[Coco] Radio Shack looking back to their roots?
Gene Heskett
gheskett at wdtv.com
Mon Nov 12 11:26:47 EST 2012
On Monday 12 November 2012 10:31:28 Bill Pierce did opine:
> Cool... looks like that keyboard could be set up for a Coco... hmmm got
> 3 with no keyboards. It sells seperately too... Bill P
>
> Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
> https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
> Bill Pierce
> ooogalapasooo at aol.com
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Juan Castro <jccyc1965 at gmail.com>
> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Sent: Mon, Nov 12, 2012 8:37 am
> Subject: Re: [Coco] Radio Shack looking back to their roots?
>
>
> You know what would really throw me off the deep end? If they did a
> revival, even a limited one, similar to what the Ozzies (PING Mark
> McDougall) did with the MicroBee:
>
> http://www.microbeetechnology.com.au/premiumpluskit.htm
>
Not terribly likely that you could get one shipped to the US for less than
$700. The aussie businesses I have dealt with claim they advertise in USD
prices, but when they make out the invoice and charge your card, they start
with the same figure in AUD, then convert, and the shipping is billed in
AUD, subject to the conversion rates too.
I bought a 3 pack of pci based interface cards about 12 years back that one
outfit (futurelec) had for $39 each, had 3 82C55's on each card for a total
of 72 I/O pins per card. Looked like a decent deal for machine control
interface and I was then looking for ways to CNC my tabletop toy milling
machine at the time. By the time they had arrived, those cards that sold
for $39.50 actually cost me a few cents short of $80 USD.
I wrote a very rudimentary linux driver to turn some small motors with one
of them, but at the time I wasn't running a real time kernel build on the
goat (sacrificial) machine and because of the poor heartbeat that gave, I
wasn't able to run the motors at more than about 1 rps without stalling,
not fast enough to do anything. It was about that time that I discovered
emc, so I installed that instead, bought a Xylotex 3 motor board for about
$220 with motors big enough to move the mill, and the rest is history. The
mill itself grew, and after the 2nd of those boards died, there are now 4
much heavier duty drivers, along with cooling fans in a bigger box now
doing the motor spinning duties.
The much older and bigger E.M.C. Corp came along about a year ago and made
us rename the Electronic Machine Control software to LinuxCNC, trademark
watchdogs earning their keep I guess.
LinuxCNC, outputting a step and dir signal to each motor over the PC's
existing parport (that is also a dodo bird these days), is now running even
bigger motors on my 7x12 lathe, at speeds up to 4 or 5 hundred rpm, so my
converted lathe can actually run the carriage back and forth at 30+ inches
a minute. The cross feed can do even more as it is direct drive from the
motor to an 8mm ball screw that moves 2.5mm a turn with about .001"
accuracy. Without a single gear connecting the spindle to the carriage, I
can cut very pretty threads of any pitch and diameter, diameter in steel
limited by spindle motor power and the ability of the frame/bed to resist
the cutting forces, On a 7x12, that isn't much so you keep the tools sharp
and don't hog a lot of cut per pass. That in itself is hard on tooling as
you aren't cutting deep enough for the cutoff material to actually carry
away the heat of the cutting, so even carbide tooling wears faster that it
would on bigger, stiffer machines.
Now that I've learned how to do it, the temptation to buy even bigger
machines and convert them is strong. But then reality sets in and I
realize that at 78 & diabetic, I probably won't have enough time to enjoy
them to make it worth it. Not to mention that the shed floor this lathe is
sitting on, it and the steel kitchen cabinet base thats holding it's 80 -
90 lbs up, that 90 lbs would be replaced with about 1500 lbs. That floor
is not capable of that weight. Same consideration for the mill, its now
about 125 lbs, a decent one would run another 600 minimum. That floor is
swaybacked by about 5" in the middle now as it has a 400 lb jointer, and a
250 lb bandsaw in the middle of it. I should have poured a 8", full of
rebar pad to set that shed on. I was still working when I built that, and
in a hurry. I tried to level the site, and let it sit for a year to see if
it would stay level before I started, but... Hindsight, always 20-05 or
better. :)
So I stay within the limits of what I can do. And work on nitros9 from
time to time too.
> BOISY! U haz Connections. What about you float that idea with your
> friends there? Have them test the waters, gauge interest?
>
> Juan
>
> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 11:18 AM, Louis Ciotti <lciotti1 at gmail.com>
wrote:
> > I wouldbe nice to see radio shack go back to its roots, but there just
> > are not enough hobbyist to buy enough units to keep sales high
> > enough. My local radio shack has some items, but most of the time I
> > turn to the internet.
> >
> > On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 7:45 AM, Allen Huffman <alsplace at pobox.com>
wrote:
> > > On Nov 11, 2012, at 9:05 AM, Frank Swygert <farna at amc-mag.com> wrote:
> > > > I've been a fan of Instructables for a while now -- mainly just
> >
> > looking,
> >
> > > but finding a few rather useful. I noticed Radio Shack sponsoring a
> >
> > contest
> >
> > > on the site and advertising -- I wonder if they are looking at
> > > getting
> >
> > back
> >
> > > to their roots a bit with kits and parts???
> > >
> > > > http://www.instructables.com/id/A-DVD-Player-Hack/
> > > > (click on "The Great Create" on the right as well).
> > >
> > > There does seem to be someone within Tandy that is interested in
> >
> > promoting
> >
> > > this. In October, I was able to go to a local RadioShack in
> > > Marshalltown, Iowa (smallish town about an hour away from Des
> > > Moines) and pick up an Arduino computer and various add ons and
> > > parts. I was trying to find something that could serve as an
> > > interface between pressure mats (in a Haunted house attraction) and
> > > a netbook computer that ran the control software. The Arduino did
> > > the trick, and over the next week or so, I visited various
> > > RadioShacks to pick up all kinds of parts -- connectors, prototype
> > > boxes, Arduino interface cards, etc.
> > >
> > > I found that one RadioShack nearby (next town over, 10 miles from
> > > Des Moines) stocked all kinds of stuff not found in any of the
> > > others --
> >
> > servo
> >
> > > motors, joystick type inputs, wiring packs, etc. They said they just
> > > had enough folks buying the stuff to really stock up. I hadn't seen
> > > so much
> >
> > in
> >
> > > a RadioShack in years -- and they were not being supported by a
> > > local college with an electronics class or anything. Just folks
> > > coming in and buying stuff. They did seem concerned that RadioShack
> > > was going to
> >
> > downsize
> >
> > > all this stuff again.
> > >
> > > While an Arduino isn't a full featured computer like the old 8-bits
> > > were, it was still a great hobbyist platform for specific projects
> > > and one available (for $35) at the local RadShack. Take a look at
> > > that section
> >
> > next
> >
> > > time you go to one -- I found wireless modules, motion sensors,
> > > motor controllers as well as many types of build-it kits and
> > > "MakerShed"
> >
> > project
> >
> > > books. They may not have the vast assortment of parts (but still
> > > quite a selection) as the 70s/80s, but they have a ton more stuff
> > > we could only dream of finding local back then.
> > >
> > > It's alive, which is surprising in this day of "free 2nd day
> > > shipping" Amazon. For the Haunted House project, I was trying to
> > > buy as much as possible locally, so if something went out, I could
> > > get an instant local replacement without having to wait even two
> > > days for a new shipment. The folks I was hired to do this build for
> > > probably appreciated that, considering the numerous technical
> > > problems I ran in to that sent me scrambling for more parts.
> > >
> > > It was a real eye opener finding out all the stuff RadioShack has
> > > started stocking in the recent years.
> > > -
> > > Allen Huffman - PO Box 22031 - Clive IA 50325 - 515-999-0227
> > > (vmail/TXT only)
> > > Sent from my MacBook.
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > 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
Cheers, Gene
--
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene> is up!
The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an
open doorway with an open mind.
-- E. B. White
More information about the Coco
mailing list