Coco 3 - Big Lot with Lots of Stuff

[Midnight Synergy]

Tandy Coco 3

 

I picked up a huge Tandy Coco 3 setup at a local sale with the intention to play around with it, but it’s a bit overwhelming and not really my cup of tea. I plan to sell this, but before putting parts (or the whole lot) on eBay, I thought I would list what I have found here. If you are a Coco collector, or are looking for what looks like a pretty good setup, please let me know.

 

A few notes:

 

1) I didn’t know anything about the Coco 3, and just found a bit more about it recently (including that the Dragon 32 was a Coco clone - that was a computer I did at least hear about). I will describe what I see and how I tested as best as possible, but this is coming from the perspective of an non-expert of the Coco world.

 

2) If you are interested, please keep in mind that shipping will be expensive on the heavier items (in particular some books and the disk drive are quite hefty). If you want the whole lot, we might want to look into surface transportation.

 

3) I’d be very interested in hearing opinions on the lot. Anything rare, of value? It looks like a lot of interesting stuff, but again, I’m not a Coco person. (Coco-nut?)

 

 

First of all, here’s what I have. (in order of pictures)

 

* Coco 3 128K system (slight yellowing, but it doesn’t look bad to me... again, this is the first Coco I’ve ever seen). Tested on a TV using an RF cable - looks fine to me (usual RF interference).

 

* Disk drive FD 501 with FD 502 cartridge

 

* Two joysticks (one still in box with styrofoam and manual), mouse, high-speed joystick interface.

 

* 7 game cartridges, all but one CIB: Shanghai, Springster, Football II, Math Tutor, Malcom Mortar, Downland, Castle of Tharoggad, Dungeons of Daggorath (manual only)

 

* 9 game disks, all CIB: Mickey’s Space Advneture, Microscopic Mission (Activision), Donald Duck’s Playground, Rescue on Fractalus (box not in great shape), Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego (very heavy book included), Sub Battle Simulator (Epyx), FlightSim I, Cave Walker, Color Computer Artist.

 

* DeskMate 3 CIB (4 disks) and an additional User’s Reference book.

 

* Various Loose Disks: Trvia Fever (with manual, wheel), The Dallas Quest (with manual), Biosphere (with manual), Speed Racer (with manual), Borland Turbo C, Borland Turbo Pascal, Borland Turbo Debugger, Max Edit, MS DOS GW Basic, MS DOS Supplemental Programs.

 

* Coco Manuals and reference cards (both French and English versions)

 

* Rainbow Disk magazine. Several dozen editions, all with “manual”.

 

* Modem DCM-3 with manual, Serial to Parallel Interace.

 

* Two stacks of 5-1/4" disks, games, utilities, various (all copies).

 

Here’s what I’ve tested:

 

* Tried several cartridge games, all work fine: Springster, Shanghai (also tested mouse with this one, works!), Dugneons of Daggorath.

 

* Tested several disk games. This was iffier. Of about ten disks tested, half gave me either an IO error or - when going to OS9 - got stuck in an endless loop or gave me a boot error. Several other games did work (including the copied versions of Wishbringer (Infocom), Pitstop II (Epyx) and Robot Oddysey (Learning Company)). Rescue on Fractalus didn’t work (IO error). If you want me to test a specific game, let me know. Given that there was some success, I don’t know if the issue is a bad (or de-justified) drive or bad disks, or a combination of both.

 

And that’s it. It was neat for me to see a glimpse of what this computer was all about, but I really can’t justify keeping this in my collection.

 

Questions, comments, offers of huge amounts of cash, are all welcome!

[Midnight Synergy]

Pictures:

 

[Midnight Synergy]

And some pics of the beast in action:

 

[+thanatos]

The CoCo itself is probably about $30-40, the disk controller and drives could probably fetch more than that. That serial to parallel converter is probably worth another $30.

 

The market for games isn't that big, so probably a couple bucks each. You do have the best CoCo game ever, Dungeons of Daggorath.

[Midnight Synergy]

The CoCo itself is probably about $30-40, the disk controller and drives could probably fetch more than that. That serial to parallel converter is probably worth another $30.

 

The market for games isn't that big, so probably a couple bucks each. You do have the best CoCo game ever, Dungeons of Daggorath.

 

Hi, and thanks for the info. I did have a quick play of Dungeons of Daggorath, but didn't really know what I was doing. I'll give it another go before (hopefully) finding a new home for it.

 

It's a strange system - the mix of the different colour scheme versions (?), two different OS setups, software spanning almost a decade... I can see why some people would really get into it.

[+thanatos]

The CoCo itself is probably about $30-40, the disk controller and drives could probably fetch more than that. That serial to parallel converter is probably worth another $30.

 

The market for games isn't that big, so probably a couple bucks each. You do have the best CoCo game ever, Dungeons of Daggorath.

 

Hi, and thanks for the info. I did have a quick play of Dungeons of Daggorath, but didn't really know what I was doing. I'll give it another go before (hopefully) finding a new home for it.

 

It's a strange system - the mix of the different colour scheme versions (?), two different OS setups, software spanning almost a decade... I can see why some people would really get into it.

 

The two different schemes are because the CoCo 3 is backwards compatible with the 1 and 2. The CoCo 3 introduced a 16 color mode with a 256 color pallete, while the coco 1 and 2 used the red and blue artifact color modes.

 

OS9 is an awesome operating system, it was way ahead of it's time compared to Microsoft's offerings. It would have been sweet if an X86 version had become popular.

 

(Yes, I was a CoCo nut, obviously)

 

I sent a link to this post on the CoCo mailing list, figured someone there might want something.

Edited June 25, 2010 by thanatos

[AtariLeaf]

Yes the disk drives will garner the most attention from collectors. They're much harder to find in good working condition. The Coco 3 itself is probably around the $35 to $40 tops and I say that because a refurbished non-yellowed, and fully tested unit can be had for $50 from Cloud9tech.

 

Amazing lot. I wish I would have found that. I love the coco. Incredible system

[briza]

Yes the disk drives will garner the most attention from collectors. They're much harder to find in good working condition. The Coco 3 itself is probably around the $35 to $40 tops and I say that because a refurbished non-yellowed, and fully tested unit can be had for $50 from Cloud9tech.

 

Amazing lot. I wish I would have found that. I love the coco. Incredible system

 

Hi guys.

 

Yeah I agree with Atarileaf. The Disk drive setup will garner most attention etc. Plus the Printer parallel pack will also fetch some good money. If you were here in Aus. The coco 3 unit would get a good price as with the NTSC 256 color artifact mode is something Pal units do not have.

But what I'm more interested in knowing is what is on the 3 stacks off floppy disks mentioned. I'm hoping it contains some games I'm after.

I do think it was a good find at the thrifty shop well done Midnight Synergy. Shame you are not interested in playing around with it mate. You may end up liking the untapped potential in the coco 3.

 

laters

 

Briza

[Midnight Synergy]

Thanks for the replies so far - Just heads up (also regarding those who pm'ed me) that I'll likely have to be offline for the weekend, in case you have questions and wonder why I don't get back to you asap.

 

I sent a link to this post on the CoCo mailing list, figured someone there might want something.

 

Many thanks for doing that!

 

But what I'm more interested in knowing is what is on the 3 stacks off floppy disks mentioned. I'm hoping it contains some games I'm after.

 

Many were unlabeled (or just labeled "Games 3", "Games 4", etc), but I'll dig through them again (likely not until monday) to give you the list. Off the top of my head I only remember Koronis Rift (and the ones I mentioned above).

 

I do think it was a good find at the thrifty shop well done Midnight Synergy. Shame you are not interested in playing around with it mate. You may end up liking the untapped potential in the coco 3.

 

I enjoyed the time I had with it. But it's just a matter of space and keeping my collection slightly less insane (and my better half slightly more happy).

[Midnight Synergy]

Just FYI: Coco (the whole lot) has found a new owner and will be on its way to its new home tomorrow morning.

 

Thanatos, many thanks for pointing out Dungeons of Daggorath again to me. I had another play with it and read up on it a little before packing everything up, it`s a neat game with an interesting history... once you figure out how to light that torch. The 3D is surprisingly good for the time (I didn`t expect the turn "animation" or the monster graphics). This is one thing I really like about this hobby - how one keeps finding out interesting things games you never head of before.

 

 

Cheers all!

[Midnight Synergy]

(double post)

Edited June 29, 2010 by Midnight Synergy

[+thanatos]

Just FYI: Coco (the whole lot) has found a new owner and will be on its way to its new home tomorrow morning.

 

Thanatos, many thanks for pointing out Dungeons of Daggorath again to me. I had another play with it and read up on it a little before packing everything up, it`s a neat game with an interesting history... once you figure out how to light that torch. The 3D is surprisingly good for the time (I didn`t expect the turn "animation" or the monster graphics). This is one thing I really like about this hobby - how one keeps finding out interesting things games you never head of before.

 

 

Cheers all!

 

That's awesome, glad it found a good home.

 

I remember Radio Shack would have the cartridge on the store computer for a demo, which was totally useless, since without knowing the commands you couldn't see the potential of the game. Basically repeating of the blank screen until the heart beats too fast, and then the game restarts. It didn't look like much of a demo.

 

Wikipedia's articles are competing, granting both 3D Monster Maze for the ZX-81 and Daggorath the 'first' 3D home computer title. But Daggorath blows the other one away.

 

Don't worry about getting rid of the CoCo, just get the Windows version... http://mspencer.net/daggorath/dodpcp.html

[+thegoldenband]

I remember Radio Shack would have the cartridge on the store computer for a demo, which was totally useless, since without knowing the commands you couldn't see the potential of the game. Basically repeating of the blank screen until the heart beats too fast, and then the game restarts. It didn't look like much of a demo.

There's an attract mode, isn't there? I'm pretty sure that on a fresh restart, the computer will run through the maze (including lighting the torch) for a minute or two. However, IIRC, the attract mode doesn't kick in after you lose -- I think the game just restarts, as you say -- which was indeed a mistake in retrospect.

 

Still a mindblowing game, by the way. Play it in a silent room at night, and jump out of your own skin when a Scorpion or Wraith sneaks up on you. I think it looks a lot better with the artifact colors giving everything a prismatic edge, though the designer(s) didn't intend it that way.

[Midnight Synergy]

The attract mode was the only thing that allowed me to figure out how to light the torch, even the instruction manual didn't help me there... this must be the only text-based game that I know of that has an attract mode.

[Gamemoose]

I never could get far in that game. Got frustrated when my poor protagonist would get winded and I get trounced. I remember there were even abbreviations for commands as everything happened in real time. I think "A L" was Attack Left, so you'd whack whatever creature there was in front of you with whatever you had in that hand. Many times my torch got used instead of the weapon.

 

Glad that CoCo found a home. It gets dissed by many but it's got a charm all its own.

[+thegoldenband]

Yep, my fingers flew over the keyboard whenever I'd get mobbed or surprised by tough enemies. Eventually I realized it was a lot faster to keep my sword in my right hand, since typing "A R", or A-Space-R-Enter, uses both hands equally. I still remember the rhythm I'd get into when landing three or four hits before running like hell.

 

I think we got Daggorath in 1984 or 1985, but I only beat it years later, in the early 1990s, when I finally got the wherewithal to use the cassette deck to save my game so I didn't always have to start from scratch. (I think maybe I'd tried doing so before, and the savegame had crapped out on me.) Too many times I'd gotten cut down on Level 4, which is easily the most dangerous level in the game since you lose almost all your stuff and are surrounded by extremely powerful, fast-moving monsters.

 

I still have the first couple levels of that game committed to memory. P L T, U L, P R SW, M, M, T L, M M M, and wait for the 4 stone giants and 2 blobs to come your way -- and that a few snakes visit first so you can get a replacement torch, or some items to distract your foes...

 

What a great game! Definitely one of the CoCo's two or three best, and arguably one of the top 20 or so computer games of its generation.

Edited June 30, 2010 by thegoldenband

[tjb]

Wow, for a system with such a seemingly bad rep there seems to be quite a few people with fond memories of it...

 

tjb

[AtariLeaf]

Wow, for a system with such a seemingly bad rep there seems to be quite a few people with fond memories of it...

 

tjb

 

Not sure where or how it got a bad rep. It was just not as popular as other computers at the time such as the C64 but it was a very capable little machine with a very loyal following. Very underrated machine IMO and in the last few years some really spectacular things have been accomplished with the Coco 3.

[+thegoldenband]

Not sure where or how it got a bad rep. It was just not as popular as other computers at the time such as the C64 but it was a very capable little machine with a very loyal following. Very underrated machine IMO and in the last few years some really spectacular things have been accomplished with the Coco 3.

I have to admit that when I got my first C64 not long ago, and realized that the machine had hardware sprite support, I felt pretty jealous...and wondered whether I might've become more of a programmer, had I had access to a machine like that as a kid. I tried to write games on my CoCo 2, but it was simply too daunting a task without some sort of "gimme" (pun intended!) to help me along. Similarly, I might've written a lot more music on it, but it took a lot of knowhow to get more than one note out of the thing at once, at least in BASIC.

 

The CoCo was definitely hurt to some extent by the fact that it didn't really have any of those subsidiary chipsets to speak of. But it's also an extremely flexible machine for programmers, who can squeeze all kinds of unforeseen capabilities out of it in part because it's not "hard-wired" to do certain expected things. In a weird way, it reminds me of the Atari 2600. But like the VCS, you have to have some serious chops to get to that point.

Edited July 1, 2010 by thegoldenband