[Coco] easy tape file transfer from PC to CoCo

[Roger Taylor]

At 12:20 PM 11/16/2008, you wrote:
>Nice Roger! Of course this could go both ways... I wonder if it 
>could work reliably at double-speed. Could be a convenient 
>alternative to DSKINI/RETRIEVE for quickie file transfers. Maybe 
>even use it for other modes of communication, like an intercom 
>system between remote cocos or for data sharing sans network.

Yes, it would work at double-speed if the emulators could only play 
the virtual tape file at double speed.  If casout.exe could output 
double-speed .wav files, that would work as well.  If there's some 
kind of filter that could take a .wav file and delete every other 
audio sample, that might work as well.

The reason I'm dabbling in the cassette port stuff is that 1) every 
CoCo has a cassette port, and 2) almost every PC has a Speaker Out 
jack.  If the CoCo user has a cassette cable, and my Rainbow IDE was 
made to output your assembled/compiled programs as CoCo tape sound, 
no other hardware would be needed to "get a file over to the CoCo" 
which is the most commonly asked problem I see on the web.  The 
answer I could give them is:  The Rainbow IDE and a cassette cable will do it.

Rainbow wouldn't even have to create or assemble the file to be sent 
to the CoCo.  You could "add" an existing file such as HELLO.BAS to 
the project then choose COPY for the Builder (this says no assembler 
or compiler is used but to just clone the source file into the object 
file), give the Output Object a name like "TEST.BAS" then tag the 
Output Type as "Cassette Upload" then an external tool I wrote would 
be called during the build which would do the job of playing the 
virtual tape audio of the source file which was HELLO.BAS.  The whole 
process is about 5 or 6 clicks of the mouse and a few filenames to 
type.  The ONLY thing missing from my IDE right now to do this is the 
external utility to convert a PC file into CoCo cassette audio (and 
play it).  You could even add the tool as a Builder and bypass some 
of the steps and just Add the file you want to send to the CoCo, 
choose "CoCo Cassette Uploader" as the Builder, click GO, and that's 
it.  Well, you'd have to first type CLOAD on the real CoCo.

The same seamless process you experience when you press the GO button 
in the IDE would happen in a live CoCo tape build.

All that is needed?.... a CoCo cassette cable.  Even if you had to do 
a hack and run the wires into the pin holes of the tape jack, that's 
better than doing without a way to get files to your CoCo.

-- 
Roger Taylor

http://www.wordofthedayonline.com