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

Arthur Flexser flexser at fiu.edu
Tue Jan 29 02:25:46 EST 2008


I used to do this too, using plans Marty Goodman published for a "cassette
modem" made from a modified RS speaker phone.  Worked fine locally, though I was
told by Marty that it was unreliable for long distance phone--never tried that
myself.  Marty and his friends had even written special software for it that
made things a bit more convenient than using csave and cload.  In the days when
most people were limited to 300 baud modems, the 1800 bps cassette interface was
a big time saver!

Art


On Mon, 28 Jan 2008, Joel Ewy wrote:

> That's a pretty cool use for the cassette port, Mike.  I'm sure others
> have done, or at least thought of this before, but how well would it
> work (aside from being slow) to csave/cload between two CoCos using a
> null-cassette cable?  I guess if it can be done over a phone line, it
> should be doable with just a cable.  I guess one issue is that with a
> real cassette player the CoCo can pause the cassette motor, but it
> wouldn't be able to pause another CoCo.  For simple, single program
> files, this isn't critical, but some programs pause and restart the
> cassette while loading, and if the data doesn't pause the program load
> fails.  I found that out trying to load "The Glove" from an .MP3
> player.  I'd like to get another cheap one that I can hack up, allowing
> the CoCo to control the Pause/Play button with the motor relay.
> 
> Other than that, why shouldn't it work with a suitable cassette
> crossover cable?  I have more CoCos than mass storage units.  The
> cassette port could make a serviceable ultra-cheap, low-speed CoCo network.
> 
> JCE
> 
> Mike Pepe wrote:
> > ...
> >
> > hell, I even csaved a program to my friend across town over a phone
> > call  with a suitably hacked up set of telephones
> >
> > The only thing I can think of that might cause issues is if the mp3
> > compression used causes audio artifacts that would confuse the
> > zero-crossing detector.
> >
> >
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> >
> 
> 
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