[Coco] [Color Computer] Co

[Joel Ewy]

broke_coco wrote:
> Hello I asked this back in 2005 and got no replys...
>
> I have a CoCo 2 w/64K that I am trying to get back up to working
> order. My old radioshack disk drive controller failed on me so I have
> no floppy system now.
>
> What I would like to be able to use my CoCo for again is just playing
> some old games and maybe get back in to basic programing. Would having
> JUST a CoCo and a SuperIDE allow me to copy stuff to a compact flash
> card on a PC and then load them from BASIC on my CoCo2? Or do i need
> to have a floppy drive to load the software/drivers then load the
> software off the CompactFlash?
>
>   
The problem with using the CF card to transfer data between the PC and
the CoCo is going to be on the file system level.  Physically, the CF
card will be compatible with both.  NetBSD (and Mac OS) should be able
to read and write a DOS FAT file system, but the CoCo probably won't be
able to read it.  It might work from within NitrOS-9, if you assemble
the PCF file manager.  But then how are you going to boot OS-9 without a
floppy?
> Thanks for your time.
> -Chris
>
> PS I emailed cloud9 and they replyed that I should get the thing that
> lets me use a PC as a slave drive. This wont work because i dont have
> a diskdrive for my CoCo and I dont have a DOS. And my PC doesnt run M$
> crap. I run NetBSD on x86 and my other systems are OS X boxes. I cant
> find a basic
> floppy system that isnt 75% the cost of the cool SuperIDE thing...I
> would rather bypass that whole setup and get with a HD setup. Any
> ideas?
>
>   
In another reply, Mark M. seems to be suggesting that the DriveWire
server will work with (at least) Linux and Mac OS X.  I assume this
would mean that there is source for a user space program, in which case
it would be likely to work under NetBSD as well.  If all this is true,
then DriveWire might work for you.  Cloud9 can supply the CoCo part of
the DriveWire software in an EPROM which you may be able to plug into
your otherwise broken floppy controller.  This will provide you with (I
believe) HDB-DOS, which is a Disk BASIC replacement customized to work
with hard disks or, in this case, DriveWire.  So the CoCo would see disk
images on your PC as floppy disks.  Cloud9 also sells an adaptor for $20
that will allow you to put a 28-pin EPROM into the 24-pin socket in most
of Radio Shack's old floppy controllers. 

If you get the SuperIDE, there is a 64K Flash memory in there, which
could hold both the DriveWire version of HDB-DOS, and HDB-DOS for the
SuperIDE, (assuming they are distinct.)  I don't know how seamlessly you
could switch between the two of them.  If I understand correctly (which
I very possibly may not), if you wanted to use both DriveWire and
SuperIDE, without a floppy, to copy disk images from the PC to the CF
card, you would have to copy the image first to a RAMdisk, which would
require 512K and a RAMdisk program compatible with HDB-DOS, and then
switch the Flash memory bank to the SuperIDE version of HDB-DOS (without
wiping out the RAMdisk) and copy from RAMdisk to the CF.  Maybe there's
a single version of HDB-Dos that works with both DriveWire and SuperIDE?

I hope Mark or Boisy will correct me if I have an incomplete
understanding of all this.

JCE