The Coco Nation News stories for Episode 344, December 30, 2023

Collected by L. Curtis Boyle

Special Guests today:

Steve Bjork tribute/memorial – many guests.

Interviews schedule:

January 6 we have a double interview with Doug Masten
& Glen Dahlgren, covering the Coco 3 game The Contras.
http://www.lcurtisboyle.com/nitros9/contras.html
January 20 Henry Gernhardt of “The Break Key” YouTube channel.
January 27 (NOTE DATE CHANGE) Glen Dahlgren comes back – he has the final
book in his Chaos series coming out, and possibly some further Coco stuff
as well.
https://mysteriumstoryworks.substack.com/p/want-a-free-copy-of-the-realm-of?r=2hpgl3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Upcoming conventions/trade shows of interest to Coco people:

VCF SoCal: Feb 17-18, 2024 in Orange, California
Hotel Fera – Events Center
100 The City Drive, Orange, CA 92868
https://vcfsocal.com/index.html

Interim Computer Festival: March 23-24.
This is a pre-announcement for a retro computer show in the Pacific
Northwest Area. Details (specifically where, etc.) will be coming later,
and registration will open in January.
https://sdf.org/icf/

CocoFest: May 4-5, 2024 in Carol Stream, Illinois (near Chicago)
Holiday Inn & Suites
https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

BoatFest 3: June 14-16, 2024
Social Event Space
Hurricane, WV
https://www.ticketsource.us/boatfest2024/boatfest-retro-computer-expo-2024/e-raedpb

VCF SouthWest: June 14-16, 2024 (same weekend as BoatFest, and usually
has a lot of Tandy people hanging out since that is Tandy’s hometown).
Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas – Dallas
Dallas, Texas
https://www.vcfsw.org/

Coco 1/2/3 (and multi-platform)

1) Frederic (MicroHobbyist on YouTube0 has produced his intro video to
his building a 6309 based homebrew computer:
https://youtu.be/3rKa7duKRMw?si=dNnFM_H95u3oDRSA

2) The Color Computer Archive has updated it’s Coco SDC image (update #7)
that should have all of the disk images up to 12-17-2023, including new
releases, bug fixed and/or enhanced releases, and older missing images. To
see what has been added since update #6 came out on March 20, 2022, you
can read the ‘changes.txt’ file:
https://colorcomputerarchive.com/repo/Disks/Coco%20SDC/Image/changes.txt

3) Thomas Cherryhomes has a new, longer video (7.5 minutes) to show his
updates to his Fujinet port to the Coco:
https://youtu.be/3k3tOeHnAzs?si=IOvzP10xd3fjVrYk

4) Rocky Hill on YouTube (aka Pedro) put up a video showing his testing
of the SAM (6883) replacement daughterboard that Ciaran Anscomb designed
(the SAMx4) (with some mods to make it smaller), trying it in Coco’s with
both the regular VDG and the T1 VDG, and low RAM Coco 1’s (where there is
initially some problems that Ciaran had to adjust his programming):
https://youtu.be/B1HclYtiCfirefox1M?si=aR-3hys2x09mQW6h
And Ciaran followed up with said changes, which he posted about in the
Dragon Facebook group (for his own design) and Pedro has those now as well:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dragon32/posts/3610169745909335/
(And he squeezed a bit more onto the CPLD, as evidence by the 2nd little
demo he put in the comments)

5) The Coco Crew dropped another intermittent episode – #98 – into your
podcast feeds and their YouTube channel. They had 3 main discussions –
one was wondering about Steve Bjork, one on whether anyone was waiting
for the GIME-X, and what has been filling their Coco time since they last
published an episode:
http://cococrew.org/

6) TRS-80 Retro Programing on YouTube goes further into his saving a game
in progress on cassette – and then goes through an adventure of changing
variable names beyond 2 characters to make them more descriptive – but
hits the issue of picking ones that are (or are part of) reserved keywords:
https://youtu.be/fR1ZGI3FK7k?si=43Eq1EwxPes7qtBX

7) Allen Huffman has a blog post comparing Carl England’s CRUNCH vs. Alex
Evan’s PACK utilities for crunching BASIC programs:
https://subethasoftware.com/2023/04/11/carl-englands-crunch-versus-alex-evans-pack/
He also did part 2 of his working on an entry for the Logiker 2023 Vintage
Computing Christmas Challenge:
https://subethasoftware.com/2023/12/22/tackling-the-logiker-2023-vintage-computing-christmas-challenge-part-2/
And part 3:
https://subethasoftware.com/2023/12/28/tackling-the-logiker-2023-vintage-computing-christmas-challenge-part-3/
Allen also released multiple videos of some music done with Musica 2, running
from the program itself, as well as a 1986 Doctor Who Logo/theme demo):
https://www.youtube.com/@subethasoftware/videos
On the Coco Facebook group, he also found and ran H. Allen Curtis’ Coco
Cat Dancing (from May 1987 Rainbow) coco 3 demo:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10161093339992641/
And a 5 line BASIC bouncing ball demo that I remember seeing back in the day:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10161093462197641/
And a palette animated spinning pinwheel:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10161093343847641/

8) Henry over at “The Break Key” on YouTube released part 2 of 2 for
building a D-Pad for the Coco from scratch:
https://youtu.be/sj8NzOh-D2k?si=22xKB_mFwkqTJj1A
He also started a new series – making his own custom ROM:
https://youtu.be/CfuquLinn8Y

9) Primal-Bits on YouTube finally acquired a Coco 1 – and made a video
about it:
https://youtu.be/S-CNovrhljs?si=EwxcJVIE8GdgFi89

10) Simon Jonassen put up a new video update of his online PMEdit –
showing stroked circle updates with selectable colors:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10161084453592641/
And another update showing the the Floodfill function is now also working:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10161087409157641/

11) Joel Ewy posted an update about his adventures with his MM/1 (which
he recently got working with the Blue SCSI SD card adaptor), including
the results of recompiling C with new C compilers than the Microware one
shipped with it, which increases the speed of the programs:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3194643584094250/posts/4352864304938833/
This was a followup to his experimenting with wait state settings – which
had far less effect on speed:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3194643584094250/posts/4350070285218235/

12) Coco Town on YouTube released the sourcecode (and explains it) showing
how to get multiple color sets on the screen at once, including the precise
timing in the DragonFire cartridge by Imagic:
https://youtu.be/ANJiLoU0zxQ?si=fLJ5hZ04q_PjMaHo

13) George Janssen (GBJannsen 6809 on YouTube) has released his next
assembly language tutorial for the Coco 3 (and sourcecode in his channel
on the Coco Discord), this time dealing with display graphic images,
including using Paul Fiscarelli’s CocoSC Sprite Compiler – but using it
for images rather than it’s sprite capability:
https://youtu.be/oTUG96iPEdc?si=knX5DwkVI2XYIGes

14) Bob Emery (La Coco Strangiato on YouTube) did a live stream this past
week doing: Deluxe Joystick rejuvenation, a Coco 2 Composite video upgrade,
and his first mailbag in an episode!
https://www.youtube.com/live/B7nGUc_4fPs?si=jkRf3_wWP1I1bt0A

15) Of course, some Christmas content is going to be late (since we took
Christmas off for the show), but Verne’s Misadventure’s on YouTube posted
“The Story of the First Christmas” originally by Dennis L. Wood (CocoMax
graphics) and Tom Bedwell (music):
https://youtu.be/fCHnQGze53c?si=OW3pK5rAV24hUlvi

16) Another Christmas themed one was some screenshots from Christmas themed
Coco 3 pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10161085838042641/

17) And another – Simon reposted his Rotozoom Santa Coco 3 demo – with 4
Christmas tunes:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10161085830267641/
(The DSK image is uploaded to the Files section of the Coco Facebook group)

18) Retro Tech Repair on YouTube put up a video about fixing the yellow
bar video problem on a Coco 2:
https://youtu.be/D5zfXdDU0-8?si=iDMIWgwnJrY9_p1c

19) Joel Ewy put up an OpenSCAD source file to make a removable front
panel bezel to access the SD card in a BlueSCSI (that we showed recently
mounted in his MM/1):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3194643584094250/posts/4357430744482189/

MC-10

1) Jim Gerrie did a quick video exploring where the MC-10 stands regarding
a Microsoft BASIC bug (see his youtube video description), inspired by
Robin of 8-Bit Show and Tell channel exploring it on other platforms:
https://youtu.be/u3J4oFUHgqk?si=A6RlJ2DRP3icPnGu
While we are getting to it late, Jim also released a snowfall Christmas
program for the MC-10 as an entry for an BASIC coding contest on Facebook:
https://youtu.be/9LBoOn7rMyY?si=7-eWxoERi-_3tnuj
He also ported a simple random melody composer program, originally written
in BASIC way back in 1972 from Dymax. Jim added the ability to actually
play the composition as well:
https://youtu.be/lVGv_PF-2Hw?si=oxax3T10qscoVzJV

2) Greg Hamilton started working on some animations for an MC-10 game that
he is working on, and put up screenshots and a video to show his progress
so far:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/731424100317748/posts/6872107659582664/

Dragon 32/64

1) Phil Harvey-Smith posted some photos of his Dragon with the dragonpicoVGA
installed in the Dragon Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dragon32/posts/3610507372542239/

2) Richard Harding (Dragon historian) posted in the Dragon facebook group
some photos and drawings about the Dragon Professional:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dragon32/posts/3610375779222065/

3) Tom Erik Gundnersen posted a small photo of something I don’t recall
seeing before: a Dragon sold in Finland but rebranded as the “Finlux Dragon”:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10161463235257146&set=p.10161463235257146&type=3

4) Spanish YouTube channel Manuel Cuenca (MMChip) did a 12 minute Dragon
32 repair video:
https://youtu.be/f6Lmylsc6gQ?si=793QduvyIyGrWizG

5) John Whitworth of DragonPlus Electronics has added an iBOM for the Dragon
PSU (Power Supply Unit). If I understand this, iBOM is an “interactive
Bill of Materials” that helps people constructing these boards keep track
of what parts they need and which they have installed? At any rate, John
is planning to expand iBOM’s to some of his other products as well:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dragon32/posts/3615028068756836/

6) Speaking of the Dragon PSU… Phil Harvey Smith on the Dragon Facebook
groups has posted FreeCAD source files to 3D print the bracket and box
for the modern PSU:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dragon32/posts/3615027692090207/

7) Tony Jewell posted a link to an old RetroWiki thread (from 2011) that
goes into some history of Eurohard (who took over the Dragon after Dragon
Data went into receivership). The thread even contains some photos of the
Dragon Alpha – including the insides (the link does a Google Translate
from Spanish to England):
https://retrowiki-es.translate.goog/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=100041508&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Game On news (all Coco related platforms):

1) Tim & AJ over at the “My Drunk Sibling” Youtube channel posted episode
114 of Sibling Rivalry, this time playing Panzer on the Coco – A cool T&D
2 player game:
https://youtu.be/XYPZ6QOppQU?si=KzTciKl1RHv4v6Kc

2) Jim Gerrie has been VERY busy these last two weeks. He released “The
Night of the Vampire Bunnies” text adventure game, originally written by
Jason Dyer in the 1980’s for PC BASIC (for the All Text Adventures Blog
project), to the MC-10:
https://youtu.be/VjGFEY5fwPA?si=8QOvZ5aWmorC7_Zz
He also released “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, originally by Greg
Hassett in 1978. Jim added his own graphic title screen:
https://youtu.be/0HsNIbu08ns?si=tDWo9mhJ3jR47F1x
Also The Treasure of Elgon Adventure, originally by Keith Hawthorn in the
1980’s (also on the VZ200/300, ZX Spectrum and the Microbee):
https://youtu.be/k5kOdco4nuM?si=5DQb6KqhMH_pRz9n
Interactive Fiction Database entry. It says that it is one of the saner
text adventures of this era:
https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=l1ysxrwi3tfe3kla
And he release “The High Mountains” originally by Paul Braithwaite in
1984 on the ZX Spectrum Personal Computer News magazine #79. This is a
multi-player text adventure loosely based on John Christopher’s Tripods
trilogy. Jim added a graphics intro screen, and it should be noted that
the almost 15 minute video is a complete walkthrough:
https://youtu.be/-INmGI-3J-c?si=WIS8FvdPQHf-FLeH
Also, along with help from his son Charlie, Jim has improved the algorithm
for his port of “O-jello” (an othello clone) to play much more intelligently
and is more challenging for the human player. Still fits in 4K!
https://youtu.be/3vrAX8olYl8?si=oO_TNVjYU6YYNl1N
His blogpost (see the Addendum part way down for the updates):
https://jimgerrie.blogspot.com/2023/11/o-jello-by-clyde-perkins-1980.html
He also ported New York New York from the Coco/Dragon (originally by Hal
Renko & Sam Edwards in their book “Terrific Games for Your Tandy Color”
to the MC-10:
https://youtu.be/PaBdP4F9FZc?si=SWn7YnZiSsAB-o43
David Mitchell’s video showing the original Coco version with his added
title screen:
https://youtu.be/RvkwuCje3NM?si=YCN-iw2NWTs_hRPq
(Original Coco/Dragon code can be found here:)
https://github.com/daftspaniel/RetroCornerRedux/tree/main/Tandy/CoCo/Type-In/NewYorkNewYork
He also updated his Chess C4 program, modifying the SG-4 graphics to make
the pieces more distinguishable:
https://youtu.be/FYWbvwRHXNw?si=ZrsNFG13RHY4YJc8

3) ARCADE GAMES on YouTube put up a video of 50 “Super” games on the TRS-80
Color Computer. Unfortunately they just show them, and don’t even provide
the titles. And it’s obvious that they don’t know how to play some of them,
or which artifact color set to use. It does include a few recent releases
(like Camel by Paul Shoemaker):
https://youtu.be/8Ew0dfsvQPk?si=gTXbGQQW3VURyTIW
The also did a 25 Super Games for the Dragon 32 (unfortunately no titles,
just like their earlier Coco video):
https://youtu.be/A66JjcEogRA?si=BRc57C1FC6qQ2ie3

4) Nostalgiavault on YouTube posted a video showing Glen Hewlett’s PacMan
transcode on the Coco 3:
https://youtu.be/cyfTc2dJ0vM?si=Xupo9FacH8UtewhV
He also did a quick video of Cookie Monster Letter Crunch:
https://youtu.be/EFQC5y3uqFE?si=hLhJq_8xMzYyLoPK

5) James Diffendaffer has an update to the graphical Chess game that is
doing for the MC-10:
https://youtu.be/EOigSvKbRXM?si=kcs_HyS6QXTLU2c7

6) BeSWITCHed on YouTube did a quick game ranking of the 7 Computer Shack
(later Michtron) games for the Dragon 32:

NOTE: THIS VIDEO WAS REMOVED BY SHOWTIME!

7) A couple of YouTubers are attempting high score runs for the Dragon 32
Grid Runner port:
ZXFrankie:
https://youtu.be/vGwDYtW6R9A?si=UKeZGm7_ofwUOdxG
TGP Highscore Runs:
https://youtu.be/I9Z6TluAevE?si=8d5zFmmYJ_Hl0A4m

8) Matt Darr on the Coco Facebook group posted a small game he wrote using
low res graphics (he is currently going through the BASIC manuals), and
then updated it to version 2 with more color, which is what I will show here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10161094017132641/
He also did a very simple Minefield game:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10161087097592641/

9) Richard Kelly posted a new 4K puzzle game he calls “Fussy Switches” to
the Coco Facebook group. He explains the rules in the post, and mentions
that it is a redo of the game “Grumps” that originally appeared in T&D
Software #81 (screenshots in the comments):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10161091179182641/

10) Michael Kline posted a short video showing the win screen for Shanghai
by Rick Adams (the official Tandy version), for those who have not seen it:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10161085285712641/

11) John Whitworth posted a Dragon VDK image that contains Fox & Hound
from the August 1983 issue of C&VG magazine. I think this is a game?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dragon32/posts/3613882905538019/

=======================================
Get connected with more of the CoCo, Dragon and MC-10 community here:
https://thecoconation.com/community/

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