[Coco] CoCo3FPGA, FPGA Development, and GIME replacement

[Aaron Wolfe]

On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 6:28 PM, Stephen H. Fischer
<SFischer1 at mindspring.com> wrote:
> Hi,
....
> Some of us would have fun just using a bigger graphics canvas with more
> colors even if no hardware was ever available.
>
> It's great that more colors can be added, the hardware folks are doing
> great.
>
> But I see NO sign that the software folks are doing anything (Well except
> for one very private project.).
>
> Without software, the hardware is just a PG&E dummy load.


If you look at it from a commercial mindset, it's same the old catch
22... companies don't write software when there are no users, and
users don't buy systems with no software.  As a consumer of software,
or a commercial author of software, I don't see *any* coco4 system
being attractive (though I suppose that has been true of the coco 1,2
and 3 for quite some years as well).

However, as a hobbyist programmer, hardware without software is a
blank slate just begging to be written on, explored, etc.  Sort of
like my first CoCo back as a kid.. the only software it ran for the
first couple years was software I wrote or typed in from the basic
manual or the rainbow.  The fun was in finding ways to use the
hardware myself, not in buying software that used it for me.  If you
enjoy writing software, the CoCo4 could be a whole new world of fun
with a familiar backdrop, but only if the fun of writing it is
satisfaction enough for you.

As a consumer of software I think one would be mostly disappointed
with any coco4 system. Maybe a few games that used new graphics modes
would come out, but maybe not. I surely wouldn't bet on it unless you
plan to write one yourself.