The first day of the CoCoFest is winding down. As forecast, the weather was bad but that’s bearable since the fest is indoors. I did rent a table so I could set stuff up. It was definitely worth it since it gave me somewhere to sit and chat with folks as well as tinker with my CoCo setup. Not to mention it helps support the ‘Fest.
There was a nice presentation about assembly language programming by Steve Bjork among other events today. There was a pretty momentous announcement as things got underway this morning. A new web site, coco4.com went online today, dedicated to development of a more advanced emulator for the CoCo3 as well as a hardware project to allow interfacing with real hardware via a USB port on the host computer. There is also talk of creating a portable version of the CoCo Basic with much expanded features that will run on pretty much any platform. That is a very cool project which I will be watching with interest.
I also discovered that the VCC Emulator now runs under Cedega which means I can play with it now. This is good since it means I’ll possibly be able to test the results of the coco4.com project as the VCC emulator is, as I understand things, the core of the project.
The whole gang went out for supper to a place called Alexander’s just across from the hotel where the ‘Fest is taking place. This was a significantly better experience than we had with Bennigans last year and the prices were quite reasonable. Anyone looking for a place to eat in Elgin should definitely consider Alexander’s.
I also scored a spare CM8 monitor for my CoCos and an old multipack interface which might prove useful at some point. Good thing I drive to these things or I’d never get that monitor home.
I’m just about to call it quits for the day, bailing on the jam session. The folks doing the musical entertainment are pretty good but I think it’s getting on to time for sleeping. Or maybe to watch the programs I downloaded. Or maybe a movie? I’ll figure that out after I sign out.