[Coco] Re: Coco Digest, Vol 9, Issue 31

[farna at att.net]

I agree, the CoCo was fun. I kept mine until it just took up more space than it was useful. I read e-mail on my customized CoCo 3 with Ultimaterm until it just wasn't practical to do so anymore. In other words, until the Internet came into its own. If the CoCo had been Internet capable I'd probably have kept it up and running a while longer. I was publishing "the world of 68' micros" about the CoCo but using Page Maker on a PC to do it. It just didn't make sense to attempt DTP on the CoCo either. 

I kept a couple "stock" CoCos, but sold my two custom machines (one repackaged in a Tandy 2000 case with Disto Super Controller, 4-n-1 board, two 360K floppies, one 720K floppy, and a SCSI hard drive; the other repackaged in an old Kaypro II "luggable" case w/two 360K and one 720K drive, always meant to look for another SC2 and a small hard drive for it). Sometimes I wish I'd kept one, but I wouldn't be doing anything with it. I just don't have time to work, tinker with my car (old Ramblers is my first love!), have a military career, family, and publish an old car magazine (started when I stopped printing 268'm). I don't have much interest in tinkering with the CoCo any more. If I could turn one into a programmable EFI controller I might, but I really don't have the knowledge to do that. NTSC signal LCD screens are cheap enough now I could use one to make a "glass dashboard", and I started some BASIC work on that, but mounting a board the size of a CoCo under a dash would still be a problem. So I decided to sell the two custom rigs to someone who was still interested in messing around with them. Better to let the tings get used than just sit!!  

--
Frank Swygert 
Publisher, "American Independent 
Magazine" (AIM) 
*Elite* publication for those 
interested in all 
aspects of AMC 
history,performance,restoration,etc 
. 
(AMC,Rambler,Nash,Hudson,Jeep,etc.) 
http:farna.home.att.net/AIM.html 
(free download available!) 




> When I did finally stumble across the online CoCo community and decided to 
> shake the cobwebs out my old system, I had to do the same thing to my memory. 
> So I went with the stuff I knew best, remembering how to program in Basic, this 
> time concentrating on the updated graphics... let's see what this thing can 
> do... and so Color FOG was born. (I'm not one to brag, but I myself am 
> impressed with it so far and still have many ideas.) 
> 
> Soon I'll delve into the depths of NitrOS-9... working on the manuals for Boisy 
> is refreshing my memory on it, so we'll see where it leads. 
> 
> The CoCo was my first love and I'm glad I kept my stuff even through hard 
> times. Above all else, no matter what, the CoCo is fun and entertaining. 
> Especially these days when retro is the in thing. I enjoy "schooling" poeple 
> who think of Nintendo as old-school. 
> 
> cheers, 
> Bob