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"The added features of the 6809 were costly; the CPU had approximately 9,000 transistors compared to the 6800's 4,100 or the 6502's 3,500. While process improve

"The added features of the 6809 were costly; the CPU had approximately 9,000 transistors compared to the 6800's 4,100 or the 6502's 3,500. While process improvements meant it could be fabricated cheaper than the original 6800, those same improvements were being applied to the other designs and so the relative cost remained the same. Such was the case in practice; in 1981 the 6809 sold in single-unit quantities for roughly six times the price of a 6502.[1] For those systems that needed some of its special features, like the hardware multiplier, the system could justify its price, but in most roles, it was overlooked." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_6809 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_6809

jacquesm 3y ago
Lucky for me Radio Shack inexplicably decided to use it in their Color Computer (I had a side job working in their stores so I had access to it) and when I started working full time for a bank a security guard there sold me his 'Dragon 32' micro which was a 1:1 clone of the CoCo. For the time this was a very interesting machine that used software where other computers used hardware, for instance, for audio in and out. The hardware was a bunch of resistors and a comparator (yay binary search) and replaced a whole bunch of costly ICs. I guess that's how they managed to keep the price of the machine down.