Is the Color Maximite 2 Dead?

Author	Message
stanleyella Guru Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 1112	Posted: 07:42pm 19 Sep 2022         Nimue said   I came for the CMM2 and stayed for the PICOMITE My route in was looking for a modern "boot to BASIC" device to use in class - no retro agenda on the horizon. What's interesting for me about the hardware, software and this community is that it's not a "retro" community aimed at preserving kit (full disclosure - I love my ZX81, Spectrum, Vic20 and Electrons) nor is it aimed solely at playing / coding new games (again, I love Chuckie Egg, The Hobbit and Horace) but rather putting the "kit" to use in the real world. I still use my CMM2 if not daily, weekly in class.  But to be honest, the price / feature set of PicoMite means that I currently have x7 of those setup and in use daily.   I've even managed with great success to use PuTTY on Linux as the PC to tether to.  (I really need to 3D print some cases for the 'mites) Granted, I re-flash the Pi's with Circuit Python occasionally as this is some schools preferred route up from Scratch. I live in an education world dominated by Microbits / Pi's and Arduinos -- BUT the children are hampered by their limited coding prowess in C or Python (and have even seen a JavaScript flash). And to be fair, more hampered by the skills (or lack thereof) of those teaching them. And, the blocky, drag drop affairs are an abomination!!!   The pairing of MMBasic (Windows) and an MMBasic flashed Pi (PicoMite) is a really sweet proposition for me.  Take a class through coding something (computer suite, Windows).  Then code it on the real hardware (almost identical, expcept for the actual I/O).   Now if I could link Windows MMBasic direct to the PicoMite (Click here to send to PicoMite) - that would be Golden, but that's 1% in something that is already 95%! Is the CMM2 dead - no, but I suppose we need to reflect on the purpose of such equipment.  They are "hobbyist" devices - or used to support limited commercial use cases where a MCU / MMBasic combo works out.  Yes, you can capably write and play games on them, but that is not what they are designed for.  In my opinion that's a bonus. /nerd mode on/ I see the CMM2 as the Enterprise, with the PicoMites as the "Galileo" - they keep getting upgraded and eventually will surpass the Enterprise. That is until the guru's here release a cloaking device /nerd mode off/ From the retro side, I watched with horror as the Commander X16 morphed into some commercial mash up aimed  (as far as I can see) at playing old C64 games / writing new ones.  It promised so much at the start. The Agon (https://www.thebyteattic.com/p/agon.html) seems to offer a "modern" BBC basic with GPIO.  But regardless of the GPIO, the use case seems to be again "games" - so time will tell. For me, the community here is a great balance of outright technical Titan's and people like me.  Granted, at times (increasingly?) I sense unnecessary angst - I reflect all the time that we are contributing / partaking in a community that is essentially based on collective goodwill not profit. So, like I say - come for CMM2, stay for the company. N As a new user I jumped in at the deep end and converted existing other basic to mmbasic. It works with changing syntax. I write games for the challenge and what one learns trying. I got retropi ie emulation station on rpi 400 if I want retro games. (nostalgia is not what it used to be). Games are not as simple as they look when it comes to re-coding them. I am working on the classic "snake" game but using touch and using defined sprites as  coloured bits of the snake. Luvin it,stan Mmbasic can do interesting stuff but horses for courses. picomite is not a rpi. Tried freebasic with rpi? no fbide like win, got to use geany :(