[Coco] DLOAD (was: Re: Stupid Cassette Port Tricks, (was: Re: Coco and .WAV files))

[wdg3rd at comcast.net]

From: Joel Ewy <jcewy at swbell.net>
> So, what's the scoop on DLOAD anyway?  I realize that the Network 2
> system uses the cassette port and CLOAD/CSAVE, and I take it that DLOAD
> uses the bit-banger port. 

Aside from other trivial factors, the cassette port was two and a half times faster than you could reliably shove through the bit-banger.  Sad but true, the bit-banger in those days (improvements have been made, thanks Mark and Boise) was a slow and unreliable interface.  Couldn't be trusted above 600 bps.

In honesty, I never had a Network 2 hooked up to a full classroom of color computers -- I think the most was four or so.  My first year at the RSCC in Las Vegas (I think I've mentioned I knew Bill Vergona) I had to have the students on Mod 3 systems all select the slow cassette speed, since my teacher station was a Mod 1 and in fact we were connected through a Network One.  Later, in Los Angeles, I did have full classes using Mod 100 notebooks (mostly from the L.A. Times -- I think we delivered over half a megabuck worth of those things to the paper).

In any class there was always at least one (whether there were three or sixteen students) who forgot to hit <ENTER> at the end of the CLOAD command.  Things went a lot smoother in the Xenix classes later on.

I think I've mentioned it before, but my classroom in L.A. had a multi-user OS-9 Level One system a few weeks after the OS showed up and for about a year after.  The manual referred to commands that implied it, so I jury-rigged a bit-banger null-modem between a 64k Coco with a floppy and a 16k Coco with a Vidtex cartridge.  Worked fine except the "terminal" dropped characters if you typed while the floppy was running on the "host".  When I assembled it, the whole setup priced out at $1000.17 including sales tax assuming the customer already owned two television sets (a pretty safe bet).  Some of the pieces were on sale that month.  Well, it was cheap compared to a Xenix system back then.
--
Ward Griffiths    wdg3rd at comcast.net

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