Nebulon

Very nice!

I was wondering if you'd include music from the song... and you did! Very cool.

I have a question: What does he think of the SEGA SG-1000? And what does he think of the idea that SEGA may have used the same parts as the ColecoVision due to their familiarity with programming for it (like Zaxxon for example? ... assuming SEGA did the programming for that console port). Finally, any tips on repairing the directional contacts in the Super Action Controllers? (He may not have worked on these, so that question could be a dud).

The following link contains high-resolution Amiga photographs. These are free for anyone to use (even for commercial projects, books, magazines, etc...) and are an attempt to supply publications with clean images of Amiga computers. The Amiga 500 in these images is new and was sealed in climate-controlled storage for almost 30 years. It was unboxed in order to take the following photos. A link to a 180 MB Zip file containing print resolution photos is also featured on this page. https://www.blitter.com/~nebulous/AmigaPhotos.html

Which reminds me, I should get new glasses at some point... How about an answer of yes to both your questions. Too expensive for people comparing the Amiga to the Atari ST and not priced enough for people expecting a competitor to the popular business machines of the day. And by "not expensive enough" I'm thinking that a few things could have been added to make it more competitive in the business arena (like a rock-steady display).

This is part of the reason why I try to stay away from video documentaries about famous video game players and their 'amazing' high-score records. A buddy of mine has a collection of retro stuff too. The main difference between him and me is that he loves the drama, thinks it's amusing, and watches it like comedy. I look at the ego-mania as something that cheapens what I consider to be -- in many cases -- works of art. I guess what I don't like is the shift in focus from great games to the not-so-great 'top-ranking' people who play them. I'm sort of trying to tie this into what Lord Thag is saying. I'm guessing some of the collectors who attend gaming events are sort on their "It's all about Me" pedestals in the same sort of way.

I drift away... then back again. It goes in waves. Recently I received Vector Patrol for the Vectrex and it re-kindled things. What an amazing game that is! http://kristofsnewvectrexgames.comli.com/ Having said that, homebrews aren't my main focus. For me it's mainly thinking about, talking about, and playing old games that I enjoyed as a kid and still do. I think about games quite a bit (when I'm busy or pulled away into other interests like music or movies). It's comforting that they'll be waiting for me for when I'm craving a couple quick games of "insert name of favorite retro game here".

I don't suppose anyone knows where there's a PDF of the manual for Eco Phantoms by any chance?

One thing to keep in mind about the controllers is that sometimes the controller is good but the chip that handles it is bad. I suppose you could try verifying this by seeing if multiple controllers exhibit the same symptoms on the same port. Here are some resources: http://colecovisionzone.com/page/coleco%20industries/tech.html http://www.atarihq.com/danb/files/CV-Tech.txt http://www.atarihq.com/danb/files/CV-Sound.txt http://www.atarihq.com/danb/files/colecovision.pdf

The info in the book, "Commodore: The Amiga Years" suggests that the launch pricing for the Amiga 1000 was fine in North America but too high in UK and Europe. North American specialty shops demanded as many Amiga 1000 computers as Commodore could manufacture. That and the above article suggest that for those who were shopping for a hardware-accelerated 'color Mac', the Amiga was a good deal. So even with the inflated manufacturing costs out of Japan, I agree that there was pricing flexibility to include more RAM as well as a hard drive controller (if not a hard drive too). The designers wanted more RAM from the get-go and Jay Miner wanted an expandable case more like the 2000 -- right out of the gate. He was also a big fan of the flicker fixer. Regardless, Commodore would still be relying on specialty shops since most computer retail chains were happy just selling PCs and Commodore had already alienated most of the large department store chains. Plus, the Amiga 1000 was too expensive for most department stores to consider as a product. Having the machine built for less would have certainly given them more margin so that they could possibly even offer it at a better price-point on the other side of the pond. As for the Amiga 500 -- I think it's actually a good design. It's remarkably expandable, despite its footprint. That and it fit the bill for what the European market wanted. The Amiga certainly did have two identities. And I also agree that if the goal was to make a serious computer, the monitor and a de-interlacer should have been mandatory.

The topic is "Amiga 1000 - Too Expensive at Introduction or not Priced High Enough?" with both a news article's perspective on the price point of the Amiga 1000 soon after launch, along with a quote from a non-journalist computer user. If you can't see the contextual relevance of that to the OP's post, then I'm sure I can recommend a good optometrist.

On Page 14 "It looks like CBM is lowering the price of the Amiga 1000, as the current model is known... now selling the system for $999 (US), $300 less than the original retail price. More incredibly, they are selling a packaged system consisting of the Amiga 1000, the RGB monitor and cable, the 256K RAM cartridge, and an Epson JX-80 colour printer with cable, all for $1195!" And on page 16 "'The Atari [sT] is a very good computer at a terrific price, while the Amiga is a terrific computer at a very good price.'"

Will a 5.25" DS/DD diskette drive from a Tandy 1000 work in a PCjr or did Tandy customize the floppy drive?

I also find it a bit painful to watch them draw conclusions when they haven't read the manuals yet. At the same time though, they really seem to be enjoying playing ColecoVision games. Maybe that enthusiasm will be infectious...

Congrats. That looks great! I guess it's a bit too late to send this (page 16): https://www.tpug.ca/tpug-media/tpugmag/TPUG_Issue_22_1986_Apr.pdf

This magazine has a pretty good write-up that really puts things into context. Pages 14 and 15: https://www.tpug.ca/tpug-media/tpugmag/TPUG_Issue_22_1986_Apr.pdf

I forgot to mention games.... Here are some that I really like: Games that are specific to the Color Computer 3: Space Quest II King's Quest IV Donkey Kong (Sockmaster arcade conversion) Pac-Man (512K) Rogue Gantelet II The following are Color Computer 2 games. Many will work on the CoCo 3. Most of the ones that don't have patched versions available with a bit of searching: Dungeons of Daggorath Time Bandit Lunchtime Cashman Cyrstle/Ice Castles Shock Trooper Tut's Tomb Dragon Slayer Buzzard Bait Calixto Island Trekboer Dallas Quest Galagon Rommel 3D Gantelet Demon Seed Color Car Gold Runner (Tom Mix) Hall of the King series Speed Racer Marble Maze Qiks (Spectral) Phantom Slayer Sailor Man Sam Diamond Varloc Trapfall Pooyan Astro Fighter F-16 (Diecom) Whirlybird Run Pitstop 2 Lunar-Rover Patrol Maui Vice Brew Master 3D Brickaway And just in case you're not used to RS-DOS disk commands, here's a quick command list with examples: https://www.blitter.com/~nebulous/coco.html There's a nice program called Disk Utility by Spectrum Projects that makes life easier. It's listed on the following two sites: ftp://outwestbbs.com/coco.-.color.co/COCOUTIL/00index.html%3Fext=on$jezytihg http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/coco/Disks/Utilities/

DriveWire is good for most things: https://www.frontiernet.net/~mmarlette/Cloud-9/Software/DriveWire3.html https://www.frontiernet.net/~mmarlette/Cloud-9/Hardware/Cables.html Then there's the CoCoFlash product. I find this one to be very difficult to load programs onto. So far, requests for real-world examples of how to get data onto this unit have gone unanswered for over a year. It does come with a manual, but it'll take some extensive digging and experimenting to get things working. At the very least though, it makes a good way to provide the CoCo 3 with the DOS that it needs so that it can more quickly make use of DriveWire (CoCoFlash includes DriveWire DOS pre-installed). I'm pretty sure there's also a dedicated cartridge out there that includes the DriveWire (HDB-DOS), so that's also an option. http://store.go4retro.com/cocoflash/ Another product (and one that I've heard a lot of good things about) is the CoCo SDC (not sure if it's still available though): http://www.cocowares.com/item.php?nombre=CoCo%20SDC And I'd highly recommend a joystick adapter so that you can use Atari and SEGA style controllers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/permalink/10154171148002641/ Additionally, here are some resources that you might enjoy: http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/coco/Documents/Manuals/Hardware/ https://archive.org/details/rainbowmagazine http://www.cocowares.com/search.php?Vendedor=Ed%20Snider

https://hothardware.com/news/commodore-amiga-revitalized-with-new-retro-hardware

Well, they used to (including the cut-out for the cartridge port. Not sure about today though. There's bound to be some previously-owned ones around somewhere. Aha! Found this listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/RadioShack-TRS-80-Micro-Computer-Plastic-Cover/142863900518?hash=item21435a1f66%3Ag%3A-JIAAOSwvrxbRrIA&_sacat=0&_nkw=trs-80+dust+cover&_from=R40&rt=nc&LH_TitleDesc=0%7C0

On the Amiga side -- they almost had that... but not quite. The Amiga 1200 and 4000 didn't have the non-interlaced true-color resolutions needed to compete with the PC. That and AGA was too slow.

First off, thanks for doing this. On a similar note, I happened to stumble across these articles recently: https://archive.org/stream/starlog_magazine-080/080#page/n37 https://archive.org/stream/starlog_magazine-081/081#page/n13

Vampire's Empire?

https://youtu.be/W-z1STXHho8?t=610

Atari - Major Havoc Taito - Front Line Nintendo - Donkey Kong Jr. Williams - Sinistar Exidy - Mousetrap Cinematronics - Space Wars (with Dragon's Lair most likely being their highest earner) Namco - Galaga Konami - Gyruss Nitchibtusu - Moon Cresta Gremlin - Carnival SEGA-Gremlin - Star Trek the strategic operations simulator SEGA - Zaxxon Bally/Midway - TRON Gottlieb - Q*Bert Universal - Mr. Do Stern - Frenzy