[Coco] CoCoTALK Live! News stories for Episode 289, November 19, 2022

Sat Nov 19 16:27:33 EST 2022

CoCoTALK Live! News stories for Episode 289, November 19, 2022
================================================
(November 12-19)
Collected by L. Curtis Boyle

Coco 1/2/3 (and multi-platform)
-------------------------------
1) Pierre Serrazine released a new version (0.1.4) of the BControl
library for his CMOC compiler. This has some basic input functions that
are similar to INKEY$, JOYSTK and BUTTON commands from BASIC, but do
*not* need any ROM code mapped in. The new version adds a new call
called "Joystick_getAxisValuesAndButtonState()", which 'targets a
single joystick and also works under OS-9' (the latter I presume
through existing OS-9 GetStat calls):
  http://perso.b2b2c.ca/~sarrazip/dev/cmoc.html#BControl

He also released an updated DECBFILE library file as well (version
0.1.7). This adds a demo showing how to use the driver to read and
write files from an assembly language program (not requiring CMOC), and
the code is position independent so that you can move it around.
  http://perso.b2b2c.ca/~sarrazip/dev/cmoc.html#decbfile

2) Tim Lindner has made an updated CocoSDC manual that is now on the
Color Computer Archive (3rd edition now). It updates which vendors sell
the CocoSDC, clarifies the minimum system requirements needed to run
it, mentioned the GUI utility in the Flash section, and has a better
explanation and sample sourcecode for the "stream mode" that was added
in later firmware updates:

https://colorcomputerarchive.com/repo/Documents/Manuals/Hardware/CoCo%20SDC%20User%20Guide%20r3%20(Nov.%202022)%20(Darren%20Atkinson).pdf

3) Tim Lindner also released a video showing how VideoTex worked (and
he even wrote his own server to simulate the original servers!)
  https://youtu.be/WJJQn5uYKn4

4) Speaking of Videotex... Retro Tech Time on the Coco group on
Facebook posted some photos from an ebay purchase he just made of a
quite rare machine - the AgVision version of the Videotex terminal,
which has a different label and a blue (rather than "battleship gray")
case. At the time of writing, he hadn't received it yet, so the photos
are from the original ebay listing:
  https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160272446047641/

5) Color Computer Programing did another video, showing his
experimenting and learning about the TIMER function in Extended BASIC:
  https://youtu.be/5Ju9SSlIVQQ

6) TJBChris released a video showing the new (to him) Coco 1 system he
picked up for only $70 off of ebay, and testing it with various things
like Zaxxon, Scripsit & OS-9 Level 1:
  https://youtu.be/yFS4gMX5kvo

7) hirudov2d on YouTube posted a quick video showing some testing of
BASIC on a Coco 2:
  https://youtu.be/2-PTagtbLvI

8) Kim Justice covered the Retro Computer Festival 2022 in Cambridge,
UK... which included Dragon's, Coco's, Alice's, CP-400, etc.:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0sHJ7tj_OA&t=295s

9) Tony Licari on the Coco Facebook group posted a neat trick to try
and recover some physical floppies if you hit errors on them:
  https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160268209147641/

MC-10
-----
1) Steve Blakely uploaded to the MC-10 Facebook group a terminal
program for the MC-10 to let it talk to the DT-1 terminal:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/731424100317748/posts/5535437293249714/

2) Jim Gerrie posted a long video showing his translation to english
from the original "Decouvrez Alice" tutorial program for the Alice, to
the MC-10 - now called "Explore Your MC-10". I think it needs to 20K
RAM upgrade, and teaches you some basic's about the machine, including
some interaction with the user:
  https://youtu.be/ywhQspn6FqU

Dragon 32/64
------------
1) See below in Game On ...

Game On news (all Coco related platforms):
==========================================
1) Nick Marentes has released his long awaited Frogger style game
"Jumping Joey" - and if you order the physical copy, you get Rally-SG
and Pipes at the same time:
  https://nickmarentes.com/ProjectArchive/jumpingjoey.html

2) Pere Serrat & Kees von Oss have released the 5th AGD games pack for
the Supersprite-FM+ board with 4 games:
Bomb Bomb Buster
Boxes
B-Square
Cap'n Rescue
  http://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11053

3) And speaking of Supersprite FM+ AGD ports - the maker of the
Supersprite FM+, John Whitworth, is asking on behalf of Pere of what
the next games to convert from regular AGD to the Supersprite should
be, in the 6x09 SuperSprite FM+ group on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/277387053720893/posts/542628340530095/

4) Our very own Sir David Ladd put up a video of gameplay for this
weeks Game On Challenge - Stinger, with MRDave6309's color patch for
Coco 3's:
  https://youtu.be/BvwMFyRTDAc

5) Retro Arcade Gaming on YouTube has been putting up short videos of
various versions of Donkey Kong (for multiple platforms), and has done
2 for the Coco - Sock Masters Coco 3 transcode (showing all 4 levels),
and Donkey King, showing the first 2 levels:
Coco 3 Donkey Kong Transcode:
  https://youtu.be/-nm_a8RZOBg

Donkey King:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGnx5g1OisU

6) retrosutra on YouTube did a comparison video of the game Hunchback
for a variety of machines, including the arcade original, C64, Oric,
Electron, and others... including the Dragon 32:
  https://youtu.be/IG8eqZCTUnw

7) Call -151 on YouTube (for Apple II people - this is how you invoked
the built in monitor and disassembler)  put up a video showing loading
and playing Planet Invasion from an MP3 player:
  https://youtu.be/hDAt_GZZUvA

Getting Connected
=================
Join hundreds of other “CoConuts” (or is that CoConauts?) on the CoCo
Discord:
  http://discord.cocotalk.live

New to Discord? Get started quickly with this video introduction:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2POVhc5NvQ

Learn more about everything old and new for the Color Computer by
tuning in to:

The CoCoTALK! Live weekly Color Computer, Dragon, and MC-10 video talk
show,
  http://cocotalk.live

The CoCo Show monthly gaming video talk show by Boat and Aaron of
Amigos Retro Gaming,

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-coco-show-a-trs-80-color-computer-podcast/id1480941752

Three different CoCo groups on https://mewe.com/:
  Glenside Color Computer Group,
  Tandy Color Computer,
  TRS-80 Color Computer,

Four different CoCo and MC-10 groups on https://groups.io:
  Color Computer,
  Retro About 64K,
  CoCo3FPGA,
  MC-10,

The CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
  https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco

And even more at I'm A CoCo Nut:
  http://imacoconut.com/start-here/

-- 
Robert "Exile In Paradise" Murphey <exile at weylan-yutani.com>
Weylan-Yutani Corporation