Saturday, June 24, 2006

Comment: Random CoCo Bits

Since I last posted to the blog there's been a heap of... well... nothing happening. heh! Not entirely true, so here's a few news bits:

http://www.chipple.net/coco/file2dsk/

Our man in Japan, Chipple, has updated File2DSK yet again for you Linux folks out there. Working with Mannequin, he hasnow posted a source version of the utility that can be compiled to run on Linux. Two thumbs way up! :) And if you haven't tried this utility yet, and its companion DSK extract utility, then get thee to the link above. You'll never be the same.

Briza8 (Brian) has, alas, gone offline for a bit after a horrible PC crash. Best wishes, amigo and return soon. See his post in CoCo Talk here: http://www.coco3.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=329

RetroRick has posted some more screen shots of Ladder Man 2 in CoCo Games at coco3.com. This is looking so cool, and all in ECB. (I know I'm not suppose to cheer for ECB, since it is, after all, "killing the CoCo," but I'm gonna do it anyway! ha!).... http://www.coco3.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=219

Speaking of ECB... Would anyone be interested in an ECB forum? What about a collector's forum, all about chatting about CoCo collecting, recent auctions and finds, braggin about recent aquisitions, etc? I'm somewhat loath to start another CoCo message board, since the ones running barely get enough traffic as it is, but if there's enough interest, I'll fire one up (or inquire if there's someone willing to add to an existing board). I got some nifty message board software, but no where to use it at. heh!

Some more stuff I want for my CoCo:

1. A 3 1/2" drive cable. There's probably a bunch of stuff like this that idiots like me can't build, but that would be easy enough for some, that would be a huge boon to the community.

2. A quick and easy printer solution that doesn't require ancient dot matrix ribbons. No idea how this would work, but I'd buy it.

3. Someone to patiently explain, step by step, how to add a switching PC power supply to my CoCo 1 and CoCo 3. heh! I just can't seem to get the hang of it. (See afore mentioned comment, re: I'm an idiot.)

Angel's Luck,
Cris

Saturday, June 10, 2006

News Round Up for 6/10/06

There hasn't been a heap of news lately. I'm assuming all the CoCoists out there are buried in projects and getting them ready to release in a huge hoard. :) (In fact, I know of several major projects that are underway, so stay tuned.) So, I thought I'd wander around the CoCo web and see what's what.

http://www.hwcn.org/~ar427/jsoft.html

This is a neat site by Jim Gerrie. Listed on the site are several of his programs for the CoCo in ECB and OS/9, as well as a nice list for the MC-10. These are all in good old fashion ASCII text, so you can type them in yourself. Old style! Lovin' it! I've only just printed them out for carrying over to the CoCo, not having a 5 1/4" on the PC at the moment. Though since they are in ASCII, I suspect it'd be a good test for Roger Taylor's PC Link cable what I still haven't tested. I know. Bad! I'm working on it. :P

http://www.thecocolounge.com/

I did get a short note from Glen VanDenBiggelaar from the CoCo Longue. He's swamped with work, so not too much updated on the site, but still filling orders for the store. There was also a quick site update on the 7th. So, get in there and check out the online store. There's stuff in there people pay top dollar for on eBay! (And yeah, I've started ordering what I can, so you better hurry. heh!)

no link

For those that don't know, Vintage Funworld has shut down, apparently, with the webmaster going off to school. He is, however, selling is amazing CoCo 3 system! Here's the eBay listing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8824576473&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBI%3AIT&rd=1
Remember that this link will expire and I will probably forget to remove it. :P Anyhow, this is a full blown modern CoCo system. It was up over $300.00 when I last look, and will probably go higher! For those collectors keeping score at home, this is the first time since starting the Price Guide, that a CoCo system has jumped over the $300.00 mark. If you want a complete, bad ass CoCo system, this is it!

http://nitros9.lcurtisboyle.com/coco_game_list.html

L. Curtis Boyle's CoCo Games List continues to grow. He has also added several new indexes over the last couple of months including clones and officially licensed and cross platform games. There's simply not a better place to go if you want more info about CoCo games. If that's not enough for you, many are downloadable!

http://www.sclaudia.net/coco/

A new site from Diego that is exceedinly cool. Not quite done yet, but what's there is definately worth a look. First thing you'll discover is that the site was written in Color BASIC. Yup, you read that right. Too neat. :) Up now are two of his personal programs for the CoCo with more to come. One definately worth looking at is an HTML renderer for the CoCo written in BASIC! A truely excellent idea. HTML would make a perfect standardized document format for the CoCo, since much that has been written could be ported easily over. Can't wait to see this idea developed more. Head on over and give it a try. Pretty darn nifty. To encourage more folks to do the same, he's also started a little contest called The Asimov Awards (after the famous SF author, who also did ads for Radio Shack back in the 80s!). The contest is open to all sorts of programs, so just about everyone should be able to give it a try. Time to get programing!

At the Hut

http://coco.clubltdstudios.com/

Not a whole lot going on at the moment. Last survey is done and I'm trying to come with something fun and interesting for the next one. Results from the previous one will be posted soon. If you have suggestion, email 'em on in. Took a ton more pictures of items for the Museum, so that's progressing well. Also preping a review of Backup Magic, which kicks all kinds of CoCo butt. I don't want to spoil the review, of course... heh... but if you haven't ordered it yet, don't wait. Get it! Tune In & Stay Tuned!


Please send CoCo news items to captcpu@clubltdstudios.com