This post was submitted by coconuisse.

If you’d like to participate in the discussion or post your own numbers, please feel free to do so. I’d love for someone to either verify my numbers or show me where I may have made an error.

rodder

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110622374276&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110622376010&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110622402010&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

I also have a bunch of classic “Rainbow” and other Coco magazines.

michae9593@aol.com
Michael E. Hughes

This post was submitted by coconuisse.

Oh, if we just had this back in the 80′s,…..

Users of the popular Rainbow IDE, and the Portal-9 IDE, behold the new Phoenix IDE – a CoCo author’s dream. The best way to describe this IDE is “Rainbow x 2″.

In order to save the Micro Drive Pak, a special $29 preorder price is being offered with the conditions that you will have to wait about 3 weeks for the IDE to be wrapped up. You’ll also get free upgrades, so beat the price by supporting CoCo3.com with a preorder sale.

Check out these screen shots. Easy on the eyes, less mouse movement, and CoCo friendly. The docking panes can become floating windows that you can move to another monitor if you like. Just drag them where you want them, redock them to another location, and configure your layout how you like.

One of the screen shots shows the OS-9 Level II RMA assembler crunching out an object file in a fraction of a second.  The readout window was moved to the right side of the screen and all the other panels have been neatly organized on the left sidebar, all using simple drag and drop.  You decide how you want the IDE to look, and CoCo OS-9 software development will be a snap.

I finally finished my review of Roger’s Drive Pak and CoCoNet. It’s all here with videos (GR2K is a yawner due to load time…). If you’re considering getting one of these cool new devices, go take a look. Hopefully the info there will help you make the right decision for your needs.

Brian

Darryl

This post was submitted by dneyman.

This post was submitted by etzaras.

Front MPI Switch set for slot 4.

This post was submitted by Ed Orbea.

I N T R O D U C I N G . . .

The MicroSD Drive Pak

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIs4zHWLGWc

• Works on any CoCo with Extended BASIC
• Bonus - 30mb NitrOS-9 Level II system for CoCo 3
• Bonus - thousands of CoCo games on hundreds of disks for all CoCo models
• Disk BASIC 1.1 w/CoCoNet enhancements
• 115200 bps bitbanger remote disks
• 6551 RS-232 Pak remote disks
• PC and web disks
• real disks
• MicroSD card disks
• Auto-boot to OS-9 or *.BAS
• and more…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbzBpvkgQ2s

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U7aQ1-jGoo

CoCoNet 1.02 beta
4-18-2010
www.coco3.com
e-mail Roger Taylor (operator@coco3.com) for suggestions, corrections, complaints, thanks, ideas, improvements, contributions, etc.

This is a very quick rough version of the “coming soon” PDF docs for the CoCoNet system, Drive Pak, and Deluxe Wireless RS-232 Pak products.

CoCoNet is a Disk BASIC 1.1 ROM replacement that does everything Disk BASIC already does and lots more.  It is compatible with any CoCo that has Extended BASIC, and of course all CoCo 3′s.
However, you only need one ROM to boot with, so you’ll want to disable or remove any existing floppy controller ROMs, either using a Multi-Pak Interface or by putting tape over one of the pins on your floppy controller’s card edge.

“CoCoNet” is a system based around the CoCoNet/Disk BASIC ROM and one or more of these devices: a ROM pak, bitbanger cable, RS-232 Pak, Deluxe Wireless RS-232 Pak, Drive Pak, Floppy disk controller, MPI.

Install and run the CoCoNet server on your PC.
Install the *16K* CoCoNet EPROM in a pak or controller of your choice on your CoCo.

Here’s just a few things you can do using CoCoNet, some of which is automatic or done in a Plug and Play fashion.

- When you turn your CoCo on, CoCoNet will detect what paks or controllers you have inserted, then look for *.BAS or an OS-9 disk on the most significant device out of the ones present. Using a custom *.BAS program you can then launch off to whatever you want in a seamless fashion whether it be a menu of games, embedded apps, utilities, custom OS-9 builds, etc., even from the Web!
- To go to the DOS prompt instead of auto-booting, hold down the BREAK key during power-up.  Devices will still be detected and configured, but you won’t auto-boot.
- Enjoy fast speeds of 115200 bps for bitbanger, 115200 bps wired or wireless/bluetooth 6551 serial, and a blazing 230400 bps for the Drive Pak (2 gig MicroSD card pak)
- Move disks and files between your CoCo and PC using a bitbanger cable, Tandy RS-232 Pak, or Deluxe Wireless RS-232 Pak
- Easily add small or huge OS-9 floppies or mass drives on the Drive Pak, and virtually unlimited 256-floppy partitions, switchable from DOS!
- Grab web files and save them to a mounted remote disk using one Disk BASIC command (an HTTP-GET front end)
- Append parameters to your request URLs to run and control web scripts and services (over bitbanger or 6551)
- Use your real floppy drives (1mhz controlled speed for safety)
- Mix and match any 4 drive types at once and perform all standard DOS commands between disks!
- Mount any Drive Pak partition from DOS using the DRIVE command and even use DSKI$/DSKO$ to access raw sectors.

On startup, CoCoNet automatically mounts and sorts each drive type for 0-3.
CoCoNet then looks for a bootable disk on Drive 0.  A bootable disk is one that contains a *.BAS program.  Eventually, support for automatically booting OS-9 disks will be added.

The CoCoNet “ROM” can be booted from whatever device you own that accepts a 27128 EPROM.
You just have to use your imagination, like when you’re looking at a set of BASIC commands and asking, “what can I do with this?”.  Pretty much everything.

SOME COMMANDS:
————-

(list DRIVES 0-3 and their types or mounted disks)
DRIVE

(switch to FDC/real disk drive for DRIVE 0)
DRIVE 0,ON

(switch back to virtual drive 0, previous subsystem)
DRIVE 0,OFF

(save remote file to a remote virtual disk, in ASCII format)
SAVER 0,”web url or PC path”,”COCOFILE.DAT”,A
- file is saved to virtual DRIVE 0 as COCOFILE.DAT
- requires prior disk mount using ! (bitbanger) or @ (6551) prefix before remote disk

BITBANGER CABLE-BASED DRIVE SYSTEM EXAMPLES:
——————————————-

(mount a web disk using the bitbanger cable)
DRIVE 0,!”FTP://RTSI.COM/RSDOS/EMULATOR/CAVE1.DSK”

(mount a PC disk using the bitbanger cable)
DRIVE 0,!”C:\MYGAMES.DSK”

(mount and boot NitrOS-9 over the serial cable)
DRIVE 0,!”HTTP://WWW.COCO3.COM/NITROS9_L2_BITBANGER.OS9″

(grab a google search listing and dump it to a remote virtual disk)
DRIVE 0,!”C:\GOOGLE.DSK” (mount a bitbanger remote disk)
SAVER 0,”HTTP://WWW.GOOGLE.COM?SEARCH=FOX%20NEWS”,”NEWS.HTM”,A
‘ DO SOMETHING WITH THE FILE
OPEN “D”,#1,”NEWS.HTM:0″,1
CLOSE #1

6551 ACIA-BASED DRIVE SYSTEM EXAMPLES:
————————————-

(mount a virtual disk using a 6551-based pak)
DRIVE 1,@”C:\MYSTOCKS.DSK”

(mount a web disk using a 6551-based pak)
DRIVE 1,@”FTP:\\RTSI.COM\RSDOS\EMULATOR\CAVE1.DSK”

DRIVE 0,@”HTTP://WWW.COCO3.COM/COOLGAMES.DSK”
DOS (boot into OS-9 from CoCo3.com)
DRIVE 0,@”HTTP://WWW.COCO3.COM/NITROS9_L2_6551.DSK”
DOS

DRIVE 0,@”C:\GOOGLE.DSK” (mount a disk via RS-232 Pak)
SAVER 0,”HTTP://WWW.COCO3.COM/COCONET.TXT”,”COCONET.TXT”,A
‘ DO SOMETHING WITH THE FILE
OPEN “I”,1,”COCONET.TXT”
CLOSE 1

MICROSD DRIVE PAK EXAMPLES:
—————————

DOS#”NITROL2″  (boot to 30mb NitrOS-9 system)

DOS#”IBI” (play Interbank Incident)

DOS#”KQ4″ (play King’s Quest 4)

(use 256 floppy disks in the “DOS” partition)
(sets Disk BASIC to startup in this partition)
DRIVE# “DOS”

(switch to the 256-disk “OS9″ partition)
(sets Disk BASIC to startup in this partition)
DRIVE# “OS9FD”
or DRIVE# SET DOS “OS9FD”

(“wires up” the pak’s OS-9 drives - assign /u0-/u3 to a partition)
DRIVE# SET U0 “NITROS9″
DRIVE# SET U1 “OS9DATA”
DRIVE# SET U2 “OS9BACKUP”
DRIVE# SET U3 “OS9MEDIA”

(redundant command, links the DD (/dd) device to the OS9BOOT partition)
(DD is automatically set by the ‘DOS’ command)
DRIVE# SET DD “OS9BOOT”

(mount disk #255 from the current partition, on Drive 1)
DRIVE 1,#255

(list partitions on the current MicroSD card)
DRIVE #?

(show the type of drive system and disk that is mounted on each Drive 0-3)
DRIVE

(mount Drive Pak disk #0 on DRIVE 0)
DRIVE 0,#0

(switch to the special 720k/single disk partition called “SYS”)
(you should only mount and use disk #0 since disks 1-255 have no place here)
DRIVE # “SYS”
DRIVE 0,#0:DIR

(mount Drive Pak disk #254 on DRIVE 3)
DRIVE 3,#254

The following types of commands are mainly good for a partition manager program and you have to manually return to the desired partition later or this can be dangerous)
For example, if you do these but forget to switch back, and then type SAVE “MYGAME” on accident, DOS will do that.
DRIVE# SET# 0,0,0 (mount LSN $000000 as the DOS partition and access it as 256 disks… although you’d want to use DSKI$/DSKO$ only to perform raw sector surgery)
DRIVE# SET# 0,32,0 (mount LSN $002000 which is also DOSFD0)
DRIVE# SET# 0,0,1:DSKINI 0 (erase the partition table!)

(switch to Direct Sector Mode - allowing DSKI$/DSKO$ to be used carefully to access the card)
DRIVE# #0,0,0:DRIVE 0,#0  (points to the beginning of the memory card where LSN0 is and the partition table, etc.)
DSKI$ 0,0,1,A$,B$  (read LSN0 of the card!)
{make changes to A$/B$)
DSKO$ 0,0,1,A$,B$  (write LSN0 of the card - USE WITH CARE)

*
*    DRIVE        list mounted disks
*    DRIVE n,ON    turn on real drive (n)
*    DRIVE n,OFF    turn off real drive, switch to previously mounted virtual disk
*    DRIVE n,@”ftp://rtsi.com/RSDOS/EMULATOR/CAVE1.DSK”    mounts a web disk using 6551 ACIA (requires CoCoNet applet on PC)
*    DRIVE n,!”c:\anydisk.dsk”     mounts a remote virtual disk over a bitbanger cable (requires CoCoNet applet on PC)
*    DRIVE n        sets DRIVE n to the default drive
*    DRIVE n,#ddd    mount a MicroSD virtual floppy disk (ddd) on DRIVE (n)
*    DRIVE #?    list MicroSD Drive Pak partitions
*    DRIVE # “PARTNAME”    change DOS partition (256 uDisks)
*    DRIVE # #a,b,c        change DOS partition using 24-bit LSN (a,b,c)
*    DRIVE # FIELD #a,b,c    change partition table to 24-bit LSN (a,b,c)
*    DRIVE #
*
* New ‘SAVE’ command syntax:
* - SAVER #,”remote file path”,”COCODISK.DAT”,A/D/M/P/PA/PB/DA/DB    copy remote file to CoCo virtual disk
*

* =================================================================================================

Drive Pak Distribution MicroSD Card Contents

‘DOS’ Partition
What is it: Collection of 256 Disk BASIC floppy disk images
How to use it: DRIVE#”DOS”:DRIVE #,n   (where n is a floppy disk image below)
Disk#    Contents
0        Welcome menu, partitioner, dpcopy, sector test
1        Cash Budget Manager
2        free
3        Demolition Derby, Demon Attack, Devil Assault, Danger Ranger (48 free)
4        free
5        Donkey Kong (Sock Master)
6        Draconian
7        Catalyst, Cyber Wars, Death Trap, Chopper Strike,
8        Candyco, Pyramix, Ganelet, Ganthi, Roller, Shark, Uno
9        Sock Master demos
10        Sailor Man (50 free)
11        Space Intruders (48 free)
12        Trekboer (57 free)
13        Jim Gerrie Games (Invaders, Bandit, Sentinel, Vader, Solitair, Asteroid, Monster, Jeweler) (49 free)
14        MSNYDER1.DSK: Rodoc, Hostage, Orbderra, Cadet#1, Java, Crioload, Crio, Chambers, Triorace, Trooper, Starlog, Sandston, Monsters, Snofight, Dir
15        MSNYDER2.DSK: Dunmaze, Blaster, Tilertwo, D-Tunnel, MntDeath, Terron, Maxomar, Cadet#2, Showdown, Cadet#3, Chemist, Journey, Submania, Genesis, Dir
16        MSNYDER3.DSK: Tilertex, Cadet#4, Ghost, Robo, Treasure, Snakshak, Destin, Silence, Warrior3, Saucer, Mower
17        MSNYDER4.DSK: Speedgam, Ontarget, Timetrap, Country, Shadow, Advtut, Advsam, Rahinst, Rahul, Nametune, Virus-D
18        MSNYDER5.DSK: Factory, Breakin1, Breakin2, Silvcape, Manual, Gnome1, 2, 3
19        MSNYDER6.DSK: Dir, Smurfins, Smurf, Questins, CQuest2, Gopher, Manual, Gnome2, 2, 3, 4
20        MSNYDER7.DSK: Snow-Ski, Cadet#5, Aliax, GalaxyQ, Eldus, Prog1, Prog2, Prog3
21        MSNYDER8.DSK: Whopart1/2/3/4m, Riverins, River, Rivrooms
22        MSNYDER9.DSK: Monster Mash
23        Anihilator, Apollo, Backgammon, Time Bandit, Bandito, BCBill, Berserk, Blaster, BlocDemo, Blox, Boulders, Bouldpt2
24        Brew, Buzzard, Caterpillar/1, Caterpillar/2, Chess, Clones, CyberTank, DoubleBack, Death Trap, Diablero, Downland, Dshrink, Dual128
25        Dungeon, Eyespy, Fangman, Fltsim, Fourcube, Funzip, Gantelet, Gantprt2, Germ, GoldII
26        Gremlin, Grid, Guardian, Hopbob, Spider-Hyper, UnArc512
27        D01.DSK: Defender, Bug, Spacerac, Donkey, Mmaze, Pac-Man, Doodle, Planet, Galax, Vadrev, Gaatt, Trek, Shoot, Pooyan, Dir
28        D02.DSK: Colorzap, Dir, Trapfall, Firecopt, Castle, Tubfren, Crosword, Slots, Dungeon, Whrlbird, Cpede, Pin
29        D03.DSK: Calixto, SeaQuest, Wonder, Bedlam, Shenani, Kraken, Dir (some games pending patchwork)
30        D04.DSK: Paper, Paperrt, Karate, P-51, Colorcar, Trooper
31        D05.DSK: Polaris, Fltsim, Dir, Baseball, Frogger, Firecopy, Wildcat, Shark, Snakpak, Dancer, Frog, DBack, Birds, Microbes, Zaksund
32        D06.DSK: Dir, Invaders, Synther7, Starship, Nebula, Pactac, Phantoms, Prot, Skiing, Robot, Polter, Kat, Tennis, Railroad, Wckyfood, Catchem
33        D07.DSK: Dir, Climber, 64, TW64, Chess, Com-E, R, D, Super, TCI1, TCI2, TCI3, Copy-It, Colorfil, Spec, Assemble, EDTASM+64, Bytecopy, Fax, Disasm
34        D08.DSK: Dir, Catacomb, Autotalk, Sgr8pack, Gomoku, Amulet, Linecopy, Plumber, Ram Test, Horsrace, Drunk, Carmanag, Squeeze, SprBckup, Recipe, Anti-Air, Unreason, Talkalph, Talkalml, Vaders, Autoedit
35        D09.DSK: Eggs, Dirprint, Speedkey, Hovert, Swpowins, Swpower, Termites, Spelrite, DOS Boss, Ninecard, Musicgen, Fyr-Ins, Fyr-Drac, Drivetst, Graftour, Mod #1/#5, Dir
36        D10:DSK: Dir, Mathhelp, Zector, Worldcon, Dragrace, Mines, T-Notes, Progindx, CCstatus, Err-trap, Drollatk, Barsoom, Battlegr, Scl-Ins, Scl-Comp, Lib-Ins, Microgof, Starduel, Eduftbll, Grid Run, Sprlatk, Fastsort
37        D11.DSK: Dir, Peek, Poke, ScRescue, Yungtypr, O-Tel-O, Swimming, Fieldevt, DublDice, Dbins, CoCoDbm, Pinball, Dungeons, TRS-C64, Galsmug, IndyRace, AcctMngr, Cassmerg, Str-Pack, SpacDuel, Bugs, Trapball, Balloons
38        D12.DSK: Dir, Tapeanlz, Life, Indy 500, Memory, Colladv, Dungeon, Wthrfore, Gridins, Gridfact, Draw, 3-D Tic, Climber, Conquest, Warlords, States, Mathtutr, Mldata, Pdutil, Prtdrvr, Mutant, Probe, Dir Prot
39        D13.DSK:
40        D14.DSK:
41        D15.DSK:
42        D16.DSK:
43        D17.DSK:
44        D18.DSK:
45        D19.DSK:

‘T&D’ Partition
What is it: Collection of 256 Disk BASIC floppy disk images
How to use it: DRIVE#”T&D”:DRIVE #,n   (where n is a floppy disk image below)
Disk#    Contents
0        Welcome menu, dpcopy
001        Racetrac, Hangman, Musical, Life Exp, Wordtest, Killer M, Bartend, Calendar, Robotwar
001        UFOCOVER, Bio, Bombard, Blackjck, Costs, Frenzy, Buslet, Quick T, Qustins, Quest
003        UFOCOV2, Basketb, Chukluck, Slots, Alpha, NFLPred, Flagcap, Robotb
004        UFORescu, Tank, Driveway, Sounds, Balloon, Mind Bog, Ct Adven, Calcount, Jackolan
005        Catcover, Bowling, Proginv, Promloan, Checkbal, Trigtut, Convoy, Bag-it, Spectra, Conbelt
006        Chrcover, Raindrop, Stockmkt, Advpong, Destroy, Sound An, Createst, Voice, Mlt 1, Loony
122

‘NITROL2′ partition
What is it: The primary bootable NitrOS-9 system (30mb /dd drive)
How to use it: DRIVE #”NITROL2″:DRIVE 0,#0:DOS

‘OS9FD’ partition
What is it: Collection of 256 OS-9 floppy disk programs
How to use it: DRIVE #”OS9FD”:DRIVE 0,#n:DOS
Disk#    Contents
0        NitrOS-9 Level Two (720k system)

* =================================================================================================

OS-9 DRIVE DESCRIPTORS

/dd        type $80    OS-9 boots drive/disk, can be a floppy disk image or mass drive
/u0        type $84    OS-9 fixed drive, can point to any partition 0-3 as defined in LSN0 of the pak,
the distro pak points /u0 to the “NITRO” partition or other primary NitrOS-9 boot drive
/u1        type $84    OS-9 fixed drive, can point to any partition 0-3 as defined in LSN0 of the pak
/u2        type $84    OS-9 fixed drive, can point to any partition 0-3 as defined in LSN0 of the pak
/u3        type $84    OS-9 fixed drive, can point to any partition 0-3 as defined in LSN0 of the pak

*
* CoCoNet standard settings for the MicroSD memory card (Drive Pak)
* 24-bit LSNs are used in the code but we reserve future space for 32-bit LSNs

* =================================================================================================
* MicroSD LSN0 bytes
*
* $00-$07 CARD NAME
* $08-$0B Mounted Floppies on drives 0-3 (unused at this time)
* $0C-$0F reserved
* $10,[$11,$12,$13]: LSN of partition table
* Quick Drive References (entries point to top of each partition)
* $14,[$15,$16,$17]: LSN of floppy partition (256 x 720K = 180mb)
* $18,[$19,$1A,$1B]: LSN of top of “/DD” OS-9 boot drive partition
* $1C,[$1D,$1E,$1F]: LSN of top of “/U0″ OS-9 drive
* $20,[$21,$22,$23]: LSN of top of “/U1″ OS-9 drive
* $24,[$25,$26,$27]: LSN of top of “/U2″ OS-9 drive
* $28,[$29,$2A,$2B]: LSN of top of “/U3″ OS-9 drive
* $2C-$FF available

******** Partition Entry Bytes
*
* each partition entry sector
* $00: Partition Type   0 or >127 = empty
* $01-$10: Partition Name
* $20,$21,$22: Partition Start (LSN)
* $23,$24,$25: Partition Size (sectors)

dpk_ptable_lsn    equ    $11
dpk_dos_partition    equ    $15
dpk_dd_partition    equ    $19
dpk_u0_partition    equ    $1D
dpk_u1_partition    equ    $21
dpk_u2_partition    equ    $25
dpk_u3_partition    equ    $29

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Steve

This post was submitted by stevoh.

The work has been intense, the hours long, and the EPROM eraser/burner working overtime in my tests.

CoCoNet 1.0 is about a week from being finalized and released.

CoCoNet is a Disk BASIC 1.1 ROM replacement and is compatible with any CoCo 3 or CoCo 1/2 with Extended BASIC.

The 16K EPROM will fit in both my Deluxe Wireless RS-232 Pak and the new Drive Pak, or EPROM Pak.  You just need to get the EPROM booted somehow and you’re set.
The least thing you’d need is a bitbanger cable and an EPROM pak/board.

Just a few things you could do using CoCoNet:
- Auto-boot into a Drive Pak, PC or web OS-9 system
- Remote virtual floppy disks over bitbanger cable, RS-232 Pak, or bluetooth (Deluxe Wireless Pak)
- MicroSD (Drive Pak) virtual disks, 1GB of storage any way you like
- Huge OS-9 “hard drives” on the Drive Pak or via remote PC/web
- Automatically run AUTOBOOT.BAS from Drive 0 on CoCo powerup, from the Drive Pak, PC or web!!
From AUTOBOOT.BAS, you can make the program boot up OS-9 or whatever you want, even launch a live web service.
- Grab web files and save them to a mounted remote disk using one Disk BASIC command
(a front-end HTTP GET command)
- Web services on power-up of the CoCo (wireless, wired, bitbanger)

Real 1793 controller disks
2GB MicroSD card (Drive Pak) disks (0-255) per partition, with virtually unlimited partitions and disks!
Bitbanger port disks using the CoCoNet server on your PC and a serial cable
Tandy RS-232 Pak + cable, or Deluxe Wireless RS-232 Pak remote disks over bluetooth
(CoCoNet can mount remote PC or web disks!)

All disks are compatible with the standard Disk BASIC 1.1 set of commands.  In other words:
BACKUP, COPY, KILL, RENAME, SAVE, LOAD, OPEN, CLOSE, PUT, GET, etc. between all disks types.
(But you can’t write to web disks).

On startup, CoCoNet automatically mounts each drive type for 0-3 in an order of importance based on the devices you have plugged in.  From BASIC you can remount the drives.
You can do this from the autoboot.bas program, for example.

Folks, all sorts of things are possible, and the CoCoNet “ROM” can be booted from whatever device you own that accepts a 27128 EPROM.

You just have to use your imagination, like when you’re looking at a set of BASIC commands and ask somebody, “what can I do with that?”.  Pretty much everything.

From DOS you can mount the different disk types in any order and see the current mounts using the enhanced DRIVE command.
For example, typing DRIVE with no parameters would give a listing such as:
>DRIVE [ENTER]

DRIVE 0: DRIVE PAK 000
DRIVE 1: RS-232 PAK
DRIVE 2: BITBANGER
DRIVE 3: 1793 FDC

>DRIVE 0,#254 [ENTER] (change to MicroDrive disk #254 – NitrOS-9 Level II)
>DRIVE [ENTER]

DRIVE 0: DRIVE PAK 254
DRIVE 1: RS-232 PAK
DRIVE 2: BITBANGER
DRIVE 3: 1793 FDC

DOS  (boots into NitrOS-9)

By the way, my *.BAS program checks what type of CoCo is in use and boots OS-9 Level 1 or 2 automatically.  This means, you can take a Drive Pak and stick it in almost any CoCo and boot into “OS-9″ right on power-up.

On powerup, once the drive types have been chosen and mounted for 0-3, each drive will be scanned for an *.BAS program, with the first one found being RUN automatically.

You could have a *.BAS program on your PC, the web, the Drive Pak, and real disk drive.  It doesn’t have to be the same program code.

Telnet is also handled by the CoCoNet server and using the right CoCo client software, you could connect to a remote Telnet server from BASIC or OS-9.

Again, if you can auto boot, it means you can do anything CoCoNet can do right after power-up.

Lots of fun, and power!

One device that can plug directly into the 2×6 header is A7′s EB301 bluetooth module.  In fact, in a Deluxe Wireless Pak, the header and module are mounted inside the case. The other device to arrive soon is the 2 GIG memory module which will be used as a simultaneous Disk BASIC and OS-9 drive system.

All pak models use the 6551 ACIA to communicate with either a bluetooth radio module or 2 GIG MicroSD drive module. The image below shows an external style serial pak with an EB301 module plugged in.  A regular Wireless Pak would have this module inside the case.

The photos suggest that this is a SparkFun EB301 when it’s actually a product of the A7 corporation.

The CoCo ended up in some movies back in the day, and I bet you don’t even remember.  This is a work in progress with more clips added as they are found.

Here’s a few clips to remind you of when you were a Nerd long before anybody else in the world accepted personal computers to be normal.

The first part of the video appears to feature Steve Bjork’s version of Zaxxon, although this is not comfirmed yet. I just loaded that game up and it looks like a match.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLHLThC6FuE

This gadget was definitely late arriving in the CoCo world.  We needed this baby back in the 80′s or 90′s, for sure.

The Deluxe Wireless RS-232 Pak was designed to be a drop-in replacement for the Tandy Deluxe RS-232 Pak.  No Disk BASIC or OS-9 software should know the difference. Now, instead of stringing a long null-modem cable over to your PC, you can plug a bluetooth dongle or adapter into your PC and establish a wireless connection between the CoCo and PC.  After that, anything is possible.

• Compatible with the Dragon and all CoCo models
• The CoCo can use the wireless pak without a Multi-Pak Interface
• Built-in ROM Firmware (modified copy of Tandy Deluxe RS-232 Pak ROM)
• Using two paks, two CoCos will find each other and connect automatically
• Speeds up to 115200 bps or 230400 bps if the crystal is doubled
• Configure the pak using English commands
• Pak is pre-configured and ready to use out of the box

Please visit the Products page on this site to purchase your own wireless pak.

Here is a video of one user using his CoCo to connect to a Linux box that has an internet connection.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueowCfiTZ5s

This video shows a multi-player game being written and tested using two CoCos.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-NiaxW4siw

Can’t find a CM-8 RGB monitor for your CoCo 3? Have no fear… Roy Justus is here. This guy has created an extremely cool RGB to VGA converter box! The video output is very nice and colorful. Pictured here is one of CoCo3.com’s newest wide-screen ‘VGA’ LCD monitors hooked up to a CoCo 3.

No problem!

For more information including photos and reviews, and to contact Roy, visit this site .