[Coco] CoCo Ethernet for $25-$30...

[Stephen H. Fischer]

Hi,

$1,800 - $2,800 for a thing that makes plastic that even ordered made in 
small quantities is < ~ $4.00?

http://store.makerbot.com/3d-printers.html

SHF

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joel Ewy" <jcewy at swbell.net>
To: <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2013 7:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Coco] CoCo Ethernet for $25-$30...


> On 04/10/2013 09:44 PM, Allen Huffman wrote:
>> On Apr 9, 2013, at 8:31 PM, Aaron Wolfe <aawolfe at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> We need to think seriously about a "modern" interface between CoCo and
>>> (something) where (something) is any of the above, ideally.  A
>>> standard way to connect a Pi, audrino, propeller,  the next big thing,
>>> and so on.
>> Here here!
>>
>> When looking through the 1983 Rainbow (link posted earlier), I was seeing 
>> all kinds of ads for ROM PAK enclosures and other hardware hacking 
>> stuff... I had no interest then, but sure would now.
>
> Allen, I've just started laying out a ROM PAK enclosure replacement in 
> OpenSCAD to make with my 3D printer.  The cool thing about doing it that 
> way is that it can be customized on an individual basis with cutouts for 
> controls, connectors, cable outlets, et cetera.  A game-sized cartridge 
> will just barely fit on the build platform of my Thing-O-Matic.  In fact, 
> I'll probably have to try several goes before I get the part positioned 
> just right so that it fits in between the screw heads that hold the build 
> platform down.  But it should be doable.
>
> When my tax refund comes in I plan to get the parts I'll need to make a 
> RepRap Mendel, which I think has a bigger build platform. That will also 
> increase the rate at which I can produce things if I run 2 machines in 
> parallel.
>
> JCE
>
>> It is real cheap and quick to make a simple circuit board and have it in 
>> a few weeks... I am hoping I can figure out enough to make a cartridge 
>> with a port to plug in a Teensy. That, alone, would open up a huge door 
>> of experimenting.
>>
>>> Another possibility is "SPI", as it seems all the boards support it.
>>> SPI is interesting also because it's what SD cards use and seems to be
>>> a really common way to make things talk to each other.   Probably more
>>> complex to make a coco->spi interface than a coco->parallel, but
>>> possibly worth it?
>> I work with SPI at my day job, and I haven't looked in to it far enough 
>> yet, but at least one of the things I work with could be clocked down 
>> slow enough that a CoCo could talk to it... And there are WiFi chips, 
>> ethernet chips (Wizpro is SPI), digital potentiometers, multiplexers, 
>> etc. that all communicate over SPI.
>>
>> It really looks trivial. Heck, look at how simple the code on the Arduino 
>> libraries is to talk to SPI. It just needs a clock.
>>
>> That's a really good idea.
>>
>> -- A