1 Aug 2005 01:39
Re: Coco Digest, Vol 22, Issue 145
I wasn't pointing any fingers, George!! But I should have been clearer too. It's obvious to most here that the only real use for a USB port will be through OS-9 LII or Nitros9 (referred to interchangeably as OS9 from now on). At that point you need a driver for a device, which will take some time, but once the hardware is made and source is available for one device, almost any could be connected. So one printer driver should work for nearly any USB printer -- just redirect output in OS9 to the USB port. Set it in your boot file and forget. If the chip will support multiple USB ports (say four) you won't need a disk controller. One cartridge in the side, four cables running to a 1.44 floppy, a hard drive, a printer, and a thumb drive -- all easily available at the local PC store. When was the last time you were able to just go pick up any old piece of hardware for a CoCo? It's been a long time since serial printers were made, and it's getting harder to find parallel port model s. Make a boot ROM socket in that board too, just to be safe. I don't see why a simple boot that just sets up the port and drive access can't be in that ROM, which then allows you to reboot your custom disk from one of the attached devices. Do you need a real serial port? Buy one of those USB to RS-232 cables now! Those aren't exactly cheap, but no more than a serial card IIRC. I suppose you can connect a hub to the device as well. If that's the case, the card can be made cheaper by just having a single port. Adding three ports on the card will probably cost more than a readily available $15+ USB 1.1 powered hub. Would save power from the CoCo as well. Now if there were only a way to make it available in RSDOS it would be perfect! But the only future for the CoCo as a real tool and not just a simple dedicated controller is in OS9. I was really just an RSDOS person myself, but even I could see OS9 was the real power in -- and the future of -- the little white box. -- Frank Swygert Publisher, "American Independent Magazine" (AIM) For all AMC enthusiasts http://farna.home.att.net/AIM.html (free download available!)(Continue reading)
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