[Coco] XPander-Coco lives!

Mon Apr 25 21:38:08 EDT 2016

I think that there is only one Disto Floppy Controller with SCSI, look in mm coco/MANUALS%20by%20company/DISTO/ for the manuals.

coco/MANUALS%20by%20company/DISTO/DISTOHDA.pdf

Schematic

coco/MANUALS%20by%20company/DISTO/DISTOSchem.pdf

coco/MANUALS%20by%20company/DISTO/DISTOSC2.pdf

coco/MANUALS%20by%20company/DISTO/Super%20Controller%20II%20(19xx)(Disto%20Super%20Products)(pdf).7z

coco/MANUALS%20by%20company/DISTO/disto-super-controller.7z

You would need to be able to fix it without a CoCo3. If inserted it may very well kill the CoCo 3.

Bad repair and it still may kill the CoCo 3 it was inserted into. I just grabbed another one from the stack.

If the CPU is blown, just grabb anothe one from the tube.

Send me PM so we can take this offline. I need to be convinced that who ever I send it to can do the repair!

SHF

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hendrikus Rietveld" <rietveldh at hotmail.com>
To: "Stephen H. Fischer" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 6:00 PM
Subject: Re: [Coco] XPander-Coco lives!

>I am interested but am not sure if it is the controller I am thinking of.   It has been a while since I've seen one
> 
> Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
>  Original Message
> From: Stephen H. Fischer
> Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 8:46 PM
> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
> Reply To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
> Subject: Re: [Coco] XPander-Coco lives!
> 
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Are you interested in the dead Disto Floppy Controller with SCSI Hard Disk interface for testing?
> 
> I can throw in two or more SCSI hard drives.
> 
> I think that the blown ICs are buss interface chips, I think that Jameco had them at the time it died.
> 
> Nothing in my electronics room is considered usable any more and that part of my mind has been turned off.
> 
> The schematic is available although one of our resident electronics experts has said he made intentional errors.
> 
> I have a MPI but used it very little. That's the advantage of Disto's floppy controller with SCSI Hard Drive Adapter.
> 
> SHF
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Zippster" <zippster278 at gmail.com>
> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 5:24 PM
> Subject: Re: [Coco] XPander-Coco lives!
> 
> 
>> Stephen, anything that would work in a regular MPI should work.  Any MPI replacement
>> will have to implement an 8-bit register at $FF7F and direct signals as an original
>> MPI would.
>>
>> I guess the only problem with the two-slot version might be if some software
>> required a 2 carts in the 2-4 slot range.  In that case you’d want the XPander or
>> an original MPI.
>>
>> Are there plans for a case for the XPander Jim?  Acrylic sheets like I think I saw the
>> Brazillian guys showing with their new MPI would look really cool and not be too hard
>> to do maybe.  Looking forward to the XPander being available, along with a lot of others,
>> I’m sure.  :)   Please put me down for one if I’m not still on the list from last year.
>>
>> - Ed
>>
>>
>>> On Apr 25, 2016, at 7:06 PM, Stephen H. Fischer <SFischer1 at Mindspring.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I have no real interest but wondering if the floppy controller part would allow for the Disto Floppy Controller with SCSI hard drive interface to work.
>>>
>>> Mine died along with the CoCo 3 in use at the the time and likely a 6309 CPU. That was the end of my fighting electronics, I had all the SCSI hard drive files saved to floppies by then and now are on CDs.
>>>
>>> I understand that one person has the problem of transferring his Hard Disk contents to a CoCo SDC and is trying to do the massive job with floppies and perhaps not getting it done.
>>>
>>> SHF
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Zippster" <zippster278 at gmail.com>
>>> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>>> Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 4:42 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [Coco] XPander-Coco lives!
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hi Jim (and everyone),
>>>>
>>>> Well, I started out wanting to create a simple adapter that would let you use a CoCo SDC
>>>> along with a floppy controller for easy transfer to and from actual floppies.  Sort of a Y-cable
>>>> type thing on a PCB.  I learned pretty quickly from Darren that full MPI register functionality
>>>> would be required.
>>>>
>>>> So it’s basically a two-slot MPI, with a standard MPI register implemented, and a switch which
>>>> sets the second slot as either 2, 3, or 4, as needed for software compatibility depending on
>>>> what you’re trying to do.
>>>>
>>>> I’ve been sharing about it on the Facebook group while developing it for those who wanted to sort of
>>>> follow along.  It’s not intended to compete with a full-featured MPI like yours, it’s just a minimal
>>>> solution for someone who just wants to plug in only two carts.
>>>>
>>>> So no, there’s nothing there you’d need to worry about supporting.
>>>>
>>>> John Strong AFAIK intends to produce cases for the Mini-MPI, and I just wrapped up my last
>>>> round of hardware tweaks and put in an order for what should be final version test boards, and
>>>> the prototypes are working great, so they should be out before too long.
>>>>
>>>> A few pics here…
>>>>
>>>> <https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1sgl615FlGnU0p0VEtNUlJVaFk <https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1sgl615FlGnU0p0VEtNUlJVaFk>>
>>>>
>>>> - Ed
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On Apr 25, 2016, at 6:13 PM, RETRO Innovations <go4retro at go4retro.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> On 4/25/2016 4:18 PM, Zippster wrote:
>>>>>> That is awesome.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Between this and the Mini-MPI, the MPI shortage should be a
>>>>>> thing of the past.  :)
>>>>> Where's the scoop on the Mini-MPI?  Is there something I should make sure I support?
>>>>>
>>>>> Jim
>>>
>>>
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