[Coco] RS232 to WiFi/Ethernet

[Mark D. Overholser]

On 30-Jan-18 11:32, Allen Huffman wrote:
>> On Jan 30, 2018, at 1:18 PM, Ron Klein <ron at kdomain.org> wrote:
>> 
>> I'm not a hardware tech, but could this module be added to a
>> revised CoCoSDC with the serial connection (and power) made via the
>> Coco cartridge slot?  That combo unit would provide a bunch of
>> functionality.
> 
> Yes. What we need are two things:
> 
> 1) Low cost thing that plugs into bitbanger that anyone can use, even
> if they have no RS232 pak, no MultiPak, etc. This could, of course,
> also be used on an RS232 Pak.
> 

Something that would help tremendously on the Bit Banger Port would be a
Hardware Buffer for Incoming, ( and Outgoing ) Data...  Since the CoCo
needs to Focus ALL of its TIME on the Bitbanger Port, having a Buffer
would help prevent Data Loss.  The Microchip/Atmel AVR 1284 has 16K of RAM.

> 2) A cartridge option for folks who don’t have MPI and/or RS232 pak.
> Bitbanger would be okay, but lousy under OS-9, and can’t do the
> 115200 baud that the RS232 pak can do.
> 

There is a lot to be said about a dedicated ACIA, even the "damaged" 6551

> And really, if someone just provides TTL pins (3.3v for the ESP
> module, ot 5V for other modules) on a header, we could just plug in
> modules.
> 

There are some CoCo Board designs that these headers could be added to...

> Want bluetooth serial? Add the module. What WiFI? Add the $1.99
> ESP8266 module. Want WiFi and BT? Add the ESP32 that is a few dollars
> more.
> 

The ESP32 is looking pretty cool...  I have a few of them, and I am 
looking into a Ethernet/WiFi/Bluetooth adapter...

> The holy grail would be getting something like this in the SDC since
> that’s such a standard piece of hardware.
> 

There is about 5 things that could get added to the CoCoSDC....

> Remember the Disto floppy controllers? They had the add-on plug for
> extra hardware? We need a modern version of that, I guess.
>

Agreed!!


>> A Game Master cartridge with serial WiFi capability?  Perhaps we
>> see new multiplayer games or even MUD type games with some better
>> audio and sound effects to boot!
> 
> Roger and I will be playing Tic-TAC-Toe or something, soon.
> 
> — A
> 


MarkO