[Coco] CoCo emulation on a Compaq Internet Appliance?

[Joef6809]

Yea I finally got the thing booting dos. Also got a k6-III @ 333Mhz running 
so far. I only got it yesterday so I'm still messing around with it.
In its un-modded form thats all it will do is Dial a preprogrammed number. 
Don't even bother trying to get it to do anything else.
Seems there are two vesions. 1 is considered modable because you can get to 
the bios and the other is non-moddable because Compaq locked down the bios. 
Anyway while its trying to boot, at the Compaq screen keep hitting the 
"compaq" key. Its really F10. If it drops to the bios settings it's the 
moddable version. Or you make have to "hard reset" the bios to get there. 
I'll send you the link if you really need to go that route as you have to 
pull the thing apart. Anyway let me know if you can get to the bios.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roger Taylor" <operator at coco3.com>
To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 11:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Coco] CoCo emulation on a Compaq Internet Appliance?


> At 12:14 PM 10/23/2007, you wrote:
>>Hmm the gold strip denoted "cardbusness". Hmmm didn't know that. Judging 
>>from the vintage of the hardware is almost definatly 16bit. Also the USB 
>>connectors are probably 1.1 only. No drama there as we are trying to run 
>>an emulator not Vista. Even the old PCMCIA standard supported ATA with is 
>>what were after really. Just need SOMETHING to boot off of, Although I've 
>>read people have had trouble with larger CF cards in the 4Gig range. 
>>Probably a bios issue. Again I can't see that being a real problem. The 
>>only limiting factor I'm seeing is real floppy support. USB ain't going to 
>>cut it. I'm really hoping the bridge set has a built in controller we can 
>>get to without pulling hair out. As soon as I get the thing and apply 
>>screwdriver I'll know more.
>>
>>-----
>
>
> Joe, I found a site just now that might give us the info we need to hack 
> the IA-1 (Compaq Internet Appliance) to run as an emulated CoCo.  I think 
> the nickname for this unit is the "IA-1" if you're Googling up stuff.
> http://linux.boeldt.net/IA-1_Description.asp
>
> What I know as of tonight is that any standard PC USB keyboard or mouse 
> will work right when you plug them in.  I haven't tried my USB hard drive 
> yet since the unit is pretty much stuck in MSN Companion mode when you 
> turn it on, and it insists on dialing out for a connection.  It only has 
> two toll free numbers it cycles through and I haven't found a way to get 
> it to just go into ATD mode for connecting into a Windows dial-in mode. 
> Vista should allow a dial-in connection and I was hoping that I could at 
> least get the thing to connect to the internet that way.  I don't have a 
> real telephone line anymore (I use broadband for my land line phone).
>
> I ordered a PCMCIA to CF adaptor on Ebay pretty cheap but it's coming from 
> Hong Kong, so it may be up to a week before I get that.  You can get a Lot 
> of very cheap accessories from those Hong Kong powersellers I've noticed, 
> with cheap shipping.  Sometimes I wonder how it can be cheaper than our 
> own shipping in the US, but I'm not complaining.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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