[Coco] CoCo Progression...

[Mark McDougall]

Hi Steve,

> Understand, I'm not trying to stir things up, just trying to understand 
> some things.

Hey I'm not having a go at you at all, just trying to explain how I see 
things and perhaps how some others may. :)

> On the one hand, I hear that people don't want emulators because it's 
> not "Real Metal" or the real thing or "It's not Vintage Computing"...on 
> the other hand, I hear about people wanting to add USB and all this 
> stuff that is not vintage computing technology. 

Heh, I guess it's a case of wanting to do *all* of this! We love our vintage 
computers so while we keep 'real metal' as a sort of "shrine" we also 
install and play with emulators. And 'hacking' with our toys to improve them 
and get them to do things they weren't designed to do is also fun!

> Over the years people have repackaged thier CoCo's into PC Cases, 
> installed enhanced keyboards, etc. I don't see how that can feel any 
> more like the vintage coco than an emulator on a PC using the same 
> keyboard.

Personally, I like to keep at least one of (each of) my machines in 
'original' condition. I'll buy a few extras to hack with. And I must admit 
I've even got 1 MIB N64 and 1 MIB Dreamcast which will probably never be 
soiled by human hands (don't ask - I don't know!!!)

And you're right - browsing the web with a CoCo packed into a PC case with 
an ethernet card and a IDE harddisk running on a 19" RGB monitor is blurring 
the line between 'real metal' and a PC emulation - but it's fun for 
different reasons!

> Technically, there is no reason a CoCo Emulator could not be designed to 
> be 100% compatible with the coco as powerful as today's computers are. 

Given enough effort and attention to detail - you're probably right.

Let me sum it up by saying this...

My g/f can't for the life of her understand why I keep an old yellowed 
TRS-80 Model 4P in my study. "What do you need it for?" she asks. "What do 
you do with it that you can't do on your [PC]?". I think everyone on this 
newsgroup knows the answers!?! :)

Regards,

-- 
|              Mark McDougall                | "Electrical Engineers do it
| <http://members.optushome.com.au/msmcdoug> |   with less resistance!"