[Coco] Coco Digest, Vol 104, Issue 33

[Timothy Keith]

> Welcome "back" Tim! I'm no longer using a CoCo, but still have a couple and keep up with the list. You might want to start by dwonloading "Tandy's little Wonder" from the site archives (ftp://maltedmedia.com/coco/MAGAZINES/Tandy's Little Wonder/Cocobook-TLW2.pdf).
>
> A couple years before I stopped using the CoCo I compiled a book of all the history, repair info, and most common mods I could find. Some of the schematics didn't > duplicate well, but there's a lot of info all in one location. Worth printing out! I sold a few, then revised the book in 2006 and made it available as a PDF for free >download. There is a copy of the original version at ftp://maltedmedia.com/coco/MAGAZINES/FARNA/Tandy's Little Wonder/LittleWonder.pdf

I have read that were were between 20 and 30 million Commodore 64s
manufactured.   How many Cocos were made ?  I also read that the
original Coco was very
similar to the 6809 reference implementation board that Motorola
created for evaluation by OEMs.  Tandy did not get as creative with
the Coco as they could have, which I think means that the Coco doesn't
have as many custom ASICs as the C64. The Coco is a pretty clean
design.  That there are millions more C-64s built than Cocos, is
probably why there seems to be more cool Commodore projects.  The
stock C-64 had better sound and graphics than the original Coco, but I
think the Coco hardware hackers could probably go a little further
than the C-64. Back in the day, the 1541 disk drive was not very good,
the Coco had a more standard drive, but none of that matters much now.
 If you haven't done so, Google Commodore 64 hardware projects.
They're still pretty actively updating their simple 6502 box.  I think
most of what has been done for the C-64 could be done for the Coco.
In one Commodore blog it is claimed that USB support was added in a
couple weeks.  I have no idea how these mods are done, or what value
these mods really add to the C-64, but its fun to read of the ongoing
enthusiasm for the classic 8-bit home system.  It helps that there are
a gazillion C64s out there.  I'm not a hardware person, but I'd like
to learn a little more.  I think that in a few years thousands of
iPhones will be resting in the back of desk drawers, maybe they'll
still be cool, but likely not used. Its got to be easier to mod the
Coco than the new stuff.  One web site claims to be powered by a
Commodore 64.  No doubt that HTTP is simple, especially when the
content is static. There is a decade old Ethernet cartridge project
for the C-64 that supports connecting to the Internet. Does similar
hardware and TCP/IP stack exist for the Coco?   Its fun hobby stuff,
some of the C64 projects are described as if it is rather simple.