[Index]
The Coco Nation News stories for Episode 382, October 5, 2024
===================================================================
Collected by L. Curtis Boyle
Upcoming conventions/trade shows of interest to Coco people:
------------------------------------------------------------
The Dragon Meetup one week from now: October 12-13, 2024 at the Museum of
Technology in Cambridge, England:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dragon32/posts/3776261519300156/
Retro Computer Festival 2024: November 9-10, 2024
Centre for Computing History, Cambridge, England
The largest general retro computing show in the UK (it's their VCF style
show), covering all retro machines. Tickets can be ordered online for
individual days or both days.
All of their events (including separate entries for both days) at the
bottom of this page:
https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/pages/30677/What-s-On/
The Saturday event specifically now has a partial list of exhibitors:
https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/72253/Retro-Computer-Festival-2024-Saturday-9th-November/
Retro SC, the retro show in Brazil, is having their 2024 event on November
16. This always has a strong Coco/CP-400/etc. contingent, including multiple
people who have been guests on our show.It is happening at 1670 Haroldo
Soares Glavan road, Cacupé, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina.
https://retrosc.org/
VCF-SoCal - Feb 15-16 (Hotel Fera in Orange, California.
https://www.vcfsocal.com/
VCF East has had a date change for next years show due to a scheduling
conflict. It is now April 4-6, 2025 - same facility as this year. Info
Age Science Museum, Wall, NJ.
https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/
VCF-SW in Texas has been booked with dates: June 20-22, 2025 at the Davidson
Gundy Alumni Center, University of Texas, Dallas, Texas.
Tables & Tickets will go on sale January 2025. $20/adult ($25 if bought
at the door), $10/student ($15 at the door). 17 and under are free (with
accompanying adult). Tables are $50.
https://www.vcfsw.org/
Coco 1/2/3 (and multi-platform)
-------------------------------
1) If you want to watch last weeks ICC (International Computer Club),
which had both Jason Warnes (who live recapped a Coco 3 in the background
of the show) and me representing the Coco, with a bunch of other guests
from all over the world on a variety of retro topics, you can watch it
here (warning, there was some audio glitches scattered throughout, but
they usually correct themselves in 15-30 seconds):
https://youtu.be/nJ3kYe3AWRw?si=UZzh5l31UaJGsIn-
2) Rick Adams presentation from Tandy Assembly - "CoCo War Stories" -
is available on the Tandy Assembly YouTube page:
https://www.youtube.com/live/zMl10_sUN6A?si=dxj8LYJ2XgeUagKu
Also from Tandy Assembly was this years Trivia contest, hosted by Aussie Ian
Mavric. Neil Blanchard of the Coco Crew Podcast and make of Coco hardware
(like the wood cased arcade style joysticks, amongst other things) was
one of the contestants, and there were a fair number of Coco related
questions. Fun was had by all:
https://www.youtube.com/live/mU2vQw-uQD0?si=k72kIycHuWdNePD7
3) Anachronistic Things on YouTube posted a SepTandy video showing Fujinet
running on his Coco 2. Unfortunately his Coco 2 died near the end, so a
followup video is planned to fix it:
https://youtu.be/1GBUFgUQnKI?si=dYQ9931lx8OZz8N-
4) George Janssen returns to his Coco 3 assembly language tutorial series
with part 1 of Lesson 14 - how to use 512K in a Coco 3:
https://youtu.be/1jHnbKR51XY?si=xPwhbe83NvegyzR7
5) EJ Jaquay has a prelease version of VCC (version 2.1.9.1-pre2, which
is a pre-release for testing for 2.1.9.2) on his github. It has changes
listed on the github link:
https://github.com/VCCE/VCC/releases/tag/vcc-2.1.9.1-pre2
6) CocoTown released one more SepTandy video, this time covering MAME
and debugging - but using a different debugger than the one that normally
comes with MAME (QT):
https://youtu.be/SGCeq_4uOVU?si=TGxZQ4DP49H8lnwL
7) Sneaking in just under the wire, Wayne Campbell and I have made the
PDF available for the "Sneak Preview" new BASIC09 manual for NitrOS9 Level
II. Aside from containing some error corrections from the original manual
and expanded and improved sample programs, this preview release contains
all of chapters 1-9 and includes the updated and expanded GFX and GFX2
functions as well. We are continuing to work on finished the remaining
chapters and also adding a brand new one for working with the Multi-Vue
environment. You can find it on Facebook (in the Coco group, Coco DFE group,
and NitrOS9 group) and on the #basic09 channel on Discord.
Facebook link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10161687572772641/
8) Michael Furman also got his SepTandy video out with just over an hour
to spare, featuring MAME4iOS:
https://youtu.be/Mx8gYfw8YwU?si=IamRJxNefeaG5JiX
9) 8 Bit Doodads on YouTube put up a video on YouTube called "Having an
Ewaste Friend Has Benefits!", which shows a bunch of retro computer gear
he has gotten through electronic recycling (Ewaste). Included is a Coco
1 he picked up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rmdhEJTj6I&t=1795s
10) Tom Cherryhomes speech on "the state of the union" on Fujinet from
VCF-MW is now up, including updates on the Coco port:
https://youtu.be/gBZmMhR-f6w?si=7zFF486KAEkLKqei
11) Brazilian YouTube channel Veim dos Game uploaded a video about fixing
a Prologica CP-400 Color (Brazilian Coco clone). Progress is made, but
there is still intermittent issues:
https://youtu.be/-Xb57XQYWDM?si=cq8rfcU7jOCwUqtj
12) 8-Bit Retro Journal did a SepTandy video on fixing a broken Coco 2. He
is reaching out for some help on this one, so I hope some of the hardware
types in the audience can leave some comments on his video:
https://youtu.be/_nuFL7OYb5g?si=JvKBJTeQK-BLZGJZ
13) John Kowalski (Sock Master) posted a link in the Coco Discord to a
video about the space probe "The Europa Clipper: A Voyage to the Waters
Above", on the YouTube channel ParallaxNick. While quite a few of us are
interested in space exploration, why is this a Coco related video? Because
in the middle of the video they use some "stock footage" showing a women's
hands typing a chiclet keyboard. Specifically, a Coco 1 chiclet keyboard. I
was not aware that a Coco 1 *had* stock footage...:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=981s_PEFB_g&t=1899s&ab_channel=ParallaxNick
14) Ciaran (Sixxie) posted on the World of Dragon forums that the online
version of XRoar has some new enhancements (this is from his own site,
I don't know if the Color Computer Archive is linked to this new version
yet). The View tab has new TV controls, including a Hue function to allow
on to get graphics as close to what they remember of their own setup back
in the day. The File tab lets one create and save DMK formatted disks.
Announcement:
https://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11197
Direct link to the updated version online:
https://www.6809.org.uk/xroar/online/
15) Dave Wiens (who helped design the most advanced no-halt disk controller
for the Coco back in the late 1980's, amongst other things) posted an update
his own ST-2900 computer project, using a highly modified OS-9/6809 kernel,
and provided details about it in the OS9/NitrOS9 group on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1929079184021683/posts/3748403632089220/
16) Ian Mavric posted pictures of Steve Leininger signing his 64K Coco
from Tandy Assembly. Steve was the creator the Model I, and helped a bit
with the creation of the Coco as well:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10161693014492641/
17) Marco Spedaletti has announced that ugBASIC version 1.16.4 has been
officially released for a multitude of platforms. This is the cross platform
BASIC cross-compiler he has written, which supports the Coco 1/2/3 amongst
many others:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10161689018462641/
Info specifically Coco related:
https://ugbasic.iwashere.eu/target/coco?target=coco123
18) Terry Trapp did a video about trying to convert Coco 3 RGB to VGA
(Part 1) on his YouTube channel, Terry's Workbench (Sorry, the volume is
really low on this video):
https://youtu.be/_FW_ryytBQw?si=7lbRkigqHdlF1Qmf
19) Glen Hewlett released a new version of his BASIC compiler:
https://github.com/nowhereman999/BASIC-To-6809
MC-10
-----
1) Jamie's Hack Shack did another #SepTandy video where he finally got a
chance to install and try out his MCX-128 upgrade for the MC-10 (predecessor
to the SD32). This adds Extended BASIC, 128K of RAM, EmCee (DriveWire like)
functionality, etc.:
https://youtu.be/fRLVYzIm6cA?si=x2--k9aSNJcnihv9
2) Jim Gerrie ported "Database" originally by Hayes Publishing in 1985
from the book TRS-80 Colour Computer Programmer's Handbook/What Else Can
You Do With Your TRS-80 - to the MC-10. It is rather odd in that it gives
you instructions while running to modify the program itself:
https://youtu.be/1Jsglxt5qvU?si=7X0oL1D4ZCulA-rj
3) Jay Mundy (Spriteworx on YouTube, and author of the brand new
T.H.E.M. game for the MC-19) did a video on adding HDMI output to the
MC-10 based on the board from Aaron Newcomb of Retro Hack Shack:
https://youtu.be/YbKqfhJnOls?si=W-y6YJ23F_HGrVy1
Dragon 32/64
------------
1) dublevay on the World of Dragon archive forums mentioned that - thanks
to Phil-Harvey-Smith - Dragon Beta add-on board schematics, PCB's and
PAL/SRC files are available on the D
Announcement:
https://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=11196
Direct link to what is available as add-ons:
https://github.com/dragonplus-electronics/Dragon-Beta-Addons
2) Julian Brown posted a detailed update on his Rev 3 motherboard replacement
for a Dragon 32 on the Dragon Facebook group. The base board is working now,
and he is testing the 256K RAM banker next:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dragon32/posts/3824460884480219/
Game On news (all Coco related platforms):
==========================================
1) Jim Gerrie ported "Alien Attack" to the MC-10 from the the 1984 book
"Space Adventures". It was originally written by Peter Lear and adapted
in the book by Scott McCann:
https://youtu.be/aUYP-IfHRrQ?si=vyzxjOFYT5gBV-6t
He also ported "Snail's Trails" from the 1984 book "Fantastic Games",
originally written by Peter Lear:
https://youtu.be/rJRDLqSVrDM?si=b24oxp7x0Y1HhvLW
And The Getaway originally by Howard Evans in 1984, from the book Fantastic
Games:
https://youtu.be/_zJeS9BOmvY?si=SrVAaSkXA3Gg6YSM
2) Retro Gaming Nook on YouTube did another Coco 3 based SepTandy gaming
video, this time covering the 2 cartridge games Rad Warrior and GFL
Championship Football II:
https://youtu.be/oi221nTfeaI?si=ZGJuRVrXpFfO062u
3) Chronologically Gaming covered the Dragon version of Viking (originally
by Prickly-Pear Software on the Coco):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4KAFNR1CkE&t=572s
4) Iain Lee on YouTube did a "chilled retro stream" with some Dragon 32,
C64 and Micro Live computers. Of course, he doesn't endear me when spends
20 seconds repeatedly saying the Dragon 32 is "terrible computer" and then
picks a BASIC game to play (Alcatraz II):
https://youtu.be/bzPwFC4Nwhs?si=7Ew5RrUTNJ-it5ns
5) Nick Marentes has released H.E.R.O. 1.1. This fixes a few bugs, and
also adds native mode support for all Coco's equipped with a 6309 processor:
https://nickmarentes.com/ProjectArchive/hero.html
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