[Coco] Any news on the so called CoCo4 or NextCoCoprojectthatBjork was heading?

Thu Oct 21 00:40:12 EDT 2010

Boisy said:
> ....we have computational power that can emulate the MM/1 40 times over.

I would love to see a working OS9/68K emulator. There are 68000 emulator 
cores such as MESS (for Atari and others) and UAE for Amiga, but you can't 
boot OS9 on them. I know, I've tried on MESS, but all I get is BOMBS (Atari 
style). The only other contender, OS9EXEC isn't working very well at this 
time, and hasn't been updated for some time.

Regards, Bob Devries
Dalby, QLD, Australia

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Boisy G. Pitre" <boisy at tee-boy.com>
To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 12:44 PM
Subject: Re: [Coco] Any news on the so called CoCo4 or 
NextCoCoprojectthatBjork was heading?

> Aside from your stance on software emulation (I prefer an FPGA based 
> hardware solution), this is a great post and right on target.  The MM/1 
> was a dream that was just too laborious to realize, and several people 
> sunk a lot of effort only to realize little gain.  The one who I believe 
> was most affected was the creator himself, Paul K. Ward.  My understanding 
> is that he put a lot of his money on the MM/1 and ended up loosing it all, 
> including his marriage.  Suppliers (including Microware, as I was told 
> when I worked there) got paid little or nothing from IMS. As tough a 
> lesson as it must have been for him, I admire that he did it.  Trying to 
> follow an act like Tandy just felt like a loosing proposition at the time, 
> but you have to hand it to him.... he tried.
>
> I still have my old MM/1 VHS video that Paul shipped to me back in late 
> 1990.  Holy cow, it's been 20 years already!  I recently digitized it an 
> aside from some bad spots and skips, it's pretty watchable.  I should put 
> it up on YouTube.
>
> Fast forward to now, and we have computational power that can emulate the 
> MM/1 40 times over.  It's a different world now... a software world, where 
> hardware is a commodity.  Building good software is enough of a job 
> without adding hardware to the mix.
> --
> Boisy G. Pitre
> http://www.tee-boy.com/
>
> On Oct 20, 2010, at 8:31 PM, Paul Fitch wrote:
>
>> I think the FPGA route is the only realistic method available to do this 
>> in
>> hardware.  I'm just not that interested in a hardware project.  Doing it 
>> in
>> emulation (the Coco4) however, has had me wishing very hard that I could
>> program at that level.  I just don't see spending hundreds of dollars on
>> duplicating hardware that in most any matchup would be inferior to the 
>> stuff
>> found on every bargin basement Windows 7 starter computer available today
>> for under $400.00.  And that's just the brand new stuff.
>>
>> I would love to be able fire up VCC v2.0 and get a 1024 x 768, 64k color
>> screen under Uber-DECB or Nitros9 v3.0.  With native USB awareness built 
>> in,
>> I would run it on my netbook, it would talk to my X-10 stuff, it would 
>> get
>> my email, I would surf the web.
>>
>> The thing about that (now dead) Coco4 wishlist is it could all have been
>> realized two or three years ago fully in software, without the thousands 
>> of
>> hours necessary to design hardware to run it.  Then finding the money to 
>> get
>> it into production, then the need to convince 50 or 60 or 100 people, out 
>> of
>> how many of us are there left these days, 400-500 tops, to buy it?
>>
>> It reminds me so much of what the MM/1 guys went thru.  They spent their
>> dreams trying to get the hardware available at the time to live up to 
>> their
>> (and mine, and everyone elses) expectations.  Today you don't need that
>> hardware headache.  The hardware is here, it's a software problem.
>>
>> I dearly wish someone would code a solution.  I wish even more I had the
>> skills to do it myself.
>>
>> I'm not interested in a hardware Coco4, but I would buy the emulation.
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com
>>> [mailto:coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com] On Behalf Of Little John
>>> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 9:54 PM
>>> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
>>> Subject: Re: [Coco] Any news on the so called CoCo4 or
>>> NextCoCo projectthatBjork was heading?
>>>
>>> I think Steve's idea was to actually use a "mini" pc mobo of
>>> some sort running the Vcc emulator to realize a CoCo4. A
>>> cartridge port could have been rigged to it, etc. It would
>>> have been neat to have seen had it came to exist.
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Frank Pittel" <fwp at deepthought.com>
>>> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 8:43 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [Coco] Any news on the so called CoCo4 or
>>> NextCoCo project thatBjork was heading?
>>>
>>>
>>>> On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 07:35:08PM -0500, Roger Taylor wrote:
>>>>> At 06:20 PM 10/19/2010, you wrote:
>>>>>> The last time I looked at the page, it said: "The CoCo 4
>>> Project is
>>>>>> dead..." I was saddened...
>>>>>> but at least there is the CC3FPGA from which many things
>>> are likely
>>>>>> to evolve
>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "RJLCyberPunk"
>>>>>> <cyberpunk at prtc.net>
>>>>>> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts"
>>> <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 6:06 PM
>>>>>> Subject: [Coco] Any news on the so called CoCo4 or
>>> NextCoCo project
>>>>>> thatBjork was heading?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> As far as I remember, and Bjork can correct me, for years
>>> the CoCo 4
>>>>> project never made it past the to-do list.  My question since day 1
>>>>> was: who was actually going to do the doing part?
>>>>
>>>> I think it was on the surface a good idea and I wish that
>>> it was acted on.
>>>> The
>>>> coco on an fpga project would have made a natural hardware platform
>>>> for it. Oh well.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Coco mailing list
>>>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>>>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Coco mailing list
>>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Coco mailing list
>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco 