Monitor riser recommendations?

[cwilkson]

I'm digging my Coco 3 out of mothballs and I'll need a monitor stand.  Any recommendations on commercially available risers?

(I could build something but I'm not interested in doing that at this point.)  Also I already have too many desks.  I just want to add a riser to one of those.

 

I'll be running a Coco 3 with Multipak and a dual RS floppy.  And probably a cassette drive (CR-83, IIRC).  I found a CM-8 that is supposed to work, but I haven't tested it yet.  Otherwise I'll use a RGB PVM or a C= composite monitor -> same size as the CM-8.  Ideally, there would be room for the CM-8 and floppy/tape stack on the riser with the Coco underneath.  Multipak could sit under or extend out the side would be better.  But that makes the front-right riser leg awkward.

 

Any ideas?  What are other people using?

 

[Turbo-Torch]

Check out the Allsop stands on Amazon.  

I bought the large one for my 1000 EX and it's similar in size to what Radio Shack used to sell.  It was important to have the open sides for power switch, joystick ports and disk drive access.

There's also a Jr. model which the smaller CoCo may fit under, but I think any color monitor would be too big on top of it.

Large is currently $27 bucks.

 

 

Edited August 16, 2022 by Turbo-Torch

[cwilkson]

18 hours ago, Turbo-Torch said:

Check out the Allsop stands on Amazon.  

I bought the large one for my 1000 EX and it's similar in size to what Radio Shack used to sell.  It was important to have the open sides for power switch, joystick ports and disk drive access.

There's also a Jr. model which the smaller CoCo may fit under, but I think any color monitor would be too big on top of it.

Large is currently $27 bucks.

Thanks.  I saw that one.  I need to plug in a multipak, so that right-side foot would be in the way.  This is what the setup would look like.  (not my image)

Multipak plugs directly into the cartridge port.

 

 

How much vertical clearance is there between the foot and the shelf?  If I raise the Coco/Multipak combo above that foot is there enough room still?

 

I was also looking at the Metal Art Ergo 3 stand.  I'm thinking it might work.  Gotta take measurements at home.

 

 

 

Edited August 16, 2022 by cwilkson

[Turbo-Torch]

The tubing is ½" diameter.  From the top of the bottom tube to the bottom of the upper tube is about 4".  From the desk surface to the upper tube is 4½".

 

So if you raised the computer and multipak to clear that bottom leg/tube, you'd have about 4" clearance.

 

The Radio Shack stand used flat bar stock, so probably a ¼".  I doubt RS ever had the multipak in mind for their stand either.  I was thinking maybe you could flatten the ½" tubing in a vice, but then you'd have a weak spot and a color CRT would probably collapse it.

 

If you want to keep the computer partially under the stand, that 4 leg unit will be awkward.  Most of the keyboard will be trapped under it when the multipak is in place.  I can slide the EX towards me for comfortable typing and slide it back under the stand when done.

[cwilkson]

On 8/16/2022 at 6:45 PM, Turbo-Torch said:

If you want to keep the computer partially under the stand, that 4 leg unit will be awkward.  Most of the keyboard will be trapped under it when the multipak is in place.  I can slide the EX towards me for comfortable typing and slide it back under the stand when done.

I got the Metal Art Ergo 3 stand.  It arrived today.  Everything fits under it nicely but as you said, the keyboard is largely under the stand.  Not a huge problem, but now I'm sitting 4" from the monitor to type

There is however enough room on the desk front to back to put the stand behind the computer.  The monitor is raised 6" so it's at a nice level.  I'll post pictures soon.

 

My Coco 3 and the CM-8 fired right up.  Nice!  And the Multipak Interface is working too.

 

One of my FD-501 controllers is recognized (power up shows Disk ECB 2.1); the other FD-501 is not recognized.  Maybe dirty edges connector?  I'll attack that problem tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

The real problem is my old diskettes don't work.  (or the drives, or the controller, or....???)  I tried 7 different disks - a mix of commercial originals, my backup copies, and home grown disks.  They all fail to read.

 

DSKINI0...........................takes about 30 seconds or a minute or so and returns to the OK prompt.  (with no reported errors).

DIR..................................returns an empty directory.  But no errors.  This is on data and games disks and on a newly formatted disk.

DOS.................................(to boot an OS-9 game like Carmen Sandiego) hangs with some gibberish.

RUN "game name"..............returns with an NE? error.  E.g. RUN "DALLAS" to run Dallas Quest.

 

I've tried with my original RS FD-501 drive with it's original matching controller and with the dual drives that I bought from usenet 30 years ago.  All 3 drives used to work.  None of them do now.

 

Any suggestions?  

[Green3]

If you want to go period authentic, you could hunt for one of these products, from the last Radio Shack Computer Catalog that featured the CoCo: 1991's RSC-22, page 46.

 

 

RSC-21 from 1990 specifically said (p. 45) that the 26-1329 was intended for the CoCo 3 and disk drive:

 

 

However, that might not mean a CoCo 3 with a disk drive plugged in via a Multi-Pak Interface, but rather only a disk drive plugged in directly to the CoCo's cartridge slot.

 

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by Green3

[Green3]

The problem with that 26-1329 is the front legs.  It was designed for the Tandy 1000HX, whose built-in disk drive is in the front.  Dealing with a CoCo's cartridge slot on the side would be more awkward with that right front leg in the way.

But the 1000HX's predecessor, the 1000EX, had its built-in disk drive on the side.  The EX's monitor platform, the 26-210, lacked front legs (making access to the side easier), and was said by 1987's RSC-17 (page 48) to also be "suitable for the Color Computer." 

Edited May 16, 2023 by Green3

[cwilkson]

Thanks for the catalog reference!  The 26-210 looks like it might work with an MPI.  But maybe not.

 

I was looking for one a few years ago but didn't even know what to call it.  Or that is was designed for the Tandy 1000-EX.

Now I have a few new search terms to work with!

 

Has anyone here actually ever *seen* a 26-210?  LOL