Is DriveWire easy to use on a CoCo 3?

[Nebulon]

I'm thinking about getting a DriveWire cable (as opposed to building one myself).

 

Has anyone used one of these. If so, what's the process for transferring a file to the CoCo?

 

Does anyone know how to use one with a CoCoFlash unit? (I see the CoCoFlash includes the DriveWire software).

 

 

[+arcadeshopper]

Yes you plug it in and use it as a drive. Its simple with the coco flash as it has the rom for drivewire. Its also easy to load the rom from cassette. I used the same Windows pc for dw and the cassette via sound card and vlc

 

Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk

[Briza1]

I'm thinking about getting a DriveWire cable (as opposed to building one myself).

 

Has anyone used one of these. If so, what's the process for transferring a file to the CoCo?

 

Does anyone know how to use one with a CoCoFlash unit? (I see the CoCoFlash includes the DriveWire software).

 

 

Gidday Nebulon.

 

MOst coco users are looking to acquire or already using the most amazing hardware software storage system ever made for the coco called the SDC made by ED Snider. If you are in Facebook join the TRS-80/color computer group for more info

 

laters Briza

[eightbit]

I know this thread is about a month old, but I wanted to chime in regarding this. DW is very easy to use and how I got started. The CoCoSDC is cooler in the fact that you do not need a server (computer) to serve up the disks, but if you cannot obtain one (there is usually a waiting list) then the DW cables are the way to go. If you still did not get them and need them I have a set that I no longer use that you can have for cheap...just let me know

[BassGuitari]

DriveWire works well and is easy enough to use once you figure it out, but any setup that requires tethering the computer to another computer is a serious buzzkill for me. It's inconvenient, kind of a hassle, takes up that much more space (for the laptop or whatever device of choice), and just feels like too much bother and turbo-nerdery to run a 30-year-old game on its own hardware. (IMO) At that point you might as well just fire up an emulator.

It's better than nothing, though. And it's super cheap to get a DW rig going (provided you already have a suitable system to use as a server...which, if you're posting on here, you do). But an SD cart or an actual floppy drive with actual floppies would always be my preference.

[eightbit]

What BassGuitari said. I used DW initialliy because I could not find any available modern options to get software to the CoCo and I really wanted to give DK and some of the Sierra games a whirl. DW was the only option (at the time) and it works fantastically. But, I yearned for a stand alone solution. That solution is the CoCo SDC currently. Only problem is that they are not as readily available

[MarkO]

The CoCoSDC's HDB-DOS contains DriveWire support..


I built a DriveWire Cable for the CoCo's Bit Banger Port and connected it to a Windows 7 Machine with DriveWire 4 Installed...


It works fantastic... If you want to check a lot of CoCo Disks, without writing them to Real Floppies or Copying them to an SD Card, this work very well...

 

For Development Work, I think this would be the Fastest Way to get Code from a Modern PC to a Real CoCo...

 

 

Get your CoCoSDCs from Zippster...

 

 

MarkO