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

[Lothan]

From: "Frank Swygert" <farna at att.net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 5:54 PM
To: <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Subject: Re: [Coco] CoCoFEST! 2010/FPGA CoCo...

> 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!

I'm still on the other side of the fence. My desk doesn't have much space 
left so I'd prefer something in a smallish case that can sit off to the side 
or behind the monitors.