[Coco] tape format

[Aaron Banerjee]

I seem to remember the coco averaging to about 1500 baud for most  
programs.  It has 1 cycle of 1200 hz for a "0" and one cycle 2400 for  
a "1"...  The speed would depend on what was being transmitted.
                   - Aaron


On Nov 17, 2008, at 10:02 PM, John Guin wrote:

> Hi Roger,
>
> For some reason, I thought the Coco did have 1500 Hz cassette  
> system.  I
> seem to remember it being exactly 5 times faster than the Commodore.
>
> In any event, what was the speed of the Coco cassette?
>
> John
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com [mailto:coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com 
> ] On
> Behalf Of Roger Taylor
> Sent: Monday, November 17, 2008 4:45 PM
> To: cocolist for Color Computer Enthusiasts
> Subject: [Coco] tape format
>
> Could the CoCo have had a more reliable tape format?
>
> Read this page:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_standard
>
> I think the CoCo could have had a more reliable format (perhaps) if a
> 1500hz/3000/hz system was used, or maybe even 2400hz/4800hz, either  
> format,
> but outputting 2 cycles of the faster wave.  The standard CoCo format
> outputs 1 cycle of both waves, causing a wobbly format that's bot  
> easy to
> get out of sync, and easy to misread the faster cycle on cheap media.
>
> If 2 cycles were used you'd get a more reliable load, I think.   The
> time length for a 1-bit would be the same for a 0-bit.  This could  
> give a
> faster format even before the 2mhz POKE.  I think a 4000 baud format  
> isn't
> impossible.
>
> Back in the BBS days I experimented with using a VCR's audio line to  
> record
> 2mhz cassette saves, and it worked.  What I did was save VDG screens  
> in a
> series using CSAVEM and then the loader read them back from the VCR  
> tape
> pretty fast.  This was mainly just to see how fast the loads were  
> and if
> there were no errors, etc.
>
> The regular audio tape decks couldn't handle the 2mhz saves/loads  
> for some
> reason.  I don't know if it's the save or the load that goes wrong,  
> but it's
> not the CoCo itself.  Again, I confirmed this using digital devices  
> such as
> an MD Walkman and a recent Audio Voice Recorder ($39 at Wal-Mart).   
> That
> thing records through Line In, saves as MP3 and has a USB cable for  
> your PC.
> Using that little device you could move CoCo cassettes to the PC,  
> I'm sure.
> Never tried.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Roger Taylor
>
> http://www.wordofthedayonline.com
>
>
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