[Coco] DE1 arrives

[Stephen Adolph]

One thing to keep in mind is that modern logic is 3.3V, a lot of which
is not 5V tolerant.  The adapter board will need adapter circuits as
well.
..Steve

On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 10:44 AM, Frank Swygert <farna at att.net> wrote:
> There will be no way to disable circuits on the CoCo board and install a
> DE-1 along with it in the same case. It's a matter of removing the original
> CoCo board then installing the DE-1 -- if it will fit. Bringing the ports to
> the back will likely require extension cables as the ports sort of surround
> the board, not all on one side. Plus there will need to be an expansion
> adapter to get CoCo joystick and other ports on the board. It will work
> without those, of course. Using the Coco keyboard will be a challenge,
> unless that's included on the expansion board or there is a parallel input
> on the DE-1 that can be programmed to the keyboard PIA. ?A better bet would
> be to get a mini PC keyboard and modify to fit the CoCo case, maybe a laptop
> keyboard. I don't think the laptop boards have the control circuitry on them
> though, just bare keyboards.
>
> The adapter board shouldn't be a problem. I think I'd just make it to plug
> to the DE-1, maybe using a short ribbon cable, but directly will be fine. If
> the target changes make an adapter board to plug between them. Ribbon cable
> may not work due to noise. Or change the adapter board connector and make
> more than one version (I know, different PCBs, higher cost). I'd think that
> the I/O area would be kept the same with additional I/O added on another
> connector or extended to either side of the existing connector for some
> backward compatibility, but the newer generation might be different enough
> to make that impractical. Either way, it can be handled later. Targeting one
> type/brand board is a good idea to start with though. Maybe make the PCB
> layout PD or GPL licensed so others could change target boards.
>
> --
> Frank Swygert
> Publisher, "American Motors Cars"
> Magazine (AMC)
> For all AMC enthusiasts
> http://www.amc-mag.com
> (free download available!)
>
>
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