[Coco] Re: What it is, and Hi-Res Interface Musings - was RE: What's this?

[Christopher Hawks]

Andrew wrote:
> Thought I would post my own reply on this...
> 
> Like everyone else said, it is a high-resolution joystick interface 
> adaptor, which plugs into the cassette and joystick port, then a single 
> joystick plugs into the other end, etc (like everyone else said).
[...]
> One of them was "made" and sold by HAWKSoft. I put "made" in quotes 
> because I have it here in front of me, and one side of the case has 
> "TANDY" on it, and on the other side is a printed label for HAWKSoft, 
> reading "HAWKSoft Dual Hi-Res Joystick Adapter" - underneath the label, 
> the original Radio Shack label is visible.
> 
> On one end is the two cables to plug into the joystick and cassette 
> ports. On the other end is the port to plug in the joystick or mouse 
> (indeed, using one of these with the dual-button mouse is a dream). Here 
> is where it gets interesting, and is likely why it is "rebadged" by 
> HAWKSoft: On one side of the adaptor is a 4-pin DIN plug - I don't have 
> my manual to this adaptor handy, so I don't know what this is for. On 
> the side where the cables are, are three switchs. One, in the middle of 
> the case (between the cables) is a simple slide switch - this may be a 
> standard switch (ie, found on the RS adaptor as well), or it may have 
> been added. The other two switches are round lever toggles, which do not 
> appear on the standard RS adaptor. If I remember correctly, the toggles 
> are for using it with different programs, and the slide switch is for 
> bypassing the interface. Ultimately, it looks like this adaptor is a 
> modified version of the standard Tandy interface.
> 
> I just rummaged thru my boxes of stuff, seeing if I could find the 
> manual, and all I could come up with was some hand written notes I had 
> made myself. I tend to wonder if it came with a manual at all. I have 
> never thrown away any of my CoCo stuff, and I found many other manuals 
> from the same time period (15-20 years ago), like my CM-8 manual and 
> many others. Anyhow, I figure that if there was a manual, why would I 
> have hand written notes? Anyhow, my scrawled notes read that if you have 
> both toggle up, it is for "ColorWare (CoCo Max)", both down is Low-Res. 
> If the "left" one is up and the "right" one is down (looking toward the 
> switches, TANDY logo UP and HAWKSoft label down), then that is the 
> "Tandy" mode. No idea what the opposite is for (if anything). Also, the 
> port on the side is a passthru port for the cassette interface, and the 
> slide switch is an enable/disable for the adaptor - on is to the right, 
> so when the switch is in this position, the adaptor is usable, otherwise 
> the cassette interface is used.

	The slide switch turns off power to the adapter. Some Cocos cannot 
reach a 63 reading whle supplying power to the adapter in lo-res mode. 
The cassetteinterface is available in the ColoWare and lo-res modes. If 
the left switch is down you get the lo-res mode regardless of the right 
switch.

-- 
Christopher R. Hawks
HAWKSoft
---------------------------------------------------------
Any research done on how to efficiently use computers has been long lost
in the mad rush to upgrade systems to do things that aren't needed by
people who don't understand what they are really supposed to do with them.
	-- Graham Reed, in a.s.r.