[Coco] Getting into Tandy Color Computer 3, Suggestions and Info Needed

[Zippster]

Hi Brandon,

Welcome to the group!

There is still room on the current run of RGB2VGA boards.
It is a bit of an expensive, but excellent solution to getting your CoCo3 running with
a VGA monitor.  

I’m also making the CoCo SDC units on a regular basis, so they are available whenever
you want one.  John Strong is making 3D printed cases for the SDC.

- Ed


Prices (not including shipping):

RGB2VGA & cable (assembled) = $45
Programmed DE-0 Nano for RGB2VGA = $95

CoCo SDC (assembled) = $40



> On Aug 28, 2015, at 10:51 AM, Brandon Tetreau <brandon.tetreau at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Everyone, Just wanted to introduce myself. I grew up with the Tandy
> Color Computers and recently got our system back from my parents. Got a
> couple Tandy Color Computer 3's a CM8 Monitor, multi-pack, floppy drives,
> etc... and tons of my old games on disk and carts but It's tough getting
> the entire system setup. I started looking into options to use the Tandy on
> newer hardware and was surprised to see Flash Carts, video cables, and
> Drivewire and such which would really make running old games easy but It
> appears I'm several years late as most types of Hardware aren't sold
> anymore or have diagrams of electrical component blueprints which cause my
> head to hurt.
> 
> I'm only 33 now so I was really young when we had the CoCo but have tons of
> great memories (would love to get Ghana Bwana running for my mom to play as
> it was one of her favorites) and would love to get it up and running.
> I'm hoping to summarize what I think I've learnt in searching the web for
> ways to connect the CoCo to a modern monitor and allow playing of disk
> images.
> 
> Can any of you give me suggestions on what would be a good setup? I don't
> mind having the entire system setup but it would also be cool to just have
> the computer, maybe a flash cart and some joysticks.
> 
> *Connecting Tandy to Monitor/TV*
> *RGB to S-Video* - Made by Chistopher Hawks, emailed him but got no reply
> *RGB2VGA* - Appears they are for purchase possibly by Zippster, not sure
> who can purchase
> 
> *CoCo Flash Carts/Drivewire*
> *CoCo SDC *- CoCo flash cart which allows the running of disk images from a
> Compact Flash Card (This allow you to run a HBDDOS rom and connect to
> Drivewire)
> *Tandy Drive Pak* - Doesn't appear to be made anymore but was a flash cart
> which ran most software expect software which needed to be run specifically
> from a physical floppy drive (CoCo SDC fixes this though?)
> *HDBDOS Rom Cart *- You can put a socket on a Cart and flash HDBDOS and
> boot from that, I'm told people used to sell HDBDOS Rom Carts complete but
> It doesn't appear anymore. I found various roms in the Drivewire download
> but perhaps people have details about which carts can be used as a donor,
> the socket I'd need to put on, compatible eeprom, and rom required to make
> this.
> *Drivewire Cable* - Appears to still be sold on Cloud9 and can also be made
> so I don't think this would be a huge issue, can also use a RS232 to USB
> cable to connect to USB.
> 
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