[Coco] Old techies

[Andrew]

I'm a little late to this, but I am 35. I got my first machine back when 
I was 10 or 11 (I forget which - 1984 or 85), which was a CoCo 2 w/16k, 
a tape drive, and a couple of cartridges (Canyon Climber and Reactoid). 
I also got my first computer desk.

My parents bought it for me to have a "leg up" at school, IIRC. My 
elementary school had just got its Apple IIe "lab" (actually, it was 
pretty nice - Oregon Trail rocks!) - prior to that we had a single IIe 
rolled around on the cart, each teacher would get it for a couple of 
weeks. I played on it often, and I guess somehow my parents got wind 
(probably me beggin' and a parent-teacher meeting).

My dad set it up on his TV where he watched ball games (and we played 
Atari - still have that beast, too) - I remember us fumbling putting in 
the first programs from the BASIC manual, and messing up (we forgot to 
hit ENTER at the end of the lines, spacing over instead - doh!). When we 
got "our" first program to run, it hooked me. My dad and I would then 
take turns typing code in, but it quickly became apparent that I was 
racing ahead. They got me a TV for my room, and the rest is history.

I still have all of my CoCo gear from that time (except for a few 
cartridges - not sure what/where they are), and most of it works. I 
certainly wouldn't be doing what I do today if it hadn't been for my CoCo.

Even today, I was thinking whether something like this:

http://www.liquidware.com/shop/show/QCT/QuadCore+Tower+Kit

Couldn't be hacked into some kind of "new" 8-bit wonder, with each 
Arduino acting as a "co-processor" and memory, for budding hackers (ah, 
who am I kidding, I want one of them myself!).

I've been playing with the Arduino lately for a robotics project I have 
been working on, and it is amazing what it can do. I know for certain 
that if I hadn't gotten that first machine, I would probably not be 
doing any of this.

-- Andrew L. Ayers, Glendale, Arizona