[Coco] XPander-Coco lives!

[Zippster]

Hi Jim (and everyone),

Well, I started out wanting to create a simple adapter that would let you use a CoCo SDC
along with a floppy controller for easy transfer to and from actual floppies.  Sort of a Y-cable
type thing on a PCB.  I learned pretty quickly from Darren that full MPI register functionality
would be required.

So it’s basically a two-slot MPI, with a standard MPI register implemented, and a switch which
sets the second slot as either 2, 3, or 4, as needed for software compatibility depending on
what you’re trying to do.

I’ve been sharing about it on the Facebook group while developing it for those who wanted to sort of
follow along.  It’s not intended to compete with a full-featured MPI like yours, it’s just a minimal
solution for someone who just wants to plug in only two carts.

So no, there’s nothing there you’d need to worry about supporting.

John Strong AFAIK intends to produce cases for the Mini-MPI, and I just wrapped up my last
round of hardware tweaks and put in an order for what should be final version test boards, and
the prototypes are working great, so they should be out before too long.

A few pics here…

<https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1sgl615FlGnU0p0VEtNUlJVaFk <https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1sgl615FlGnU0p0VEtNUlJVaFk>>

- Ed



> On Apr 25, 2016, at 6:13 PM, RETRO Innovations <go4retro at go4retro.com> wrote:
> 
> On 4/25/2016 4:18 PM, Zippster wrote:
>> That is awesome.
>> 
>> Between this and the Mini-MPI, the MPI shortage should be a
>> thing of the past.  :)
> Where's the scoop on the Mini-MPI?  Is there something I should make sure I support?
> 
> Jim
> 
> 
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