[Coco] Hello from a serious newbie/beginner!

[Steve Strowbridge]

Welcome to the group John, sounds like you are off to a good start with
getting a real coco and then also exploring emulators.

The answer to what the "best" emulator is I think is relative to what OS
you are running and the degree of difficulty you want to go through to set
them up, there are 3 primary emulators, and two are cross-platform, one is
Windows only.

Xroar will run on most OS, and you need to obtain the BIOS ROM files to run
it, which are on the color computer archive, among other places, and you
need to place the BASIC, EXTENDED COLOR BASIC, and DISK ROM images in the
main folder of Xroar for it to boot up, I find it to be 90+% effective on
CoCo 1/2 games, there are a few where sound is glitchy, but the color
artifacting of the red/blue colors is very nice.

MAME/MESS, I'm told, is the "best" emulator for CoCo 1/2/3 stuff, it again,
requires to to get all the ROM files for the various BASICS, place them in
a folder, and then launch the coco of choice, it will run a CoCo 1/2/3, the
more difficult part I find, is once you pull up a CoCo in MAME, there is a
"sub menu" you need to pull up to access disk and rom images, and I find
that to be a little less than elegant, but again, I'm led to believe it's
the best all-around emulator for compatibility of all hardware and software.

Last but not least, is the VCC, Virtual Color Computer 3, which is
Windows-only, and it's fairly self-contained in that it boots up with all
the BASIC ROM/BIOS things you need, and it's 90+% compatible with most CoCo
3 stuff, there are a few advanced games that don't run on it, but most
things will, the only "issue" I have with VCC, was, last time I checked the
red and blue artifact colors are not as true as the MAME/Xroar emulators.

I believe the question of using and SD card has been answered, Ed Snider
provides the CoCoSDC board, and John Strong makes the 3D printed case for
it, you can also request a pre-loaded SD card with disk images from Ed when
you order one, they are both on the list.

I was also completely new and green to this community about 6-7 months ago,
and between this list, the Facebook group, and the CoCo Crew Podcast, there
is a TON of information out here, and a very active, supportive, and
thriving community, you are in good hands.  I am not an advanced user, I'm
an enthusiast.  I enjoyed playing games as a kid, and I programmed in BASIC
as a kid, but never went past that.  I'm now doing basically the same
things as an adult, I'm just a little grayer and plumper than in the 80's.
OK a lot grayer and plumper.

I started to create a web page to track all the links and resources I was
encountering on my voyage of re-discovery, and I have put them at
http://imacoconut.com you should find links to everything we've been
discussing there.

When I got back in to the Coco about a year ago, I started with emulators,
was mainly playing the games I remembered from my childhood, and eventually
started putting them on YouTube, which is how I got "discovered" by various
members of this community that I consider myself proud to be a part of now.

My virtual experiences eventually led to purchasing a CoCo (or two) from
eBay, and ultimately making my way to my first "LAST Chicago CoCoFEST! this
past April".

Welcome to the CoCoNut collective, happy CoCoing, CoCo forever, and, Hey?
Got your CoCo 3 yet?


Steve Strowbridge, aka
The Original Gamer Stevie Strow
http://ogsteviestrow.com
ogsteviestrow at gmail.com


On Thu, Jun 16, 2016 at 11:10 AM, Salvador Garcia via Coco <
coco at maltedmedia.com> wrote:

> Can you post a link to the tutorial please? I can't seem to locate it.
> Thanks! Salvador
>
>
>       From: John Lochey via Coco <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>  To: "coco at maltedmedia.com" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Cc: John Lochey <jlochey at yahoo.com>
>  Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2016 10:53 AM
>  Subject: Re: [Coco] Hello from a serious newbie/beginner!
>
> Hi Al,
> Thanks for that tip!
> I have found that tutorial and downloaded it.
>
> Looks great!
>
> John
>
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