[Coco] Difficulty loading CAS files - real Coco2 from PC audio out and CocoTape.exe

[Eric Keppel]

Hi All, 

  Bob, thanks for the heads-up, but I am aware that CAS files follow a
specific format and are not waveform or audio files.  That is where
CocoTape comes in.  CocoTape accepts CAS files as input, decodes them,
and outputs a Coco compatible WAV file just like it was playing out of a
cassette recorder.  At least that is how it is supposed to work, but I
am not having much success with it.

  Aaron, your suggestion about trying the toolshed CAS to WAV converter
is what I will try next.  Failing that, I may just make a serial cable
and see what I can do with that.  Is there a step-by-step tutorial
somewhere for how to load DSK files via serial cable?  I'd like to go
that route eventually, since it looks like DSK via the Cassette input is
most likely a no-go.

  Robert, as you said, it looks like the RAM really does need an upgrade
on this machine.  Ive taken a look at the mainboard I have and it should
be an easy upgrade, but first I will have to track down the eight 4164
1x64k DRAMS unless someone here has a set for cheap or free sitting
around.

Thanks for all the help so far everyone.  I didn't know the community
was still so active!

--Eric

On Tue, 2011-03-29 at 08:19 +1000, Bob Devries wrote:
> Eric,
> the .CAS files are not audio files at all. They are the binary 
> representation of the actual data that's sent to the routine that produces 
> the audio stream on the coco to transfer to tape. As such, they cannot be 
> used directly. Some programme would need to be used to convert .CAS to .WAV 
> or similar. I believe an emulator programme (MESS, VCC) should be able to 
> accomplish this.
> 
> Regards, Bob Devries
> Dalby, QLD. Australia
>