[Coco] The Coco Nation News stories for Episode 393, December 21, 2024

[R. Allen Murphey]

The Coco Nation News stories for Episode 393, December 21, 2024
===================================================================
Collected by L. Curtis Boyle

Upcoming conventions/trade shows of interest to Coco people:
------------------------------------------------------------
The next episode of TRS-80 Trash Talk Live (#42) is tonight (Dec. 21)
at 9 pm Eastern:
  https://www.youtube.com/@TRS80TrashTalk

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

"Tandy Showcase" (Ed on the TRS-80 Discord, and the person who hosts
the history of Videotex on the web), posted that there is a Winter Retro
Computing Meetup on Saturday, January 18th from noon to 4 PM, sponsored by
DFW Retro Computing & the Vintage Computing Collective of North Texas. It
takes place at Bingo Bingo in Grand Prairie (and there will be a concession
stand open). Quote from Ed:
"**The Winter Event for the DFW Retro Computing Group has been announced
(Sat Jan 18); here's their event listing.
"Anyone in/near the Dallas-Fort Worth area is encouraged to attend the
free event.**
*The Winter Retro Computing Meetup of 2025 will be on Saturday, January
18th. Brought to you by the DFW Retro Computing Meetup group and the Vintage
Computing Collective of North Texas. Sponsored by Mouser Electronics who
has, for the second year, graciously donated to cover the cost for the
venue rental.
The meetup will begin at 12:00pm and end at 4:00pm and is taking place at
Bingo Bingo in Grand Prairie who will also have their concession stand open
so please bring cash and support them for allowing us to use their venue.
We encourage you to bring something for show and tell. It could be a
new addition to your collection or a favorite system you've showcased
before. Don't be shy – we love seeing the unique treasures our community
has to offer. And if you're not quite ready to exhibit, no worries--just
bring yourself and your passion for retro computing.
As on prior meetups, you are welcome to bring your items for swap, sale, or
giveaway. However, you must ensure that all items are removed from the venue
at the end of the meetup. We cannot leave behind boxes of donation items.
You are welcome to bring your family. If you bring young children, please
keep an eye on them.
When parking, please be careful to observe the parking lot markings, and
only park in marked parking spaces. Last time, some people parked in areas
intended for parking lot navigation, which can cause issues with parking
lot traffic and fire/first responder access.
We look forward to seeing all of you there!*"
  https://www.meetup.com/DFW-Retrocomputing/events/305135267/

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) Coco Town has released a text/webpage version of his assembly language
optimizations video, including some new examples and more detailed
explanations. Great reference (it's divided into 3 parts):
 
https://cocotownretro.wordpress.com/2024/12/16/8-surprising-6809-assembly-optimizations-and-3-unsurprising-ones-part-1/

2) D. Bruce Moore and David Kroeker did a quick blog post and accompanying
video with further progress on their CocoMP3 project - Testing and Selecting
the best audio amplifier solution. There is also an appearance by an old
Coco serial to parallel converter running a line printer, and more:
 
https://coco.gracenote.ca/cocomp3-research-development-testing-and-selecting-the-best-audio-amplifier-solution/

3) ACKRobert has released his almost 1.5 hour walkthrough/mini-interviews
of this past VCF SoCal. This includes a brief talk with Henry Strickland,
who goes through the CoPiCo project (Wireless networking), Rick Ulland's
Ethernet board, etc.
  https://youtu.be/vF2s2qcEsbQ?si=ZTQxdP7tuqbLjZla&t=3298

4) Mike ("seat safety switch" on the Coco Discord) posted a link to his
blog about Fujinet, and his experience building and using it on the Coco:
  https://www.leadedsolder.com/2024/12/17/coco-fujinet.html

5) Thomas Cherryhomes showed a post by Andrew Diller that is a review
of Fujinet's accomplishments in 2024, including hardware and software
(including the Coco):
  https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10162162731727641/
Show 'fujunet 2024.jpg' from my desktop, as Facebook won't let me scale
the very tall image enough to read properly

6) Terry Steege posted a teaser video on the Coco Facebook group under his
Retro Tech Time brand, that will lead into a full showcase video about
the AgVision - boxed and complete - which was the blue branded Videotex
terminal that came out before the Coco 1 but shares it's design and a lot
of it's hardware with the Coco:
  https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10162159382347641/

7) Paul Sisco posted photos (some in the comments) of a small daughterboard
with wires going to multiple place on an F board Coco 1 that he has no
idea what it is for. Comments have speculated about multiple things it
could be - any ideas from the panel or chat?
  https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10162156384747641/

8) I missed it when it was released (November 28), but Pierre Sarrazin
released 'hiresttxt' version 0.4.2 for the CMOC compile. This redirects
printf() to a hi res screen (black on green) allowing 42x24 or 42x24
text. It has an option to support some VT52 terminal sequences, includes
lowercase and Latin-1 characters, supports both inverse and bold on/off,
works on all Coco's and can even run under OS-9 Level 1 or 2.
  http://perso.b2b2c.ca/~sarrazip/dev/cmoc.html
(search for 'hirestxt')

9) As per usual, both the main and beta branches of ugBASIC have had
updates throughout the past few weeks:
Main branch changelog (mostly bugfixes to the 1.16.5 release over the past
few weeks):
  https://ugbasic.iwashere.eu/changelog/main
Beta branch changelog (bug fixes plus things like support for SPRITE
PRIORITY, SPRITE SET, MOB SET, FADE, etc.:
  https://ugbasic.iwashere.eu/changelog/beta

10) Ben Cossette on YouTube posted a video of the educational Coco program
"Goofy Covers Government: Inside Congress", including the original multimedia
voice acting that came on the tape:
  https://youtu.be/Zeslv_66hQY?si=9lHRvudaBoqe9Yui

11) Henry of The Break Key on YouTube (and our regular panel!) put up a
special Christmas themed video showing how to use the higher semigraphics
modes to create a nice Christmas scene. He uses modern tools to create
the the final image on the Coco:
  https://youtu.be/02t30UANoy4?si=VmISPwoCXA_Dgg7W

12) EJ Jacquay has released version 2.1.9.1 of VCC this past week, which does
bugfixes, enhancements to the text paste, multiple debugger enhancements,
and more:
Full list of changes, and download:
  https://github.com/VCCE/VCC/releases


MC-10
-----
1) The Clueless Engineer on YouTube released a part 1 video looking at
the Matra & Hachette Alice - a First look. It includes him going through
the hardware, and getting the video output working:
  https://youtu.be/JoOMIVsprkE?si=2RQr5VJBjjomuROo


Dragon 32/64
------------
1) Ciaran posted on the World of Dragon forums in response to a user request
that he has added a new ASSERT pseudo op to his ASM6809 assembler. Currently
it's on the github, but hasn't had an official release yet (and he may
not have time to do so before Christmas):
  https://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11218

2) Dave's 8-bit basement released Dragon re-power part 1 - a video
followup to his previous one we covered recently, where he now has the
power supply replacement boards he was waiting for to get his Dragon 32 up
and running. This video shows soldering the parts and wires onto the board:
  https://youtu.be/P5vSDNjBuJ8?si=GlgtagFiOCkYrKgP


Game On news (all Coco related platforms):
==========================================
1) As speculated last week, the MC-10 version of Paul Shoemaker's Christmas
Match game has been released for free on his itch.io page. Is is in the
.C10 cassette format):
  https://pshoemaker70.itch.io/christmas-match
Video demo with sound (it's doing 4 part harmony with 1 bit sound for it's
little music intro):
  https://www.facebook.com/groups/731424100317748/posts/8720532308073514/

2) I am not sure when this article was published, but I just found out about
an interview with the creator of the first Chess game on any microcomputer
(Microchess), Peter Jennings. It's on a Norwegian site, but in english. It
goes through the original history of Peter himself, the Kim-1 release, and
mentions the other major ports (including a mention of the Coco version,
which along with Peter's Checkers were his contribution to the Coco's
launch titles in 1980):
  https://spillhistorie.no/interview-with-microchess-creator-peter-jennings/

3) Jim Gerrie ported over "Rubiks", originally written by Roger Safford
and published as a type in listing for the CompuColor II computer from it's
magazine, Colorcue (June/July 1982 issue). This program lets one both play,
and have the computer solve, a Rubik's cube:
  https://youtu.be/30h6354Iu9k?si=aPBiDSLHXS27GZTT
WAV file download from Google Drive:
   https://drive.google.com/file/d/10HhvW22xPej6TpwhYgOp_LjF0RSofG4W/view

4) UK retro games podcast Retro Asylum released episode 343: 8 Bit Wars
Budget Edition. This reviews games on a variety of 8 bit systems, focusing
on the cheap, budget titles. The Dragon and Coco get mentioned a few times
(24:20 is where they ask their American co-host about the market in the US in
this time period, and he mentions the Coco specifically). The majority of the
show is comparing ports of the same game on the C64, Spectrum and BBC Micro:
  https://youtu.be/FR63vL7iPkc?si=nWuaiZ4nkZJOhPdU


==============================================================================

Speak your mind! Let us know what you think at:
    feedback at TheCoCoNation.com

If replying on a mailing list, please trim replies to the specific items.

Get connected with more of the CoCo, Dragon and MC-10 community here:
    https://thecoconation.com/community/

-- 
R. Allen Murphey <exile at weylan-yutani.com>
Weylan-Yutani Corporation
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 833 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
URL: <https://pairlist5.pair.net/pipermail/coco/attachments/20241222/1aa109a6/attachment.sig>