[Coco] Homebrew CoCo Games

[RETRO Innovations]

On 12/12/2015 7:44 PM, Chad H wrote:
> P.S.  I seem to recall that the CoCo SDC made use of a combination of both CPLD and Atmega328 microcontroller.  What was the purpose of the Atmega328 in that setup?  Was it to interface with the MicroSD card?
Some things have to be done at CPU speed, and that's easier to do with 
logic (CPLD).  Other stuff requires higher level work (reading a FAT 
sector and converting to something Coco wants) and that is easiest done 
on a uC.

To your other point, I didn't know CPLDs either about 6 months ago, so I 
had to teach myself them.  Like you, I was mainly doing AVR stuff, but 
the learning curve was not too bad.  Now, I am reasonably conversant.  
That's the main reason for these projects.  I learn best if I am working 
towards a reasonable, but important goal.  But, if folks are interested 
in a design that requires a CPLD, let me know.  Time is always short, 
but I'm eager to try to help.

Jim