[Coco] Virtual CoCoFest

Mon Apr 20 09:09:18 EDT 2020

Thanks for the feedback Frank.  The thing I find most interesting about the
CoCo aspect of the retro hobby specifically, is the vast variety of things
people are interested in and do.
Anybody "outside" of this hobby would think _anything_ being done on a 40
year old machine was somewhat unusual, but what _secifically_ we do
continues to fascinate me to this day.

My own story and interest in getting my first CoCo was 100% game related
and motivated.  I was 12 when I saw my first TRS-80, 13 when the CoCo came
out, and 14 when I could finally afford one.

This was 1981 and video games were "the thing" in my life anyway, and with
most of the rest of the world, too.  I didn't have an Atari 2600, like a
lot of my friend dids, we had a crappy generic pong machine that was only
black and white.

I got my own part-time job to save money.  Somehow, even as a kid, I was
"smart" enough to realize, that if I purchased an Atari, then I'd have to
pay for 100% of any game I owned, and my library would be as limited as my
childhood finances were.

But, if I got a computer, I could "obtain" software for next to nothing, so
it seemed to make the most sense to get a computer to play games, as I
could get more bang for my buck.  So my initial interest and motivation was
a means to an end to get a video game system for myself, this would be the
first in our household.

A fringe benefit of owning the CoCo were the great books on Color BASIC, my
first CoCo was only 16K with standard BASIC.  I was able to learn that, so,
in addition to just playing games, I starting writing my own, again feeding
into my own personal interest.  As time, technology, and finances moved
forward, I was able to graduate to bigger and better CoCos and eventually a
Tandy 1000, and again, most of my motivation and interests were video game
related, but that was just me.

Fast forward to today, my own interests and motivations for using my CoCo
in 2020 are still all about playing the old video games, playing the new
ones being made today, and still trying to make my own in BASIC, and still
wanting to learn assembly when I grow up so I can make games that aren't
dog slow.

However, I've also discovered that there are people doing amazing things in
all areas, especially those outside the world of gaming.  The amount of
hardware and accessories we have available to us today is ASTOUNDING.

The CoCoSDC is the single greatest invention since the Color Computer, and
I couldn't imaging using a CoCo without it.  I'm have not, as of yet, come
to any real "need" for DriveWire, but the SDC allows me a quick an easy way
to access it.

I have purchased a variety of memory upgrades, the CoCoVGA upgrade for my
CoCo 1, the RGB-to-SCART cable to allow me to then go SCART-to-HDMI on my
CoCo 3, I've got CoCo joystick switches, Sega Joypad adapters, wireless SD
cards in my SDC, I'm writing games on my PC with a normal text editor and
cross-developing to a real Coco, I've learned about NitrOS9, which I would
have had no interest in as a kid, other than playing games, and I'm amazed
at how much/how well the CoCo can multi-task, and I'm still planning on
learning assembly to cross of my bucket list.

I have several real CoCos and use a combination of real hardware and
emulators, I have tried to support everyone who creates content and
products for the CoCo since I've been back into it for the past 5 years,
I've purchased most every hardware and software product I needed, and even
some I didn't, just to say thanks.

There is no right or wrong way to use a CoCo, and I love seeing what people
are doing with theirs today in the 21st century.  There are a lot of people
doing very "serious" things with their CoCos and the CoCo world benefits
from that, and there are a lot of people who, like me, who are consumers,
just want to have the next new thing to plug in and play with to keep
excited about still using their coco with new stuff.

I don't think there's a wrong way to CoCo as long as you CoCo :)

Steve “Stevie Strow” Strowbridge

Retro nerd, vintage computing enthusiasts, self proclaimed CoCo “Nut”

ogStevieStrow at gmail.com primary email address

http://ogsteviestrow.com web site

http://cocotalk.live CoCoTALK! the world's leading live CoCo talk show

http://imacoconut.com for all things CoCo related

On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 7:02 AM Francis Swygert <farna at att.net> wrote:

> I enjoyed this as well! Didn't try to participate live, watched it on the
> Facebook link. I don't program anything anymore, so kind of skipped over a
> lot. I've always viewed my computer as a tool more than a game machine...
> hardly play any games anymore, other than some version of solitaire to kill
> some time, and an occasional Mahjong (which the CoCo got me hooked on!).
> More interested in where the hardware side is going and emulators, though I
> don't really use either of those anymore. Just like to keep up with the
> CoCo world because it was a big part of my own world at one time. I do miss
> seeing everyone though. I don't get all the inside jokes, but there are
> some special memories from the 7-8 Chicago fests I attended when I was
> selling a few programs (2-3 of which I wrote) and publishing "the world of
> 68' micros".  One trip to "Planet Hollywood" that turned into a long ordeal
> getting back to the fest stands out in particular...
>
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