[Coco] The Coco Nation News stories for Episode 392, December 14, 2024
R. Allen Murphey
exile at weylan-yutani.com
Sun Dec 15 09:36:56 EST 2024
The Coco Nation News stories for Episode 392, December 14, 2024
===================================================================
Collected by L. Curtis Boyle
Upcoming conventions/trade shows of interest to Coco people:
------------------------------------------------------------
For those in the Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada area, the winter meetup for
the Manitoba Retro Computer and Gaming Club is being held January 4 from
noon until 4 PM and features a variety of retro computers. They have
a theme this meetup about the TRS-80, and since David Kroeker, D. Bruce
Moore and myself are all planning on attending, there will definitely be
a Coco flavor as well:
https://www.facebook.com/events/870247295316209/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22group%22%7D]%7D
Virtual Coco/Tandy Fest is January 25, 2025, and now has it's own website
site up: Mark Overholser is the driving force for it, and can give updates
on speakers, etc.
https://tandyretroshow.com/
VCF-SoCal - Feb 15-16 (Hotel Fera in Orange, California.
https://www.vcfsocal.com/
VCF East is April 4-6, 2025 - same facility as this year. Info Age Science
Museum, Wall, NJ.
https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/
CocoFest is May 2-3, 2025 (with takedown on the morning of May 4/Sunday) at
the Holiday Inn & Suites in Carol Stream (Wheaton), Illinois. Hotel rooms
at the special Fest rate are available now ($122/night for two queens or
1 king bed), and apply for May 2-5. You will need to use the Group Rate
code of G30 to get this rate, and getting the special rate ends April
7. Bookings for tables will be going up in January.
https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/
Tables go on sale January 1 at noon, Central standard time.
VCF-SW in Texas has been booked with dates: June 20-22, 2025 at the Davidson
Gundy Alumni Center, University of Texas, Dallas, Texas.
Tables & Tickets will go on sale January 2025. $20/adult ($25 if bought
at the door), $10/student ($15 at the door). 17 and under are free (with
accompanying adult). Tables are $50.
https://www.vcfsw.org/
Tim Lindner let me know that next year's Portland Retro Gaming Expo runs
from October 17-19 in 2025 (they just had this years Sept 27-29).
https://www.retrogamingexpo.com/
Coco 1/2/3 (and multi-platform)
-------------------------------
1) After a lengthy hiatus, TRS-80 Retro Programing returns with a different
type of project - Disappearing Ghosts (originally written in 1984 by Angela
Bradshaw from the book The Color Computer Playground). It's a subtraction
game for kids:
https://youtu.be/FdKSPLo5AaY?si=IqZc61GJFWK8NwKn
2) Grant Leighty passed on to me that CocoFest table registration won't be
until February 1st (rather than January). "Randy is doing a major update on
the registration system and needed more time to complete it." (Please note
that the Glenside CocoFest webpage has not been changed yet to reflect this):
https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/
3) 8 Bit Doodads on YouTube are doing a Retro Computer Adventu
Calender... and an episode is about the Coco (it has some mistakes, but
the hosts admit that neither has owned one):
https://youtu.be/HGZ1m7HGVq4?si=qJtB6FcnYF1axNfv
4) Christmas themed posts on both Facebook and YouTube using Coco's have
started appearing. Some of these we have covered in previous years, but
since more and more people are joining (or re-joining) the Coco community,
I think it is worth covering:
- Michael Pittsley posted some screenshots from the Sierra Christmas
demo. I will mention that it is included with NitrOS-9/EOU, and can be
found in the DEMOS -> SIERRA_XMAS (and launched from MultiVue):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10162153232332641/
Michael Eric Sezter pointed out the Tandy in store Coco 3 graphics demo
from Christmas 1986 that Spectral Associates wrote:
https://youtu.be/PaoqNDcYmOI?si=0SqblGL-4Pf8-EJ-
bng0072 on YouTube released graphic/song videos of two Coco 1/2 Christmas
themes, which are called XMAS Fantasia & XMAS Fantasia II, and are about
17 minutes and 27 minutes long respectively. Maybe have them playing on a
TV in the background during the Christmas season (I think David Ladd has
presented these before in previous years):
XMAS Fantasia:
https://youtu.be/5cHbHGaNBGk?si=x9aEcaxg5e7r6UdR
XMAS Fantasia II:
https://youtu.be/Cbo5EoNzcR8?si=3lHCxxvfziaBr7XK
5) Another theme is people sharing photos of their Coco systems (back in
day, sometimes after receiving them at Christmas). These include:
- Rodger Williamson shows his setup from the mid-80's, and mentions using
it while he attended Clemson University):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10162152639702641/
- Rob Cookenour posted a 5 second video(!) of him and his brand new Coco
on Christmas morning, 1983 (just a few months after the Coco 2 was released)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10162145479247641/
6) Jack Chadwick posted a link on the Coco Facebook group to Coco 2 11
ounce coffee mugs that are for sale on etsy:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1429675299/tandy-64k-color-computer-2-computer
7) Anthonu Kulla pointed out that the pilot episode of Moonlighting
(starring Bruce Willis) has a Coco 1 in it:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10162142202352641/
8) Italian Youtube channel does a pretty thorough review of the 6809 (there
are a few mistakes) but mentions how it wasn't often used. They mention
the Fujistu FM-7, the Thomson machines - but don't mention the Dragons,
Coco's, Vectrex, etc.:
https://youtu.be/Do8lWLDRczc?si=-Wiex-nVXka5hE7J
MC-10
-----
1) Jim Gerrie converted a program called Sphere which first appeared in
Colorcue magazine's Dec/Jan 1982 issue (originally for the Compucolor
II computer):
https://youtu.be/szxcO8hIcck?si=CuQVm6zs6fyGlRk3
2) Jim also pointed out an article about Chess AI from the University of
Waterloo Computer Museum, written by Amy VanderLaan. They pitted a MASTER
2200X Chess Computer (which was sold by Radio Shack in 1996) vs. an MC-10
at the easiest level on each. Suprisingly, even with the computer & program
being 12-13 years older than the dedicated Chess machine... the MC-10 won:
https://uwaterloo.ca/computer-museum/chess-ai
Dragon 32/64
------------
1) Dave's 8-bit Basement put up a half hour video on the Dragon 32 - part
3 of a series he is working on. He shows some hardware replacement boards
that he is making (and uploading the files for):
https://youtu.be/grrBP0ieFRY?si=zUqsmc874HA3qlA4
2) German YouTube channel "Jungsis Corner" does a quick review about using
the CocoSDC on a Dragon 32:
https://youtu.be/sWfY9XhIkCk?si=EUitk5YZ0c9o-xs8
Game On news (all Coco related platforms):
==========================================
1) Jim Gerrie ported the TRS-80 Model 1/3 game "All Together" to the MC-10,
originally by David Chance from his 1981 book "Computer Graphics With 29
ready-to-run Programs":
https://youtu.be/IsMlNjh9X_8?si=fosKuLEjFxWLQNfP
He also ported Flying Witches, originally written by Jenny Tyler and Chris
Oxlade in the 1984 book
"Weird Computer Games" by Usborne books. Done completely with text
characters, it is actually a side scroller where one has to fly their
witch to pick up objects as they scroll by:
https://youtu.be/bHQgaJdnyuo?si=_cap97r_7ruX1Mm2
2) Paul Shoemaker has made a Coco 1/2 version of his Christmas Match game:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10162143852062641/
It is on the same disk image as the Coco 3 version, which you can get from
his itch.io:
https://pshoemaker70.itch.io/christmas-match
And Ciaran Anscomb has made a hybrid disk that allows it to run on the
Dragon as well, and has made this available in the World of Dragon forums:
https://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11216
3) Pere Serrat has now uploaded the "Big Pack" version of his SuperSprite
FM+ updated AGD games, putting all 55 games into one zip for the Dragon
or Coco (as well as separate ZIP's with instructions, screen shots, etc.):
https://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11217
4) Non Maskable Interrupt on YouTube did some more gameplay videos on his
CM-8 equipped Coco 3 (so no artifact colors).
Bagitman:
https://youtube.com/shorts/jiX31s4-Apo?si=PVxLY0eqseDFXM6i
5) Jostive Fivezer did some gameplay videos as well:
Squeeze:
https://youtu.be/OcgqoNmYB1g?si=jWBK5uiu-3hckwvh
Android Attack (longplay):
https://youtu.be/70v3815nnMw?si=fp_2P0S7GO39I1u6
6) simonwgb played almost 3 hours of some of his favorite Dragon 32/64
games, including 45 minutes with Wizard's Quest:
https://youtu.be/wdVaBXZSR2U?si=6cKUQ69I9JUL8vzW
==============================================================================
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Get connected with more of the CoCo, Dragon and MC-10 community here:
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--
R. Allen Murphey <exile at weylan-yutani.com>
Weylan-Yutani Corporation
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