[Coco] DLOAD upload program for CoCo 1/2?

[Arthur Flexser]

I seem to recall that DLOADM had a bug in it that was fixed in later versions of Color Basic.  It was, as you speculate, for ML programs.

DLOAD turned out to be pretty useless in general, compared with easier ways to transfer files.  It was not even used for "educational" versions of the CoCo, though I suspect that was what it was initially designed for, to allow a teacher to transfer files between a server and a class of students.

There were versions of DSAVE written for the CoCo or other host machines, but they never achieved any popularity since DLOAD never caught on.

Art
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From: Coco <coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com> on behalf of Allen Huffman via Coco <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2023 11:30 PM
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Cc: Allen Huffman <alsplace at pobox.com>
Subject: [Coco] DLOAD upload program for CoCo 1/2?

Note: This message originated from outside the FIU Faculty/Staff email system.


When I first got my CoCo 1, my Radio Shack salesmen (a CoCo guy) loaned me an acoustic modem he wasn’t using. I do not recall what I used for a terminal program, but maybe it was the VIDEOTEXT ROM-Pak.

I recall using the DLOAD command to download a terminal program that someone sent to me over the phone lines at 300 baud.

That may be the only time I ever used DLOAD for its intended purpose, since after I had a terminal program, I used that.

I do not remember what the upload program was called (I seem to think it was just called UPLOAD, but maybe DSAVE would have made more sense matching CLOAD/CSAVE and LOAD/SAVE).

Does anyone recall what this was, or who wrote it? I’d like to know how they knew to write it, since I don’t  know if DLOAD was even in the manual. It was not in the 1984 Extended Color BASIC manual and had been removed from the CoCo 3.

It does appear in the spiral-bound TRS-80 Color Computer Quick Reference Guide, though I think he description may be wrong since it says DLOAD was used to transfer a machine-language program at 300 or 1200 baud. From looking at the disassembly in the Unravelled book, it appears to have supported DLOAD and DLOADM, so I’d guess DLOAD was for BASIC programs and DLOADM was the one for machine language.

But I didn’t look too much in to it.

Anyone recall?

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Allen Huffman - PO Box 7634 - Urbandale IA 50323 - 515-999-0227 (vmail/TXT only)
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