[Coco] Tandy Hard Disk Controller

[Arthur Flexser]

I recall that Marty did a nice review of hard disk systems available for the
CoCo that was published in Rainbow, and included a discussion of the RS one,
which was more of an interface than a controller.  It definitely had no
firmware, and contained something like 3 chips total, a definite ripoff.  Plus,
I think it was very restricted in terms of what sort of hard drives could
connect to it.  I believe an all-text version of Marty's article was included in
the Delphi data libraries, so perhaps who ever it was had the archive of that
(or was it only the message base that was archived?) could post the article to
the list.

Art


On Sat, 4 Mar 2006, Gene Heskett wrote:

> On Friday 03 March 2006 21:43, Ward Griffiths wrote:
> >On 03/03/2006 01:46 pm, Neil Morrison wrote:
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "Gene Heskett" <gene.heskett at verizon.net>
> >>
> >> > Did they actually ever *sell* one?  I looked at the one the local
> >> > shack had, but at $129.95 I couldn't bring myself to write the
> >> > check, NDI what ever became of it.  AIUI at the time, it also
> >> > required another interface controller card between its cable and
> >> > the drive proper & nobody had a clue as to what it might be
> >> > required to do, or if it was even available.  It had a maximum of
> >> > 3 16 pin dips in it that even if gold plated, couldn't convince me
> >> > it was worth the asking price.
> >>
> >> IIRC, you needed a R/S 'Primary Drive', which contained the HD
> >> controller. This was the standard R/S setup. The VERY expensive
> >> 'Tandy Hard Disk Controller' was just a very simple interface with a
> >> few chips.
> >>
> >> I'd like to get a schematic for it - never found one.
> >
> >Might not be too hard to figure out.  The cartridge for the Coco was
> > basically some firmware (I assume) and a conversion from the Coco
> > expansion bus to the Mod 3/4 expansion bus, just as the boards that
> > went into the Mod 2/12/16/6000 were.  Yes, the primary drive box
> > contained the actual controller.  The cable from a Mod 3/4 bus was
> > straight-through.
> 
> I don't think there was any firmware in it as it was an os9 only device, 
> and drivers for it were on the distribution disks, but possibly not on 
> all versions.
> 
> >--
> >Ward Griffiths    wdg3rd at comcast.net
> >
> >I think boys might benefit from owning a Barbie doll; every young man
> >should understand what an expensive proposition it is to cohabitate
> > with a narcissistic woman built like a stripper.  --  Tony Woodlief
> 
> -- 
> Cheers, Gene
> People having trouble with vz bouncing email to me should add the word
> 'online' between the 'verizon', and the dot which bypasses vz's
> stupid bounce rules.  I do use spamassassin too. :-)
> Yahoo.com and AOL/TW attorneys please note, additions to the above
> message by Gene Heskett are:
> Copyright 2006 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved.
> 
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