[Coco] Retro-momentum and disk image servers (Was: Re: MESS needs a C++ programmer dedicated to the Coco)

[Mark McDougall]

On 1/05/2011 9:53 PM, Joel Ewy wrote:

> It was the CoCo's relative lack of commercial support that
> spawned a cottage industry at one time, and that still results in cool
> innovations today.

Would have to agree that this is a contributing factor, definitely. You 
had to be pretty fond of the Coco back in the day to persist with it, 
and those same people are still loving it and using it today!

> My presumption was that since, as Nick says, the C=64 originally had
> such a huge user base, and especially considering the 64's built-in
> serial disk protocol, there should certainly be a good, easy, current
> floppy image server like what we've got on the CoCo. I haven't given up
> on EMU1541 and 64HDD yet, but so far, I'm not impressed.

That may be in part because there are other hardware solutions for the 
C64 that don't involve tethering a PC to machine. My personal preference 
would have to be a solution that is independent of a PC. I suspect a lot 
of others feel the same way. Each to their own...

> Likewise, I did some Googling to find such a thing for the Apple ][ and
> found even less, though it looks like maybe ADTPro is something comparable.

Ditto for the Apple II. Yes, ADTPro has similar functionality - in fact 
you can create a bootable floppy with a 'bare metal' Apple II and ADTPro 
running on a PC/Mac and nothing else! And there is the CFFA, a compact 
flash adapter that has reportedly sold in excess of a few thousand units! :O

> This matches, but
> in no way trumps what you can get from Roger or Cloud-9, IMO.)

Agreed, HDBDOS with CF is a dream solution for me!!!

> I wouldn't doubt that there are more new games
> being developed for the other platforms. That may well be the case.

Definitely active game development in the Atari 2600, ZX80/81, Spectrum 
and - most prolific - C64 communities. I don't know of much Apple II 
development myself.

Most of these, however, pale in comparison to Sockmaster's Donkey Kong 
for recent efforts on the Coco. And we all wait with baited breath for 
Nick of course... (no pressure!) :)

>> I don't see this changing unless we can get new people interested in
>> our computer. If we can promote the things we do to the world via the
>> net, maybe we can get a few new people into our small community. I get
>> the impression that there is a bit of a resurgence in "retro
>> computing" and this would be a good time to try and make the CoCo grow.

As great as it would be, I don't see it being very likely, except for 
perhaps a handful of retro enthusiasts who, in their quest to become 
well-rounded, show a passing interest in the Coco. But hey, I'd love to 
be wrong on this one!

Regards,

-- 
|    Mark McDougall    |  Error: witty remark not found!
| <http://pacedev.net> |