News stories for Episode 207, April 10, 2021 show

News stories for Episode 207, April 10, 2021 show:

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

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1) Ciaran Anscomb posted a demo download (compatible even down to a 4K Coco 1!), showing a hardware scrolling trick on the VDG (works with Dragons or Coco's):

 http://www.6809.org.uk/tmp/tinydemo/

Video showing the effect (sorry for the horrible URL):

 https://scontent.fyxe2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t66.36240-6/166488002_437793690851001_360783398869205593_n.mp4?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=985c63&efg=eyJ2ZW5jb2RlX3RhZyI6Im9lcF9oZCJ9&_nc_ohc=XW_LcXL6auYAX8VXs-2&_nc_ht=scontent.fyxe2-1.fna&oh=382ba27099f1b79f032ab3f2e13a4c4d&oe=6098D24F

2) John Laury is one of the people to get in on Ed Sniders "early release" versions of the GIME-X with 8 MB RAM board (he also got a 6309 & CocoMech keyboard), and he posted a bunch of pictures of it for people to check out what the release versions look like in the wild:

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/permalink/10159114460847641/

(If he is on the show, we should ask about his first impressions, maybe get some demos)

3) Jerry Stratton posted an article on his site entitled "What are the 8 bits in 8-bit computing?", which includes an interactive demo on the webpage to show how BASIC uses AND, OR and NOT:

 https://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/hacks/coco/what-are-8-bits/

4) Add in MrDave6309's new cartridge cases (which can included LED's), including price (he won't be able to make the show, by the sounds of it). From Dave: "This new ROM pak lets you load 32k size games thru a normally 16k cart if your using a coco1 or 2 , also works for coco3 bank switching and lights are hooked up to scs line so it's easy to use , and the boards are available thru Dave. $10 as a kit with eprom and chips.

 (local video/photos saved from Discord on my desktop)

5) Darren Ottery got a Quad multi-viewer, where one can hook up multiple systems and display them simultaneously on a large TV, thus saving a lot of desk space. He gives details on his current set up with pictures, and mentions that he still needs a VDG to HDMI adapter for both his Coco 1/CocoVGA and Tandy 1000HX:

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/permalink/10159119896057641/

6) Ermani Cioffi posted a video demonstrating his new Coco / CP400 joystick, that uses an Arduino, and also supports 2 buttons for the Coco 3. Google Translate of his YouTube description says: "This is the new joystick for CP400 and Color Computer. It has 2 buttons, which can be used with Coco3 games. Using an Arduino analog, just like PS2, is much more accurate. Are you interested? Talk to me."

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMemAhF2t28

MC-10

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1) Robert Sieg has released a video & download of the start of his high res editor for the MC-10 MCX32. It shows the whole 128x96x4 screen, and lets you edit it in 32x16 chunks, using the regular semigraphics mode to show the "zoomed" in bits:

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/731424100317748/permalink/3779284538865007/

Download site:

 https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1pb_UAwDkGxXHGEan8kia5gi59HC10l1Y

Dragon 32/64

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1) The Gen1Gamer channel did a nice history of the Dragon video, clocked in at just under 17 minutes, which includes anecdotes from his own experience with the Dragon in his youth (although he did exaggerate the loading times from cassette):

 https://youtu.be/cEVstCxY07o

Game On news (all Coco related platforms):

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1) Erico Patricio Monteiro, who has been working on the Semigraphics-4 fighting game, had the game in progress featured on the cover of Brazilian retro magazine, "Jogos 80":

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/permalink/10159106609347641/

2) The Amigos show ARG Presents, this week featuring "Type in Games" (typed in from books or magazines) - had a couple of cool coincidences last week - Both Aaron and Brent 1) picked Coco games, and 2) picked games themed around Gophers. Both from Rainbow magazine; these were short listing BASIC games, one for the Coco 1/2 and one for the Coco 3:

 https://youtu.be/EZntqbrVBdQ

3) Jim Gerrie has released a beta of "Galaxy Jailbreak" for the MC-10, based on the Sinclair ZX-81 original, but is using the new MC-10 BASIC compiler by Greg Dionne (actually, he released 3 updates as the week went on; this is the latest one):

 https://youtu.be/BV0EeZC9KNM

He has also produced a 15 minute "Medly" video of games for the MC-10 that he now has compiled BASIC versions of (And a link in the description of where to get these games):

 https://youtu.be/lz56Prab9Tw
   (This includes: Galaxy Jailbreak, Alpha Force, Closeout, Defcon1, Coloroid, MC Lode Runner, Q*Bert, MC-Scramble and Swell Foop) 

4) Uncoda on YouTube put up part 2 of his "Nice games for the Coco" video series, which is almost half an hour of gameplay featuring Zenix, Canyon Climber, Dungeons of Daggorath, Springster and Prospector:

 https://youtu.be/O3-NLY3fccw

5) Steven Smith on the Dragon Facebook group is selling 48 Dragon 32 original programs in cassette form. I don't normally cover "for sale" (too timely), but he has some nice photos of the tape artwork, some of which I have not seen before:

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/dragon32/permalink/2882923241967326/

6) Nick Marentes has posted his 3rd chapter to his Coco 3 game in development, showing off his animated backgrounds in a video (If we used this in a game on segment with Nick explaining it, throw in the "Extra" story of the accidental shaking cogs that looked better than the intended smooth original):

 https://nickmarentes.com/ZeroHour/03.html