[Coco] CoCo Fest video and chat

[Mark Marlette]

John,

The auction was lacking this year as compoared to the last few.

I can say that I REALLY like the FM77AV that you donated. I was the 
winner of that and it was funny when I won. Sandy said to me, why did 
you buy that? It doesn't even work. :) Well last night at ~11:45PM I 
determined what the problem was. It is outputting a screen and I booted 
to BASIC. That keyboard is something else. I still need to fix the 
problem but it is narrowed down to the SCART RGB board or cable. The 
8pin RGB port on the motherboard works fine. That is one well built 
machine. It is TOTALLY apart on the floor and there are about 30 screws 
to get all the assemblies disconnected from one another.

So now I have a TC-9, TC-70 and the FM77AV to may rare collection.

Soon I'll be getting over 500lbs of CoCo3s and some hardware. Has to 
come by freight. :)

I mentioned to Boisy how one of your girls were passed out sitting next 
to you on Sat. as you and your wife  were at the table. I wonder if 
anyone got a photo of that? Boisy??

I must say John, you had some GREAT items on your table last year. 
Wierd stuff, loved it!

Mark



Quoting "John W. Linville" <linville at tuxdriver.com>:

> On Thu, May 04, 2006 at 01:57:15PM -0400, Ken Carlin wrote:
>
>> When the fest was in Pittsburgh, I *did* attend.  And I felt kind of out
>> of place.  Not anyone's fault, that's just the way I am.
>
> I'll second this.  I've been to 4 or 5 of the Chicago fests, and
> the last one in Pittsburgh.  Yet, I still don't really feel I'm part
> of the group.  Don't get me wrong: everyone is reasonably friendly
> and accomodating.  But I still feel more like a visitor.  I suppose
> it doesn't help that I don't play medieval music and that I don't
> attend Bro. J's Sunday service... ;-)  I'm not sure how to fix this.
>
> What was missing for me this year was the flea market aspect.
> There just wasn't anyone w/ a big pile of interesting old stuff
> for sale.  Even the auction was a bit barren -- the most interesting
> thing on Saturday was something I had donated.  I didn't even stay
> for Sunday's auction, as it didn't look to have any better prospects.
>
> I suppose this is because everyone that still comes already has most
> of the stuff that was ever available.  Again, I don't know how to
> fix this.  Anyone who flies would have trouble bringing anything
> or taking it home.  Still, this is part of the enjoyment for me.
> There is always UPS to get stuff home... :-)
>
> I sense I'm in the minority for wanting cool stuff in the auction.
> There is an undercurrent of contempt for anyone who bids too high
> to get something.  (As if we should just give anything cool to
> the Illuminati of the community!)  I have often heard "under the
> breath" complaints about certain people who "just buy everything"
> at the auction.  At least high bidders are helping the club pay for
> the room...
>
> I agree w/ Nick M. in that the best moments I've had at fests
> (other than winning the bidding for something cool) have been the
> demonstrations (especially the laser light shows) and the NitrOS-9
> "seminar" Curtis Boyle gave in Pittsburgh.
>
> I think a cool idea would be to have something akin to a "talent show",
> where people could demonstrate whatever they are doing w/ the CoCo
> (simple robotics, electronic experimenting, LOGO programming, writing
> BASIC programs, etc).  Even a cool video game or flight simulator
> setup would be cool and worth showing.  That might even help to break
> the ice between old/new members as well as active/passive members of
> the community.
>
> Anyway, I hope this insight is helpful.  I'm going to stop now before
> I get negative... :-)
>
> John
> --
> John W. Linville
> linville at tuxdriver.com
>
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