[Coco] The Coco Nation News stories for Episode 311, May 6, 2023
Brian Wieseler
wieselerb at gmail.com
Mon May 8 05:33:11 EDT 2023
Thanks
Sent from my iPhone
> On May 7, 2023, at 10:36 AM, Robert "Exile In Paradise" Murphey via Coco <coco at maltedmedia.com> wrote:
>
> The Coco Nation News stories for Episode 311, May 6, 2023
> ===================================================================
> Collected by L. Curtis Boyle
>
> BONUS links for those reading this from the Coco Discord: Some photos and
> videos from CocoFest:
>
> Antonio Caballero video montage:
> https://youtu.be/FCBLjhkPoTo
> Antonio Caballero photos on Facebook:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160619782602641/
> Ron Delvaux took quite a few:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/487282281640389/posts/1888853381483265/
> David Kroeker:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160614690567641/
> Alex Macomber has a couple:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160612313337641/
> John Laury has one with the Amigos:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160611666802641/
> Glensides Facebook page:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/glensideccc/posts/10160799687111163/
>
>
> Coco 1/2/3 (and multi-platform)
> -------------------------------
> 1) Color Computer Programing has put up 6 new videos the past few weeks
> showing the progress with the Coco Ultimate game that he is working on
> (a BASIC Ultima style game). I will highlight just a couple here:
> Ultimate Party of 4 vs. 4 snakes:
> https://youtu.be/_IM7w3_aQ8E
> Ultimate Overworld (with a cool animated beach):
> https://youtu.be/WkCTCOQZz10
>
> 2) Coco Crew episode #95 is out, including a review of CocoFest 2023 &
> Kung-Fu Dude:
> http://cococrew.org/
>
> 3) Henry Reitveld posted a picture of what he calls his "FrankenCoco",
> which includes a Xerox drive system that he got at the CocoFest auction. He
> did some part swapping, and it now has 2 half height 3.5" drives, a half
> height 5.25" drive and a SCSI hard drive all in one enclosure:
> https://imgur.com/a/uaxWheF
>
> 4) Allen Huffman has started blogging a multipart series on the Coco Disk
> BASIC disk structure. In this first entry he both goes through the low
> level sector format (including things like the CRC bytes), and also the
> DECB higher level file and FAT (File Allocation Table) formats.
> https://subethasoftware.com/2023/04/25/coco-disk-basic-disk-structure-part-1/
> He also earlier did a blog post about writing BASIC easier using Python
> scripts by Alex Evans. He gives some warnings of certain words that you
> can not use in variable names etc. as they won't work in BASIC:
>
> https://subethasoftware.com/2023/04/18/write-basic-easier-with-alex-evans-python-scripts/
>
> 5) Glenn Hewlett has released the sourcecode to his Robotron:2084
> transcode/emulation for the Coco 3 on his github page. It should be mentioned
> that some of the "bugs" he was trying to track down are actually in the
> original arcade game. Some sound samples are still missing though:
> https://github.com/nowhereman999/ROBOTRON_CoCo3
>
> 6) Hot on the heels of CocoFest 31 two weeks ago, the Clube Color Rio
> in Brazil ran a week after, and Daniel Campos posted pictures from it on
> the Coco Facebook group, including even an early prototype of one of the
> Brazilian Coco clones:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160630490807641/
> There is also an 8 minute video showing a bit about the show (in Portuguese):
> https://youtu.be/Av1Mg9mwQ7Q
>
> 7) Jim Brain attended the Indy Classic retro computer show in Indianapolis
> the week after CocoFest, and posted some pictures on Facebook (including
> his table with some Coco's on display):
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160626296247641/
>
> 8) James Maxwell has started posting a lot of scans of program listings
> and documentation that his father had for his Coco on Facebook and his
> Google drive:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160619727512641/
> Google Drive:
>
> https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNfX-TwXP9vAeD1y93smwYHlJuTDp0lQjV4WRobECPXv4IWGgW1uR6cn3AXK3VZgA?key=bmxKclFLblVSRVMyQzVGaXJWRkFyTU5PWVB2YW1R
>
> 9) Retro Islander posted a show and tell of his Coco related computers,
> books and magazines on his YouTube channel just before CocoFest:
> https://youtu.be/1kj-l26O85c
>
> 10) Ron Klein posted on the Coco Pi website that MAME 0.254 is now available
> as an update. This contains a fair number of updates to the Coco floppy
> disk drivers & ROM's available:
> https://coco-pi.com/new-mame-0-254-package-available-for-coco-pi/
>
> 11) Gadget Reboot on YouTube put up a video of his making a Coco EPROM
> Cartridge based on publicly available designs:
> https://youtu.be/7ILHTM3gZes
>
> 12) Computer Hobbyists (Dave) on YouTube put up an 8 minute video of
> CocoFest:
> https://youtu.be/EK27aijipqM
>
> 13) Eric Canales announced the first Alpha version of 6dev09, his IDE
> that handles both BASIC and assembly language and automatically makes
> DSK images for emulators like MAME to test your code. It includes themes,
> automated installation of things like MAME and LWTOOLS, etc. I think it
> also supports both 6809 and 6309:
> https://www.playpi.net/
>
> 14) Coco Town on YouTube did an animation of a famous PMODE 4 mathematical
> picture from the Coco, but made an animation of it (using various parameters)
> by capturing frames from XRoar as each drawing was rendered:
> https://youtu.be/VVebs8UciwQ
> He also did a video showing how he used Drivewire (with a cable he received
> from Cloud9) to backup his old floppies in 2 parts:
> Part 1 (setting up Drivewire and backing up real floppies to drivewire
> drives):
> https://youtu.be/ap2resm30Fw
> Part 2 (splitting up single files to separate drivewire disks, with delving
> into Drivewire 4, the Becker Port and multiple instances):
> https://youtu.be/E4g8dRdcUoI
>
> 15) The Taylor and Amy Show did their CocoFest wrap video... with a couple
> of lame Canadian guests (ok... one lame guest plus Ken):
> https://youtu.be/6MJdkthucuQ
>
> 16) Justin D. Morgan did an almost 3.5 hour live stream video on his VCF
> East 2023 consignment/free pile & thrifting pickups... which included a
> 64K Coco 2 with a Speech/Sound Pak. The Coco works:
> https://www.youtube.com/live/UErN9GPQuk8?feature=share&t=5043
>
> 17) The Vintage Geek Museum in Knoxville, Tennessee is now open to the
> public for tours that you can phone in to schedule (full open to the walk
> in public will be a little later). Ken and I had the opportunity to see it
> before the opening on April 25th, and we interviewed Aaron Ishamel for Ken's
> channel (and Aaron interviewed us as well). It has a cool "Coco classroom"
> set up, although the Network II controller wasn't working properly when
> we were there:
> https://youtu.be/E_6vJGisfKY
> Aaron also just released a video this morning showing the 3 of us
> experimenting with Tandy's Electronic Book (first time for any of us!):
> https://youtu.be/w1k4TVsBz5s
>
> 18) Bob Emery (La Coco Strangiato on YouTube) showed a YUV to an RGB ->
> HDMI adaptor for a Coco 1/2, including artifact color support:
> https://youtu.be/_65X4UgN1gQ
>
> 19) Verne's Misadventures on YouTube has added a 2 part video about
> upgrading his Coco 2:
> Part 1 - Adding Extended BASIC and upgrading the RAM:
> https://youtu.be/qN4gz57xUXI
> Part 2 - Setting up and learning to use the CocoSDC (and SDC Explorer):
> https://youtu.be/B2tRJPBayjM
>
> 20) David Mitchell (Davy's Retro Corner) released a video of the GFX Spring
> Demo running in PMODE 4 on a Coco 1/2 (he also did a low res version for
> the MC-10 - we will get to that in a bit). This originally appeared in
> the book Terrific Games for Your Tandy Color by Hal Renko & Sam Edwards,
> although David did some minor updates:
> https://youtu.be/JXpIfds7NgU
>
> 21) Our very own Ken of Canadian Retro Things put up a video of our trip
> to CocoFest 2023 - and beyond!
> https://youtu.be/gTTMHQJX7kM
>
> 22) TJBChris posted a video about the latest CocoSDC firmware and SDC-DOS
> upgrades:
> https://youtu.be/uhe-1lVpjjk
>
>
> MC-10
> -----
> 1) Jim Gerrie is working on a BASIC game for the MC-10 called "Bomb Aimer"
> that he plans on entering in the next BASIC 10 liner contest with (and he
> has the WAV file available in the Coco and MC-10 Facebook groups):
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XF1tu8Y6-8&ab_channel=JimGerrie
> He also typed in the MicoWord simple word processor for the MC-10 that
> was originally written for the MC-10 by Tino Delbourgo for the October
> 1984 issue of Australian Coco magazine:
> https://youtu.be/gKPfcwsdEYc
> Jim also released a program for the MC-10 to make intro screens that
> originally appeared in Australian Coco magazine from Dec. 1984, called
> Mico Magic:
> https://youtu.be/ZmGOeygHWss
> He also ported "Computer Olympics" originally by Stephen Manes & Paul
> Somerson from the 1984 book "Computer Olympics":
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APRkYbVs0Y8&ab_channel=JimGerrie
>
> 2) Giving Jim competition these days is David Mitchell (Davy's Retro Corner
> on YouTube), as he put out several MC-10 videos & downloads himself. This
> is the non-game related one:
> Spring GFX Demo (originally from "Terrific Games For Your Tandy Color"
> by Hal Renko & Sam Edwards (download link in YouTube description), and
> converted to SG4 & the MC-10 by David:
> https://youtu.be/rVoNzc1AcDc
>
> 3) Robert Sieg posted a rather interesting ebay find - a supposed Tandy
> MC-10 Diagnostic cartridge with instructions... with an asking price of
> $1500. Some of the comments suggest it may not be a real thing; does anyone
> know of this item?
> Original Facebook post:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/731424100317748/posts/6034598726666899/
> Ebay entry (if it still works by showtime):
>
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/234991213220?hash=item36b6915aa4%3Ag%3AUr4AAOSwhhxkSMcA&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwMKYhQHhXd4E2OSJZMxP2vVkPILtck9ihfUaEBPjsmglcSvc752RYeZNNkQVOhkhhaffeMgS0lyPmrFKX%2FdiPm6zH3WVh9SLRn7idqT2hO%2BY7sOA1sPYF%2Bh7xYI4jkJxOmKIWUq1NQSV3x1YWQpAwgvTmaAMOl%2BAM1cBgPUALN3t8Qwkeno8GqbhIHi5m6bylW2%2Fbv17210RcQfDTWwI6ogr5gVtI1Nws4bwoi8%2BWeHlfGH7lXHiAxDrzMbnnQd09A%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR8qB-O_6YQ&
> If not, load 'mc10diagnostic.png' from my desktop
>
> 4) Robert Sieg posted some graphic images using a 24 bit BMP to 2 bits/pixel
> converter he has done (with some inbetween stages) for the MC-10 - the
> last stage actually runs on the MC-10:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/731424100317748/posts/6012204218906350/
> And earlier, he showed a 16 color to 4 color MC-10 picture conversion
> as well:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/731424100317748/posts/6003540146439424/
>
>
> Dragon 32/64
> ------------
> 1) Wayland in the World of Dragon forums posted pictures of his adapting
> the original arcade Defender panel (with controls) that he uses with XRoar
> running Glenn Hewlett's Defender emulation/transcode for the Coco 3:
> https://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=11087
>
> 2) Wayland also upgraded one of his Microdeal joysticks to use a larger,
> more arcade style button (the original had a very small button that I can
> see would almost put a permanent dent in one's finger):
> https://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=11086
>
> 3) John Whitworth announced that Supersprite FM+ board kits are now available
> again for the Coco and Dragon from the Dragonplus Electronic online store:
>
> https://www.dragonplus-electronics.co.uk/product/supersprite-fm-6x09-for-dragon-and-coco-computers/
> He also posted that he has managed to aquire a batch of the ALPS short stem
> keyswitches that were used in Dragon 64 keyboards (and some Dragon 32's),
> if you need to replace any:
>
> https://www.dragonplus-electronics.co.uk/product/dragon-64-alps-keyswitch-skcc0001-short-stem/
>
> 4) David Mitchell (Davy's Retro Corner on YouTube) put up a new enhanced
> version of the Whirlpool graphics demo (adding color) that originally was
> by Clive Gifford in the 1983 book "Games for Your Dragon":
> https://youtu.be/Y9-37ixsXUc
>
> 5) Just Jamie on YouTube put up an 8 minute video: "The Easiest Dragon
> Emulator Tutorial 2023", which shows how to get XRoar with Dragon 32
> emulation up and running quickly:
> https://youtu.be/ZN64ket0_fY
>
>
> Game On news (all Coco related platforms):
> ==========================================
> 1) Pere Serrat & Kees von Oss have uploaded the next AGD game pack
> (converted from the Spectrum) to the World of Dragon archive, both for
> the Coco and Dragon. Pack #61 has 8 new games:
> Bola Ke Ase
> Chopper Defence
> Cocaine Bear
> Gherbert Groundhog in Save the Date
> Mr. Hair's A Very Hairy Remix
> Mr. Hair and the Kitty Katacombs
> Janky Joe
> Yokai Monk
> https://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11082
> (Please note: one of the games needed a bug fix if you already grabbed
> these from their initial release):
> https://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11084
> He has also updated the "Big Pack" series to V3.2a. This is a complete
> pack of all the games for those just starting to get into the AGD converted
> games, and includes all 354 games converted to date:
> https://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11083
> Pere also released the Supersprite FM+ enhanced AGD games pack #8, which
> adds 8 more AGD converted games that take advantage of extra color, hardware
> sprites and enhanced sound that the Supersprite board provides. One of
> the games is a patch to an earlier one, so there are 7 new games added:
> https://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11088face
>
> 2) Jim Mullis posted a new video showing his further progress for the Coco
> 3 game he is working on that is in BASIC using the GrafXpress subroutine
> package from Sundog Systems (which includes much faster graphics, sprites,
> windowing, multi-voice music, etc.). This includes a new intro screen
> and a few screens of side scrolling city terrain and some "place holder"
> graphics masked onto the background. He posted a more full explanation of
> what he is showing on Facebook:
> Text (read during showing of video if possible):
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160627195492641/
> Video:
> https://cocodevelopment.tinytake.com/msc/ODE3NDQyNl8yMTM3NDM4NA
>
> 3) Paul and Tim Thayer (The Coco Bros - we missed you at CocoFest!) have
> released a new game called LIT on Facebook, even featuring an instruction
> page as if it were an article in Rainbow magazine:
> Instruction page:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160626655212641/
> Download:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160641062327641/
> Sample video of game play:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160638639277641/
>
> 4) The Coco Show episode 43 from John & Aaron (which was recorded live at
> CocoFest - sorry about the poor audio, but it's better than the original
> stream by far, and hopefully there is an even better audio version being
> worked on) is out, featuring Whirlybird Run:
> https://youtu.be/zUvNecPli-4
>
> 5) David Mitchell (Davey's Retro Corner on YouTube) put up Night Rally
> for the MC-10, originally from "Games for Your Dragon" by Clive Gifford
> in 1983. The game is inspired by the 1970's arcade game Night Driver:
> https://youtu.be/elc9oq79UsY
> And he also did an updated version of Night Driver for the Dragon 32:
> https://youtu.be/yiNcpg9vLew
> And Yeti Hunt (which he originally did in 10 lines of BASIC for the Coco /
> Dragon in 2019... but now more than 10 lines).
> https://youtu.be/kK2A-OstywA
> David also did a blog post update on his MC-10 endeavors as of late:
> https://davysretrocorner.blogspot.com/2023/04/
> He also updated Polar Attack:
> https://youtu.be/QMc2r4Chbgo
> And Robot Arm Grab:
> https://youtu.be/Rwsm77aOEVQ
> Speed Trek:
> https://youtu.be/zAR4mvS8Bg8
>
> 6) Jim Gerrie ported a game with some simple AI techniques for the MC-10
> called "Even Steven", originally by Paul Ruiterman in 1985 for the magazine
> "ZX-Appeal":
> https://youtu.be/mcIurgBTg30
> He also posted a video for Pharoah's Tomb (inspired by Tutankham in the
> arcade) - It thought that we had seen this before, but maybe it's updated
> or compiled? (Or I am remembering wrong)
> https://youtu.be/8YWjkDsErXw
> And Dracula's Castle, originally by Felix Software for the Dick Smith
> VZ-200 in 1982:
> https://youtu.be/-0ZH8cdeT-E
> And an recode/update to his conversion of Space Mouse, originally by
> Takanari Suzuki in 1981. He also did a blog on this particular conversion.
> Game play video:
> https://youtu.be/1MtSh7XF7Xg
> Blog entry:
>
> http://jimgerrie.blogspot.com/2023/05/space-mouse-by-takanari-suzuki-1981.html
>
> 7) Allan Turvey (HappyCodingZX on the Amigos Discord) has released, with
> a collaboration with Pere Serrat of AGD game conversion fame, his version
> of Asteroids for the Dragon and Coco, based on his previous version for
> the ZX Spectrum:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/dragon32/posts/3443575929235385/
> Video Demo:
> https://youtu.be/2TA2htFwsD0
> You can purchase both the Dragon/Coco and Spectrum versions for $4.99 USD
> on his itch.io page:
> https://highriser.itch.io/asteroidsrx
>
> 8) Pippos34 Be on YouTube showed a video playing the Coco 3 game Catacomb
> by L. Miller around 1987/1988 (I remember it being a free download on
> Compuserve). Unfortunately it seems to be showing the wrong monitor type,
> but you can still see how the game plays:
> https://youtu.be/fZmREREg4PM
>
> 9) Matt Flin on YouTube did an hour long video covering Coco games from
> A-Z in alphabetical order (after an intro roll), showing each game for
> around 5-10 seconds). It includes 3rd party and Tandy games for the Coco
> 1/2, and a large number of them. Might give Ken and Sloopy some ideas for
> upcoming game on challenges:
> https://youtu.be/s6T3oxg93sU
>
> 10) And of course, Chronologically Gaming has been busy the past few
> weeks, now up to the start of March 1982. Some of the Coco games from
> January-February 1982 that he has covered since that last gaming news
> segment are:
> Cave Hunter:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlshNuezcPY&t=1298s
> Block Buster, Blockade:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWDBNbWRDQk&t=804s
> Laser Star/Helo Battle:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQtpn4Vuysc&t=300s
> Voyager I:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5nIoEZVedI&t=1477s
> Bleep:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UnubVO6528&t=999s
> Anti Ballistic Missile Command:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHR52eFB0hs&t=1483s
> Moon Lander 1 and 2, Space Zapper
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELEiKKYGQVE&t=38s
>
> 11) The Only way is Cuthbert, GA (another rename for this channel) has
> some more longer play videos of various Dragon games, including photos
> of the original artwork and tape labels (mute sound, as usual of late,
> TV is running full volume in the background):
> https://www.youtube.com/@MaryWinstead32/videos
>
> 12) Retr0rewind (not associated with RetroRewind.ca in any way that I
> know of) on YouTube did a Dragon 32 gameplay Livestream special on April
> 23. Note that he is not that familiar with the Dragon, and neither is any
> of the people who were in his chat, so some of our UK viewers may want to
> go and leave some comments :) :
> https://www.youtube.com/live/WeiOR-2khJ8?feature=share
>
> 13) agamingchannelbyLR on YouTube also added new Dragon game play videos
> (look for ones released the past few weeks):
> https://www.youtube.com/@agamingchannelbyLR/search?query=dragon
>
> 14) Coco Town on YouTube put up a video on how to use an XBox controller
> with Coco games in the XRoar emulator, and a trick in Buzzard Bait:
> https://youtu.be/b_Z-VreEx80
>
> 15) Tim & AJ's latest Sibling Rivalry episode #81 (great to meet AJ for
> the first time at the Fest!) features Moon Lander on the Coco - One of
> Chris Latham's (of Donkey King and Sailor Man fame) first commercial Coco
> games - Moon Lander from Tom Mix Software. Tim at the beginning even does
> a bit of a dramatic explanation of the game goals at the beginning:
> https://youtu.be/zde4txsvo2Q
>
>
> =======================================
> Get connected with more of the CoCo, Dragon and MC-10 community here:
> https://thecoconation.com/community/
>
> Please trim any replies to *just* the specific item replied to.
>
> --
> Robert "Exile In Paradise" Murphey <exile at weylan-yutani.com>
> Weylan-Yutani Corporation
>
>
> --
> Coco mailing list
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