The Coco Nation News stories for Episode 430, September 13,2025 (Sep 6-Sep 12)

Collected by L. Curtis Boyle

Special NOTES:

For those who want to try an online BBS running on a real 512K Coco
3, you can reach Terry Trapp’s RiBBS system here (please note that
this an active development machine so the BBS occasionally goes down
when Terry is working on hardware, etc).:
telnet ribbs.griswoldfx.com 6809

Upcoming conventions/trade shows of interest to Coco people:

Thundercon (A Comic Con at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition Grounds in
Thunder Bay, Ontario) is September 20-21. Ken Waters (Canadian Retro
Things) will be hosting his Tandy display along with the Thunder Bay
Retro Computer Club on the 2nd day (Sunday, September 21). If you
are in the area, pop by!
https://thundercon.ca/event/thundercon-2025/

Tandy Assembly for 2025 is Sept 26 to Sep 28 at the Courtyard by
Marriott Springfield Downtown in Springfield, Ohio. NOTE 1: If you
attended CocoFest this year, bring your badge to Tandy Assembly, and
you will get in for FREE! NOTE 2: Peter Cetinski issued an update on
May 13 – all tables are officially sold out:
https://www.tandyassembly.com/
And they have some exhibitors already (click Exhibitors link)

This year’s Portland Retro Gaming Expo runs from October 17-19 in
2025 at the Oregon Convention Center, Portland, Oregon.
https://www.retrogamingexpo.com/

This year’s RetroSC (a general retro show in Brazil, with a lot of
Coco and Coco clones present) is November 15, 2025 in Florianopolis,
SC, Brazil.
Native Portuguese site:
https://retrosc.org/
Google translate to english version:
https://retrosc-org.translate.goog/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Canada is getting it’s own official VCF – Montreal, January 25-26
of 2026. It will be held at the Royal Military College outside of
Montreal, but I don’t have any more details (the venue, for example)
yet:
https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/

Tentative date for CocoFest 2026 – April 24-25, as mentioned in the
Glenside meeting this past week. And hotel rates are locked in now
(see post on Glenside website)
https://www.glensideccc.com/

That same weekend is the first official Latin American VCF, which
takes place April 24-26 in Bahia Blanca, Argentina:
https://vcf-espaciotec-com-ar.translate.goog/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

**** NEW NEWS ORDER TO HELP OUR LIVE EUROPEAN VIEWERS ****

NOTE: We are planning to do a special “Coco 4” episode in the
future, which will included all the computers that were announced in
the 1991-1994 time frame that were supposed to be successors to the
Coco 3. We have Joel Ewy who has volunteered to show off their MM/1,
I am going to try and get my TC-9 up and running at least enough
to show it working, and Rick Ulland will show off a Delmar System
V… but we still need volunteers with TC-70’s, Kix-20 or Kix-30,
Delmar System IV, AT-306 and MM/1 B’s. Anybody still have these
machines that they would like to show off in an upcoming show? Email
me at curtisboyle@sasktel.net if you are.

Dragon 32/64

1) Julian Brown posted an update to his controller prorotype on the
Dragon Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dragon32/posts/4153161824943455/
Julian also posted an update to his RGB output for the NTSC color set,
and posted a photo showing the up to 4096 colors that it can generate:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dragon32/posts/4149967385262899/

2) The Dragon Data Archive posted on Facebook about the scanning of
another Dragon programming book – “Dragon 32 Machine Code for
Beginners” by Compudat (I think this is Richard Harding?):
Post about the scan:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0kM6ob636oXDmxEJgbiTcAiFfJMBJYkoc12UYjQpzsiekKcG8e5PRaGGMQqYKJXvel&id=61559577723302
Direct download link for the PDF manual:
http://www.dragondata.co.uk/DROPBOX/D32_Machine_Code_for_Beginners.pdf

3) And related to the above manual being scanned – David Linsley
went down a rabbit hole based on that post, finding the issue of
Dragon User magazine where the book was mentioned (December 1986 for
those interested), which also had a review for a 3D isometric game
called The Curse of Carmac. He posted a magazine screen shot showing
the game, but it is one that no copy has been found. It was reviewed
twice, so it definitely did exist. Does anyone listening have a copy
of this game? UPDATE: In the comments, we found out that there is
a copy of it on the archive, published by P.S.E. computers:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dragon32/posts/4148959355363702/

4) Federico Achaerandio on YouTube posted a video showing a bouncing
ball demo that he ran on his real Dragon 64, with the CocoSDC installed
and running on a VGA monitor with the Dragon AV cable and a SCART to
HDMI/VGA adapter:
https://youtu.be/m3IDLN6ZkRg?si=gUI6y0TvC8k-lR87

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

1) CMOC version 0.1.94 has been released. It has multiple
additions/fixes:

• atoi, atoui()strtof() and atoff() now support eating leading
  “white space” characters
• printf() and sprintf() now accept minimum field widths for INT
  values as well as left or right justification
• a new command line option has been added to enable/disable warnings
  for array size of 0
• minor optimizations.
  CMOC can generate both DECB and OS9 programs, and can be found here:
  http://gvlsywt.cluster051.hosting.ovh.net/dev/cmoc.html
  UPDATE: VERSION 1.96 WAS RELEASED LAST NIGHT AS WELL:
• There was a 1.95 released earlier this week, which updated printf()
  to support minimum field lengths for long variables, and fixed some
  bugs. 1.96 fixed a printf bug.

2) La Coco Strangiato (Bob Emery) on YouTube put up a 20+ minute
video on how to remove the SALT chip from a Coco 2 with basic tools:
https://youtu.be/H7WwehU0Ng8?si=SbvwgMcUsvF_lw8V

3) Xiphod / voidstar tech put up a video showing his progress in
making a BASIC version of Dungeons of Daggorath for the CommanderX16
(that’s the Eight Bit Guy’s project, I think?). He also mentions
at the end of he video that an article about the project will be in
an upcoming issue of the new Compute Gazzette magzine:
https://youtu.be/AEi9IYwAoog?si=PrX6szl0HksTOlft

4) VCF MidWest is on this weekend, and we hope to have live coverage
from Paul Fiscarelli and others. Just to show the sheer scale of this
year’s show, Jim Brain posted some photos from early in the set up,
before tables started to fill up:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10163184727152641/

5) Craig Marshall posted some pics from the Adelaide Retro Computing
event in Adelaide, New South Wales, Australia, including Tandy and
Coco related stuff to celebrate SepTandy:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10163183490542641/

6) Tony Licari from Australia also posted some pictures, in his case
of the Coco Cartridge caddy that we have shown on the show before,
designed by Antonia Cabellero. In this case, the previously mentioned
Craig Marshall 3D printed it for Tony himself:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10163182646127641/

7) Brian Blake posted a 1+ minute video showing his running Lyra
driving a Music Maestro MIDI card – Retro Innovations modern
version of the old Coco MIDI interface. He does note some weird
noise when using the mouse (I think it might be the extra CPU time
required to sample joysticks in the background?). He also compares
the “standard” TV output 4 voice from the Coco itself, vs. the
up to 8 note MIDI version using a Casio CTK-471 synthesizer:
https://youtu.be/Kr6ucSA-T3s?si=9oUvUP8ExN1bo8Mf

8) MicroHobbyist on YouTube (our very own panelist Frederic) put up
a 35+ minute video for his rebooted 6309 based single board computer
project:
https://youtu.be/pSqKW4V6c6g

9) John Papas posted on the Coco Facebook group a mockup of his
upcoming Coco 3 portable laptop, which will involve a new case with
a flip up screen as well as a battery. He does mention that is not a
product he will be selling; just making for his own collection. So
PortaCoco is the place to go to if you are interested in getting
something similar for your own system:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10163175320632641/

10) Antonio Caballero appears to be working on making 3D printed models
of the various monsters in the Coco classic game Dungeons of Daggorath
(note: there is a short video showing the Wizard model rotating):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10163172928552641/

11) Alison DeNu released an updated version of her “Character
Doctor” program from last week for SepTandy, called “Character
Doctor Deluxe”, which adds lowercase to the PMODE 4 character set:
Post about it:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10163171224187641/
Download link from Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xmh0EDljuLsqVEzGkLp4dN2DdhflsoHC/view

12) Jace Cisnero posted in the Coco Facebook group that he is going
through the Dungeons of Daggorath source code with the goal of trying
to port it to the Amiga, and he has some questions:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10163166143307641/
He has also two videos related to the project:
Exploring DOD in September:
https://youtu.be/DsrQwn8w7ek?si=Vr5DU5k3U9lZb65O
Random dungeon generator (where he has it working the same as the
Coco version):
https://youtu.be/5OrzXdxYBZ8?si=1WZA-RN0BGqYc95I

13) Microsoft has released the original source code for the 6502
version of their BASIC… which is the foundation of their later 6809
version. Could they allow the 6809 source to be released to the public
as well? I have heard that Microsoft’s own 6809 version is missing
(which is too bad, because the Deluxe Color Computer’s Advanced
Extended BASIC would be part of that), but a copy of the Dragon
32’s original source by Microsoft and Dragon Data has been found,
so could we get full permission to release it and maybe change a few
things to cover the Coco 1 and 2 BASIC’s?
https://opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2025/09/03/microsoft-open-source-historic-6502-basic/

14) Chris Poacher posted some magazine scans from Home Computer Weekly
magazine on his Microdeal Facebook group that involve the Dragon,
incuding articles and ads:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/204334613785733/posts/1772493926969786/

15) Retrogamer Gen X on YouTube posted an almost 12 minute video with
the history of Radio Shack/Tandy computers, including the Coco:
https://youtu.be/BX8ArBuG3VE?si=Th7rS6FOOuznZzmL

16) 8bitsinthebasement released VLOG2 for his current work in progress,
Super Shooty Aliens, where he covers his experiments on using different
screen modes to achieve the best effect he can for both NTSC and PAL
based Coco’s (and Dragons):
https://youtu.be/9hrLdC7rPbI?si=zS498rkRZaPYPLPZ

17) BoysonTech is bringing back it’s 2 MB RAM Boomerang RAM upgrade,
but with a new twist – it uses the 44 pin PLCC version of the 6309
(a square chip) which allows it’s footprint to be even smaller:
From Richard Lorbieski:
“BoysonTech to display a sneak peak of their new 2 Meg Boomerang board.
CPU DAT uses a genuine Hitachi PLCC-44 63C09 CPU. Very few people
knew that Hitachi also produced a PLCC version of the 63×09. We were
to reduce the DAT board by 25%. It’s now the nearly the size of a
Hitachi 40 pin DIP CPU. The new board will have a PLCC socket.
6 Layer DAT board featuring 2 separate ground planes.
Removable staking pins – if a pin breaks, they can be easily replaced.
2 Meg board is now the shape of a Boomerang.”
Freshly posted pics this morning:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10163187830917641/

18) Veronica Explains, Action Retro and Taylor & Amy (collectively
known as The Stop Bits when they appear in band form) have released
their EP called “Return From Interrupt (RTI is a 6809 opcode, of
course) on Bandcamp, just in time for VCF-MW. Veronica posted a quick
video announcing it on her channel, which I am plugging because 1)
She does have a Coco, and 2) Taylor and Amy have made multiple Coco /
MC-10 video and have attended CocoFest multiple times:
https://youtu.be/RSVaZwDFVrg?si=exCaxSPU8DAafwdt
Bandcamp link to here the album:
https://thestopbits.bandcamp.com/album/return-from-interrupt
And their own website:
https://www.thestopbits.net/

MC-10

1) Jim Gerrie posted a video of his conversion of the program “TF”,
originally by John Krutch in the book “Experiments in Artificial
Intelligence for Small Computers”, published in 1981. It is an
early machine learning program:
https://youtu.be/cGinsGea0fc?si=Tb5SOJm_st_67p2M

Game On news (all Coco related platforms):

1) Tim and AJ of the My Drunk Sibling YouTube channel had a live
stream last night for episode 197 – and it was several Coco games
that they didn’t announce in advance (start at 1:10):
https://www.youtube.com/live/KoW7PogoX3c?si=6y6TIRpLZcO7WGZf

2) Retro Dudes on Facebook posted a video for SepTandy, showing Temple
of ROM playing on real hardware:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/2183053362176285

3) Jim Gerrie ported 3D Noughts & Crosses (originally by Steve Thomas
in the May 1979 issue of Personal Computer World Magazine). It’s
an early 3D Tic Tac Toe game:
https://youtu.be/B2HdPy-vIek?si=QvsYVCUKf0VTI6oS

4) Retro Arcade Gaming on YouTube did a comparison of official and
unofficial clones of Super Sprint – including Grand Prix Challenge
by Diecom (23:21), one of their earliest Coco 3 games (unfortunately
the sound was very minimal):
https://youtu.be/BH5ubHIYgsQ?si=tf1nF-auPpVlDcBK

5) Marlin Lee posted a video of the game Robin Hood, originally for
the Dragon 32/64, which we have played on the Game On Challenge some
time ago:
https://youtu.be/KbnL85BV59I?si=uU71hUEvyzaXVEOi

6) WhiskyTangoFoxtrot on YouTube posted a SepTandy gaming video –
assorted arcade ports on the Coco that is almost an hour long. He
covers Dunkey Munkey, Donkey King and Zaxxon :
https://youtu.be/JK2_hu2wtGc?si=GdfeCu_lLyEtTwBT
He also posted part 2 of his playthrough of Calixto Island, which
he completes:
https://youtu.be/P-1K2XOqjEk?si=xgv2fgQQUnRKP8SS

7) XperTek did another Coco 2 gameplay video from his disk #8
collection – this time covering Moon Hopper by Computerware:
https://youtu.be/q7XU4D9noxQ?si=oE8PzHDx9AR_oiQS

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