July 1983 Rainbow Magazine
I HAVE SPENT THE BETTER PART OF A YEAR LOOKING FOR THIS. IN 1983 MY FATHER BUILT A ‘STAND’ FOR MY COCO 1. I THOUGHT THE ORIGINAL DESIGN FOR IT CAME FROM POPULAR MECHANICS. AFTER THUMBING THRU THE ISSUES OF ‘THE RAINBOW’ TODAY, I WAS PROVEN WRONG. IN THE JULY 1983 RAINBOW, THERE IS AN ARTICLE ON BUILDING A PORTABLE COCO DESK, USING AN OLD ENTERTAINMENT CENTER AND THE FOLLOWING BLUEPRINTS.
THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION ARE BOTH FAIRLY SIMPLE, YET VERY EFFECTIVE. MY DAD ONLY BUILT THE TOP OF THE STATION SINCE I ALREADY HAD A NICE DESK TO PLACE IT ON. OF COURSE, AS IT’S DESIGNED, IT’S NO GOOD FOR A COCO WITH MPI, ETC… IN FACT, WE HAD TO CUT A SLOT IN IT FOR THE FLOPPY CONTROLLER.
BASED ON MY CURRENT SET UP, I THINK THIS WAS PROBABLY THE MOST EFFICIENT DESIGN OF A COMPUTER DESK I’VE EVER HAD. EVERYTHING WAS EASILY ACCESSIBLE, WIRE MESS WAS KEPT HIDDEN, THE PRINTER WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, AS WAS THE MONITOR, AND IT WAS FAIRLY COMPACT. MAN DOES THIS BRING BACK SOME HIDDEN MEMORIES.
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