The MC-10 is an odd one in the TRS-80 line of computers. It was produced to offer a low-cost alternative to their own TRS-80 Color Computer line and meant to compete with the Commodore VIC-20 and the Sinclair ZX81 computers.

The computer came with only 4 kByte of RAM and the Motorola MC6803 CPU. It had similar graphics to the color computer as it used the same MC6847 Video Display Gate array. The maximum resolution and color display were limited due to the available memory.

The MC-10 has a Micro Color Basic interpreter in ROM and uses cassette tapes for storage. It has a built in RF-modulator and an integrated RS-232 serial port for connectivity to modems and printers.

This machine was underpowered, even for 1983. The lack of memory, the chicklet style keyboard and the medium resolution graphics made this machine unappealing to consumers.

The MC6847 is a video display generator (VDG) first introduced by Motorola and used in the following machines (this is not a full list):

• TRS-80 Color Computer
• Dragon 32/64
• Laser 200
• TRS-80 MC-10/Matra Alice
• NEC PC-6000 series
• Acorn Atom
• APF Imagination Machine

The VDG is a relatively simple display generator compared to other display chips of the time. It is capable of displaying alphanumeric text, semigraphics and raster graphics contained within a roughly square display matrix 256 pixels wide by 192 lines high.

The ROM includes a 5 x 7 pixel font, compatible with 6-bit ASCII. Effects such as inverse video or colored text (green on dark green; orange on dark orange) are possible.

The MC6847 is capable of displaying nine colors:

• black
• green
• yellow
• blue
• red
• buff (almost-but-not-quite white)
• cyan
• magenta
• and orange

Two extra colors, dark green and dark orange, are only possible as backgrounds for alphanumeric text modes.

The 6800 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed by Motorola in 1974. The processor was developed as part of the M6800 Microcomputer System that was announced in the same year.

The 6800 has a 16-bit address bus that can directly access 64KB of memory and an 8-bit bi-directional databus. The CPU has a total of 72 instructions using seven different addressing modes, resulting in 197 opcodes. The original 6800 used a clock frequency of up to 1 MHz, while later versions increased this limit to 2MHz.

The 6800 was used in various computer systems and point of sale terminals. It can also be found in older arcade systems and pinball machines. It was succeeded by the MC6802 which was released in 1977. This CPU had 128 bytes of RAM on board and an internal clock oscillator. The later produced Motorola 6809 was stil backwards compatible with the 6800.