[Coco] New CoCo'er, Some Q's and looking for hardware

[Richard E. Crislip]

On Wed, 24 Feb 2016 20:09:00 +0000
"admin at kd8cgo.com" <admin at kd8cgo.com> wrote:

> Hello All,
> 
> I'm a proud owner of a never-used CoCo3 that I received from a friend
> in the mid 90's - I had never even heard of a CoCo up to that point.
> I had some minor experience with a C64, and started out on a XT clone
> when I was a kid.  Never used the CoCo myself either, as I had no
> software for it.  I just plugged it into a TV to test it, ran a few
> "Hello, World!" programs I keyed in and that was it.  Anyway, I was
> going through the basement cleaning and stumbled across it this week.
> 
> I have no hardware or cartridges for it, so I assumed it was destined 
> for the scrap heap along with a lot of my other old PC junk.  Did a 
> quick search and found a *very* surprising level of interest and
> support for these here on the list archives and elsewhere.  I started
> tinkering with it, got Drivewire4 fired up on a old laptop with a
> serial port, and loaded the first program to ever grace this CoCo -
> HDB-DOS and then NitrOS9.  I can't read the screen when booted into
> NitrOS9, so that will have to wait, but I have been working through
> the Tandy Color Extended Basic book in HDB-DOS so I can save my .BAS
> files for later.
> 
> I'd like to do the Cloud-9 memory upgrade to 512K and get some proper 
> cables to replace these cobbled together jumpers I made to load
> the .WAV file and the serial port cable. It seems like they do not
> have a order shopping cart though, just an email address, is that
> normal?  I thought they might be out of business or closed for now,
> given the lack of a normal purchasing order form.
> 
> I am also looking for some sort of VGA monitor adapter, I've found
> some references to a Roy Justus adapter, there is some PCB available
> on Amazon that says it will convert RGB, and also I found another
> 15Khz one on http://www.ambery.com/rgbcgatovgac.html that looks like
> it could be coaxed into working.  I also found some mention of a run
> of RGB2VGA boards that will hook up to something called a DE0 Nano in
> the archives here on pair.net, but I didn't find out much about that
> or the Roy Justus thing, or if you can even get them anywhere.
> Advice here appreciated.
> 
> Basically I'd like to get this up and running and be able to do some 
> BASIC programming, experiment with the NitrOS9 software, maybe load a 
> few ROMs.  I'm trying to figure out how to convert a normal image
> file JPG/GIF/PNG/BMP into something I can use in a BASIC program on
> the system, but so far no luck solving that problem.  I might be able
> to use NitrOS9 if I could figure out how to change the screen colors
> - I can (barely) read the screen on WIDTH 80 if I use PALETTE
> 0,0:PALETTE 8,16 in HDB-DOS or Color Basic.  Eventually it would be
> cool to connect the CoCo to the outside world, but I think I'll need
> NitrOS9 running with DW4 for that.  Sounds like BASIC09 might have
> some advantages over Color Basic, too...
> 
> Sorry for the long first post & TIA!
> 
> --John, kd8cgo
> 
> 

If you can do it, join us for the 25th Last CoCoFest in the Chicago
area. The cost is cheap and the fellowship is fantastic. Much of what
you need can be acquired there. Here are the particulars copied from
the Glenside Color Computer site:

The dates of the next event are April 23 & 24, 2016. The show this year
begins at 9 AM. Tickets for this event are $10 per 1st family member,
$5 for the 2nd at the door for the two-day event. Children 12 and
younger - free. 

HERON POINT CONVENTION CENTER 
645 West North Avenue 
Lombard, IL 60148 
665 Building on the lower level 
Vendor set-up Saturday 7 AM to 9 AM 
Saturday 9 AM to 5 PM - Evening Social 8 PM to Midnight 
Sunday 9 AM to 3 PM 
Take-down/Clean-up Sunday 3 PM to 5 PM SHARP! 

We have a special overnight room rate at the Fairfield Inn of $89 plus
11% total $98.79. You must phone 630-629-1500 and mention Glenside
CoCoFEST! to get this special rate.