[Coco] CoCoFEST! 2010/FPGA CoCo...

[Frank Swygert]

Am I the only one that find these statements just a bit on the odd side? No offense meant to Brian and Frank, they are certainly entitled to their opions, and they are definitely valid! Let me explain *my* comment about it being a bit odd...

Remember the Puppo keyboard adapter? It was all the rage for those who could afford it because it upgraded the CoCo keyboard. Many who couldn't ordered or made an extension cable to get teh keyboard in their laps. Same with repacks. Got rid of the "unsightly" and "unreliable" MPI -- often by hiding it in a big PC case. That also got rid of the "tinkertoy" effect of having so many different boxes with teir own power supplies connected. Remember the MPI "lock plates" and other things to keep it connected to the CoCo? 

An FPGA machine would get rid of all that and make a compact unit, but now we have a wave of nostalgia that wants to KEEP all the stuff many of us "back in the day" wanted to get rid of!! We've come full circle!! Of course a lot of PCs are looking that way -- things like the Mac Mini. Want to add a drive? Plug in a USB CD-ROM or hard drive with it's own power supply... much like the CoCo used to be! At least the USB port is better than the old Commodore 64 serial devices!


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Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 13:07:45 -0400
From: Brian Blake <random.rodder at gmail.com>

I agree wholeheartedly; precisely why I have a CoCo3, MPI and FDD set up on
my desk at home.

On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 11:39 AM, Frank Pittel <fwp at deepthought.com> wrote:

> The second conversation topic was that since the
> board could be made to hold joystick, bitbanger connectors, cartridge
> connectors, etc and easily fit into a coco case. It would be possible 
> to construct a coco 6+.
>
> This would have the advantages of using the coco keyboard, cartridges, etc.
> In my never humble opinion half of the fun of working with my coco includes 
> using the coco keyboard and having the cartridges in an mpi next to it. As 
> far as I'm concerned take all that away and I'd just as soon use a coco 
> emulator like vcc. The coco look and feel is a major part of using a coco!!
>
> Frank

-- 
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars" 
Magazine (AMC)
For all AMC enthusiasts
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