[Coco] First CoCo

[Mark McDougall]

On 20/10/2018 10:14 AM, Bruce W. Calkins wrote:

> How many of us still have their first CoCo?

Sadly, I don't. And I really wish I did.

My father bought me a Coco 1 to foster my interest in computers (I was 
planning on studying Computer Science) and I suspect also so I wouldn't 
be hogging his TRS-80 Model I that I'd been using for the past 3-4 years 
or so.

Initially it was a 16K? ECB unit and of course I had to use cassette. 
Tinkering with his own machine meant he often had spare parts and he 
modified my machine for 64K with a switch to enable/disable the upper 
32KB of RAM. That meant I could load and play cartridges from cassette. 
A school friend worked at the local Tandy store and was allowed to 
borrow cartridges overnight. Enough said.

Soon he had a surplus of floppy drives as he upgraded the Model I and he 
bought me a non-Tandy disk controller. He fashioned a monitor stand that 
fit over the Coco and I inherited our old colour portable TV. That all 
sat on a table on castors that he made, with storage underneath for 
floppy disk boxes and manuals etc. I used to wheel that between my room 
and the family room next to the Model I. I didn't appreciate how 
fortunate I was back then!

Eventually he bought me a TRS-80 Model 4P for "serious" use at uni 
(studying Computer Science) although I still had the Coco set-up and 
still used it occasionally. After graduating the first thing I bought 
was an Amiga 500, and sadly the Coco was relegated to the back shed.

Not long after my father asked if I would be willing to donate it to the 
family of a friend of his that didn't own a computer and at the time I 
thought I'd never want to use it again so had no hesitation in agreeing. 
That was several years before I discovered emulators which ignited my 
passion for retrocomputing / retrogaming.

I'd dearly love to own that Coco again, even though I now own a Coco 2 
and a couple of Coco 3s. Because it was mine.

I still have my 4P and recovered my father's Model I from up in the roof 
after he passed and my mother moved house.

Regards,

-- 
Mark McDougall
<http://retroports.blogspot.com.au>