[Index]
The Coco Nation News stories for Episode 312, May 13, 2023
===================================================================
Collected by L. Curtis Boyle
Coco 1/2/3 (and multi-platform)
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1) Jason (cocoman.biz) has uploaded his CocoFest Day 2 video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTpMvpVKG4g
Also, if you wish to assault your ears, he also put up the long version
of the jam session:
https://youtu.be/utGjadGG07E
2) Bob Emery (Coconut Bob on Discord, La Coco Strangiato on YouTube)
released a video on how to set up a Gotek on the Coco:
https://youtu.be/BE3HZlphBCU
3) Allen Huffman posted a blog with the subject of "Optimizing BASIC for
speed versus size", including programming tips for both:
https://subethasoftware.com/2023/05/09/optimizing-basic-for-speed-versus-size/
He also had posted part 2 of going through how DECB directories work
(which I missed last week), going into detail on how file sizes and the
granule use table work:
https://subethasoftware.com/2023/05/02/coco-disk-basic-disk-structure-part-2/
4) Michael Furman has posted a video to YouTube that is part 1 of a series
that he is doing on the FLEX operating system that was popular with power
users and some businesses in the Coco 1/2 era. This episode covers the
history of Flex on the Coco:
https://youtu.be/wxjyv4LzXe8
5) Dave Veary posted a video on YouTube showing how he converts BMP's to use
on the Coco 3, using PaintShop Pro and going through multiple options for
reducing color to 16 colors, and then stripping BMP headers and breaking
the file apart into 8K chunks that you can then load into a Coco 3 after
copying the files via Toolshed to the DSK image:
https://youtu.be/7B0UpxzU-6Y
6) Classic Computing Log posted a roundup video (over 1/2 an hour)
of CocoFest 31 last month. One nice thing in this video is he labels
each display as to which vendor/table it was (I think this was done by
Salvadore Garcia?):
https://youtu.be/-qZGbgesvWE
7) Our very own Ken of Canadian Retro Things posted a video showing all
the loot he got during both CocoFest itself and also from the rest of his
10,000 km journey:
https://youtu.be/87cucjB1kq4
8) Master Geek Br (Brazil) on YouTube uploaded a video of him recreating
the very first program he created in BASIC for his CP-400 when he was 9
or 10 (he also shows parts of the CP-400 manual):
https://youtu.be/hdwvRcJzyX4
9) Glen Hewlett upgraded his Coco 3 to 2 MB (thanks to Mark Marlette
and Cloud9, so the first program he wrote to learn how to use it was own
memory test program, which blogged about. The program will be on the Color
Computer Archive shortly, and you can also get it from Glen's github:
https://nowhereman999.wordpress.com/2023/05/11/coco-3-memory-test/
Github (source, documentation & dsk image):
https://github.com/nowhereman999/CoCo3_MemTest2023/tree/main
10) David Kroeker posted on the Coco Discord that he has now got working
his replica of the original Diecom / Sega Master System Light Gun adaptor
(much thanks to Tim Lindner for writing up how it works and his own
schematic some years ago). He also has a lot of the guns themselves on
order to repair so that he can eventually sell the adaptor with a gun (or
just the adaptor if one already has the gun in their retro collection). He
has also written some test software (in addition to the 2 Diecom games -
Iron Forest & Medieval Madness - that already use it), so there is test
code for people to be able to write their own games for it.
(open 2 photos from my desktop that I saved out of Discord)
MC-10
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1) I missed this one last week: Jim Gerrie did a video showing his SG6
(64x48) text characters for the MC-10, that he has used in several of
his games:
https://youtu.be/cMfGotMUCaQ
2) Paul Shoemaker put up a quick 30 second video showing his successful
installation of Brendan Donahe's PiKey-10 adaptor on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160644401927641/
Dragon 32/64
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1) Kataja Kirjuri posted a picture of their slightly customized Dragon 32
onto the Dragon group on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dragon32/posts/3456916367901341/
2) Julian Brown posted an update to his online 6809 emulator, including
multiple bug fixes (although still more to fix):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dragon32/posts/3454216298171348/
The webpage/emulator itself:
http://6809.ukdragons.org.uk/
3) David Mitchell put up a video of a 3D graphics demo originally for the
Dragon 32 by Dr. Tim Langdell from his book "35 Programs for the Dragon
32". This one is using one of the enhanced BASIC's and memory upgrades
that support PMODE 4:
https://youtu.be/Ldlfvq00tdQ
Game On news (all Coco related platforms):
==========================================
1) Coco Town did a quick video to show what he thinks was the best opening
sequence in a Coco Donkey Kong clone game:
https://youtu.be/v9eumkMw2n8
He also did a 2 part video on how to modify Donkey King to get 255 lives.
Part 1 shows a brute force method he used when he was young (I did similar
on a variety of games):
https://youtu.be/4OInaNgQgig
Part 2 goes into disassembling the code:
https://youtu.be/W5s8ZKZalmY
2) A Jim Gerrie one I think I missed in the news catch up last week:
Quest 1, ported from a 1981 TRS-80 Model 1/3 original by Brian Reynolds:
https://youtu.be/ZOWtDYGdMto
And Gambler, originally by Randy Hawkins, Softside magazine January 1982
(port from Model 1/3):
https://youtu.be/RV5aDPTiW1o
3) Pere Serrat has now uploaded game pack #9 for the Supersprite FM+
board of AGD games, adding 4 more games:
Cap'n Rescue - The Escape
Cap'n Rescue - Reprisal
Code-112
Cybermania
https://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11093
He also updated the "Big Pack" for the Supersprite to #2, which contains
all the games for the Supersprite FM+ so far:
https://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11094
4) David Mitchell (Davey's Retro Corner on YouTube) posted a gameplay
video for his MC-10 conversion of Explosion (originally from the book
"Terrific Games for your Tandy Color" by Hal Renko & Sam Edwards):
https://youtu.be/Upeg4NNmleU
Github download:
https://github.com/daftspaniel/RetroCornerRedux/tree/main/Tandy/MC-10/TypeIns
He also did Lunar Lander for the MC-10, from the original Dragon 32 one
by Dr. Tim Langdell in the book "35 Programs for the Dragon 32":
https://youtu.be/Il_PHnwGlvA
5) Jeo Papas on YouTube posted a quick video of Nick Marentes 2015 4K
Space Invaders game (an entry into a programming contest that never fully
completed):
https://youtu.be/vboB2WvEYtc
He also posted a video of Astro-Storm for the Dragon 32/64, which, in a
reverse of what I consider normal, is a Dragon conversion of a Jim Gerrie
MC-10 game:
https://youtu.be/QNCmgFLyMmI
6) TRS-80 Retro Programing posted an update video for his Tales of Suburbia
graphic adventure game, exploring stage 2:
https://youtu.be/myxw_D5oUps
7) The Only way is Cuthbert, GA on YouTube put up more longer game play
videos of Dragon games this week:
https://www.youtube.com/@MaryWinstead32/videos