[Coco] CoCoNet and Linux

[Roger Taylor]

At 05:40 PM 1/4/2009, you wrote:
>Roger,
>
>I know I have hinted about this in the past, but I never saw any 
>interest or response, either from you or others.
>
>You haven't given much (any?) info on what the "server" side of 
>things is on this future CoCoNet product. You haven't mentioned what 
>it is, what platform it runs on (Windows, I assume?), nor how it 
>works. You also haven't mentioned if the comm protocol used will be 
>documented and available to others?



First of all, Boisy Pitre of Cloud-9 sells a product called 
DriveWire.  CoCoNet also has virtual drives which means I have to 
sell at a similar price to give people a fair choice.  It's not good 
business for me to give mine away for free, or the detailed specs.

My sales will be more in the CoCo-PC cables and the ROM 
Pak.  There'll be people who want the LOADM'able patch whether to 
burn an EPROM or not, and people who will make their own cables and 
so forth, so this leaves the server app truly the only part of the 
product that stays in my control.  I'm sure everyone can understand.

The CoCo side is a patch to Disk BASIC 1.1.  The server side is a 
small app that runs under Windows.  If I were to release any 
technical specs or protocol info this early, there wouldn't be a need 
to complete this product because another coder could jump in and give 
their version before I get mine out.  Yes, a Linux server could be 
written and I might very well do that in short time or work with 
another Linux coder to help whip one up quicker.


>I don't expect it in the initial release of the product, but support 
>and ability to use the server on other platforms would be nice. If 
>you aren't willing or able to do so, then without the comm 
>protocol's documentation, you would become a "single source" for the 
>back-end server, and should ($DEITY forbid) something happen to you, 
>or should Windows change in a significant fashion and you are unable 
>to port the code...
>
>Well - suffice to say owners of the system might find themselves in a bind...

I carry a small 1gig USB drive in a leather case on my keychain.



>I would really love to purchase CoCoNet when it becomes available, 
>but I am not willing to set up  (and spend a lot of money on) a 
>dedicated Windows box for the privilege, especially considering that 
>it would see limited use anyhow. I already have a nice, new 
>dual-screen Ubuntu box ready, though - and the CoCo could easily sit 
>right "next door" to it on my desk (where it used to be until 
>recently when I redid my office). If I knew that the specs for the 
>protocol were going to be published (and/or included) with the 
>hardware, it would go a long way toward getting me to decide to 
>purchase one when it became available (and who knows, maybe I would 
>spend some time hacking up a server in Perl or something for the 
>*nix crowd!)...

Yes, any platform that has a serial port up to 115200 bps can run a 
server on it for CoCoNet.  One needs to be written.  Windows comes 
first, then Linux.

-- 
Roger Taylor

http://www.wordofthedayonline.com