[Coco] Semigraphics modes examples

[Dave Philipsen]

So, with CoCo 3 prices going through the roof I would think that some 
people would start looking at alternatives such as the CoCo 3 FPGA 
created by Gary Becker.  He just released a major release the other day 
that now supports SD Cards.  He has a driver and descriptors for NitrOS9 
available and, who knows, maybe someone will write some firmware to 
support DECB too. The SD Card interface is quite fast, turning in 
megaread times of around 3.5 seconds. The current release features a 
6809 core running at 25 MHz!  So for around $170 you can buy a DE-1 
board then add a VGA monitor, PS/2 keyboard, and SD card for a lightning 
fast system that has a high degree of compatibility with the 'real' CoCo 
3.  Gary is also working on an analog board to support joysticks, RTC, 
and possibly some other goodies.

I know that a lot of people have been developing for NitrOS9 and DECB on 
the PC platform and then moving the object code to the CoCo via 
drivewire images but now it is actually feasible to assemble / compile a 
program without having to go take a coffee break while the CoCo crunches 
away on it.  Just as an example, I was playing around with the source 
code for a pretty simple utility that came originally with OS9; the MDIR 
command.  The source is probably around 5-6K of text and the object is 
maybe a couple of K, I forget.  But, after editing the source code I ran 
the stock assembler and had a compiled object file in less than three 
seconds using the SD card and running at 25 MHz.

Dave Philipsen


On , John W. Linville wrote:
...
> With CoCo 3 prices going through the roof, we need some more good
> stuff for the other machines now more than ever! ;-)
> 
> John
> 
...
> --
> John W. Linville		Someday the world will need a hero, and you
> linville at tuxdriver.com			might be all we have.  Be ready.