[Coco] DriveWire and CocoNet (was Preserving old CoCo diskettes...)

[Roger Taylor]

At 03:41 PM 5/19/2010, you wrote:

>So.. in a nutshell... Coconet supports things in BASIC that DriveWire
>likely never will (and I hope I've given an acceptable explanation for
>why this is).  DriveWire does things in OS-9 that Coconet currently
>cannot, but I look forward to seeing where Roger will take his system
>in the future.
>
>-Aaron


Now I remember, the networking stuff came right after the last Cloud 
9 spat we had here and they decided to give DW3 away.

Either way, keep up the good work.  It's not for me, but then I'm not 
the average customer.  I did try to get DW4 working and ended up 
yelling WTF at least once, but then I saw your messages about it not 
being 100% ready yet, and I can relate to that with some of my 
projects over the years.  Sometimes it's fun to put it out there and 
get some feedback, unless people start attacking, "why isn't it ready 
you rat bastard!"  :)

The developer's life.

One other thing:  there has been a lot of notes comparing CoCoNet 
with DriveWire, or DriveWire with CoCoNet.  Let me reiterate that the 
simple scheme that DriveWire did to give remote virtual disks over a 
bitbanger cable, and the grand scheme of CoCoNet, were not even on 
the same chart or page and although I found it a major insult to be 
told I was undermining another product, I kept quiet for the most 
part.  I laughed, but not to the class, mind you.

CoCoNet currently "networks" multiple drive systems together which is 
a luxury I haven't seen yet for the CoCo.  Web disks.  HTTP/FTP 
requests.  This was already in CoCoNet before DW4 gained any similar 
features.  If DW4 wanted the same features, I say go for it.  Make 
CoCo users happy with more choices.

None of this really matters that much to me more than it matters that 
We've Got Some Damn Good Stuff today and I'm hooked on developing 
CoCo stuff, period.  I'm not going away, so get used to more cool 
stuff for years to come, and whether or not people find it 
competitive doesn't really affect any outcome.


-- 
~ Roger Taylor