[Coco] What do you use your CoCo for? (was: Games that don't fit floppies)

[Paulo Lindoso]

Hi All,

I am a newbie here in the list.  I have used my CoCo (first the Brazilian
Clone, then a Tandy CoCo3) throughout my 80s to do mostly everything a
(then-)teenager could do with a computer: gaming, wordprocessing (school
work).  I have also use it extensively as a hobby since I was studying
electronics.  Eventually, I went to university, the PC era began and my
CoCo3 was stored in the attic.

Recently, I have dusted it up and found out (to my amazement) that it still
worked (had to fix the keyboard mylar, but apart from that perfect) and I
found myself a new hobby and hopefully - with the list - some new friends.

To be honest, I was amazed to see what has been done to this 8-bit computer.

As for me, I have recently bought a SuperIDE (Mark is "baking" it... should
arrive in time fro Christmas!) and my main point of interest is using the
CoCo for small HW/SW hobbies.

As such, it seems to me that (1) I need something to exchange files to and
from my Mac (S-IDE seems to do the job via CFs); (2) I need some
quick/practical way to extend ROMs and (2) I need as much access to the
extension interface as possible.

That in mind, I have ordered a S-IDE and a Multipak.

I would like to know from the list what other stuff is being done with
these 8-bit wonders... I have seen some sites and looked up the list, but
perhaps people would like to jump in and write about their daily CoCo use
these days.

Regarding the late discussions... (1) Big games are cool.  I don't think
it's a cheat to use up mass storage.  So long as there is interest (and
perhaps a "market" of sorts) for this, I think these initiatives are as
"noble" as NitrOS or any other...  (2) S-IDE vs. Drivepak:  I have chosen
S-IDE over Drivepak mostly because of what I have written above.  I am not
sure if it was the best choice yet, and would welcome comments!


Regards,
Paulo.