[Coco] dreamin' again (was CoCo 3 FPGA?)

[James Hrubik]

Just a couple of comments:

-1- The display is classic CoCo.  How hard would a video upgrade be?

-2- Can e-net be slipped into that thingy?

-3- It should not be hard to take a standard PC keyboard of some  
type, make a mold, and crank out a fiberglass package for the  
system.  I envision an all-in-one setup with the keyboard, FPGA,  
flash hard drive, a floppy, and a DVD drive in a case almost the same  
size as the CoCo3.  Ports : 2 USB, 1 monitor, 1 e-net, analog audio  
in and out, and a standard CoCo printer/serial for backwards  
compatibility.  I almost added cassette.  Maybe battery charge port  
(see next), and I would recommend 12V for a straight plug-in to a car  
lighter socket.

-4- If it can be driven on cell phone batteries, could a fully  
portable unit be far behind?  If so, what sort of possibilities for  
wireless?  A wireless enabled CoCo running Nitros9 would be awesome  
for remote projects.

-5- Do you realize how much of my time is going to be wasted dreaming  
about this stuff?  <G>

On Jul 28, 2007, at 5:04 AM, Nickolas Marentes wrote:

> Good work!!
>
> This opens the door to a REAL CoCo4 in actual hardware.
>
> My suggestion would be to aim towards a board replacement with a  
> real CoCo3.
>
> We would need to set realistic specifications for the CoCo4 upgrade  
> and make it a drop in replacement. A badge replacement on the top  
> case that replaces the "Tandy Color Computer 3" with one that says  
> "Color Computer 4" (take out the Tandy since they had nothing to do  
> with it).
>
> I'd be happy with a CoCo3 that ran at 12Mhz and had a 256 color  
> mode and possibly support for an internal IDE.
>
> But with the flexibility of this FPGA board, we could add more.
>
> Nick
>
> --
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> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco

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