[Coco] The typical CoCo user is aged...?!?

[Merv Curley]

On Sunday 27 March 2005 14:33, Torsten Dittel wrote:
> I'd like to see kind of a demographic profile of today's CoCo-Nuts. Age?
> Profession? etc.
>
> I guess we have two generations here:
>
> The members of the "father generation" who were 40 to 55 years old 20
> years ago (they should be 60 to 75 now).
>
Out of the shadows this lurker adds,

Looks like I can extend the graph in both directions by a few months by 
fessing up that my 76th  birthday just passed by.  I thought I saw another 
mid 70-er but I can't find his message now.

Started with a Model one in 78?  and I think I plunked down a lot of $$ for a 
4K Coco1 in 81.  Anyway it was before disk controllers were available.  We 
had a very good store owner who told me about the upcoming disk system and he 
got a controller board replacement for the Coco before the production units  
went on sale here in Canada. I think I used a Model One disk drive but I am 
not sure, Coco drives may have been available before the Controller.    

One thing I never see mentioned are the old Chromasette tapes that kept a lot 
of us Coco 1 nuts going from month to month. I still have a nearly complete 
set of tapes and wonder if they are readable after 25 years.  If I just had 
time and room to set up a system, that would bring back many memories.

My oldest copy of Rainbow is Vol 1 #7, Jan 82.  That was a 12 page magazine 
that sold for $2.  My copy is a reprint that Lonnie appears to have first 
offered in the July 82 issue. By the time I got my order in, the first 6 
re-issues were out of stock. 
The first typeset Rainbow was July 82 and Lonnies editorial tells of a print 
run of over 5,000 copies. There were 51 advertisers by then. Volume 1 #1 was 
2 pages, photocopied at the drugstore and was a run of 25 copies.  He soon 
did another 10 at the drugstore. I assume collectors would love to get issue 
1, even when diluted by the later reprints.
  
Went on to have every model and upgrade that RS issued.  OS-9 L2 was the thing 
that kept me hooked on the Coco. Once I had it, the days of Disk Basic were 
over.  I attended the Fest's for years 2-3-4 but windsurfing in Cape Hatteras 
appealed a lot more in later years.  Just came across my bright yellow Coco 
Cat tee shirt from one of those years. My how it has shrunk....

Cheerio all
    

-- 
Merv Curley
Toronto, Ont. Can

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