[Coco] The CoCo Crew Podcast -- Episode 35 is available!

[Deny Wilson]

As I've gotten older, I've become more and more interested in the more
"rare" or "weird" systems. After Tandy dropped the CoCo, I ended up buying
a homebrew PC XT with a monochrome monitor. Man, that thing felt like a
step backwards compared to the CoCo, and I only had a CoCo 2 64K non-ECB
system at the time. So, I lusted after the Amigas, which was rare to me (in
my hometown, there was I think 1 person with an Amiga). I never ended up
getting one, unfortunately, and now, the one I want is priced into luxury
land for me. Since then, I've been interested in the Japanese systems (the
MSXs, the Sharp 68000, the FM Towns, etc), which are, for the most part,
also into luxury land. But I still read everything about them that I can
because 80's computers fascinate me.

I get what you're saying about the original systems, and I agree, it's the
original systems that get the most love and support. Homebrew software for
the CoCo is alive and well. Sometimes, though, I dream of a CoCo with 256
colors @ 320x255, hardware sprite support, and better sound, so I can
appreciate add-on boards for old computers. Heck, the ZX Spectrum Next is a
thing that happened, so maybe someday, someone will build my ultimate CoCo
Next system.



On Tue, Apr 17, 2018 at 1:48 PM, Bill Loguidice <bill at armchairarcade.com>
wrote:

> Well, industries tend to consolidate, so it's not surprising that
> everything moved to something, with just a few small niche players
> remaining (like the Macintosh). It would have definitely been interesting
> to see "alternative" CoCo's post Tandy's stoppage of production, but they
> likely wouldn't have been sustainable businesses for very long anyway, so
> it's probably for the best.
>
> About the only relevant example I can think of of something like that
> reaching market was the 1987 Geneve add-on for the TI-99/4a (with PEB),
> which helped extend the life of that computer for true die-hards and had a
> reasonable amount of homebrew-like software/conversions made for it. In the
> big picture, though, I'm not really sure what it achieved, and I really
> don't know what kind of numbers it moved. I don't think much, because while
> TI-99/4a's are still a dime a dozen, and even the PEB is reasonably easy to
> get, every time a Geneve card very occasionally goes up for auction, it's
> fought over like it's something super rare. I would imagine just like in
> other orphan computer communities, most TI enthusiasts simply moved on
> after a few years. That may be for the best since I think for many of us
> it's the original versions of these computers that we were and are most
> passionate about, not off-shoots.
>
> And congrats on 3 years to the CoCo Crew podcast!
>
> ========================================================
> Bill Loguidice, Managing Director; Armchair Arcade, Inc.
> <http://www.armchairarcade.com>
> ========================================================
> Authored Books
> <http://www.amazon.com/Bill-Loguidice/e/B001U7W3YS/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_1> and
> Film <http://www.armchairarcade.com/film>; About me and other ways to get
> in touch <http://about.me/billloguidice>
> ========================================================
>
> On Tue, Apr 17, 2018 at 3:36 PM, Deny Wilson <deny.wilson at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Happy 3rd Birthday CoCo Crew Podcast!
> >
> > It's amazing to think that it's already been 3 years. I wasn't a listener
> > from the start... I think I discovered it a year into the podcast, but I
> > have gone back and listened to all the episodes, and enjoyed them all.
> >
> > On an unrelated (but sorta not, since it's mentioned in ep. 35), I'm
> amazed
> > at how many machines came out of trying to continue the legacy of the
> CoCo.
> > I remember Mark mentioning the Kix-30 a while ago, but I hadn't really
> > looked it up until today. It's really too bad that FHL couldn't make a go
> > of it after Tandy dropped support of the CoCo. They had some very
> > interesting machines come out of the labs. I still curse the fact that
> > Microsoft and Intel basically destroyed all the interesting computers
> from
> > the 80's.
> >
>
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