[Coco] Looking for Glenside IDE Controller documentation

[Ron Klein]

Hi Jim,

I wasn't exactly sure.  I figured there must be some documentation that
explains how to use it in OS-9/NitroOS9, base address configuration (if you
are using it along side of a floppy controller), etc..  Not even sure if
there are any jumpers on the board as I don't have it just yet.  The
schematics might be nice to have for it if you are willing to provide them.

As an FYI for everyone -- I know there are more modern storage solutions
out there (i.e. CoCoSDC, Drivewire which I use) but needed a Cloud-9
SuperIDE or Glenside IDE controller for use with John Linville's Cocovid
project.  I stumbled across his Cocovid player a few weeks back and was
immensely impressed it.  The idea of playing/streaming videos, YouTube
clips, movies, etc., on the Coco seemed very cool to me.  John's ability to
re-encode videos to use 256 colors was an added bonus (via artifacts, but
they are all there).  Frankly, I'm surprised by the lack of interest in it
as I didn't really see any discussions about it in this mailing list.

In any case, there are many components to the Cocovid project, including
the requirement of pre-processing video files (under Linux for now) prior
to playing on the Coco.  John did provide some basic documentation, but it
could use some improvements (which I'm working on now).  In fact, I'm also
working on porting over the pre-processing automation to work under Windows
as well.

The actual Cocovid player is all assembly and accesses the Coco hardware at
a very low level.  John developed project for use with an IDE based hard
drive controller, so it's not compatible with the newer storage devices.
There's also the ability to use a hard drive image with MESS (well, MAME
now), but you lose the artifact colors so playing these videos on actual
Coco hardware is the best option.  This is the reason I am looking for
either IDE controller.

For now, it's great as it is and I've really enjoyed working with it!
Watching the Minions movie, the original Matrix or even many of Stevie's
Coco game demos from Youtube is a very surreal experience knowing that it's
all done on a 512k Coco 3.

I'm hoping that others will find an interest in John's Cocovid player as
well.  I plan on sharing all the updated documentation soon (after John
reviews it) so it will be much easier for folks to get it up and running
quickly.  Perhaps others (with way more talent than I have) might find a
way to get it to work with the newer storage solutions and open this
project up to an even wider audience.

Thanks for allowing me to ramble a bit...

-Ron







On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 9:56 PM, RETRO Innovations <go4retro at go4retro.com>
wrote:

> On 5/23/2016 12:41 PM, Ron Klein wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I was unable to locate any documentation for the IDE controller on the
>> Glenside's Club Coco page.  That being said, I don't know if there was any
>> "official" documentation released for it.  If anyone has anything they can
>> share, it would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> -Ron
>>
>>
> What are you looking for?  Someone (I will have to check notes) shared the
> schematics with me, and that tells one a lot about the design.
>
>
> Jim
>
>
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