[Coco] Multipak redesign/replacement / New CoCo...

[Steve Batson]

Having read a lot of this thread, pas threads about CoCo 4 (followed by
complaints that it comes up every year), and other new hardware products
for the CoCo, I have the following thoughts...
Let's face it...The
CoCo hardware is aging and will continue to become more scarce. While
there are lots of new products/projects that address the peripherals,
there really isn't a decent drop in place, ready to go 100%
compatible CoCo hardware platform that I'm aware of.
At what point
do all these add-on's become useless as more and more CoCo's die, become
un-repairable and unobtainable? I don't know.
Wouldn't it make more
sense to focus on creating a new Fully CoCo 2/3 Compatible Motherboard (as
opposed to a *New* CoCo 4 that seems to get Poo Poo'd every time
it comes up)  that incorporates many of the features that all these
individual projects provide? Also, maybe make the board fit in either the
original CoCo case (if feasible) and a standard PC Case allowing users to
install in the case of their choice. A board that provides VGA Port,
Composite Video, Audio, USB (with on board logic for Keyboard,
Joystick and keyboard so no drivers are needed), Sound, RS-232, Drive
controller, etc all on-board with additional expansion ports available
instead of needing a Multipak. The board designed to use a standard ATX
style Power Supply.
I'm just brainstorming here, but it seems to me
that a single board where most commonly used and needed features that
could share resources and have solid on-board connections to the CoCo
resources makes more sense than a ton of separate new boards and products
that connect to the original CoCo that could die at any point and be
difficult to replace. Cost might be greatly reduced overall vs. buying all
the separate items. Lot's of possibilities here, just figured I'd toss
this out there :)