[Coco] My introduction - a newbie

[Joel Ewy]

Marcus Vinicius Garrett Chiado wrote:
> Dear friends,
>
> My name is Marcus, I'm 33 years old and I live in Brazil. I'm a 
> collector of classic video game systems and 8 bit computers. In my 
> collection I have Atari 2600, IntelliVision, ColecoVision, Atari 8 Bit 
> (800, 800 XL, 1200 XL), Commodore 128 & 128 D, Apple II GS, the british 
> ZX-Spectrum, the japanese MSX and many others. You may see pictures of 
> my collection here: http://retrogames.cl/foro/viewtopic.php?t=368
>
> The case is: I've been reading recently about the CoCo 3 and its 
> graphics hooked me. I was impressed with such games as Rampage, Thexder, 
> Rad Warrior and Koronis Rift. Indeed, COOL stuff! I must say I never 
> owned a CoCo before, no matter the existence of a CoCo 2 clone in 
> Brazil, the CP 400.
>
> I'm buying a CoCo 3 (with 512 Kb), a disk drive system and a DriveWire 
> from Cloud-9 (Mark). I've got tons of questions since I've never seen a 
> CoCo in my life. May you please help me? ...
>
>
> 1) Does DriveWire work pretty much like the Atari 8 Bit's SIO2PC and 
> APE? Is it possible to run everything from a PC in an "independent" way?
>
>   
Hi Marcus, welcome to the list.

I don't (yet) have DriveWire, but my understanding of it is that it lets
you use your PC to serve floppy disk images to the CoCo over the serial
port.  The CoCo will see them as floppy disks.  But since this
capability is not built into the CoCo's ROM, you need to install some
software on the CoCo in order to use it.  You can load this software
from a floppy disk, or have it burned into an EPROM to go in your floppy
disk controller, or even replace the CoCo's ROM with it.  The latter
would allow you to run the CoCo without a floppy drive at all.
> 2) By using DriveWire, is it easy to copy games from PC to real 
> floppies? What copier should I use?
>   
If I understand correctly, you wouldn't even need to copy the files,
since the PC-hosted disk images would appear to the CoCo as disks
(though access might be a little slower than floppy).  But you should be
able to use Disk BASIC (HDB-DOS) commands, such as COPY (and perhaps
BACKUP) to COPY individual files or BACKUP an entire disk image to a
real floppy.
> 3) All games run under OS-9 and R-DOS? Are there restrictions?
>   
RS-DOS (Radio Shack DOS (actually Disk Extended Color BASIC, but people
called it RS-DOS)) is just an extension to (Super) Extended Color BASIC
that adds BASIC commands for accessing the floppy disk drives.  It is
contained in a ROM in the floppy disk controller cartridge.  (Nitr)OS-9
is a completely different system.  It is a preemptive multi-tasking,
multi-user capable operating system that has a distinctly UNIXy feel to
it, though the names of the system utilities are more DOS-like ('dir'
instead of 'ls', etc).  It is significantly more sophisticated than
RS-DOS, but most games are for RS-DOS, or are completely self-contained,
as is the case with cartridge games.  There were some good games for
OS-9 though, and when Tandy introduced the CoCo 3 they encouraged
developers to write all their software for OS-9.  That was supposed to
be the future of the CoCo.  But the OS-9 games Tandy distributed
invariably came on floppy disks that contained a basic OS-9 system, so
you could just type 'DOS' from RS-DOS and OS-9 would boot, and the game
would automatically run.  Now you can download NitrOS-9, a much improved
version of OS-9, if you want to run 3rd party OS-9 games.  The ones not
distributed by Tandy wouldn't have come with OS-9 because they didn't
have a license to distribute OS-9 with their games.
> 4) Where could I find most of the games? An FTP server maybe?
>   
L. Curtis Boyle (one of the people responsible for the original version
of NitrOS-9 and a frequent contributer to this list) has a fantastic
list of CoCo games on his web site, and many of them are available for
download where he's gotten permission from the copyright holders: 
http://nitros9.lcurtisboyle.com/coco_game_list.html
I should say that this is not just a list, but it includes reviews and
screen shots.  It's really a great resource.
Also check out Mike Snyder's web site:  http://www.cocoquest.com/  He
wrote a whole bunch of games that were sold through a subscription disk
service and has made available all of them that he has copies of.
You should also check out ftp://os9archive.rtsi.com  Though it's called
os9archive, it also has an RS-DOS section.  You might find some of the
things you're looking for in the 'RSDOS/incoming' directory.
This site:  http://www.trs-80.com/ has manuals for some CoCo software in PDF
Check out http://www.coco3.com/ for lots more links, and
http://www.coco25.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page for some good technical
information.  That should get you started.
> 5) Are those 512 Kb games really cool?
>   
512KB games?  What 512KB games?  Actually I can only find 3 listed on
Curtis Boyle's game list that require 512K, and I haven't tried any of
them.  Only Pac-Dude Monster Maze is available for download.  It does
look like a very well-done game, though Pac-Man-type games aren't really
my favorite.  There may be others that could benefit from 512K if you
have it.  In particular the Sierra games and other OS-9 games might
possibly benefit.  At least one could multi-task more while playing them
with 512K.
I might just mention some of my favorite games.  Tastes will vary of
course, and there are plenty I haven't played.  For cartridge games I
really like Polaris (Missile Command clone), Microbes (Asteroids clone)
played with keyboard -- the joystick controls on that game are awful
IMHO, and Dungeons of Daggorath, a great first-person real-time hack and
slash.  These are all games that will work on the CoCo 1 / 2, so don't
expect 16-color high-res graphics.  But I think they're really good in
the game-play department.  Good cartridge games on the CoCo 3 include
Rampage and Shanghai (if you like MahJongg, which I do.)  I never liked
Thexder that much.  The graphics are good, but I never got the hang of
the game-play.  Probably just me.  Oh, and Arkanoid on the CoCo 3 is
fantastic.  Though I don't normally like this kind of game, I have a lot
of fun with SailorMan, which runs under RS-DOS on the CoCo 1, 2, or 3. 
It uses artifact colors, so it will look best on a TV or composite
monitor.  Buzzard Bait is also good.  I remember having a lot of fun
playing Sub Battle Simulator instead of doing my homework in college. 
It is a CoCo 3 only game which comes on its own OS-9 boot disk.  Also
there are a number of Sierra adventure games that run on the CoCo 3
under OS-9.  Someone who posts to this list has recently hacked the
Sierra game interpreter so that it now can run some of the other Sierra
adventures that were never available for the CoCo.  Possibly even
fan-created games as well?  (Sorry, I've forgotten who is responsible
for that.)
Flight Simulator II was really quite fun in its day, though I may have
been spoiled by European Air War and Il-2 Sturmovik.  Maybe I should get
FSII out again and see how it holds up.  Escape From Robotropolis is an
interesting logic game that comes on an OS-9 Level I disk and runs on
the CoCo 1, 2, and (I think)3.  And I have to mention one of the newest
CoCo games, "The Glove", which is a "Gauntlet"-like game for the CoCo 1,
2, and 3.  http://www.jmk1.freeserve.co.uk/minigame/minigame.htm  Though
it runs on all CoCos, it does take some advantage of the features of the
CoCo 3.  There are lots more.
> ...By the way, I plan to use my CoCo 3 solely for gaming purposes.
>   
But don't miss some of the other really cool things you can do with a
CoCo.  In particular, you will see some of the best graphics displays
for digitized pictures of any 8-bit computer.  You've got to see what
Sockmaster's HiColor display program can do with a computer that only
has 16 colors at 320x200 resolution. 
http://www.axess.com/twilight/sock/hicolor/hicolor.html  And don't
forget Roger Taylor's "The Projector".  This one can load all kinds of
different image file formats, and display them quickly and well. 
http://www.coco3.com/ind_downloads.php  Sockmaster wins for outstanding
image quality, but Roger gets the prize for utility, ease of use, format
support, and speed.
And another really neat program you should see (if you can find a
high-res joystick interface and a patched version of the program) is
CoCo Max III.  CoCo Max II (for the CoCo 1 and 2) and CM3 (CoCo 3 only)
are still, in my opinion, some of the most fun paint programs around. 
Maybe you can expand your definition of "gaming" to include general
recreation.  :)

Have fun getting to know the CoCo 3

Joel Ewy
JCE
> Well, that's it. Thanks in advance and I apologize for my English.
>
>
> By the way, I'm also the editor of a free electronic magazine on classic 
> gaming, Jogos 80 (Games 80). It is for free and may be downloaded from 
> this address: http://www.revista-jogos80.cjb.net
>
> For the current edition we have interviewed Mr. Ralph Baer, creator of 
> Brown Box/Odyssey, and Howard Scott Warshaw, creator/programmer of Yars' 
> Revenge, Raiders of the Lost Ark and E. T.
>
>
> Take care and greetings from Brazil,
>
> MARCUS VINICIUS GARRETT CHIADO
> ICQ: 91164480 - MSN: garrettimus at hotmail.com
> Sao Paulo - SP - Brasil
> Editor da Jogos 80: http://www.revista-jogos80.cjb.net
> Colecionador de videogames antigos e de micros 8 bits
> "Quem tem um(a) filho(a), tem o maior tesouro do mundo" 
>
>
>