[Coco] CoCoFEST! 2010/FPGA CoCo...

[Frank Pittel]

I think people can disagree about this without either side being completely right or
completely wrong. My position is simple. I like my coco with all it's warts and
goofyness<word?>. Over the years I've had to make concessions to modern reality. I've
replaced my coco monitor with an lcd monitor and vga converter. I've also gone to CF cards
and drivewire for the majority of my storage. For me what I like about puttering with my
coco is banging on the old keyboard and plugging and unplugging cartridges from my mpi!!

Do away with that and I would just as soon go with an all software solution like VCC and run it
on my desktop pc. A 6309 running at 90MHZ is a breath taking thing to watch. Imagine Nitros
booting instantly!! :-)

Frank


On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 05:54:21PM -0400, Frank Swygert wrote:
> Am I the only one that find these statements just a bit on the odd side? No offense meant to Brian and Frank, they are certainly entitled to their opions, and they are definitely valid! Let me explain *my* comment about it being a bit odd...
> 
> Remember the Puppo keyboard adapter? It was all the rage for those
> who could afford it because it upgraded the CoCo keyboard. Many who
> couldn't ordered or made an extension cable to get teh keyboard in
> their laps. Same with repacks. Got rid of the "unsightly" and
> "unreliable" MPI -- often by hiding it in a big PC case. That also
> got rid of the "tinkertoy" effect of having so many different boxes
> with teir own power supplies connected. Remember the MPI "lock
> plates" and other things to keep it connected to the CoCo?
> 
> An FPGA machine would get rid of all that and make a compact unit, but now we have a wave of nostalgia that wants to KEEP all the stuff many of us "back in the day" wanted to get rid of!! We've come full circle!! Of course a lot of PCs are looking that way -- things like the Mac Mini. Want to add a drive? Plug in a USB CD-ROM or hard drive with it's own power supply... much like the CoCo used to be! At least the USB port is better than the old Commodore 64 serial devices!
> 
> 
> ---------------
> Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 13:07:45 -0400
> From: Brian Blake <random.rodder at gmail.com>
> 
> I agree wholeheartedly; precisely why I have a CoCo3, MPI and FDD set up on
> my desk at home.
> 
> On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 11:39 AM, Frank Pittel <fwp at deepthought.com> wrote:
> 
> >The second conversation topic was that since the
> >board could be made to hold joystick, bitbanger connectors, cartridge
> >connectors, etc and easily fit into a coco case. It would be
> >possible to construct a coco 6+.
> >
> >This would have the advantages of using the coco keyboard, cartridges, etc.
> >In my never humble opinion half of the fun of working with my coco
> >includes using the coco keyboard and having the cartridges in an
> >mpi next to it. As far as I'm concerned take all that away and I'd
> >just as soon use a coco emulator like vcc. The coco look and feel
> >is a major part of using a coco!!
> >
> >Frank
> 
> -- 
> Frank Swygert
> Publisher, "American Motors Cars" Magazine (AMC)
> For all AMC enthusiasts
> http://www.amc-mag.com
> (free download available!)
> 
> 
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