[Coco] Help with floppy disk setup - first time user

[Robert Gault]

Blake Patterson wrote:
> Hey there,
>
> I have a CoCo 3 with Extended Color BASIC 2.0.
>
> I have just gotten a load of CoCo stuff from a user I traded with. I've got a dual floppy disk setup with controller cart, and RS-232 pack, a DriveWire, a CoCo 3 mobo w/ 512K exp, and some other kind of controller.
>
> I connected the floppy drive to the cart and plugged it in and tried some basic disk commands (DIR 0, DIR 1, etc.), but nothing happens. It's as if the commands aren't in the system's syntax.
>
> http://www.cs.unc.edu/~yakowenk/coco/text/diskbasic.html
>
> Do I need to upgrade the ROM in the CoCo 3 to Disk BASIC for things to work?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
>
> bp

If you plugged the disk controller into the Coco3 and the drives are connected 
to the controller with a ribbon cable, the drives should work. There aren't many 
reasons why the drives would not work under these conditions. But we will need 
more information.

1) When you turn the system on with the controller connected, do you see Disk 
Basic rather than Extended Basic?
2) What is the model number of the controller? That will identify whether the 
controller needs a 12v supply that the Coco3 does not have.
3) When you enter a disk command, does any drive start spinning? Are there any 
error messages?