[Coco] Coco Newby

[Steeman, Fedor]

Hi Arik, 

Your story sounds astoundingly much like my own. 

I too was I young CoCo-enthusiast in the eighties (like most here). I started out with the chiclet 4K CoCo1 that I upgraded and later bought a CoCo3. Then, as I started studying (I did biology too, though specialized in paleobiology) the sustainabilty of the CoCo and interest in it withered away. I shifted to GW-Basic on my then 486 and then later stepped up to learning Visual Basic (former experience with Color Basic being a huge advantage). I also learned HTML and some more stuff like XML. Presently, I am using these skills as a data coordinator in an international species database project, being actually the professional 'bio-informaticist'. A few years ago, I discovered to my surprise that the CoCo community was still alive (even here in Europe!) and immediately started investing in picking up the Coco again as a nifty, little, educational hobby machine. 

I have now finally begun learning assembly language programming (which was a total mystery to me back in the eighties) by devouring Bill Barden's book and it has had a PROFOUND impact on my understanding of how computers work and also the mechanics of any higher-level programming language. I have so many plans and so many ideas now, but unfortunately very little time combining career with a sprouting family. I want to adapt some classic Coco2 games to hires Coco3 graphics and am even thinking of writing a Coco-version of Tierra or some other artifical life system. Perhaps we could join forces on this one, both being biologists.... 

Anyways, recommended books and other stuff are already posted on this list, so I can just wish you success on your road to rediscovering the CoCo! 

Cheers, 

Fedor

> Message: 10
> Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 15:41:04 -0800 (PST)
> From: <arikboke at yahoo.com>
> To: coco at maltedmedia.com
> Subject: [Coco] Coco Newby
> Reply-To: coco at maltedmedia.com
> 
> 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
>