Total geekery at the ANML, Redux

As a follow-up to the earlier entry about the old TRS-80 Color Computer: the distinguishing feature of the system in that picture is that it's got a silver case, indicating that it's definitely a Color Computer I (released circa 1979). The keyboard, however, has two extra keys in the lower right corner -- which are "F1" and "F2" keys that didn't appear on preinstalled Color Computer keyboards until the introduction of the Color Computer III in 1986.

Those blurry little keys served as evidence that this wasn't a CoCo that somebody had bought and then chucked in the closet without using, since the keyboard upgrade couldn't have been done at the factory. That meant that maybe this wasn't just another old CoCo with the standard 4KB of RAM and Color BASIC ROM...

And that's exactly how it turned out: once the system arrived, a quick popping-open of the case revealed that besides the new keyboard, it had been expanded to the full 64KB and had the Extended BASIC ROMs installed, increasing its value by at least a factor of four over the purchase price.

Of course, half the keys on the keyboard were stuck up or down because of poor storage conditions, but because this is a product from the days of real keyboards, that's nothing some careful disassembly and a kitchen sink full of warm, soapy water can't solve.