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

[Mark Martin]

Allen,

I've been working on a design for multiple computers using Arduino,
possibly FPGA, ethernet, and local caching storage.  I've been
contemplating a commercial solution, but I may be more likely to be
successful if I were to consider a more open-source solution, I suspect.

I'm with you -- offloading the ethernet stack is the way to go.  The
Commodore gang is way ahead of us on this.  There is a solution which uses
an offloaded embedded processor and interfaces through the existing
Commodore serial drive interface.  Of course storage is supported, but so
is networking via special "device" id's which are supported on the
underlying drive API.  I was actually focusing some time and effort
sourcing parts for interfacing arduino and fpga to my apple II types.  CoCo
was on the queue for treatment sometime later, as was Atari 8bit and C=
8bit.  I even have some T/S I'd like to get to eventually.  Arduino can
handle the raw ethernet, and I have a $8 ethernet solution in mind.

Raspberry Pi won't work for any scale-able solution, by the way.  You can't
get them in any numbers if you're looking to build a package and sell it
with quantity.  Also, it's not like you can create your own board and embed
their chipset -- you pretty much have to take their board and footprint.  I
suppose if you came up with a completely community supported effort,
everyone would be on the hook for getting their own Pi and would just use
recipes to interface to their Coco (via serial or bus).  But if you're
looking to package a solution which uses cloud storage like I am, The
raspberry just isn't the right choice.  Also, although the Pi is pretty
cheap -- $35 plus shipping, you're not complete then.  Add power supply,
SD, and a case and you're upwards of $60.  Assuming you recycle a HDMI
monitor, cable, keyboard, and mouse.  Maybe you could source a similar
embedded ARM chip and PHY for a similar price but I'm not qualified to do
that much R&D, myself.

In broad strokes, I'm planning on creating custom interface adapters for
each of the major retro computers -- CoCo, C=, Apple, and Atari, including
potentially the 16bit variants.  These adapters would interface with a
common bus to a common interface device.  This common device would have
local storage (SD) and networking (wireless and wired) and would act as a
bridge to a cloud storage solution.  I can go into more details on that
later if you're interested.

It's good to see you experimenting.  And with the Cloud 9 guys coming out
with updated boards, it's encouraging.


On Mon, Apr 8, 2013 at 11:20 AM, 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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