[Coco] Finally got an FD-500 disk system!

[Michael Graham]

So, after a few years using a cobbled-together floppy system made from 
very early components (I got one of those bare controller PCBs off eBay, 
and a couple of really rusty one-sided drives which I eventually gave up 
on for a PC floppy drive inside a RadioShack project box), I finally 
found an FD-500 system for a price I was happy with!

It was on Craigslist about 30 miles away from me, and the guy was asking 
$25.  I offered him $20, and he accepted (I just didn't want to get 
change after going to the ATM, haha).  It's all really dirty and smells 
of smoke, but it was boxed and even came with the original packing 
material and some of the original documentation. He also gave me the 
Color Basic and Extended Color basic books, a cassette drive cable, the 
Personalfile program in a binder with manual, and a box of about 100 
5.25" floppies (all used, and all appeared to be for PC rather than 
CoCo, but whatever).  Basically, he said he lost his CoCo during a move 
and recently uncovered the drive system and had no idea what to do with 
it other than list it on Craigslist.

I haven't tested it yet, but as long as the cartridge works, I'll be 
happy with the deal.  I can always put a PC drive in the FD-500 case if 
there's an issue with the drive itself.  It's gonna be nice using a 
drive system that looks like it goes with the CoCo rather than my crude 
homemade-looking setup!

By the way, I'm sorry if this doesn't facilitate much discussion, but I 
was excited about finding this and had to tell the only other people I 
know of who care about the Color Computer, haha.

--Michael Graham