[Coco] Introducing the next generation of Color Computer, the CoCo-X

[Mark Marlette]

Great thread. :)

I love reading these hardware posts. I can tell who has actually done what, by reading their responses. :)

I can tell for a FACT that Mark has done USB. :)

For fun sit down and read the USB2.0 spec... over 600 pages. Then get in to the other related docs of the specs. :)

I had a customer one time say this...Why not USB? It only has four wires, two are power, how hard can it be? 

Once you understand it, you can design it, then just plug it in and it works. :) USB hardware is simple....Software is NOT!!! IMHO, then again I am a hardware guy that dabbles in software.... :)

Hmmmmm........


Regards,

Mark
http://www.cloud9tech.com



________________________________
 From: Mark McDougall <msmcdoug at iinet.net.au>
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com> 
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2013 5:24 AM
Subject: Re: [Coco] Introducing the next generation of Color Computer, the CoCo-X
 
On 22/03/2013 1:01 PM, Allen Huffman wrote:

> And hard drives were more expensive and difficult to support than
> floppies. I have two USB adapters for my Arduinos, and ways to use a
> software implementation to do one for just a few bucks in parts.

Firstly, hard drives are actually easier to support in an FPGA than floppies. There is a freely available IDE controller on opencores and they're easier to interface. Source: I've done both.

Secondly, I don't think Gary is planning on using an external micro on his design, at least not for the 1st draft. USB host controllers in FPGAs generally require a dedicated soft-core micro and a full blown host stack, something that uses significant resources. Source: I've done USB on an FPGA.

Regards,

-- |              Mark McDougall                | "Electrical Engineers do it
|  <http://members.iinet.net.au/~msmcdoug>   |   with less resistance!"

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