[Coco] too wordy?

[Bill Pierce]

No, your project is plenty worthy, it's just that if you search the message database, you'll find the 1000+ or so messages from individuals with "I'm going to build a 6809 board" projects. At first, there was a lot of interest.... no boards... a lot of promises.... no boards. After a while... the next 6809 project comes along and.... it's "ok... whatever... make a video when you get a display...".
So... link me a video when you get a display.

As far as the emulators go... 75% of the people you see talking about emulators have a real Coco sitting in front of them (I have 2).
Why do I use an emulator when I have a real Coco? Quite a few reasons...
One of which I tend to work on very large C programs.... 20 -50, even 75 source files in one program.
One current project I am working on has 57 files. It takes my Coco 27 mins to compile it with my C compiler.
It takes Vcc (overclocked to 71mhz) 16 seconds to compile the 57 files and less than 20 seconds to click the vhd in drivewire, move it to the Coco instance of dw, copy it to the coco vhd and run it on a real Coco.

In the emulator, I can type as fast as I want, screens scroll instantly and workflow is 200% faster. All just so I can run it on my real Coco today... not tomorrow.


The emulator keeps me from burning up my Coco PSU, memory and CPU, wearing out the keyboard (even more), and gives the Coco a rest it deserves sometimes.


A lot of people are using the emulators because they have no Coco... and that 6809/6309 super board we've been hearing about for 15 years still isn't here. So they use what there is.

And most of all, slowly but surely, the real Cocos are dying. There are no parts. We are again left with the emulators.
I lost my original Coco in 99 during hurricane Floyd. I kept my interest in the Coco alive by using the emulators. I've been through em all since Jeff's first Coco 2 emulator in MSDOS. Had it not been for them, I wouldn't been interested enough to acquire another Coco, it would have been forgotten. I was lucky I did get another Coco, and then even another...

Not everyone is a hardware guru, some are software, some just play the games. Some just like the conversation.

So build a 6809/6309 board... I truely encourage it and I wish you luck because I haven't the knowledge or the finances. Get a system going and we'll port NitrOS9 to it... no problem. But before you put down the emulators you may want to thank them for keeping the real Coco alive.

Bill Pierce
My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
Co-Webmaster of The TRS-80 Color Computer Archive
http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/
Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
E-Mail: ooogalapasooo at aol.com




-----Original Message-----
From: iggybeans <iggybeans at comcast.net>
To: coco <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Mon, Oct 7, 2013 9:39 pm
Subject: [Coco] too wordy?


I guess my last messages were deemed for whatever reason to be unsuitable for 
our forum. 
But I assure you, it detailed a realistic and ongoing project. 
And my former employer Ed Gressick would have gotten a kick out of it (God rest 
his soul). 
But then, one of Ed's last project (that he never got to finish) was a new 6809 
card for the PT68K that incorporated a GIME. 

I'm not sure I understand why the majority of you are so focused on emulators. 
I still prefer real hardware. Using a more modern system to emulate a much less 
powerful older system only seems like a downgrade to me. 

But then, what do I know? 
I've used 6809 based computers since the processor was introduced, and I used to 
work for a fanatic who thought he could keep forging ahead with OS-9. 

So I'll proceed with my little project, now slightly downgraded to use Ym2149F 
mono sound chip because its easier to use (along with a few other mods).. 

And when I want to use a micro kernel OS, I'll fire up a PPC Mac and run MorphOS 
(where I can still play around with 68K assemblers). 

Good luck to you guys using VCC and Mess, even if I don't understand the point 
of it. 

Jim Igou 
Former retail Manager of Delmar Co. 



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