[Coco] Coco queries

[Joel Ewy]

Steve.Lancaster at Moorestephens.com wrote:
> Hello fellow Coco users.
>
> Can anybody provide me with any guidance to the following?
>
> 1) Using a Coco 3 with an LCD TV
>
> I live in the UK and have a Coco 3 (purchased from the US). I have 
> obtained a picture using the A/V outputs and a SCART socket on the TV. On 
> powering up, I get a reasonable picture quality. However, I also have a 
> Super IDE and if I select OS9 or HDB-DOS the screen becomes virtually 
> unreadable.
>
>   
When you say "virtually unreadable" can you be a little more specific? 
I've tried using a CoCo 3 with a small (~5") LCD composite video monitor
that I think was made for a Nintendo Gamecube.  (I think maybe Chris
Hawks has the same monitor?)  Using the composite video out on the CoCo
I had problems with the display when the image was very light, such as
black text on a white background.  I'm trying to remember exactly what
it did -- it's been a few months since I played with it.  But I think
the image became jumpy and washed-out in places.  Is that similar to
what you were experiencing?  Are the OS-9 and HDB-DOS screens using
different colors than the stock DECB screen?  Are they configured for 80
column text?  If you're using a composite video signal, 80 column text
will not be very readable on a TV.

[An aside on the Gamecube monitor:  I went looking for the pinout for
the Gamecube connector, hoping there was an RGB input in there.  What I
learned was that (at least according to one source on the Web) the UK
version of the Gamecube has RGB out, while the US version only has
composite video.  Odd, if true.  Both signals could coexist on the same
connector (is what I remember reading).  When I stopped playing with the
monitor my next idea was to see if the lines corresponding to the RGB
signal on the Gamecube interface cable actually went anywhere on the PC
board.  If the monitor was made for both markets it might possibly
support the RGB interface, which would be great for the CoCo.  But I
haven't yet determined whether that's the case or not.]

The other thing to keep in mind is that a CoCo 3 purchased from the US
is probably outputting an NTSC video signal, and using NTSC-compatible
sync signals (15KHz/60Hz) on the RGB out, which is what I assume you
have hooked up to the SCART socket.  But your TV is likely to want a PAL
signal, is that not the case?  I suppose modern TVs may support multiple
standards.

JCE
> Any suggestions?
>
> 2) Does anybody know how best to transfer disk images to a CF card for use 
> on Super IDE? I have Drive Wire as well - would this be the best solution?
>
> 3) Does anybody know where cassette images can be obtained from and can 
> these be converted into .WAV format? I use a similar trick on a Dragon 32 
> and use my Ipod to load games etc. Has anybody tried a similar thing on 
> the Coco?
>
> Steve
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