[Coco] CoCo Fest video and chat

[Frank Pittel]

Mark,

I have to admit to being surprised and impressed that you remembered me
on saturday. I had a great time at last years fest and when the new fest
was scheduled I blocked out the time on my palm to make sure I wouldn't
make any other plans for the weekend. Like you and Boisy I would encourage
everyone reading this list to do what they can to make the fest next year.
The more vendors that show up the better. Maybe we can convince Glenside to
create a committee charged with better spreading the word about the next cocofest
and thereby getting more people to attend. ( I hope I didn't just volunteer
for anything )

While things are subject to change I took a look at the cost of airfare and
getting round trip flights to Chicago can be had for under $200 from most of
the larger cities I checked. (I didn't check every city in the US. :-)) Another
possibility is the use of car pooling.

I think the reason that it seems as if people are waiting patiently for the
superboard is that they understand the delay and aren't saying anything. I
for one am waiting very impatiently. I want one NOW NOW NOW!!!! :-)

Frank


On Mon, May 01, 2006 at 03:41:30PM -0500, Mark Marlette wrote:
> Frank,
> 
> You were one of the new attendees last year and it was refreshing to 
> see you there again.
> 
> I will have to differ with you on one thing....SuperBoard, people 
> waiting impatiently. It might seem that way to you but the people have 
> been patiently waiting, over patiently waiting. Goes to show you how 
> great a group of people they really are. The reason I say that is when 
> you take people's money, expectations change. I'm SUPER GUILTY of this.
> 
> I will do as you suggested and post periodic updates.
> 
> WOW, that was a post though. :)
> 
> My response will be shorter I use mine to test and develop products at 
> Cloud-9 North. That is all I seem to have time for these days. :)
> 
> Thanks again and it was GREAT to see you at the fest again.
> 
> Mark
> 
> 
> Quoting Frank Pittel <fwp at deepthought.com>:
> 
> >I'm going to leave the original email intact and encourage all to read
> >it again. A while ago I posted a question to the list asking what the
> >people here actually did with their Cocos. Did they actually use the
> >hardware or did they mostly use emulators. I was disappointed by the
> >number of responses.
> >
> >Before going on any further maybe I should answer the question I asked.
> >These days I like to putter around on the actual hardware. ( I did get
> >an emulator machine saturday so that may change a little. :-)) Mostly
> >I write "toy" programs in basic and assembly as a way to remind myself
> >of the "good old days" when a person could actually understand how their
> >computer worked. :-)
> >
> >I got my first Coco back in the late '80s. It was a Coco-3 that I got at
> >a Coco-fest. As memory serves I got it there because Radio Shack was 
> >selling
> >them at a reduced price at the show. I also got a tape recorder and service
> >manual for it. I remember after getting the service manual that I may have
> >been better off getting the source listing of the ROMS. (these days I'm 
> >glad
> >I got the service manual!) Not to much later I got the assembler rom and
> >learned 6809 assembly. Having recently graduated with a bsee it didn't take
> >to long before I unsoldered the expansion port socket and wired in some
> >ribbon cable that connected to a board with the original socket and a 
> >connector
> >that had "prototype" boards available for. After showing coworkers and the
> >owner of the company I worked for some of what I was doing with it. A coco
> >was ordered by the company and I made the same modifications to it. The
> >company was involved in industrial process control and while I worked for 
> >the
> >engineering side there was a repair department that did component level
> >repair of equipment. Before long I had programmed the little coco to test
> >components (ram,rom,asics,etc) reprogram eproms and about anything else 
> >they
> >asked for. During that time I removed the ribbon cable from my coco and
> >reinstalled the expansion port connector.
> >
> >After a few years the owners of the mom and pop company sold and the 
> >new owners
> >were only interested in the repair department so I moved on. The next 
> >company
> >I landed at was heavily involved in embedded machine control using 
> >the 68hc11.
> >I spent seven years designing hardware for it and often time writing 
> >the software
> >in assembly. I was surprised at how familiar the assembly 
> >instructions were and
> >picked up on it quickly. By this time I was using PCs and my coco was 
> >packed up
> >and moved into the back of a closet. Although I wanted to a few times 
> >I could never
> >bring myself to throw it away.
> >
> >Last year I was going through the closet and came across the coco 
> >that I had by then
> >all forgotten about. I had fuzzy memories about being able to use 
> >disk drives with it
> >as well as other hardware. A google search later landed me at 
> >coco3.com and it didn't
> >take long for me to discover that there were still coco fests going 
> >on!! The best part
> >was that there was one scheduled for the upcoming weekend!! (I 
> >normally find out about
> >these kinds of things a week after they've happened :-( ) Of course I 
> >went and although
> >the turnout was much smaller then during the heyday of the coco I was 
> >pleasantly
> >surprised by how many people were there.
> >
> >I bring all that up because I think that there are a lot of people 
> >that would be interested
> >in going to the fest if they knew they were still going on. I know 
> >that RS sold many
> >thousands of cocos in the midwest and would be willing to bet that 
> >like me a lot of them
> >would consider going if they knew about the fest. It would be nice if 
> >Radio Shack would
> >help in getting the word out again. It also would have been nice if 
> >you (Mark) would
> >have sent out this email a month or so ago in an attempt to implore 
> >more people to go.
> >
> >I do agree that it's nice to see hardware and software being sold at 
> >this years fest that
> >didn't even exist last year!! I hope that the volume of sales of 
> >those products encourages
> >others to create new products for the Coco for next years fest.
> >
> >It is good to hear that Cloud-9 will at least resume software sales again
> >in the near term. I hope that we'll be seeing a superboard for sale soon. 
> >:-)
> >One thing I would ask that you do is post an update on the superboard on
> >this list every few months with a status update for those of us that are
> >waiting impatiently for it to be released!! Even a sentence or two every
> >3 months would be nice. I think I speak for all of the customers of cloud-9
> >when I say that I don't expect you to put your life on hold getting it out
> >and I certainly don't want you to put your health at risk getting it done.
> >
> >It would just be nice to hear about the progress of the board.
> >
> >
> >Frank
> >
> >
> >
> >On Mon, May 01, 2006 at 01:34:58PM -0500, Mark Marlette wrote:
> >>I'm sure there will be a fest report to follow. I would like to add,
> >>and I know I'll get flamed for this but...it is true.
> >>
> >>More people need to attend this once of a year function. Without it we
> >>would have less if anything. Is it a cheap event to attend? No. Is it
> >>worth while? Without a doubt.
> >>
> >>There are an endless number of excuses on why one could not make it.
> >>Some indicate money, schedule conflicts, etc. All valid at some point
> >>in time but after 25yrs, people that have never attend a fest, that
> >>means it is not a priority.
> >>
> >>Money issue...Most all of being adults or seniors now :) Can plan for
> >>the once a year event. Putting a little money aside each, week month
> >>what ever gets you there. Even if you can't put away enough money to
> >>attend every year then attend every other year or what ever works.
> >>
> >>Conflicts..They do happen. Glenside has done a good job scheduling
> >>these events so that they don't happen on the same weekend every year.
> >>You might not be able to attend every year but should be able to get to
> >>them, if it is a priority.
> >>
> >>The web cam is OK for people overseas or the ones that don't not attend
> >>every year. It seems there is emphasis put on this technology so that
> >>people don't have to attend. Believe me the web cam is nothing like
> >>being there.
> >>
> >>Glenside..Thanks again for putting on the fest again in 2006. I'm sure
> >>it is a drain on resources. You try to recover some of the costs but as
> >>indicated this year, prices are going up. This means that more people
> >>need to attend to help out the community. Another is membership. I'm
> >>not going to go over the figures that Gator announced Sunday afternoon,
> >>I'll let Glenside do that. I can say that is something to be VERY proud
> >>of! This shows that the people that are present are committed to the
> >>CoCo and the event. Hats off to all that made to Elgin and reup'd their
> >>dues.
> >>
> >>Next year? Jury is still out. I can say that it was VERY enjoyable to
> >>see new products out. Roy's VGA, Chris Hawks's S-Video and CD file
> >>manager, Carl England's Backup Magic program. I bought one of each from
> >>all of the new product vendors. Many did and on the hardware side, I
> >>believe they all sold out of product.
> >>
> >>Goes to show ya, there is a CoCo market. Many indicate that there
> >>isn't. Boisy and I can tell you that there is. The vendors that sold
> >>out of their products at the fest will say the same. So come on....lets
> >>see some products.
> >>
> >>Cloud-9 had little sales this year at the fest do to inventory being
> >>sold out. It was like a much needed vacation this year for me. It was
> >>great to walk around and see others booths and products. Something I
> >>hardly ever get to do there. I also indicated that hardware sales would
> >>not start back up until the SuperBoard is completed. So we are in a
> >>holding pattern on hardware sales. Boisy will be updating our home page
> >>to indicate that software sales are going to resume and be handled by
> >>him. SuperBoard will continue to be developed, please don't ask, you
> >>will know, I won't be silent about... :)
> >>
> >>Closing....More people need to attend, bottom line. More planning needs
> >>to go into getting people there, advertising of the event other than
> >>this list. A published event schedule prior to the fest, seminars,
> >>notable people, etc.
> >>
> >>Flame me all you want, it wouldn't be the first time. In this case
> >>action of the fest attendees do speak louder than the words.......
> >>
> >>Regards,
> >>
> >>Mark
> >>Cloud-9
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>uoting Jim Cox <jimcox at miba51.com>:
> >>
> >>>Roger, Roy, Justin, and others:
> >>>
> >>>Thanks for putting this together for those of us who couldn't make it.
> >>>
> >>>-Jim
> >>>http://www.miba51.com/
> >>>http://www.cloudymidnights.com/
> >>>
> >>>On Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:50:58 -0500
> >>> Roger Taylor <webmaster at coco3.com> wrote:
> >>>>Well, for the second year we've managed to pull off some last-minute
> >>>>miracles and come up with a webcam feed from the Last Annual Chicaco
> >>>>CoCo Fest.
> >>>>
> >>>>This year we missed Saturday alltogether due to connection problems
> >>>>but much to my surprise when I got up this morning (Sunday) there
> >>>>appeared to be some attempts from the fest at uploading cam pictures
> >>>>to the coco3.com server.  When I checked the last image out it was
> >>>>definately a shot from the fest floor, so I went to work right away
> >>>>setting up the CoCo Cafe to display these images.  For a while they
> >>>>weren't updating for long periods of time, but all of a sudden
> >>>>things started coming together.
> >>>>
> >>>>So, before the day was wasted we managed to build up some 14+
> >>>>chatters at a time in the CoCo Cafe complete with an updating
> >>>>picture from the fest floor.  Ofcourse, the images had to be
> >>>>repainted over a blank background due to how the chat system
> >>>>refreshes the web page, so the fest images had to "ride along" as a
> >>>>static image on the page and get updated whenever the page did.
> >>>>Since the cam rate and the chat rate were about the same, I didn't
> >>>>bother putting in any fancy JavaScript to make the image refresh
> >>>>while the chat page was idle, but I could have. I'll save that for
> >>>>the next event that comes along with a cam feed.
> >>>>
> >>>>Actually, right now the cam is still going and it looks like those
> >>>>guys are cleaning up and stuff, so if you wanna catch it before they
> >>>>turn the cam off, here's the link:
> >>>>
> >>>>http://chat.coco3.com
> >>>>
> >>>>Night, all.
> >>>>Cheers,
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>--
> >>>>Roger Taylor
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>--
> >>>>Coco mailing list
> >>>>Coco at maltedmedia.com
> >>>>http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>--
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> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>--
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> >
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> 
> 
> 
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