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

Fri Oct 22 01:01:01 EDT 2010

On 10/21/2010 07:12 AM, Mark Marlette wrote:
> I placed several mods in Curtis's and my TC-9. I agree very unstable and that was resolved with some mods.
>
> Fun stuff!
>    

Do you still have information on the mods?  I'd be interested in trying 
to get mine to work better.  I was really disappointed that I never got 
much use out of it.  I might have tried harder if I hadn't gotten the MM/1.

JCE

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Joel Ewy<jcewy at swbell.net>
> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts<coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Sent: Thu, 21 Oct 2010 04:36:03 -0000 (UTC)
> Subject: Re: [Coco] Any news on the so called CoCo4 or NextCoCo	projectthatBjork was heading?
>
> On 10/20/2010 11:20 PM, Little John wrote:
>    
>> The TC-9 was a 6809 based machine. It was basically a CoCo 3 (GIME and
>> all) but without the BASIC ROMs and the audio DAC was mapped
>> differently. I don't think it went over too well - it was geared
>> towards OS-9 L2 usage. It could be connected to one of the other FHL
>> OS-K machines (was that the TC70?). Actually up to 14 TC-9's I think
>> could be connected to the 68K machine and appear in it's memory map. I
>> can't remember exactly - it was something like that...
>>
>>      
> I've got both a TC-9 Tomcat and an MM/1.  The TC-9 was always flaky and
> unreliable.  The MM/1 still works, though I need to put another HD in
> it.  The MM/1 was really a neat computer, and I just wish there had been
> more software developed for it.
>
> JCE
>
>    
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sean"<badfrog at gmail.com>
>> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts"<coco at maltedmedia.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 11:02 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Coco] Any news on the so called CoCo4 or NextCoCo
>> projectthatBjork was heading?
>>
>>
>> I remember seeing the MM/1 at the '91 Rainbowfest in IL, and wanting
>> one.    I was just a poor high school student at the time.  If I was
>> in the position I am now, I'm absolutely sure I would have bought one.
>> I remember being torn between the MM/1, and the other 68k boxes being
>> shown at that show - I think the TC-9 was one of them, was that Frank
>> Hogg?
>>
>> Somewhat proof of my willingness for beta devices would be that I'm
>> still on the waiting list for a Pandora.  (www.openpandora.org).
>> Homebrew originated, taking much longer than promised, etc....
>>
>> But I also have a netbook thanks to my job, and that works just fine
>> as an emulator box, and weighs a lot less than a CoCo.  So I would
>> agree that 'coco 4' hardware might be kind of silly.
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 9:44 PM, Boisy G. Pitre<boisy at tee-boy.com>
>> wrote:
>>      
>>> 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.
>>>>
>>>>          
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