News stories for January 25, 2019 show

News stories for January 25, 2019 show:

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1) TJBChris has video showing how the DLOAD command on the Coco 1/2 works, and also with a server program for it on his Model 16:

 https://youtu.be/-RJNheNrPB4

He also did an updated video showing him using a Raspberry PI running the server program:

 https://youtu.be/qboKrN3CUXI

He has also joined Facebook, so we can finally send questions and/or comments on his videos!

2) Carlos Camacho posted a link to the Electronics Australia original review of the Coco (from the February 1982 issue):

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/permalink/10157860418987641/

And the actual article from archive.org:

 https://archive.org/stream/EA1982/EA%201982-02%20February#page/n69/mode/2up

3) [REDACTED] is working on a hardware project he is calling "Split Screen Assist Circuit", which will help reduce overhead in games that are doing hardware tricks based on which scanline it is on (changing palettes, changing screen modes/resolutions, turning hardware scrolling on/off). I believe this will also work on Coco 1/2's, and thus may also be able to help with background sound timing by being used as primitive timer interrupt, based on FIRQ from the cartridge port.

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/permalink/10157860471352641/

4) Australian Coco users are trying to organize a CocooZFest on Facebook. If you either live in Australia, or need an excuse to go on holidays there, this is a good starting point into getting a Coco trade show going down under.

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/permalink/10157866482807641/

5) An interesting discussion on the Coco group on Facebook - what was the best word processor for the Coco 1/2? Telewriter-64, VIP Writer, Elite Word, TS Edit/TS Word have been mentioned - what are the thoughts from the panel?

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/permalink/10157865250662641/

6) Jim Brain @ Retro Innovations has some boards available for different 512k upgrade project - it uses the more period correct 44256 chips (so only 4 of them on the satellite board vs. the 16 the various original 512k upgrades had), but still draws more power, and generates more heat, than current static RAM solutions like the Boomerang and Triad:

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/permalink/10157860676842641/

7) Lee Patterson (author of Bouncy Ball) is working on a Coco 3, hardware text mode version of the game Bulls and Cows, called Moo (which is similar to the board game Mastermind). He has a blog explaining details of the game, and the programming behind it:

 https://8bitcoder.com/moo

8) Tables for vendors, and the hotel rates, for CocoFest 2020 are now available. Some details are found here:

 http://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/index.shtml

9) The 3oldtechdudes YouTube channel did an unscientific speed comparisons of BASIC by generating a random list of numbers and then bubble sorting them, between the Coco 2, Atari 800XL and Commodore 64. Guess who won?

 https://youtu.be/1ZgW67EkJ9g

Game On segment videos:

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1) Ken Reighard posted the link to a video on the history of Zaxxon, including home ports, which has the Coco mentioned as a decent port. The Coco mention happens around here:

 https://youtu.be/LKalWCWjyRM?t=642

2) And probably the last of the Petsasjim1 Dragon games (since he has hit 'Z' in his alphabetical listing of games he has made videos for the Dragon): World Boxing (in BASIC, no less):

 https://youtu.be/G_hEh49PzEc?t=16

Wumpus Mansion (also in BASIC, and basically (HA!) has two mini games):

 https://youtu.be/CRoihi-k23Q

Zorakk the Conqueror:

 https://youtu.be/RziB_V0DeT4

Zotoka (1st video is instructions, 2nd video is game play). Kind of like Viking or Erland, but with high res graphics:

 https://youtu.be/dfd62olWlRQ
 https://youtu.be/OQyB0pb-UW4?t=11