[Coco] CoCo Ethernet for $25-$30...

[Matthew Stock]

I'm not working on the Pi, but I'm also playing around with AVR/Arduino
integration with the CoCo.  I'm testing out a simple design that allows the
CoCo treat the Arduino as a device on the bus and also provide standard PAK
ROM support.  If I get it cooked to a reasonable point, I'll share.  Like
you, I was thinking of utilizing the existing ethernet support on the
Arduino to provide some level of network interface.

I've also hooked the CoCo expansion port up (using an adapter!) to the GPIO
connections on the Altera FPGA DE1 board.  Talk about a power mismatch...
  -Matt


On Mon, Apr 8, 2013 at 12:20 PM, Allen Huffman <alsplace at pobox.com> wrote:

> On Apr 8, 2013, at 11:09 AM, Bill <cwgordon at carolina.rr.com> wrote:
>
> > Thank you, Allen. Even though I'm neither a designer, nor a builder, nor
> > even a programmer, I am certainly interested in this and the end
> product. I
> > this will be a device that can put our beloved Coco online (if an when I
> get
> > one).
>
> I really like the idea of the CoCo still doing work beyond the
> interfacing. We already hooked up sound chips, or RS232 bit pushing chips,
> to augment the stuff the 6809 could do, so something like this seems like a
> similar concept.
>
> The other extreme is just having a full blown computer hooked up, and
> letting it do everything. But that's not really doing anything with the
> CoCo. Because a PC can download a bunch of stuff over the cable modem, then
> tar it up and upload it to the CoCo via Ultimatum/Supercom, that doesn't
> mean the CoCo has internet access.
>
> Which brings me to the Raspberry Pi... It's $35, and about the same price
> as some of these dedicated hardware solutions. It's cheaper today to hook
> up a micro Linux machine like the Pi to the CoCo and do stuff (audio,
> graphics, internet) in software than it would be to buy an RS232 pak.
>
> With the Pi, it would be possible to hook one of those up to the CoCo and
> do just about anything -- the CoCo could send a string to configure it,
> then one byte command could tell the Pi to go download mail and send it
> back as a .tar file via xmodem or whatever, already formatted. Graphics
> could be downsized, etc.. But that's not really having the CoCo "do"
> anything.
>
> Yet, it's so tiny, and runs "headless" and doesn't need a PC or
> anything... That might really be the best thing to hook to a CoCo.
>
> RIght now I am just having more fun with these dedicate interfaces,
> though. I think it's easier for someone to go to RadioShack, but an Arduino
> and be using it, than to get a Pi mail ordered and figure out how to get it
> all set up and going.
>
> Is anyone attempting any Pi/CoCo stuff?
>
>                 -- Allen
>
>
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