[Coco] Bio
James Goff
james at churchpage.us
Wed Oct 22 14:14:01 EDT 2003
James Goff
Age: 41
My first computer was a Sinclair ZX80 kit built by my father and me. We
soon got a ZX81 that we upgraded to a massive 16k for only $100.00 more.
Bought my first Coco in 1982. I bought a complete system used from a
Turkey Farm (Really!). Cost was $1,300 and came with 32k, two floppy
disks, BW T.V. and a line model VII printer (no true lowercase
descenders.) My first program I bought was Sands of Egypt. We played
it for hours in my dorm.
Upgraded to Coco II and then to Coco III. I got the first one to come
to my local radio shack dealer. The day it came I had just come home
from the hospital following minor surgery. I couldn't leave the house
for several days so was forced to use my new coco III :)
Claims to fame: I was the first student at my college (Baptist Bible
College, Clarks Summit, PA) with a computer in the dorm. The next
semester another student brought a Vic-20, but he kept losing homework
assignments when it couldn't read his tapes back in.
Software: Wrote software to use a coco III as a Electrical Demand Count
controller at a foundry. That coco ran 24/7 for about three years
before was finally replaced with a different system. The company gave
it back to me and I still have it, and it still runs. Wrote several
small utilities that were never published including a hi-res greek font
driver for TW64.
Still love OS9 to this day. Currently have a 6309 machine, three 3 1/2
inch floppy drives, cm8 monitor, Disto SCII, Disto Rampack and more..
Lots of fun, even without a harddrive..
I've enjoyed reading the other bios on the new list and wanted to add mine.
Thanks lots Dennis for your hard work. I pulled out my Color Quaver
software the other day just to see if it still works.
--James
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