[Coco] Coco to PC cable

[Roger Taylor]

At 11:47 AM 3/10/2009, you wrote:

>Roger,
>
>This message is not intended to start a flame war or be anything
>negative.  It is a call to openness.
>
>I highly suggest that you make your product compatible with the open
>and published DriveWire 3 protocol.
>
>There are several good reasons for this:
>
>1. Interoperability: Existing DriveWire customers would be able to
>take advantage of your server software.
>2. Compatibility: You wouldn't have to write NitrOS-9 drivers to talk
>to your server -- they're already written and are now freely
>available.  HDB-DOS for DriveWire would also just "work."
>
>The obvious downside to not adopting the DriveWire 3 protocol would be
>that there would be two different standards for information
>interchange between the CoCo and a server.  CoCo users would be forced
>to choose one or the other in many cases.


No flames here.  I'm always open for a peaceful group talk.

I'm not sure I understand how any kind of "integration" of DriveWire 
and CoCoNet (or their underlying protocols) could yield two systems 
that don't eventually become identical.  Right now, they're not the 
same by any means.  It seems that eventually the now-open DriveWire 
would become CoCoNet, and CoCoNet would become DriveWire.  If this 
happens, any competition at all would be in the EPROMs and/or the 
paks they ride in, and software that uses the internet abilities of 
either progressing network system.  I don't think the name DriveWire 
will always describe what it does.  I think the name CoCoNet fully 
describes where I'm taking the system.  These are some of the key 
points that come to mind when I compare the two systems and where 
they would otherwise be going.

Here's a summary of what CoCoNet currently does:  As well as the 
server, the *CoCo* can mount virtual disks from the web or remote 
PC.  CoCoNet can request web pages and files and have them returned 
on a mounted virtual disk.  These requests can append URL parameters, 
making some serious things possible from the CoCo, like live chat, 
multi-player games, etc. without adding any additional protocol 
support.  Oh, and mounting virtual ROM Paks,... done in the bitbanger 
version, not added to the 6551 version yet.


-- 
Roger Taylor

http://www.wordofthedayonline.com