Tandy's Little Wonder (1993)(Farna Systems).pdf - TRS-80 Color ...

actually be ready until 1993!), Crystal City (classic spaceshoot ‘em up), and Zenix (similar to original space invaders,but much more action!). All of these games featured superiorgraphics, sound, and animation, especially when viewedon an RGB monitor. Burke&Burke had something new forOS-9 users- a speech synthesizer called Cyber Voicewhich used a SC-02 synthesizer chip.The December Rainbow has Lonnie squelching rumorsof the Rainbows demise. He states that "There is nointention, plan, idea, concept, or anything of the kind tocease publication of the Rainbow. I don’t know howthese rumors get started." Well, one way is the shrinkingsize and number of advertisers (still 98 pages, 47 advertisers).He reassured readers that there would be a Rainbow forsome time, and that there would be a spring 'fest in Chicago."Some time" was still two and a half years away... Manyreaders complained about no rack seller availability. Thiswas due to cutting back the number of rack sellers. Why?Rainbow actually took a LOSS on many single-issue salesdue to support of many locations that only sold a few copiesmonthly. Only those outlets with good sales would besupported from then on. Perfect time to save money and geta subscription! A new version of the Slot Pack, Slot Pack III,was introduced by Howard Medical. A hardware switchwas added to allow use of most ROM packs in slot 1, a legadded to support the pack, faster buffer chips used, and anexternal power supply became necessary, as the drawfrom the CoCo was just to much.If you have ever considered recording CoCo screens onvideo tape or using some of the CoCos abilities in yourhome movies, then do get a copy of the December 90 issue.An article by Mark Haverstock and Bill Wills shows how.An article by Andrew T. Boudreaux, Jr., tells how the NewOrleans CoCo Users Group made a show on the CoCothrough a local cable community access channel. Thegroup even used their CoCos for several required functionssuch as headers, title screens, and prompters. It’s here-CoCo TV! A new CoCo book was reviewed this month."Connecting CoCo to the Real World" was written byWilliam Barden, Jr., a Rainbow contributing editor. Thefocus was on connecting the CoCo, mainly through thejoystick ports, to many items. Projects included a burglaralarm and weather station. If one can find the book it is veryinteresting and the projects pretty easy to build. Unfortunately,Mr. Barden left the CoCo community shortly afterreleasing the book. Worse, he seems to have left on a sournote... or at least left some CoCo users who ordered his bookthat way. The author was one of several who ordered the bookand never received it, yet had their check cashed. Inquirieswere left unanswered. Luckily, few CoCo vendors, who relyon mail order, leave us in this manner... most are VERYreliable! Who would have thought this of Bill? If there wasextenuating circumstances unknown to us I apologize inadvance for including this here, but we who ordered were atleast due an explanation, and a refund. And sadly, yet anotheradvertiser falls out as the last Second City Software adappears. But take heart! They aren’t leaving the CoCo market,just moving operations and changing name to KalaSoftware. Unfortunately, Rainbow ads won’t be in the "new"companies' future any time soon.Hardly anyone noticed that the last Computer Island adappeared in the October ’90 issue of Rainbow. Nor that thelast article written by Steve Blyn (a contributing editorsince July 1982 with his Education Notes column) appearedin November. This was brought to their attention byLonnie Falk in the January 1991 issue. Steve wrote a verygood letter explaining that orders were slow and the operationwas winding down. Lonnie publicly thanked Steve andhis wife Cheryl for the many contributions to the CoCocommunity and wished them luck... from ALL of us! In thiscase, Lonnie definitely spoke for at least most longtimeRainbow readers. Well, at least there is some good news, asthe first ad from Rick's Computer Enterprises appears.Several programs are offered, but the most interesting isThe Rainbow Indexes, a database of all Rainbows since theoriginal and promised to be updated annually. Now if oneneeded to refer to an old article, simply boot the program andsearch! No more thumbing through the anniversary/indexissues! Thanks Rick, we needed something like this!Not all was doom and gloom in January! Zebra Systemsintroduced First Prize, an award certificate making programfor the CoCo 2 or 3. This useful program came on SIXdiskettes, complete with storage box! Like other Zebrasoftware, First Prize operated in an easy to use point andclick graphics environment. CoCoPRO! came through thefest with some leftover Japan scenery disks, Flight Sim II,OS-9 Level 2, and Marty’s Nightmare games. Those whodidn’t attend the fest were now able to purchase thesebargains. The IMS ads featured an interesting twist: an MM/1 could now be purchased as a kit (add your own case,keyboard, monitor, and drives) for $659, a savings of $120.One reason for the kit was delays in meeting FCC requirementsfor full systems, which was causing seriousdelivery delays. Many people who had made down paymentswere wondering if they would ever get anything! Kits couldbe sold without FCC certification. Delphi users wouldnotice lower rates in their ad ($6/hour), and also discoverthat Marty Goodman is the CoCo SIG manager! And whatis that on page 33? A System IV computer from DelmarCompany! I remember! This was a THIRD 68xxx based,OSK computer system which first came to light at theAtlanta CoCoFest, which was only fitting, since PeripheralTechnologies of Atlanta builds the boards! These machinesused a 16MHz 68000 chip and a PC/XT 8 bitexpansion bus. The PC/XT bus was used due to the availabilityof cheap expansion cards. A base model with four serialports, a parallel port, 1.4MB 3.5" floppy drive, 40MB harddrive, case, keyboard, OSK operating system, and monochromemonitor sold for $1399. Delmar sold completesystems, kits were available directly from PeripheralTandy's Little Wonder page 25