[Coco] What would a CoCo successor have to have as a minimum?

[Frank Swygert]

Jorge, most of what you want is available in Roger Taylor's "Phoenix" IDE. You pretty much described it -- a fast programming/development environment for the CoCo (and other 8 bit systems). That and one of the emulators meet most of your desires. The exception is "no Windows" and "instant on". You can *almost* get instant on by using a DOS emulator and loading a stripped down version of DOS with a batch file to call up the emulator immediately. Load it all on a USB drive or SD card on a computer that will allow booting from such devices. Get a small Netbook or ITX bookshelf computer and you'll even have a compact machine.

RJL, the above scenario almost takes the underlying OS out of the equation. I think in the long run an emulator running under a stripped down version of Linux (nothing that's not needed by the emulation or for maintenance) would be better than DOS -- definitely easier to modify/work with as time goes on.

-----------------
Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2010 18:17:40 -0400
From: "RJLCyberPunk"<cyberpunk at prtc.net>

If It's going to be a USB device that you plug to a PC or Mac. is going to
need to run on either system at least partially that's a given just FYI.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jorge Renato Machin Ibarra"<jorge_machin at hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, November 26, 2010 12:08 PM

>  I am one of the few persons who don't want a new coco 4 as a "new kind of
>  beast" because the machines I love are the original color computers. What
>  I want it's a modern way to develop new programs for my old color
>  computers or an easy way to play my old games. So this is my wish list:
>
>
>  1. A modern text editor in DECB.
>
>  2. A modern file manager.
>
>  3. A modern ROM manager. Just select your rom and run it. The ROM manager
>  could have screenshots like the wii or  the nintendo DSi .
>
>  4. A modern BASIC language compatible with the DECB. Just like Borland's
>  Turbo Basic could compile GWBasic Programs and write new programs without
>  line numbers. It would be great if you can compile the modern programs in
>  machine language and run them in an old color computer.
>
>  5. A very high speed mode.
>
>  6. Include a Serial Pak.
>
>  7. Include Music and Voice Paks emulators.
>
>  8. Use memory cards or usb memory cards.
>
>  9. Compatible with Color Computer 2 and 3.
>
>  10. No windows/linux needed. Just turn on the device and see my beloved
>  green screen.
>
>  11. Use modern display, keyboards and mices. It would be great If the coco
>  4 could have his own screen as an option.
>
>  12. A web browser mode to let me browse internet and download programs
>  from Internet.
>
>
>  Several points of this wish list we already have them with the hardware
>  and software of Cloud 9, Roger Taylor and others, but it would be great if
>  you could have all this things in a new small hardware solution. Maybe my
>  idea of a coco 4 is unviable. Just dreaming.
>
>
>  Thanks you very much for keeping the coco live
>
>  Jorge Machin
>

-- 
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars"
Magazine (AMC)
For all AMC enthusiasts
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