[Coco] Wiring inputs to the Coco

[K. Pruitt]

I have a temperature sensor running from one of my joystick ports.  Straight 
out of "Your Color Computer" by Doug Mosher.

I can solder fairly well.  Understanding what I am doing.... well, I am 
working on that part.  I had one year of electronics in junior college 30 
years ago.  I'm essentially dangerous.

I'm fascinated with interfacing with the world via the coco.  Mostly just 
using it now to run some lights and to program with.  But now that I have dw 
working on the coco side I am doing some Rube Goldberg-like things to pull 
weather info off the internet for the Coco.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "George Ramsower" <georgera at gvtc.com>
To: <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2015 9:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Coco] Wiring inputs to the Coco


>  Back in the 80s when I began stuff like this, I used the things that were 
> built into the coco. The joysticks give you four inputs, the RS232 port 
> gives you two more. If you need more than what came with it, most likely 
> you will need to learn to solder and double check the work and understand 
> what you are doing.
>  Even using the joystick ports can be dangerous as everything is connected 
> to the motherboard. A small mistake can kill that coco.
>  George R.
>
> On 1/11/2015 10:54 PM, K. Pruitt wrote:
>> Oh I don't need to sacrifice an ORC-90 pack in order to start an 
>> electrical fire.
>>
>> But very cool idea none the less.  Any way to do this kind of thing with 
>> a DC modem pack?
>>
>> I've read about modifying it to act more like an RS232 pack, which you 
>> mentioned you've modified before, so maybe it can be used for something 
>> more?  They're certainly cheaper than the ORC-90 packs.
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jamie" <reinsj at nbnet.nb.ca>
>> To: <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>> Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2015 6:45 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Coco] Wiring inputs to the Coco
>>
>>
>>> Thanks for this!  Looking for projects to connect to the outside world.
>>> Jamie
>>>
>>>
>>> For those not really handy at building circuits for your Coco.... The 
>>> ORC-90 sound cart has two, eight bit output chips that are used to 
>>> create the sounds. These chips can also be used to control SIXTEEN 
>>> relays or transistors to control other things. The 16 bits can be used 
>>> for other things as well. All that needs to be done is remove/cut the 
>>> resistors that connect the outputs of those two chips and use the pins 
>>> to safely drive your outputs. From there, you can easily make the 
>>> circuits to drive other things. Turn LEDs on and off, activate relays, 
>>> cause fires in your computer, whatever you can think of. Easy stuff 
>>> here. You can also copy the design and ad more stuff, as the original 
>>> design leaves room for MANY more chips to add MANY more input and output 
>>> chips. More than you should ever need!! This would be easy to do using 
>>> the ORC-90 cart because the groundwork is already there. However, you 
>>> need to be cautious with your soldering and design. I've done much the 
>>> same thing with an RS232 cart. The decoding chip is already there and 
>>> there is still room for adding more stuff. Many possibilities to play 
>>> with and learn. You don't have to build a totally new board to connect 
>>> to the outside with you Coco. Just use the carts that are already 
>>> available and add to them. I know that most of us are already familiar 
>>> with this sort of thing and are into creating new and powerful new 
>>> things for our Cocos but, for beginners, these are suggestions on how to 
>>> connect to the outside world with a Coco without building a new circuit 
>>> board to connect to the Coco. George
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Coco mailing list
>>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
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>>>
>>
>>
>
>
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