[Coco] Any news on the so called CoCo4 or Next CoCo

[Little John]

Frank, it would seem that recreating the cartridge port could be done using 
the parallel printer port and some "multiplexing" circuitry. At least as far 
as running "program paks" - attaching other devices that require the E, Q, 
etc. might be a bit more of a chore. Of course, the parallel printer port 
itself will probably vanish from motherboards altogether in the near future, 
although even my newest quad core still has one. Rather than Jeffs emulator, 
I have been using David Keils along with FreeDOS - i have it set to boot 
straight into the emulator - boots up pretty quickly.
JohnT
====
(C.W. - thought I'd try your name suggestion...)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Frank Swygert" <farna at att.net>
To: <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2010 7:24 AM
Subject: Re: [Coco] Any news on the so called CoCo4 or Next CoCo


> Sounds good, but the way they both work could be a problem. Now "building" 
> a "CoCo4" with "DECB4" enhancements in software then committing it to 
> hardware would work. The hardware just needs to be based on readily 
> available output, like standard 600x480 VGA at a minimum instead of analog 
> RGB like the CoCo3. Maybe a composite output option, but with VGA monitors 
> so cheap nowadays is that really necessary? I'm still of the mindset that 
> using a standard PC motherboard with integrated emulator/OS (or native 
> coded emulator under stripped down DOS or Linux -- Windows brings in too 
> much overhead) is the quickest, easiest, and cheapest way to go. If the 
> emulator can be integrated with the OS much like DECB is in the CoCo 
> everything should boot up rather quickly. I'm sure there could be -- even 
> needs to be -- 
> some parallel development. Otherwise you end up with more than one version 
> of "DECB4" that aren't fully compatible with each other. Not good!! So I 
> would think emulator first, then commit that to FPGA.
>
> It's not hard to use a stripped down version of DOS and Jeff Vavasour's 
> DOS emulator like that now. I tried it on an old Pentium 1 laptop, but 
> unfortunately it was an old HP with a proprietary video driver of some 
> sort that never would work right. I may try it on one of the Athlon boxes 
> I have just for kicks. An old P3 or P4 laptop might be better for most 
> users though. And if you're concerned about usage, have it come up with a 
> multi boot menu then choose Windows (or Linux) or CoCo. Then you could 
> have a CoCo to play with AND a machine to use like a netbook. The P3 or a 
> Celeron is marginal for any heavy work with Windows, but would still make 
> a good portable internet computer. And you could download stuff to a 
> shared drive then reboot into the Coco.
>
> Legacy hardware is easy to emulate. Recreating the cartridge connector can 
> be difficult, and I agree is where the expense would be. The expansion 
> pins on the DE1 might be configurable to mimic the cart connector, then a 
> simple adapter board would be all that's necessary. A PCI slot card could 
> be made also, but would cost more. I looked at a parallel port and I'm 
> pretty sure there isn't enough pins of the right configuration to fully 
> emulate a cartridge connector. Would be nice if an adapter for the 
> existing PP would work though!
>
> --------------
> Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2010 23:09:04 -0400
> From: "RJLCyberPunk" <cyberpunk at prtc.net>
>
>
> Maybe the project should be chanelled so it can satisfy both camps. A 
> fully
> emulated version and a hardware run one then?
>
> -- 
> Frank Swygert
> Publisher, "American Motors Cars"
> Magazine (AMC)
> For all AMC enthusiasts
> http://www.amc-mag.com
> (free download available!)
>
>
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