[Coco] VCF 2.0 Southwest: A quick review

[gene heskett]

On Monday, August 08, 2011 09:44:58 AM Boisy G. Pitre did opine:

> All,
> 
> We just got back this afternoon from VCF 2.0 Southwest in Arlington,
> Texas (along with a brand new Mercedes-Benz that the wife got for her
> birthday while there -- but that's another story :).  Here's a quick
> summary:
> 
> Our road trip started out Thursday.  We spent that night at a B&B, then
> drove on into Texas the next day, arriving hotel in Arlington Friday
> afternoon.  From there, we went to our rendezvous point, Texas Land and
> Cattle restaurant, where we met Mark, Sandy, Aaron, Gary and his wife.
> 
> With the ladies off to Dallas to do shopping, we setup and worked our
> tables at the event Saturday. The location was the University of Texas
> Arlington's E.H. Hereford University Center and I have to say, it was
> quite nice.  The room was large and there were a lot of tables spread
> around.   Around the corner and down the hall was the university
> commons with a cafeteria that was open for lunch on both Saturday and
> Sunday.  We got to eat in the same place where students eat every day. 
> Very cool.
> 
> Attendance was probably 30-40, I would guess, at the peak.  Gil, the
> organizer, indicated that it was better attended this year than last,
> and he seemed really happy with the overall turnout.
> 
> There was certainly a wide range of exhibitors.  Not only vintage Apple,
> Commodore, Timex, and Radio shack computers were there, but also older,
> rarer systems such as the SOL 20.   There was a table manned by a
> gentleman named Skip which contained numerous slide rules and older
> calculators.  Another table had a Vectrex up and running. Still another
> vendor showed off his collection of "portable" computers from the 80s. 
> There was a table of robots as well, from the Houston Computer Museum.
> 
> We had the pleasure of meeting Brendan Donahe, who turned out to be a
> Cloud-9 customer from long ago.  He was exhibiting a very impressive
> FPGA project that used a Xilinx board to emulate a 6847 VDG chip on a
> CoCo 1 and output to a VGA monitor.  We had dinner with Brendan
> Saturday night, and really enjoyed hanging out with him.
> 
> Here's what I came away with after attending this event:
> 
> 1. The VCF event was diverse, and in that environment, the CoCo held its
> own.  We got lots of interest at our tables, and people loved watching
> DriveWire running a CoCo with full Internet services.  the SuperIDE and
> the CoCo3FPGA were also heavily inquired about. 2. Having events on
> college campuses:  this is a great idea.  I know Glenside has had the
> CoCo Fests at the hotel for years, but I would recommend they look into
> a university campus as a place for hosting the fest.  According to Gil,
> the organizer, they got use of the room for free.
> 
> In summary, we had a great time and enjoyed meeting all of the folks who
> were there.  I would definitely consider going back next year.
> 
> Boisy
> 
Yikes, sounds like the trip was a huge loss if it cost you a new Mercedes.  
;-)

I would love to have been able to see such a diverse show, but its farther 
for me than Windy is.  And I am glad the coco held its own in such company.

I'm sure I speak for all when I say I hope to see more story's from the 
show as you recall them.

Cheers, gene
-- 
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