[Coco] XPander-Coco lives!

[Stephen H. Fischer]

Hi,

Are you interested in the dead Disto Floppy Controller with SCSI Hard Disk interface for testing?

I can throw in two or more SCSI hard drives.

I think that the blown ICs are buss interface chips, I think that Jameco had them at the time it died.

Nothing in my electronics room is considered usable any more and that part of my mind has been turned off.

The schematic is available although one of our resident electronics experts has said he made intentional errors.

I have a MPI but used it very little. That's the advantage of Disto's floppy controller with SCSI Hard Drive Adapter.

SHF

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Zippster" <zippster278 at gmail.com>
To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 5:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Coco] XPander-Coco lives!


> Stephen, anything that would work in a regular MPI should work.  Any MPI replacement
> will have to implement an 8-bit register at $FF7F and direct signals as an original
> MPI would.
> 
> I guess the only problem with the two-slot version might be if some software
> required a 2 carts in the 2-4 slot range.  In that case you’d want the XPander or
> an original MPI.
> 
> Are there plans for a case for the XPander Jim?  Acrylic sheets like I think I saw the
> Brazillian guys showing with their new MPI would look really cool and not be too hard
> to do maybe.  Looking forward to the XPander being available, along with a lot of others,
> I’m sure.  :)   Please put me down for one if I’m not still on the list from last year.
> 
> - Ed
> 
> 
>> On Apr 25, 2016, at 7:06 PM, Stephen H. Fischer <SFischer1 at Mindspring.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I have no real interest but wondering if the floppy controller part would allow for the Disto Floppy Controller with SCSI hard drive interface to work.
>> 
>> Mine died along with the CoCo 3 in use at the the time and likely a 6309 CPU. That was the end of my fighting electronics, I had all the SCSI hard drive files saved to floppies by then and now are on CDs.
>> 
>> I understand that one person has the problem of transferring his Hard Disk contents to a CoCo SDC and is trying to do the massive job with floppies and perhaps not getting it done.
>> 
>> SHF 
>> 
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Zippster" <zippster278 at gmail.com>
>> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>> Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 4:42 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Coco] XPander-Coco lives!
>> 
>> 
>>> 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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