[Coco] Greetings fellow CoCo'ists

[Perry M Dueck]

Hi all,
Just joined this mailing list, I'm looking forward to participating (as
time allows).  :)
Little bit about me and computers... (might be boring to read or
interesting, your mileage may vary, no money back guarantee)

My first experience with computers dates back to the early 1980's when I
was in elementary school and junior high, using my school's computers, the
TRS-80 Model III machines and Apple //e machines (my preference was the
Apple //e because of the built in sound and color graphics, and what I
perceived as a slightly more user friendly version of BASIC as well as disk
operating system, but I digress).

My first home computer was a used Commodore VIC-20 hooked up to a black and
white television set (this was in 1986), but what I really wanted to own
was a Commodore 64 or an Apple //e. While in highschool in 1987 I decided
on purchasing a Tandy 128K CoCo 3, CM-8 monitor, and CCR-81 cassette
recorder, as a number of other computer users in my area also had CoCo 2
and CoCo 3 'puters. It didn't take long before I purchased an FD-501 disk
drive, subscribed to the Rainbow, and started buying many things software
and hardware related for my CoCo 3, including stuff like the Disto 512K
upgrade, Super Controller II, CH Flightstick, CoCo Max III, Warrior King,
and well....the list goes on and on.  :)   I was hooked. At home I was
using my CoCo, while at school I was using the Model III and Apple //e
computers.

I got rid of all my CoCo stuff (with the exception of the CCR-81 cassette
recorder) by 1994, having moved on to first the PC world (DOS 5/Windows
3.11), and then the Macintosh world. Still using Macintosh as my main
computer.

Fast forward to late 1996:
One day while browsing around on the WWW, I stumbled across some Apple II
related sites, and I remembered how much I wanted one of those machines
back in the early to mid '80s but how I couldn't afford one back then, so I
bought one for dirt cheap. One thing led to another and before I knew it, I
had every major model in the Apple II family, including an original Apple
][ from 1977. I had unwittingly become a retro-computing collector (but
also a user at the same time I might add). By the year 2000 I got to
thinking, what about my CoCo past?  Well, I did what one would expect, I
started up my own personal CoCo collection. Which brings me full circle and
answers why I joined this list.

I now own a grey case CoCo 1, a pair of CoCo 2's, and a CoCo 3 and various
accessories including a big stack of Rainbow mags from the 1980's.
As an aside, I also have a bunch of ColecoVison gaming consoles, as well as
the expansion module ADAM computer, but that's another story. Perhaps the
ADAM is best left swept underneath the rug. *smirk*

As I type this, I have my CoCo 1 hooked up to a Commodore 1702 Video
Monitor (RF ouput channel 4 from the CoCo to the RF input on a modern day
Radio Shack Cable TV converter/tuner, with the video and audio signals
being sent from the cable converter/tuner to the Commodore monitor through
A/V cables). Got a nice crisp clear picture with no interference, Color
Basic 1.1 being displayed on the nuclear green background with that
infamous cool color cycling block cursor that only the CoCo could supply.
:)

Anyways, there's a short synopsis of how I originally got into the CoCo and
how I came full circle back into it as well as some of my other computing
related interests.

Still thinking about getting one of those Commodore 64 computers......

best regards, Perry