[Coco] Why do a next Gen CoCo? was Any news on the so called CoCo4 or Next CoCo

[Aaron Wolfe]

On Fri, Nov 19, 2010 at 5:42 PM, Frank Swygert <farna at att.net> wrote:
> Ideally the emulator would be set up so that it booted directly into CoCo
> emulation mode. A stripped down OS with only the necessities (relatively
> easy to do with FreeDOS and Jeff Vavasour's DOS based emulator). For those
> who want to run with another OS as the primary then Virtual Box (which also
> runs under Windows) would be a good solution. A fork of MESS might actually
> be a good starting point, unless Jeff is willing to give up the code to a
> working group to modify (or do it himself).
>

I strongly suggest you require the emulation software be open source.
No matter how good the intentions of a single author, things happen.
People don't see eye to eye, or get busy, or lose interest, or get
frustrated, or a million other things.  If this is to be a community
project (and one that stands the test of time) the entire community
must have the ability to maintain and improve the software.


> I need to start another thread for this -- what would a CoCo successor have
> to have as a minimum to please most people? I think it needs an accessible
> I/O port. I still think the legacy LPT port (Centronic parallel port) would
> be a good easy access I/O port, but if someone wanted to design a USB port
> that would be accessible that's another option. The LPT port is just using
> existing hardware vs. creating new. I really don't think cartridge
> compatibility is important, though some way of connecting to a physical disk
> drive would be -- even if just through something like DriveWire or CoNect
> and a PC. Having access to an easily programmable port satisfies the
> experimenter's interest in such a computer.
>
> As for joysticks, there needs to be some layer of emulation between the CoCo
> port and a standard USB joystick or game pad. Might have to standardize on a
> type though.
>
> There has to be some limitations. I would think it could stop at CoCo3
> compatibility, drop the old video modes and such. There are a few games that
> require semi-graphics, but only a few. For those there are CoCo2 emulators.
> The main purpose of the new "machine" would be to provide an easy to program
> and interface with computer with CoCo3 compatibility to provide an existing
> software base. I'd think more people would want to program using the
> advanced graphics and such more than run old stuff on it.
>
> ---------------
> Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2010 11:50:46 -0600
> From: Frank Pittel <fwp at deepthought.com>
>
> Whether running on dedicated hardware or an emulator running under an OS
> like
> linux or windows the "coco4" will be emulated. I have a number of issues
> with the
> "pc emulator" approach. The first is that I don't run windows and the odds
> are
> that any pc emulator will be a windows app. I can get around that with
> virtualbox
> and possibly wine but that's proven to be a major pain with vcc and so I
> don't use
> it.
> -------------
>
> Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:19:18 -0500
> From: Aaron Wolfe <aawolfe at gmail.com>
>
> Personally, I think emulators will never provide the CoCo experience
> that FPGA does. However, I do love using emulators when working on
> Coco software, they are a very useful tool. I also certainly
> understand the price issue.. if you can run the CoCo 4 without buying
> any special hardware, it will be accessible to more people. I have my
> doubts about a hardware interface for emulators that would let you
> connect real CoCo peripherals. There is an awful lot of complexity
> there, it's certainly over my head. But, there are some who support
> the idea of emulation and have said they aren't worried about
> connecting peripherals anyway.
>
> I love all things CoCo so even though I don't prefer it, I'm happy to
> help make the emulator based coco 4 a success if I can. What exactly
> is holding up such a thing from happening? We have at least three
> nice emulators and have had them for years. Is it just lacking
> someone interested and skilled enough to start adding new features?
> It's probably out of my league but if there was a list of ideas or
> desired things, I'd try to help.
>
> AFAIK, MESS is the only open source emulator, so the only option for
> adding new things. Unfortunately, the official MESS project probably
> wouldn't be very interested in anything outside of emulating the
> actual CoCo, and MESS already does a great job of that. To add new
> features in BASIC might be possible if it's just some changes in the
> ROM image, since you can load any image you want, but changing the
> emulated hardware would probably mean forking or maintaining a set of
> patches to the mainline MESS.
>
>
> --
> Frank Swygert
> Publisher, "American Motors Cars"
> Magazine (AMC)
> For all AMC enthusiasts
> http://www.amc-mag.com
> (free download available!)
>
>
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