Making the TRS-80 CoCo 1 More Useful

In my last video, I shared the TRS-80 Color Computer 1 (CoCo 1) that I recently acquired. In this video, I will be sharing my progress with making this retro computer more useful with the addition of data storage.
Index
0:00 Intro
0:45 Selecting the cassette player
3:20 Making the interface cables
5:05 The results
8:06 CSAVE
8:52 CLOAD
12:00 Color Basic: Computer Face
13:10 SKIPF
15:15 Future of this CoCo 1
16:00 Wrap up

[@michaelstoliker971]

This is a generation of computers that I really enjoy. I mostly have Atari computers and a Commodore piece or two. I enjoy the all in one computer in a keyboard designs.

[@primal-bits4777]

Me too. I enjoyed the times before the majority of PCs were all Wintel boxes or Macs. There was such competition for the best home computer in those years and so much variety in systems.

[@Starchface]

Indeed. To me, the Golden Age of computing was from 1977 (Apple II, TRS-80, Commodore PET) until the dying days of the Amiga in the late '90s. It is to the Golden Age that I wish to return, and never come back. The home computers of that era were all different and mostly incompatible. That to me is what this so-called retro-computing is all about. If it's similar to today's PCs, I can hardly consider that retro or really exciting. That said, I think I have to allow for the original IBM PC. It was the first, and it did have a built-in BASIC interpreter so you could use the machine immediately. I cannot however include the PC-compatible sector. I know that others feel differently, but to me it's a snooze-fest. Sorry!

[@greenaum]

I think your storage solution might, by coincidence, be the same one that millions of other 8-bit users around the world used. We're not surprised by a tape recorder! Know your audience!

[@feetachemail]

Good luck. The Coco was a fun computer to play with. The Coco 1 with standard BASIC was severely limited. It wasn't until they released the Coco II with Extended BASIC that they started to be more than a toy. I was a writer for a couple of small market Coco magazines back in their heyday. They were great fun to play with and to hack into. They were reasonably sophisticated thanks to the 6809 CPU, but electronically simple enough that someone with a bit of skill and knowledge could get into them and mod them up. Especially the Coco III if you abandoned TRS-DOS and upgraded to OS9. The last one I had I'd upgraded to 512K, dual drives, a decent keyboard, composite video and other goodies.

[@primal-bits4777]

I’ll definitely be upgrading to ECB.

[@michaelturner4457]

I've got a Dragon 32 I still use. Which is like the Welsh equivalent of the Tandy TRS-80 Co-Co.

[@primal-bits4777]

Yes, I hear they are mostly compatible (same Motorola reference design I think), but I like the looks of the Dragon 32 better. The UK had such a cool variety of systems in the 8-bit era.

[@elyuw]

Great stuff. We had a Dragon 32 and somehow I never used the SKIP command, but I've just checked in the manual online and there it was.

[@gamesgonenuts]

this was amazing to see cool blast from the past smashed the like

[@Starchface]

I never enjoyed the cassette tape as a storage medium for files, due more to the sequential access than the speed. I was spoiled by the Apple IIs and their disk drives at school. That is quite the vintage Coco. It seems to be in perfect condition. It's nice that you're treating it with the respect it deserves. I had a Coco 3 in the '80s which I kept until 2001. At that time I was moving and I threw the Coco in the trash. It was a weird time for 8-bit micros-no longer of any real use, but not yet collectible. Most importantly, I was not trying to relive the glory days as I am today. I hope someone saved the Coco, but I doubt it.

[@primal-bits4777]

Oh I hear you. If only we knew back then how much we would regret getting rid of our obsolete computers. I had a Netronics Elf II with metal cabinet and super expansion board. I built it the summer before my senior year of HS back around 1979. I ended up selling it to a collector around 2002 and immediately regretted it. I’ll never be able to replace it now as they are insanely rare and expensive. At least I know it survived. Believe or not, it’s on display in a glass case in the lobby of a dentist office along with other early systems.

[@juliancumming6893]

This is a really well made video. Good job

[@primal-bits4777]

Thank you.

[@vanhetgoor]

Interesting! I never heard of the SKIP-command. It is only useful when you keep track of all the programmes stored on tape. I remember from the old day that the tape counter was used to find approximately the point where a programme was stored. But you need to make a list and write down the numbers of the tape counter. Simply nobody ever made a computer programme to do that, that was a lost opportunity.

[@primal-bits4777]

If you put a file name that doesn’t exist with SKIPF, it will output all of the file names on the tape as it searches. It will finally end with an error, but still stop the tape at the end of the data. The only issue with using it that way would be if you have large blank areas between program files.

[@bigbadhodad3894]

woo hoo like 100!!!

[@johndavis1465]

I think you can use a COCOSD as a floppy replacement.

[@MotownBatman]

Never had a Coco. I don't recall ever really using one, to be honest: had a TRS Model-III that didn't do anything as I didn't have any floppies lol... My dad finally ponied up for a 286 in '90 I did have a RadioShack Tape Recorder that looked Similar to this Sanyo: I even had the Matching 2 Pronged Microphone, I ran my own radio station on Cassette a Decade before I began DJing lol. Really Cool Sir!! New Sub: Dryden, Michigan

[@primal-bits4777]

That Model III would still be cool to have even without the disk drive. The big feature the Sanyo is missing that the Radio Shack one had is a tape counter.

[@atlanticx100]

That was my second computer!

[@primal-bits4777]

What was your first computer.

[@atlanticx100]

ZX 81@@primal-bits4777

[@primal-bits4777]

I did have the Timex/Sinclair 1000 branded version of that.

[@CBitsTech]

That SKIPF command is cool. I don't think we had that on BBC BASIC.

[@primal-bits4777]

It is handy. I use it with a non existent file name. Like SKIPF”END” Since it never finds a file named “END”, it just goes to the end of the data.

[@CBitsTech]

@@primal-bits4777 How does it know it's at the end?

[@primal-bits4777]

I believe SKIPF reads all of the file headers (and displays the file names as they are encountered) and stops the tape when no more headers are encountered, AND no more data tones are picked up. If it hasn’t found the specified file by this point, it displays an error message, stops at the end of the data.

[@brianwieseler5938]

Nice video. The reason it cut the file name is that it can only be eight characters long. Also when you go to load the program back from tape you can just type CLOAD and hit enter. It will load the first program on the tape. If you have multiple programs you can enter the file name and it will keep going until it finds the program then loads it. The first is just a shortcut.

[@primal-bits4777]

Thanks. Good tip on the shortcut.