[Coco] Coco Newby

[Aaron Banerjee]

David,
    Speaking on behalf of those whose first computer was a TRS-80 Color
Computer (which by the way, is still operational), and now program for a
living, I'd have to say that the Coco is an excellent starting point.  For
one thing, the computer is relatively simple, and the books are awesome.
Since you already know BASIC, you probably don't need "Getting Started
With Color Basic", or "Going Ahead With Extended Color BASIC", but if
you're into assembly, William Barden's "TRS-80 Color Computer Assembly
Language Programming" is probably the best ML book I've ever seen.
   I was very impressed with the Coco documentation from the start.  When
I worked at the Patent Office, we'd call such references "enabling"
(meaning that someone who didn't know anything at all about cocos, but
otherwise had a good head on their shoulders could figure out what the
book was saying).  For example, the book which came with my coco disk
drive starts out by saying how disk is better than cassette, but by the
end of the (relatively short) book, you know about the file allocation
tables... (which are very similar to the PC -- or were at least).
   Currently, I program in a variety of languages (C, C++, Ada, Fortran,
and D {yes, there really is a "language" called D}).  Most computer
languages have the same sort of "thinking", which is most easily learned
with a simple computer.  The old addage of "Everything I needed to know I
learned in kindergarten" sort of applies.  I've found my coco knowledge
most useful when doing low-level stuff, like assembly.
   I actually used a coco for work purposes in a former job.  I was
testing rechargable batteries and used a coco as a "smart" recharger.
Battery voltage was measured via the joystick port, and the charging
current was controlled via the cassette relay.  Since I'd used up the
cassette port, I had to load my program using the DLOAD command (and
probably became the only person in history ever to actually use DLOAD)
from a PC.
   In summary, the coco is a great choice if you really want to understand
the computer you are using.  Get the following books/references if you
don't have them already (if anyone else on the list wants to help me out
here, please do)..

     1.  Getting Started With Color BASIC
     2.  Going Ahead With Extended Color BASIC
     3.  TRS-80 Color Computer Technical Reference Manual (use the memory 
         map at the beginning of the book.  POKE around and play with your
         computer).
     4.  Barden, William.  "TRS-80 Color Computer Assembly Language
         Programming".  Radio Shack.  1983.

   I hope this helps.
              - Aaron Banerjee


On Mon, 1 Dec 2003 arikboke at yahoo.com wrote:

> Hello Coconuts,
> 
> I'm David from California, USA.  My first computer experience was with a
> "trash80" model III in junior high, and my first home computer was a Coco2.  I
> was hunkering for an Atari 800 but my friend's dad (an electrical engineer)
> advised me to get a "good" computer, the kind he had, a Coco1 with chiclet
> keyboard! (he actually designed circuits on contract with that machine).
> 
> Fortunately, Radio Shack didn't sell that model anymore, and so I found
> salvation in the form of a Coco2 and my own cassette recorder.  It was somewhat
> of a painful experience, as the screen was always fuzzy due to interference,
> the machine routinely burned the screens of all the color tvs in our house and
> cassette operation was a nightmare.  But I loved what a few simple commands in
> BASIC could make the computer do.  It seemed so empowering ...
> 
> Well, near two decades later, I've a BS in microbiology and am planning to get
> my MS in biostatistics -- not exactly a PhD in CIS :)  However, I recently ran
> across Nicolar Marentes' Workshop site and I began to wonder what my life would
> have been like if I had followed my passion back then.
> 
> I wish to know more about machine coding and digital electronics and I wonder
> if learning the (relatively) less complex Coco would help me in this direction.
>  Or perhaps I should just jump on the Intel Inside bandwagon?  I'm not sure and
> perhaps the old coconuts who have learned both systems can give me the proper
> direction.  If the Coco route, what books and tools do I need to buy?  If the
> Wintel route, which books and tools should I purchase?  I should note that I've
> already taken BASIC, Pascal, C, Javascript, and HTML.
> 
> I will not be using this knowledge directly, but as I am going towards the
> field of biostats and possibly bioinformatics, having a decent knowledge of
> computer systems (and possibly intefacing) would be very helpful.  I'm sorry
> this is so long-winded, but I just didn't expect to be able to communicate with
> a group of (still alive and thrashing) coco users.  I would appreciate any and
> all feedback.  Thanks.
> 
> Sincerely,
> David
> 
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