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Blake | 1 Mar 2011 18:50
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[Color Computer] Where to get CoCo parts -- floppy drive, etc.

I just grabbed a Coco3 with a few games and a speech module off of eBay and want to expand it. I'd like to add a MPI
and a floppy drive or two. 

Are there places I can find these peripherals, or is it just a matter of scanning eBay?

Thanks.

(I've never owned a CoCo, but am intrigued by what I hear of NitrOS-9 and its power.)

bp

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Neil | 1 Mar 2011 19:29
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[Color Computer] Re: Where to get CoCo parts -- floppy drive, etc.

Set up a search on eBay.

Use Google to set up searches on Craig's List and Kijiji.

Maybe Freecycle?

Check local thrifts.

Neil

--- In ColorComputer@..., "Blake" <blakespot <at> ...> wrote:

> Are there places I can find these peripherals, or is it just a matter of scanning eBay?

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Brian Blake | 1 Mar 2011 19:35
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Re: [Color Computer] Where to get CoCo parts -- floppy drive, etc.

On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 12:50 PM, Blake <blakespot@...> wrote:

> I just grabbed a Coco3 with a few games and a speech module off of eBay and
> want to expand it. I'd like to add a MPI and a floppy drive or two.
>
> Are there places I can find these peripherals, or is it just a matter of
> scanning eBay?
>
>
eBay is about the only one I've found that has any reliability. Last year I
think was a banner year for MPI's on eBay and there have been a few this
year so far. For NitrOS9, if you cannot locate a floppy system, try the
HDB-DOS cart from Cloud9. <http://www.cloud9tech.com> That and a serial
cable hooked up to your PC will open up a whole new world with DriveWire 3
or 4.

There's also Roger's MicroSD Drive Pak <http://www.coco3.com> as a storage
option.

Good luck!!!

>
>
> bp
>
>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco@...
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
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Jeremy Michea | 2 Mar 2011 13:56
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Re: Where to get CoCo parts -- floppy drive, etc.

I agree with what’s been said about drivewire. I’ve never been able to find an actual disk drive and when
they do show up on ebay they go for crazy money but the thing is you don’t even need one anyway. If you get the
HDB-DOS and drivewire cable you’re all set IMO. Cheaper and much easier than an actual disk drive and old
floppies that are prone to breakdown and failure.

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Brian Blake | 2 Mar 2011 14:11
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Re: Where to get CoCo parts -- floppy drive, etc.

On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 7:56 AM, Jeremy Michea <jmichea@...> wrote:

> I agree with what’s been said about drivewire. I’ve never been able to find
> an actual disk drive and when they do show up on ebay they go for crazy
> money but the thing is you don’t even need one anyway. If you get the
> HDB-DOS and drivewire cable you’re all set IMO. Cheaper and much easier than
> an actual disk drive and old floppies that are prone to breakdown and
> failure.
>

In theory, DriveWire and CoCoNet are great. In reality, they truly are a
Godsend for most instances. However, there are circumstances where real
hardware is necessary. Try playing Gold Runner 2000 or virtually any Diecom
CoCo3 games via DriveWire or CoCoNet. It just doesn't work. I know there are
at least two CoCoNutz working on hardware floppy controller emulators that
would alleviate this problem, but, those are still a little ways off.

If you're not interested in playing games, this may not be a problem; I do
not know for sure. There's a lot of software for the CoCo and I haven't been
able to test all of it.

>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco@...
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>

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Aaron Wolfe | 2 Mar 2011 15:54
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Re: Where to get CoCo parts -- floppy drive, etc.

On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 8:11 AM, Brian Blake <random.rodder@...> wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 7:56 AM, Jeremy Michea <jmichea@...> wrote:
>
>> I agree with what’s been said about drivewire. I’ve never been able to find
>> an actual disk drive and when they do show up on ebay they go for crazy
>> money but the thing is you don’t even need one anyway. If you get the
>> HDB-DOS and drivewire cable you’re all set IMO. Cheaper and much easier than
>> an actual disk drive and old floppies that are prone to breakdown and
>> failure.
>>
>
> In theory, DriveWire and CoCoNet are great. In reality, they truly are a
> Godsend for most instances. However, there are circumstances where real
> hardware is necessary. Try playing Gold Runner 2000 or virtually any Diecom
> CoCo3 games via DriveWire or CoCoNet. It just doesn't work. I know there are
> at least two CoCoNutz working on hardware floppy controller emulators that
> would alleviate this problem, but, those are still a little ways off.
>
> If you're not interested in playing games, this may not be a problem; I do
> not know for sure. There's a lot of software for the CoCo and I haven't been
> able to test all of it.
>

Some non OS9 software works, some does not.  This is due to
programmers who did not use the DECB routines and decided to access
the floppy hardware directly, which doesn't work with serial based
disk systems (or anything else that isn't a whole lot like a floppy
controller).

The OP mentioned OS9.   Luckily, all OS9 software (at least all I've
(Continue reading)

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Steve Bjork | 2 Mar 2011 17:09

Re: Where to get CoCo parts -- floppy drive, etc.

For the past six months, I've been working on a hybrid hardware 
emulation of the CoCo floppy drive system.  Rather than trying to patch 
the software to get SD cards to work with the CoCo, the idea is to make 
a device thinks it's a Western Digital floppy disk controller and talks 
to the CoCo the way software wants to.

The current design uses two cheap micro controllers.  (Under $9 for 
both.) The first chip talk to the CoCo by responding as if it's a WD 
controller and handles all the signal lines to the CoCo.  The second 
talks to both the SD card and PC for the data needed for the first 
chip.  I'm using USB as the interface to the PC but that may change to 
Ethernet in the final design.

You will be able to setup different configurations of "Floppies" and 
select between them via a "POKE"

In addition to the default WD floppy disk mode, the device will also 
have direct communication mode to even faster speed transfers with extra 
capabilities.  Playing sound files stored on the SD is one idea being 
looked into. (Remember, there is a "Sound In" line on the cartridge 
connector.)

As for many, the Recession has hit hard and time is very limited.  (I 
can only spend a few hours a month on the project.)  So please, don't 
look for this project anytime soon.

Since I have no desire to manufacture and sell the device, I will turn 
the completed design over to someone else in the coco community to get 
the project out on the market.
(Continue reading)

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Steven Hirsch | 2 Mar 2011 17:19
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Re: Where to get CoCo parts -- floppy drive, etc.

On Wed, 2 Mar 2011, Steve Bjork wrote:

> For the past six months, I've been working on a hybrid hardware emulation of 
> the CoCo floppy drive system.  Rather than trying to patch the software to 
> get SD cards to work with the CoCo, the idea is to make a device thinks it's 
> a Western Digital floppy disk controller and talks to the CoCo the way 
> software wants to.
>
> The current design uses two cheap micro controllers.  (Under $9 for both.) 
> The first chip talk to the CoCo by responding as if it's a WD controller and 
> handles all the signal lines to the CoCo.  The second talks to both the SD 
> card and PC for the data needed for the first chip.  I'm using USB as the 
> interface to the PC but that may change to Ethernet in the final design.
>
> You will be able to setup different configurations of "Floppies" and select 
> between them via a "POKE"
>
> In addition to the default WD floppy disk mode, the device will also have 
> direct communication mode to even faster speed transfers with extra 
> capabilities.  Playing sound files stored on the SD is one idea being looked 
> into. (Remember, there is a "Sound In" line on the cartridge connector.)

Yes, this is the best approach for the sake of portability.  I've been 
toying with something similar for fitting new storage media to systems 
that require older MFM/RLL hard disks.  These are getting difficult to 
find and are unreliable by current standards.  It should be equally 
straightforward to come up with a daughterboard that plugs into the HDC 
controller socket (usually a WDC 1010 or 2010 on classic systems) and 
picks up a few additional signals (e.g. head select) from the system board 
using micro-clips.  By emulating the WDC register file, the same trick
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Rick Taylor | 2 Mar 2011 22:27
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Re: Status, anyone?

Hey, I'll do that, too. I do pop my head in here from time to time to
see what's up :-)

I'll gladly buy someone's SuperBoard spot for $100. Let me know and
I'll paypal the current holder of the spot.

And, I for one very much appreciate what Cloud-9 does in this
community. I'm currently able to rescue old floppies because I have a
SuperIDE, for instance -- something that has been worrying me for
years and years.

On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 10:28 AM, tonym <tonym <at> compusource.net> wrote:
>>-----Original Message-----
>  >From: "Brian" <random.rodder <at> gmail.com>
>  >Sent 2/1/2011 12:48:11 PM
>  >To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco <at> maltedmedia.com>
>  >Subject: Re: [Coco] Status, anyone?
>  >>My take is this : unless you actually put cash down on it, you have no right to complain.
>  >
>
>  I concur. And if anyone is fed up with waiting, and if Mark doesn't mind, I'll send them $100 and "buy their spot."
>
>  THAT is the confidence I have in Mark & Boisy.
>
>  I mean, really.
>  Of ALL THE PEOPLE to berate, MarkM is picked?
>
>  TC^3..
>  SuperIDE
>  Pro-Tector
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Rick Taylor | 3 Mar 2011 09:06
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Question about DriveWire 4 and MESS

Hi all,

I am trying to get Drivewire 4 working, both in an emulator (MESS or
VCC, either will do), and I'm running into problems.
I have downloaded the latest version of MESS from here
http://www.mess.org/download.php

and I have the latest version of drivewire 4 (the beta) from here
http://sites.google.com/site/drivewire4/beta

I have MESS booting up from the coco3 and DECB1.1 roms, and when I
boot (ie, type "DOS" from within DECB) from the sdlmess_dwboot.os9
image, it comes up to the 'development build/not for distribution'
initial screen for NitrOS-9, and then hangs, no prompt.

One of the reasons why is because I have not applied the
sdlmess-coco-dwsck-ffe0.patch file to MESS. I am running under
windows, and have my choice of XP, Vista, or Win7(64 bit) -- this
machine boots to a couple of different images.

So here's my question: Under Windows, how the heck do you apply the
patch file? There is no patch.exe in the MESS distribution that I can
find. Do I go get a copy of MAME or something? Or do I just put it
somewhere special?

Thanks in advance!

-- Rick

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