[Coco] [Color Computer] Co

[Mark Marlette]

Joel,

Nicely put.

I would also like to add that SuperDriver allows you to  access the  
HDB-DOS partitions through NitrOS-9 directly.

Boisy...want to expand on this thread?

His product..I'm the hardware guy.

Mark

Quoting Joel Ewy <jcewy at swbell.net>:

> broke_coco wrote:
>> Hello I asked this back in 2005 and got no replys...
>>
>> I have a CoCo 2 w/64K that I am trying to get back up to working
>> order. My old radioshack disk drive controller failed on me so I have
>> no floppy system now.
>>
>> What I would like to be able to use my CoCo for again is just playing
>> some old games and maybe get back in to basic programing. Would having
>> JUST a CoCo and a SuperIDE allow me to copy stuff to a compact flash
>> card on a PC and then load them from BASIC on my CoCo2? Or do i need
>> to have a floppy drive to load the software/drivers then load the
>> software off the CompactFlash?
>>
>>
> The problem with using the CF card to transfer data between the PC and
> the CoCo is going to be on the file system level.  Physically, the CF
> card will be compatible with both.  NetBSD (and Mac OS) should be able
> to read and write a DOS FAT file system, but the CoCo probably won't be
> able to read it.  It might work from within NitrOS-9, if you assemble
> the PCF file manager.  But then how are you going to boot OS-9 without a
> floppy?
>> Thanks for your time.
>> -Chris
>>
>> PS I emailed cloud9 and they replyed that I should get the thing that
>> lets me use a PC as a slave drive. This wont work because i dont have
>> a diskdrive for my CoCo and I dont have a DOS. And my PC doesnt run M$
>> crap. I run NetBSD on x86 and my other systems are OS X boxes. I cant
>> find a basic
>> floppy system that isnt 75% the cost of the cool SuperIDE thing...I
>> would rather bypass that whole setup and get with a HD setup. Any
>> ideas?
>>
>>
> In another reply, Mark M. seems to be suggesting that the DriveWire
> server will work with (at least) Linux and Mac OS X.  I assume this
> would mean that there is source for a user space program, in which case
> it would be likely to work under NetBSD as well.  If all this is true,
> then DriveWire might work for you.  Cloud9 can supply the CoCo part of
> the DriveWire software in an EPROM which you may be able to plug into
> your otherwise broken floppy controller.  This will provide you with (I
> believe) HDB-DOS, which is a Disk BASIC replacement customized to work
> with hard disks or, in this case, DriveWire.  So the CoCo would see disk
> images on your PC as floppy disks.  Cloud9 also sells an adaptor for $20
> that will allow you to put a 28-pin EPROM into the 24-pin socket in most
> of Radio Shack's old floppy controllers.
>
> If you get the SuperIDE, there is a 64K Flash memory in there, which
> could hold both the DriveWire version of HDB-DOS, and HDB-DOS for the
> SuperIDE, (assuming they are distinct.)  I don't know how seamlessly you
> could switch between the two of them.  If I understand correctly (which
> I very possibly may not), if you wanted to use both DriveWire and
> SuperIDE, without a floppy, to copy disk images from the PC to the CF
> card, you would have to copy the image first to a RAMdisk, which would
> require 512K and a RAMdisk program compatible with HDB-DOS, and then
> switch the Flash memory bank to the SuperIDE version of HDB-DOS (without
> wiping out the RAMdisk) and copy from RAMdisk to the CF.  Maybe there's
> a single version of HDB-Dos that works with both DriveWire and SuperIDE?
>
> I hope Mark or Boisy will correct me if I have an incomplete
> understanding of all this.
>
> JCE
>
>
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