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 Speak your mind! Let us know what you think at: ============================================================================== feedback at TheCoCoNation.com Get connected with more of the CoCo, Dragon and MC-10 community here: ============================================================================== https://thecoconation.com/community/