[Coco] newb: Can I use DriveWire with my CoCo 2?

[Aaron Wolfe]

On Sat, Sep 21, 2013 at 10:49 PM, Chad H <chadbh74 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Good call Bill.  However nowhere on that site, including the "Downloads"
> page is there to be found a "ROMS package".  I believe my original files
> came from Cloud-9.  The point is, they are scattered abouts on the web from
> site to site, with no single site containing ALL needed DriveWire documents
> and files.  Nor is there a mention on the Drivewire 4 site of Disks or ROM
> images at all, only the PC side server stuff.  This is not a complaint but
> an observation and, if taken with the appropriate pinch of salt, a
> suggestion for improvement to the entire project.  I haven't taken the time
> to toy around with version 4 yet, not even sure if it will run on my Win'98
> box I've dedicated for this, or if my existing DW3 ROM will support it.
> Until someone comes up with a consolidated and COMPLETE walkthrough for
> setting up DriveWire 4 on the PC AND on the CoCo as well as where to get the
> appropriate ROMS and/or disk-tape images....I doubt that I ever will.

If you have an existing DW3 ROM, you should be fine.  Both the DW4 and
DW3 PC software works on Win98 and with the DW3 ROM.

The DW4 site does contain many disks for use with DriveWire, but no
ROMs.  This is because I do not maintain any ROMS.

There are a great number of ways one might connect a CoCo or other
computer to a DriveWire server.  The most common is to use a CoCo
containing the DriveWire 3 ROM from Cloud9.  However, you can also use
a CoCo3FPGA board, the VCC or XRoar emulators, an Apple II with Gary
Becker's super serial card, an Atari with Boisy's Liberate09
interface, or no ROM at all and simply use the OS9 drivers in a system
booted via other (non drivewire) means.

I don't think it is practical to host all of these files in one place,
as they are created and maintained by many different people and the
list is ever growing.

However, we could certainly add step by step guides for particular
configurations to the Wiki.  If anyone would like to do this, just
request Wiki access on the SourceForge page or send me a private
email.