Tandy produced a confusing array of incompatible computers with the TRS-80 label. First up was the main TRS-80 line that started with the TRS-80 Model I and continued through the Model IV many years later. These were all essentially compatible with each other. Then there was the TRS-80 Color Computer line. This was a completely different line of computers that was incompatible with the first though they were sold at the same time. The Color Computer line eventually dropped the TRS-80 designation and was just known as the Tandy or Radio Shack Color Computer or CoCo for short.
Then there were the one-off machines that weren't compatible with anything else. There were a number of these. The one pictured above is the TRS-80 MC-10. It was basically a scaled down version of the Color Computer meant to compete with inexpensive computers like the Commodore VIC-20 and the Sinclair ZX-81. Released in 1983, it was really much too little and too late. By 1983 the VIC-20 was on its way out in favor of the Commodore 64, a much more advanced machine. The same was true of the ZX-81.
The TRS-80 MC-10 had a number of big disadvantages. While it was only $120, the VIC-20 was already $99. The VIC-20 only had a 22-column display but it had excellent hardware and software support and a much better keyboard. The MC-10 had basically the same graphics capability as the Color computer but it used the less advanced Motorola MC6803 processor. This and other differences made almost all Color Computer software, incompatible with the MC-10.
The MC-10 would only be on the market for about a year. By the time it was released in 1983, the world was moving on the bigger and better computers. The Apple II had already been around a while, the Commodore 64 and IBM PC had recently been introduced, and because of the Commodore instigated price war, Atari's 8-bit computers and others were rapidly dropping in price. The MC-10 just didn't have much of a market.
For those that have an MC-10 or are interested in seeing what one was like in action, checkout http://faculty.cbu.ca/jgerrie/Home/jgames.html which has tons of mostly fan-made games (screenshots of a few above). For those with a real MC-10, most of these require the 16K expansion. However, there is also an emulator linked at the top of that page.
Read more: https://www.megalextoria.com/wordpress/index.php/2018/03/20/tandy-trs-80-mc-10/
