[Coco] High-Speed Tape Interface on Ebay

[Andrew]

All,

First off, in the interest of full disclosure, my only connection with 
the gentleman offering this item on Ebay is as a satisfied customer, no 
more or less. He is sincere in his offer of the product, and has been 
extremely helpful; it's a pity that he isn't a part of our community, 
but it seems like he may have "moved on", and just wants to get these 
items to people who would appreciate them.

After RP mentioned the link, I decided to check it out; it sounded 
interesting, though I honestly don't have a need for such an interface. 
The price was very low for something I was sure was likely a 
"one-time-deal" on a piece of custom hardware for our favorite machine. 
Art's observations are essentially correct, although his numbers are 
slightly off.

I ordered my copy of the device on March 25th, and received it on the 
28th. The package included everything seen in the auction, including a 
copy of the driver software for it on tape. The seller (john-ed) later 
sent along an upgraded copy of the data on tape as well; a later email 
also included a minor extra tweak to the software (via a 
CLOAD/PEEK/POKE/SAVE routine).

I don't have any pictures of what I was sent, but it is clear that this 
device is very much a kit that must be mounted in the machine it's being 
used on by someone familiar with a soldering iron (and intrepid enough 
to attempt the mods). It consists of a small single-sided PCB (that 
reminds me of a 72-pin SIMM memory board more than anything), a bunch of 
various bits of hookup wire (which look like it came from a 25-pair 
telco bundle), a small switch and a small diode.

Along with the board and parts is a set of instructions on paper 
detailing the interface driver software, and the process to hook up the 
interface to the Color Computer. It appears to be meant for a CoCo 2, in 
either 16, 32, or 64K configurations. In addition to the typed 
instructions, there are a few hand-drawings of the CoCo 2 motherboard 
(labeled as for the Model C 26-3127), the interface, and an image of the 
PCB to guide the user. The instructions for installation and usage are 
very detailed, although based on the pictures in the Ebay advertisement, 
and the instruction details, there's going to be a small "rat's nest" of 
wires floating around inside the case after all is said and done.

In my email contact with the seller, he mentioned that he had originally 
built 50 units, but that only 35 were left to sell (it's not clear when 
those first 15 units were originally sold - but likely sometime in 1984, 
which the seller mentioned as being when it was developed). He only 
listed 10 on the Ebay listing, and two have sold (one to myself). So, I 
suppose at least 17 are "out in the wild", two of which are to recent 
purchasers (myself, and somebody else).

I can't give a better review than the above; I haven't installed the 
device in my Color Computer 2 yet. But if you're like me, and want to 
own another unique piece of CoCo history, having one of these in your 
collection won't cost much.

Here's the link to his auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/TRS80-Color-Computer-Hi-Speed-Tape-interface-6000-baud-/330544306915

I won't bother the list again about this auction; if you want more 
detail than what is described above, contact me off-list. I can't 
promise much more than what I wrote above. What I can say is that I 
won't release any information about the seller, his name or where he is 
located, nor will I supply a copy of the software or anything else in 
connection to the product beyond the basic description of the contents. 
Since the seller is the author and designer of the software, his 
copyrights and possibly other protections are still very much "in 
force", and I am respecting that.

-- Andrew L. Ayers, Glendale, Arizona