News stories for Episode 289, November 19, 2022

News stories for Episode 289, November 19, 2022

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(November 12-19)

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

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1) Pierre Serrazin released a new version (0.1.4) of the BControl library for his CMOC compiler. This has some basic input functions that are similar to INKEY$, JOYSTK and BUTTON commands from BASIC, but do *not* need any ROM code mapped in. The new version adds a new call called "Joystick_getAxisValuesAndButtonState()", which 'targets a single joystick and also works under OS-9' (the latter I presume through existing OS-9 GetStat calls):

 http://perso.b2b2c.ca/~sarrazip/dev/cmoc.html#BControl

He also released an updated DECBFILE library file as well (version 0.1.7). This adds a demo showing how to use the driver to read and write files from an assembly language program (not requiring CMOC), and the code is position independent so that you can move it around.

 http://perso.b2b2c.ca/~sarrazip/dev/cmoc.html#decbfile

2) Tim Lindner has made an updated CocoSDC manual that is now on the Color Computer Archive (3rd edition now). It updates which vendors sell the CocoSDC, clarifies the minimum system requirements needed to run it, mentioned the GUI utility in the Flash section, and has a better explanation and sample sourcecode for the "stream mode" that was added in later firmware updates:

 https://colorcomputerarchive.com/repo/Documents/Manuals/Hardware/CoCo%20SDC%20User%20Guide%20r3%20(Nov.%202022)%20(Darren%20Atkinson).pdf

3) Tim Lindner also released a video showing how VideoTex worked (and he even wrote his own server to simulate the original servers!)

 https://youtu.be/WJJQn5uYKn4

4) Speaking of Videotex... Retro Tech Time on the Coco group on Facebook posted some photos from an ebay purchase he just made of a quite rare machine - the AgVision version of the Videotex terminal, which has a different label and a blue (rather than "battleship gray") case. At the time of writing, he hadn't received it yet, so the photos are from the original ebay listing:

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160272446047641/

5) Color Computer Programing did another video, showing his experimenting and learning about the TIMER function in Extended BASIC:

 https://youtu.be/5Ju9SSlIVQQ

6) TJBChris released a video showing the new (to him) Coco 1 system he picked up for only $70 off of ebay, and testing it with various things like Zaxxon, Scripsit & OS-9 Level 1:

 https://youtu.be/yFS4gMX5kvo

7) hirudov2d on YouTube posted a quick video showing some testing of BASIC on a Coco 2:

 https://youtu.be/2-PTagtbLvI

8) Kim Justice covered the Retro Computer Festival 2022 in Cambridge, UK... which included Dragon's, Coco's, Alice's, CP-400, etc.:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0sHJ7tj_OA&t=295s

9) Tony Licari on the Coco Facebook group posted a neat trick to try and recover some physical floppies if you hit errors on them:

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10160268209147641/

MC-10

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1) Steve Blakely uploaded to the MC-10 Facebook group a terminal program for the MC-10 to let it talk to the DT-1 terminal:

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/731424100317748/posts/5535437293249714/

2) Jim Gerrie posted a long video showing his translation to english from the original "Decouvrez Alice" tutorial program for the Alice, to the MC-10 - now called "Explore Your MC-10". I think it needs to 20K RAM upgrade, and teaches you some basic's about the machine, including some interaction with the user:

 https://youtu.be/ywhQspn6FqU

Dragon 32/64

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1)

Game On news (all Coco related platforms):

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1) Nick Marentes has released his long awaited Frogger style game "Jumping Joey" - and if you order the physical copy, you get Rally-SG and Pipes at the same time:

 https://nickmarentes.com/ProjectArchive/jumpingjoey.html

2) Pere Serrat & Kees von Oss have released the 5th AGD games pack for the Supersprite-FM+ board with 4 games: Bomb Bomb Buster Boxes B-Square Cap'n Rescue

 http://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11053

3) And speaking of Supersprite FM+ AGD ports - the maker of the Supersprite FM+, John Whitworth, is asking on behalf of Pere of what the next games to convert from regular AGD to the Supersprite should be, in the 6x09 SuperSprite FM+ group on Facebook:

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/277387053720893/posts/542628340530095/

4) Our very own Sir David Ladd put up a video of gameplay for this weeks Game On Challenge - Stinger, with MRDave6309's color patch for Coco 3's:

 https://youtu.be/BvwMFyRTDAc

5) Retro Arcade Gaming on YouTube has been putting up short videos of various versions of Donkey Kong (for multiple platforms), and has done 2 for the Coco - Sock Masters Coco 3 transcode (showing all 4 levels), and Donkey King, showing the first 2 levels: Coco 3 Donkey Kong Transcode:

 https://youtu.be/-nm_a8RZOBg

Donkey King:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGnx5g1OisU

6) retrosutra on YouTube did a comparison video of the game Hunchback for a variety of machines, including the arcade original, C64, Oric, Electron, and others... including the Dragon 32:

 https://youtu.be/IG8eqZCTUnw

7) Call -151 on YouTube (for Apple II people - this is how you invoked the built in monitor and disassembler) put up a video showing loading and playing Planet Invasion from an MP3 player:

 https://youtu.be/hDAt_GZZUvA