[Coco] Re: CoCo 3 is 20 years old in two days...

[Andrew]

Wow, has it really been that long...?

I got my first CoCo (16K Color Computer 2) sometime in 1984 - I actually 
had a Rainbow magazine before I had a CoCo. I was in the 4th grade, and 
my dad was looking to get me a computer for school. He had picked up a 
copy of the Rainbow (April 1984 - Gaming Issue - I still have it, right 
here in front of me), and I guess that along with what he learned at 
Radio Shack cinched it for him, because later that year, after starting 
the 5th grade, but before the holidays, I got an early Christmas.

I started out simple - just the CoCo and a tape drive, a couple of 
cartridges (Canyon Climber and Reactoid), a couple of joysticks, a new 
computer desk and my dad's TV. We set it all up where my dad watched his 
TV (my parents could never agree on programs to watch), and where we had 
the Atari 2600 set up. It was in that spot that I started to learn how 
to program, typing in that first bit of code from Color BASIC manual.

I can't remember the reasons why, but I ended up having my CoCo upgraded 
to 32K, then 64K. Interestingly, I didn't get a Rainbow magazine 
subscription until January 1987. Sometime in 1986 or so I got a floppy 
drive, and in 1987 I got my CoCo 3 (128K). By this time, my CoCos were 
in my bedroom with my own TV. Somewhere along the way I got a 300 baud 
modem, and discovered BBS's. I typed in a ton of code from the Rainbow 
(including many of the ML monsters with endless DATA statements).

My CoCos fell by the wayside a little during my last couple of years in 
high school. I started playing with a laptop my parents had given me 
(Tandy 1100HD), which I also still have (to be honest, I have every 
"first" computer I have ever owned - I guess I am a packrat), which I 
was going to take with me to go to school here in Phoenix. I ended up 
staying in the Phoenix area - before I was out of school (I went to a 
local tech school), I already had a job as a programmer. I never thought 
of myself as a programmer, but I was (I always imagined myself working 
with robotics as a career).

I didn't get my CoCos back until a few years ago. Once I did, I set 
things up again, and my CoCo 3 system now sits next to me. This weekend 
I plan on buying the parts to build a new drive cable so I can get that 
other drive to fit into the case.

It has been 15 years since I have been in Phoenix, and I am still a 
programmer. Had it not been for my CoCos, things might have worked out a 
little differently. I played and learned a lot on those machines, a 
foundation which would later form into my career. Now, with this disk 
conversion project from Carey and OS-9, I am still learning on them.

Happy birthday to our beloved CoCo 3!

Stick around, kid - in another year, you'll be old enough to really party!

-- Andrew L. Ayers
    Glendale (Phoenix), Arizona