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2024-03-02: The wiki ran out of disk space, so things were not working. This has been resolved by adding another 5GB of quota ;-) Thanks to Tim Lindner for reporting the issues.
2020-05-17: If a page gives you an error about some revision not being found, just EDIT the page and the old page should appear in the editor. If it does, just SAVE that and the page should be restored. OS-9 Al (talk) 12:22, 17 May 2020 (CDT)
CoCoSDC
| WELCOME |
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| Looking for CoCo help? If you are trying to do something with your old Color Computer, read this quick reference. Want to contribute to this wiki? Be sure to read this first. This CoCo wiki project was started on October 29, 2004. --OS-9 Al |
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This page was last updated on 03/11/2023. Total Pages: 744. Total Files: 994.
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| Name | CoCo SDC |
|---|---|
| Year | 2009 |
| Interface | Cartridge Port |
| Notes | Current version (2021-03) : SDC-DOS 1.6, MCU (firmware) 121 (May 2020) |
| Info Source | product user's guide |
| About the Hardware Info Box | |
Description
The CoCo SDC is a Color Computer Floppy Disk Emulator running SDC-DOS (effectively a floppy drive controller replacement), ready for Drivewire server communication. It was designed by Darren Atkinson.
Instead of hooking up old, hard to find floppy drives or cassette recorders, it gives direct access to floppy disk, cassette and ROMpak images stored on modern SDHC card storage. This is implemented by SDC-DOS additional commands to mount disk image files on the SD card, program the Flash and execute ROM images contained in the Flash. DriveWire disk support is also included in SDC-DOS.
Provided your system has a Multi-Pak, you can connect a real floppy interface and the CoCo SDC at the same time, then backup physical floppies to disk images on an SD card. Copy protected disks can be backed up using tools like Carl England's Defeater. It is also useful to backup software loaded from cassettes.
The CoCo SDC also provides 128K of Flash memory which is divided into 8 banks of 16K so users can program their favorite ROM or alternative OS as well. SDC-DOS and DECB reside in banks 0 and 1, respectfully, when shipped.
Based on an Atmega micro-controller, the CoCo SDC emulates the Western Digital 1774 floppy controller chip and as such is basically 100% compatible with any CoCo software, including copy protected disks. CoCo floppy disk replacement devices and software have one major shortcoming – the inability to use software in which the author wrote his or her own floppy disk access routines. All versions Drivewire and the SuperIDE; CoCoNet and the Micro SD Pak, Bluetooth Pak and RS-232 Pak all suffer from this problem. The CoCo SDC aims at aleviating this problem.
The CoCo SDC case
The CoCo SDC was designed to fit into a FD-501 or 502 case, as shown below.
Such cases are not easy to find, though. Other sources for SDC cases include:
- Tim Lindner, maker of plexiglass panels for $10.
- 3D printing your own using the CoCo SDC case 3D design available on Thingverse
- Another 3D printing design, as a one-piece case, also on Thingverse
- Buying one from Ed Snider (see Vendors, below)
Vendors
- Ed "Zippster" Snider is producing the CoCo SDC and sells it (as of 02/2021) for $50 as an assembled PCB or $70 including a 3d-printed case.
- Retro Rewind also produces the CoCoSDC.
Files
- Documentation : CoCoSDC User's Guide
- Latest firmware update : SDC-DOS 1.6, MCU 121 Firmware update
External Links
- http://cocosdc.blogspot.com - Official website.
- http://www.tandycoco.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=99&t=246 - User manual (PDF)