[Coco] emulator questions

[Robert Gault]

The best option for you depends on the hardware you own or are willing
to buy. If you have an RS-232 pak on the Coco, then you can transfer
files from the Coco to PC via a null modem connection. If you have or
buy a 3.5" drive for the Coco, then you can transfer files on 3.5"
floppies.

More complicated but possible is moving the 5.25" drive to the PC and
using a PC program to read the Coco formatted disk. What can be done on
your PC depends on what OS is installed as most programs that read Coco
formatted disks are DOS programs.

If you can't run DOS programs with your PC's OS and don't have an RS-232
pak on the Coco, you can try installing OS-9 on the Coco and use PCDOS
to write programs to a PC formatted floppy. Then you will need to get an
OS-9 program that can read Disk Basic disks, move them to OS-9, and use
PCDOS to put them on a PC formatted disk.

Why don't you post a list of the hardware/software on your Coco and on
your PC. You will then get more specific suggestions for transferring
files between the computers.

LM wrote:
> 
> I just joined the list and was reading the archives.  The
> information on MESS looked really interesting, so I downloaded
> the software and it looks very promising.  I have most of my
> old CoCo games on 5 and 1/4 disks.  I owned a hard drive
> that connected to my CoCo using Disk Basic from Hard Drive
> Specialist.  I also bought a program called Xenocopy when I first
> switched to an IBM compatible from my CoCo.  It's supposed to let
> you copy CoCo files from a 5 and 1/4 to a PC's a: drive.  Was wondering,
> how do you get the games from a 5 and 1/4 or a hard drive into the
> MESS emulator so you can play them?  Most of my games are in Basic, but I
> think the majority of them are saved in binary instead of ASCII mode.
> Would also love to figure out how to convert the files from binary to
> ASCII so I can view them properly in a text editor on the PC.  If I
> remember correctly, there used to be a SAVE "filename.bas",A mode to
> save to ASCII, but that was with my 5 and 1/4 drive interface.  Any hints
> on how to do any of this would be greatly appreciated.  Am hoping to
> get most of my old BASIC CoCo games converted to ASCII and saved to a CD.
> My 5 and 1/4 disks are beginning to fail on me.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Laura
> 
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