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

[Kip Koon]

Hi Brandon,
Welcome back to the Coco Community!  There are a LOT of knowledgeable people on this list and a lot of resources on the internet for information.  I too had a Coco 1, 2 & 3 several decades ago.  In the 2011 time frame, I came back to the Coco and I documented my journey relearning everything all over again as well as other 6809 projects on my wiki page below.  Maybe there is something there that will help you with getting your Coco setup running again.  Again Welcome Back!  If you have any questions, just ask me or anyone else here on the list.  We'll be glad to help.  Take care my friend.

Kip Koon
computerdoc at sc.rr.com
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Coco [mailto:coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com] On Behalf Of Brandon Tetreau
> Sent: Friday, August 28, 2015 11:51 AM
> To: coco at maltedmedia.com
> Subject: [Coco] Getting into Tandy Color Computer 3, Suggestions and Info Needed
> 
> 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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