Keneg Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 I just acquired a Tandy 64k Color Computer 2. It was listed on eBay as untested, so I figured it was a gamble. The price was good, so I gambled. Turns out it works! The display is actually better than I expected for RF. I am thinking my next step is to get a coco SBC. Is that what you would suggest as my first add on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keneg Posted December 15, 2021 Author Share Posted December 15, 2021 Also, I need good resources on programming the machine in a variety of languages. I will first use extended BASIC, but then would like to try some others, FORTH, Pascal, assembly, etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDave Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 Check "retro rewind" for a coco sdc.. its a great device, which model of coco2 do you have ? There is alot you can do with it.. welcome to the club Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keneg Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 Thank you. I have ordered one from Zippster because Retro Rewind was out of stock. Just can’t do much with the machine until I get the cocoSDC. Mine is the one that in TANDY branded without the TRS-80 logo. It is the 64k version with extended BASIC 1.1 and reverse instead of lower case letters. I’m not sure if I should consider upgrading the ROM or not. I may eventually look at getting the composite mod, but the video isn’t bad for RF. I think the composite output on my TI-99/4a is worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 On 12/15/2021 at 12:59 AM, Keneg said: Also, I need good resources on programming the machine in a variety of languages. I will first use extended BASIC, but then would like to try some others, FORTH, Pascal, assembly, etc. I am unaware of an implementation of Forth on the Coco. If it exists, it is really obscure. There are several versions of Pascal, but all of them require a disk system. Given that the Coco has < 1 mhz. 6809, compiled languages are not going to have great performance. The EDTASM+ cartridge is the gold standard. The editor, assembler, and debugger are all combined together in one package; it is as close to an IDE as you will find on the Coco. The obvious drawback is the inability to save files to disk without some serious ROM hacking -- Rainbow magazine published a long series on this BITD. Other assemblers exist, but I am not familiar with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDave Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 I use disk edtasm ++ on my coco3 emulator Vcc .. to write assembly programs, then just transfer it to the sdc card to run on the coco2..you can even put a 6309 cpu in your coco2 for better performance and better machine language programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDave Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 Here is an example where i took code from assembler and added it to my basic program on coco2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keneg Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 Thanks MrDave. Where can I get EDTASM ++. Also, why can’t this be run on the native machine with a cocoSDC? Is it that you can not save you work. That seems very strange. What good is an assembler that can’t save it’s work! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDave Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 Here is an example where i took code from assembler and added it to my basic program on coco2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDave Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 5 hours ago, Keneg said: Thanks MrDave. Where can I get EDTASM ++. Also, why can’t this be run on the native machine with a cocoSDC? Is it that you can not save you work. That seems very strange. What good is an assembler that can’t save it’s work! Here is an example where i took code from assembler and added it to my basic program on coco2 I was demonstrating putting code in basic.. I like the wide screen of coco3 edtasm.. You can get most programs at the color computer archive ... yes you can save on the coco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keneg Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 Good, I may use the emulator a little while waiting for my cocoSDC to arrive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDave Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 Xroar is great for coco2 and now even c oco3. , vcc is good for coco3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keneg Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 1 hour ago, MrDave said: Xroar is great for coco2 and now even c oco3. , vcc is good for coco3 I downloaded roar, but it doesn’t seem to work. Do I need to download ROMs or something else. I just get a garbled screen and can’t type anything. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 On 12/14/2021 at 8:59 PM, Keneg said: Also, I need good resources on programming the machine in a variety of languages. I will first use extended BASIC, but then would like to try some others, FORTH, Pascal, assembly, etc. M. David Johnson, whom I just met at CoCoFEST! a month ago in November, designed a FORTH OS for the CoCo.. CF83 System - CF83 is a 1983 Standard Forth for the CoCo 2 or 3. http://bds-soft.com/php/coco/CF83System.php CF83 Development http://bds-soft.com/php/coco/CF83Development.php PASCAL is available under the OS9 Operating Systems, but the CoCo 2 can only run, OS9, Level I.. Assembly is available, natively, with EDTASM, which has Modern Extensions, ( EdTASM6309 ), available from Robert Gault on the CoCo Mailing List or Facebook. The CF83 Forth also uses EDTASM. https://colorcomputerarchive.com/search?q=EDTASM http://aaronwolfe.com/robert.gault/Coco/Sales/Edtasm6309.htm There are Cross Platform Assemblers, including my favorite, LWASM, from William "lostwizard" Astle. http://www.lwtools.ca/ There are a Couple 'C' Compilers... Cross Platform. A GCC "patch" and CMOC, which is "not quite 'C'", but getting "Very Close" ( CMOC relies on LWASM ), and the 'C' Compiler in OS9. GCC ( I use Brett Gordon's instructions for FIP ) https://raw.githubusercontent.com/beretta42/fip/master/docs/build_fuzix.txt CMOC http://sarrazip.com/dev/cmoc.html General Programming Help can be found here: https://sites.google.com/a/aaronwolfe.com/cococoding/home/tools And, Quite a few of us, Hang Out on a Discord Server for the Color Computer. http://discord.cocotalk.live/ MarkO ( CoCoNUT! and CoCoTALK!er ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 1 hour ago, Keneg said: I downloaded roar, but it doesn’t seem to work. Do I need to download ROMs or something else. I just get a garbled screen and can’t type anything. Yes, XRoar ships with No ROMs.. https://colorcomputerarchive.com/repo/ROMs/XRoar/ Also, the CoCo 3 support was just recently added.... https://colorcomputerarchive.com/repo/ROMs/ Ciaran is a Great Guy and even appears on CoCoTALK!, like last week.. MarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 11 hours ago, Keneg said: Thanks MrDave. Where can I get EDTASM ++. Also, why can’t this be run on the native machine with a cocoSDC? Is it that you can not save you work. That seems very strange. What good is an assembler that can’t save it’s work! The "orginal" EDTASM is a Cartridge, and can Only Save to Tape, unless you Patch It.. Later EDTASM was released on Disk... This is the Version that can be Updated with Robert Gault's 6309 Patch.. MarkO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keneg Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 @MarkO thanks for the replies. That gives me a lot to investigate. I plan to download some ROMs to get roar working today. Then I can look at some of your suggestions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keneg Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 I have xroar up and running. I can use disk images, but cannot figure out how to use cartridge files (ccc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 16 minutes ago, Keneg said: I have xroar up and running. I can use disk images, but cannot figure out how to use cartridge files (ccc). The Disk System is a Cartridge, just like the Game Carts... You Insert it. ( I’m very rusty with XRoar.. I use VCC and MAME a lot more.. ) ill check the Manual.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 27 minutes ago, Keneg said: I have xroar up and running. I can use disk images, but cannot figure out how to use cartridge files (ccc). Are you using the MPI or RACE to get more Cart Slots? MarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keneg Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 18 minutes ago, MarkO said: Are you using the MPI or RACE to get more Cart Slots? MarkO No. Are you saying that you choose the cartridge as disk 1? I don’t think the ccc files even show up as an option to choose. The manual isn’t helping much. Maybe I’m just no smart enough, but when I tried defining a cartridge in the config file, it didn’t work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keneg Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 I figured it out. You “Run” a cartridge file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KG7PFS Posted December 23, 2021 Share Posted December 23, 2021 On 12/16/2021 at 4:55 AM, jhd said: I am unaware of an implementation of Forth on the Coco. If it exists, it is really obscure. colorcomputerarchive.com/repo/Disks/Programming At least two versions, one for OS-9. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keneg Posted December 25, 2021 Author Share Posted December 25, 2021 Christmas came a little early. Yesterday I got a tape deck to use. Today I got the tape cable from another board member and … my cocoSDC arrived! Probably be a few days before I can play with the new toys though. one thing getting the tape deck did though was point me towards what might be wrong with my TI deck. I had tried to save and reload a BASIC program using it with no luck, but the new tape deck loaded it several times just fine. The sound when trying to load from the TI deck is low and staticy I am thinking capacitors or transistors. The recording circuits must be good as well as the head alignment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDave Posted December 25, 2021 Share Posted December 25, 2021 There is a one shot sdc image on the color computer archive to fill your sdc witjout doing a few hundred loads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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