[Coco] XPander-Coco lives!

[Zippster]

Stephen, anything that would work in a regular MPI should work.  Any MPI replacement
will have to implement an 8-bit register at $FF7F and direct signals as an original
MPI would.

I guess the only problem with the two-slot version might be if some software
required a 2 carts in the 2-4 slot range.  In that case you’d want the XPander or
an original MPI.

Are there plans for a case for the XPander Jim?  Acrylic sheets like I think I saw the
Brazillian guys showing with their new MPI would look really cool and not be too hard
to do maybe.  Looking forward to the XPander being available, along with a lot of others,
I’m sure.  :)   Please put me down for one if I’m not still on the list from last year.

- Ed


> On Apr 25, 2016, at 7:06 PM, Stephen H. Fischer <SFischer1 at Mindspring.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I have no real interest but wondering if the floppy controller part would allow for the Disto Floppy Controller with SCSI hard drive interface to work.
> 
> Mine died along with the CoCo 3 in use at the the time and likely a 6309 CPU. That was the end of my fighting electronics, I had all the SCSI hard drive files saved to floppies by then and now are on CDs.
> 
> I understand that one person has the problem of transferring his Hard Disk contents to a CoCo SDC and is trying to do the massive job with floppies and perhaps not getting it done.
> 
> SHF 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Zippster" <zippster278 at gmail.com>
> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 4:42 PM
> Subject: Re: [Coco] XPander-Coco lives!
> 
> 
>> Hi Jim (and everyone),
>> 
>> Well, I started out wanting to create a simple adapter that would let you use a CoCo SDC
>> along with a floppy controller for easy transfer to and from actual floppies.  Sort of a Y-cable
>> type thing on a PCB.  I learned pretty quickly from Darren that full MPI register functionality
>> would be required.
>> 
>> So it’s basically a two-slot MPI, with a standard MPI register implemented, and a switch which
>> sets the second slot as either 2, 3, or 4, as needed for software compatibility depending on
>> what you’re trying to do.
>> 
>> I’ve been sharing about it on the Facebook group while developing it for those who wanted to sort of
>> follow along.  It’s not intended to compete with a full-featured MPI like yours, it’s just a minimal
>> solution for someone who just wants to plug in only two carts.
>> 
>> So no, there’s nothing there you’d need to worry about supporting.
>> 
>> John Strong AFAIK intends to produce cases for the Mini-MPI, and I just wrapped up my last
>> round of hardware tweaks and put in an order for what should be final version test boards, and
>> the prototypes are working great, so they should be out before too long.
>> 
>> A few pics here…
>> 
>> <https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1sgl615FlGnU0p0VEtNUlJVaFk <https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1sgl615FlGnU0p0VEtNUlJVaFk>>
>> 
>> - Ed
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Apr 25, 2016, at 6:13 PM, RETRO Innovations <go4retro at go4retro.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> On 4/25/2016 4:18 PM, Zippster wrote:
>>>> That is awesome.
>>>> 
>>>> Between this and the Mini-MPI, the MPI shortage should be a
>>>> thing of the past.  :)
>>> Where's the scoop on the Mini-MPI?  Is there something I should make sure I support?
>>> 
>>> Jim
> 
> 
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