MrDave

Wow ! I just bought. My first coco3 game in 30 years ! Nick Marentes 2020 release Gunstar. This games uses the 6309 cpu upgrade and runs great on the vcc emulator as well. 10$ digital download or $20 physical box set with bonus games. I highly reccomend this high polished game.

How this project works... All usb devices go into a raspberry pi that lives in the coco .. a program i wrote in python3 takes the data from the keyboard,,mouse etc.. and sends the data over the gpio pins to a keyboard matrix simulator that plugs into the original keyboard connector.. the coco thinks all information is actually being entered by the keyboard

Not sure about it being sacralegious lol The pi is being used as an inexpensive interface giving the coco data 8 bits at a time. Actually it controls some 4066 ic switches that simulate a original keyboard input. The roms are original except for an update of the welcome screen and a built in poke to activate true lowercase. The mouse data gets converted to simulate arrow up down etc.. i run a coco sdc floppy drive simulator when i need it. Feel free to ask any more questions

I grabbed this monochrome signal before the video output so my plan is to turn it vga and add my own colors

64k korean coco2 6309 / 6809 cpu I use a raspberry pi 3 to convert usb signals from the rgb keyboard and wireless pad as well and mouse put the data out the rpio pins into the original coco keyboard connector. The coco does not know it gets its new data from the pi ! I also transmit real time clock and date all thru the keyboard port

Hey i was able to install a usb port on my coco2 ! Hello 2020. .. There are some demo videos on youtube ..just search Coco2 usb mouse !

Here's a test of monochrome signal taken form 1 pin of the vdg. I used a op amp to invert and amplify the signal thats all

I think if i aquired a bunch if old computers the same .i would try the dishwasher lol it seems scarey but maybe..lol in the mean time some 99%alchool and a toothbrush wont hurt

It wouldn't hurt to do a visual inspection.. but the coco computer won't spit out data on the serial port if it does not get a ready signal of +5v on the rs232 in pin maybe check that.

If you have a korean board you may be ab le to use 2 4464 chips to get 64k instead of eight 4164's

Oh i forgot to mention ..it works wireless too ..

I am going to explain how it works on cocotalk march 7 on youtube thanks !!

A little fyi. I figured out a 60% size keyboard is the right size for coco2 & 3 ! This one is a usb c rgb one but i have it remapped and working great !

Looks like you have a big project on your hands lol.. clean everything inside and look for any capacitors that leaked or are bubbled up .. change them and any others that look old.. look for any broken solder traces.. as for programs you can easily download some wave files and transfer them using the cassette port. Then save them to your diskdrives.. and yes with the machine unplugged spray any switches or pots with contact cleaner an move them back and forth especially those 2. Video brightness and contrast wheels.. Good luck

I wonder how difficult it would be a put a better CPU in the ti ? Like a high speed 6309 ?

Hey that's good news.. one of the best tools for older boards is your eyes ! If it does not look right., it probably isn't.

Yes i should be a little more detailed about ckeaning the board. UNPLUG MACHINE Use compressed air.. alchool & swabs to clean your board Then inspect for any faults . Like john said cracked solder joints... check all the capacitors if they have leaked or are bubbled up slightly on top. Even without test equippment you can do alot. Good luck

I would clean the board with 99% alcohol. Remove chips from the socket and clean . Then with a q tip wipe a little wd-40 on the pins and re socket everything .. especially the big chip near the video out, that's the video chip

The first poke &h0167,&h30 stops the video chip from resetting everytime a character is displayed and the &hff22, sets the video mode for lowercase, invert text , background color and graphics mode. So from low to high dont poke bits 0,1,2. They have nothing to do with video. Bit 3 is green (0) or orange (1) if your coco can do it.. so poke &hff22,08 will get you orange if available. The next bit is true lowercase on. Ie poke &hff22,18 lowercase and orange.. the next bit is inverse color. The next bit if background color. So &hff22,30 gets you green background , inverse text, and lowercase.. if your coco supports it.

Not sure about commercial software.. but text based applications like edtasm etc are alot nicer like this

My sweet coco2 6309e / 6809e ..dual cpu ..dual eprom !

Ok so I have this figured out now On alot of coco2's even in xroar ( coco2b mode) Poke &H0167,&H39 Poke &HFF22,&H78 The first command locks out basic from resetting the vdg the second is a poke into the vdg the 7 can be a 7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0 and the second digit an 8 for orange or 0 for green The top bits are for wideScreen..inverse,,lowercase. Try it out !

Funny from basic i can poke at ff22 to change modes to real lower case.. orange background orange or green outside border and inverse the screen too ! It looks like orange on dark red really cool.. but as soon as basic tried to print it put it back to green lol. If i cant find it in rom i may hardware attack the vid chip !

Pin 9 on the cartridge connecor , or on the + side of one of the 100uf caps like c15. Or the live side of the casette relay should all have +5 volts ., please check with a volt meter first.. i don't have a coco3 in front of me..

Im sorry to hear you had a sinclair...