Talk:VTech Laser 200

Black not really black ?[edit]

I never really noticed it before, but the black is not really black, its a darker green. And in the technical manual and main unit manual there is no reference to dark or light green, just green.

I was thinking that maybe the mode 0 text screen is really just a TTL monochrome screen, that is _one colour_, but with two luminance levels, the black border simply being an absence of a video signal . That is it is just low luminance green foreground and high luminance green background ? Only the Motorola 6847 entry also refers to it as "black".

So I was thinking mode 0 was like this :

1.text

foreground - low luminance green

background - high luminance green or orange.

In green mode, luminances are inverted (except there is only one luminance for orange)

2.block graphics

foreground - any colour, green in high luminance.

background - green in low luminance.

Block graphics are unaffected by black or green mode.

And for mode 1, green is always high luminosity eg light green ?60.231.232.112 (talk) 00:08, 10 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, there is an entire 11 different colours all up.

Can prove it with a screenshot - if I knew how to upload said screenshot. Screenshot and evidence can be found over on the VZ/Laser facebook page. Should also be able to reproduce all 11 colours in text mode on the likes of the Dragon, NEC PC6001 and TRS coco computers since they all use the 6847 chip as well. 65.181.12.92 (talk) 10:47, 12 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Major changes[edit]

This entry was a bit of a mess, so I've changed it using information from the "Dick Smith VZ300 Unit Manual" and the "Dick Smith VZ300 Technical Manual", as well as by experimenting converting Tandy Color Computer and TRS-80 programs. 120.20.224.28 (talk)

SN6847AN music synthesizer[edit]

This is mentioned in the peripherals section; however, this has to be a typo, as no such sound/music IC was ever made (can't find any hits searching Google) and the number part of this chip's designation is the same as the number part of the graphics chip's designation. I therefore changed it to the SN76489AN, which is the likely chip that was intended to be written here, as it is similar in designation and was a very popular sound/music chip at the time. Jerri Kohl (talk) 21:04, 5 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, SN6847AN is a typo. --> SN76489AN.

Errata[edit]

>>"The Laser 200 was designed and built by Video Technology (VTech) in Hong Kong and derived from the Tandy TRS-80."<<

VTech is a Taiwanese company and the VZ200 was made in Taiwan. It is unrelated to the TRS-80, you are thinking of the Dick Smith System 80 / Video Genie which was made by EACA in Hong Kong.101.178.163.92 (talk) 03:51, 7 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately VTech, originally known as Video Technology Limited was started in 1976 in Hong Kong, and is still there today. Please show evidence to back the 'Made in Taiwan' claim to change my mind. Every single VZ200 and VZ300 ever made has a little "Made in Hong Kong" sticker on them. The VZ200 and VZ300 uses a modified Level II BASIC that was originally 'borrowed' from the TRS-80. Bushy555 (talk) 02:18, 20 January 2019 (UTC)Dave.[reply]

The Lazer 100/110, that were released prior to the VZ200, were TRS-80 Model 1 clones, so there is a very high chance that the VZ200 was in some way derived from the 100/110; especially if the claims above about the BASIC are correct. Jerri Kohl (talk) 20:56, 5 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Tripod link removed[edit]

An external link to site hosted on tripod was removed. This was because the link was added by the author of the website, the website does not significantly contribute to this article, and most importantly, the website features copyright violations. LinaMishima 16:38, 12 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Oric 1 was selling for £99[edit]

I think the sentence "Oric 1 was selling for £99 at this point" is not true. The Oric FAQ says "£139.95" for launch price, Old-Computers.com says "£129.95". -- NZeemin (talk) 11:38, 25 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Laser 310 link at the bottom of the page[edit]

Link is dead as of 28 Feb 2013. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bushy555 (talk • contribs) 00:55, 28 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Serious Original Research and Opinions[edit]

I don't have time to work on this article right now, but was really surprised nobody had added tags to it. There's a lot of opinions and original research in here (Commodore Basic is "crude and slow", the name is "similar" to the VIC20)... this article needs some serious attention. As it is, I would consider deleting and merging many of the sections. More reliable sources need to be found, at least relative to the importance and length of this article. An article this long should definitely have more than 4 links, but it should also not be this long. I strongly encourage anyone familiar with this computer to pick up the torch and bring this article in line with quality standards! MrAureliusR_Talk! 21:28, 8 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Rename to VTech Laser[edit]

Rename to 'VTech Laser'. The page should be make about all the models in the range, it probably isn't worth making separate pages on each model; due to redundancy and a small amount of information. Jonpatterns (talk) 22:45, 23 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]