support?
Just in case it comes up, I can confirm the VIC-20 and C64 did *NOT* gain an easy or standard 80 column option. Commodore never did release anything (not that we expected them to for the home computers), though a few firms made entries for the VIC-20:
http://sleepingelephant.com/denial/wiki/index.php?title=40_and_80_column_boa...
and I know Batteries Included did make a BI-80 card for the 64:
http://mikenaberezny.com/hardware/c64-128/bi-80-display-adapter/
All that said, C64 owners did have an "easy" and "standard" 80 column option, in the form of "Soft-80" functionality:
https://www.pagetable.com/?p=901
Many of us spent quite a bit of time using this functionality (I used it in VIP Terminal and Novaterm) to enjoy BBS access in 80x25 goodness! While a 1702 monitor was required, it was very functional.
Here's an "hardware example" of the Soft-80 functionality:
The most widely used Soft-80 implementation was Screen-80 from Compute's Gazette:
TO keep the post on topic, the CoCo-3 did indeed have standard 80 column support (required VGA monitor) and The 80XX and B Series PETs had it.