[Coco] [Color Computer] FYI: USB Modules & Add-Ons

[John R.]

On 9/5/06, Mike Pepe <lamune at doki-doki.net> wrote:

> I'd think a typical USB driver would consume more memory than a CoCo
> has. What would you attach to a CoCo via USB?
>

Well good news for you then, Mike:

http://microusb.org

Here they are accessing a USB flash drive on an Atari, an Apple II and
I think a C-64. They are using a small amount of Forth and 6502
assembly code. It's not taking all of RAM. It can be done.

A USB flash disk, other than the USB bus stuff (already written but
must be ported to 6809) looks like a SCSI drive (SCSI drivers already
exist for NitrOS-9).

They also interfaced mice, PC keyboards and joysticks.

Really folks USB Host mode isn't scary. We just need some hardware and
I think the software is a walk in the park for serious coco hackers
given what already exists. It's just a matter of pieceing it together.

> I think the point of this discussion would be to build peripherals that
> can be programmed via your PC via USB and be used on the CoCo.
>

Why limit to that?

> For instance: How about a device that plugs into the cart port, that
> looks (to the CoCo) like a floppy/hard drive controller, and (to the PC)
> is a bunch of flash memory? You could dump your .dsk and rompack files
> back and forth and never have to worry about a floppy drive again, but
> retain 100% compatibility.
>

I think that would be neat but not nearly as neat as a USB Host
controller. With a USB Host controller, you pop your USB flash key
into any PC, copy coco files to it, remove it, and pop it into USB
card on coco. How's that for easy file transfer?

-- John.