Charlie_ Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Over the weekend I took my old TRS-80 coco 1 and gave it a new paint job. It had the factory gray paint worn off in various spots and was looking rather ugly. I used spray paint, Rust-Oleum "Dark Steel" and then clear coated. Its not an exact match, but I think it looks really nice. It didn't come out perfect either... When I went to super glue the logo back on a dropped some glue on the front... but over all I think it looks very nice. Wanted to share / show it off. Untitled by CharliePel, on Flickr 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Putting an awesome copy of Magician Lord in view worked. I didn't notice the super glue mistake on whatever that other thing is.. the coocoo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 looks sharp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Suh-weet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMaddog Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 That's my childhood right there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Would the superglue "mistake" be near the right/bottom of the spacebar area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raskar42 Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 coco is hot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted October 23, 2013 Author Share Posted October 23, 2013 Would the superglue "mistake" be near the right/bottom of the spacebar area? Yeah... about straight down from the clear key. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 That's my childhood right there... Mine too. Except that back then, we shortened "TRS" to "C," and spelled "80" like "64." Nice job, though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 (edited) That looks amazing!My 64K Color Computer 1 could use a paint job like this. It also needs a new VDP since mine displays green/pink in the PMODE4/artifact color palette instead of blue/orange. My CoCo 2 and CoCo 3 are pretty minty though, although one of my wife's asshole cats peed on my 3's keyboard a little. Much disassembly/soaking/scrubbing/deodorizing later, the smell is MOSTLY gone...EDIT: I forgot I was going to ask, what did you do for the port labels on the back? Did you cover them up or just paint over them? Edited October 24, 2013 by BassGuitari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Very nice and Draconian is an excellent Bosconian clone. The one thing I wish I had was the disk drives but they go for an arm and a leg online and with drivewire, I just can't justify the cost. I'm in the process of trying to order another coco 3 from cloud9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 That looks amazing! My 64K Color Computer 1 could use a paint job like this. It also needs a new VDP since mine displays green/pink in the PMODE4/artifact color palette instead of blue/orange. My CoCo 2 and CoCo 3 are pretty minty though, although one of my wife's asshole cats peed on my 3's keyboard a little. Much disassembly/soaking/scrubbing/deodorizing later, the smell is MOSTLY gone... EDIT: I forgot I was going to ask, what did you do for the port labels on the back? Did you cover them up or just paint over them? It might not be the VDP. I *think* the graphics mode pins are set through the SAM chip so you could try reseating both. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 It might not be the VDP. I *think* the graphics mode pins are set through the SAM chip so you could try reseating both. Thanks for the advice, I'll have to try that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted October 25, 2013 Author Share Posted October 25, 2013 That looks amazing! My 64K Color Computer 1 could use a paint job like this. It also needs a new VDP since mine displays green/pink in the PMODE4/artifact color palette instead of blue/orange. My CoCo 2 and CoCo 3 are pretty minty though, although one of my wife's asshole cats peed on my 3's keyboard a little. Much disassembly/soaking/scrubbing/deodorizing later, the smell is MOSTLY gone... EDIT: I forgot I was going to ask, what did you do for the port labels on the back? Did you cover them up or just paint over them? I just covered them because they are only painted on words... Every coco 1 I ever played with shows pink and green on some tvs. I think its normal. Coco 2 & 3 doesn't do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 Every coco 1 I ever played with shows pink and green on some tvs. I think its normal. Coco 2 & 3 doesn't do that. Do you think the CoCo 1 is just picky about the kind of TV it wants to correctly display PMODE4 on? I was just playing Arkanoid on my CoCo1 last week on a newish (~9 or 10 years old) 27" CRT television, and part of the screen looked normal, while the other part had the green and pink going on. I tried giving my CoCo 1 its own TV and changing the tint, but I couldn't get the PMODE4 colors close without screwing up the other palettes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 Do you think the CoCo 1 is just picky about the kind of TV it wants to correctly display PMODE4 on? I was just playing Arkanoid on my CoCo1 last week on a newish (~9 or 10 years old) 27" CRT television, and part of the screen looked normal, while the other part had the green and pink going on. I tried giving my CoCo 1 its own TV and changing the tint, but I couldn't get the PMODE4 colors close without screwing up the other palettes. It might be a setting in the RF modulator. There are several pots that could be adjusted. My composite adapter on my CoCo 1 looked great so the video is ok at the output of the chip that converts the signal from the 6847 output. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted October 26, 2013 Author Share Posted October 26, 2013 Do you think the CoCo 1 is just picky about the kind of TV it wants to correctly display PMODE4 on? I was just playing Arkanoid on my CoCo1 last week on a newish (~9 or 10 years old) 27" CRT television, and part of the screen looked normal, while the other part had the green and pink going on. I tried giving my CoCo 1 its own TV and changing the tint, but I couldn't get the PMODE4 colors close without screwing up the other palettes. I have noticed on some TV's including LCD TV's you can get blue / orange, but when you press reset to attempt to reverse the colors they go pink / green. If not pink / green I get one set of blue / orange but trying to reverse it makes the picture black and white. I tried both my coco 1's on 6 different VCR's of various brands so I could plug the VCR into a C= monitor and all I got was black and white during artifact color display. Using a coco 2 in all the same TV's and VCR's worked just as it is supposed to. Both of my grey coco's are "F" board models, 64K, I think that is the last model coco 1 before the 2. Of course on some TV's, like the Hitachi in the picture, the coco 1's work just fine with blue / orange or orange / blue 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 (edited) pink/green artifact colors sounds like PAL colours although I think I remember reading some of the F boards exhibit some weird and flaky behavior. There was also the rare white coco 1 but can't remember if that was an F board or G? Edited October 26, 2013 by AtariLeaf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted October 27, 2013 Author Share Posted October 27, 2013 The pink / green is the same pink / green the apple II displays along with the blue / orange. So definitely not a PAL thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 My F-board Coco I (purchased ca. June 1983) would alternate between pink/green and blue/orange artifact colours every time I hit the reset switch. At least one game (Buzzard Bait?; some Joust clone) started with a full-screen of a solid colour, and the instructions stated to keep resetting until it was the "correct" colour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 (edited) My F-board Coco I (purchased ca. June 1983) would alternate between pink/green and blue/orange artifact colours every time I hit the reset switch. At least one game (Buzzard Bait?; some Joust clone) started with a full-screen of a solid colour, and the instructions stated to keep resetting until it was the "correct" colour. Actually, only the CoCo3 keeps the same artifact colors on reset and to reverse them you have to hold down a key (ctrl?) when you hit reset. This is a function of the 6847. The chip was designed to time off of the clock signal change and it's random at startup whether it times off of the rising or falling edge of the clock signal. This alters the timing of the output and NTSC changes the artifact colors as a result. The GIME chip in the CoCo3 was designed so that this was software selectable and the startup key read is to set the mode to accommodate old software. I misread the original comment about artifacts and thought he was talking about the text screen. Du-Oh! On the CoCo 1/2, hitting reset, resets the 6847 so it will randomly pick which clock edge to use and you just have to reset until it comes up correct for the game you are playing. The game should come up with a solid color at startup and you reset until it's the right color for that game. I think most games picked red but I know a few used blue so you just have to try the game to find out if it doesn't have text on the startup screen with instructions. Edited October 28, 2013 by JamesD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 I think you hold down F1 on a coco 3 when you hit reset IIRC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr SQL Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 I always liked the feature that you could switch to an alternate atifact colourset; much like the BW switch changing the colourset on the 2600. Add that additional artifact colours and shades were often constructed using dithering patterns and the games really took on a different look when you toggled the palette switch. And toggling that switch was a different experience; it was a maybe switch, a perhaps gate. You might have to try 3, 4 or a dozen times before it would engage! The BW switch on my Vader sticks and must be thrown repeatedly, kind of reminds me of this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dripfree Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 I like your Hitachi TV/Monitor. I picked the same one up for a couple bucks at a thrift store. I use a 1702 for my vintage computers but I use the Hitachi for my consoles just cuz Its nice to have an coax option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted October 30, 2013 Author Share Posted October 30, 2013 I like your Hitachi TV/Monitor. I picked the same one up for a couple bucks at a thrift store. I use a 1702 for my vintage computers but I use the Hitachi for my consoles just cuz Its nice to have an coax option. I got mine at a goodwill. It was only a few bucks... less than $10. It is a great monitor with clean RF picture too.. I use it over my 1702 because I like the softer picture. I always find the 1702 to be overly sharp with anything other than the C64. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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