Just won coco MicroSD Pak

[lumbee74]

Just on coco MicroSD pak from Ebay. The maker is was selling 2, but now down to one on Ebay. It was buy now or best offer, so I put in an offer and got it. It is my birthday today, so I couldn't think of a better gift for myself. I have wanted one for a long time, but my money was never right, but I got one now. Is there anyone here on the forums that have one? What has your experience been?

[random_rodder]

Just on coco MicroSD pak from Ebay. The maker is was selling 2, but now down to one on Ebay. It was buy now or best offer, so I put in an offer and got it. It is my birthday today, so I couldn't think of a better gift for myself. I have wanted one for a long time, but my money was never right, but I got one now. Is there anyone here on the forums that have one? What has your experience been?

 

I've had one for a little over a year. It's a very good device. You can check out my review for it here. I've had lots of fun with it.

[Charlie_]

Just on coco MicroSD pak from Ebay. The maker is was selling 2, but now down to one on Ebay. It was buy now or best offer, so I put in an offer and got it. It is my birthday today, so I couldn't think of a better gift for myself. I have wanted one for a long time, but my money was never right, but I got one now. Is there anyone here on the forums that have one? What has your experience been?

 

Grats on the SD pak. Enjoy.

 

Is that your coco3 setup in your avatar picture? Looks great! How is the CM-8 monitor holding up? *knock on wood* I have 2 that still have fantastic pictures... I think they were built really well.

[lumbee74]

Just on coco MicroSD pak from Ebay. The maker is was selling 2, but now down to one on Ebay. It was buy now or best offer, so I put in an offer and got it. It is my birthday today, so I couldn't think of a better gift for myself. I have wanted one for a long time, but my money was never right, but I got one now. Is there anyone here on the forums that have one? What has your experience been?

 

I've had one for a little over a year. It's a very good device. You can check out my review for it here. I've had lots of fun with it.

Your site was my first stop to reread your review after I placed my offer. I have your site, coco3.com, and this forum on my favorites for ease of use. I don't comment on your site, but go there just about everyday. i hope your forums pick up action, because I like the setup you have.

[lumbee74]

Just on coco MicroSD pak from Ebay. The maker is was selling 2, but now down to one on Ebay. It was buy now or best offer, so I put in an offer and got it. It is my birthday today, so I couldn't think of a better gift for myself. I have wanted one for a long time, but my money was never right, but I got one now. Is there anyone here on the forums that have one? What has your experience been?

 

Grats on the SD pak. Enjoy.

 

Is that your coco3 setup in your avatar picture? Looks great! How is the CM-8 monitor holding up? *knock on wood* I have 2 that still have fantastic pictures... I think they were built really well.

Yes the cm-8 monitors hold up really well, but that is not my setup. I don't have the multi-pak interface. I have computer, disk drive(Fd-501). The pick is one I used in my PSY241 class this summer for one of our projects about my adolescence. The fact cm-8 monitors hold up so well is why they go for crazy prices on Ebay besides the fact of hard to find. I bid on won this week that eventually went for 225 dollars. That is a lot of money for old monitor, but it did look pretty good.

[random_rodder]

Your site was my first stop to reread your review after I placed my offer. I have your site, coco3.com, and this forum on my favorites for ease of use.

 

Cool!

 

 

I don't comment on your site, but go there just about everyday.

 

Use it however you need to!

 

 

i hope your forums pick up action, because I like the setup you have.

 

Thank you, I appreciate that. At some point, they'll pick up - all good things...

 

 

Brian

[Hatta]

Are these available anywhere? I checked ebay but didn't see any.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

 

I've had one for a little over a year. It's a very good device. You can check out my review for it here. I've had lots of fun with it.

 

WOW what awesome reviews!

Edited September 23, 2011 by OldSchoolRetroGamer

[random_rodder]

Are these available anywhere? I checked ebay but didn't see any.

 

Yes, they are. Roger has a new website set up to sell his warez - http://tandycolorcomputer.com/

 

There's also been some changes made to the firmware of the uDrive module. I'll be upgrading mine this weekend as I'm told there are a few changes between my i year plus model - not the least of which is an increase in the SD card to 8GB.

 

 

 

 

WOW what awesome reviews!

 

Thank you very much. Feedback like this encourages more reviews!!!

[Briza1]

Just on coco MicroSD pak from Ebay. The maker is was selling 2, but now down to one on Ebay. It was buy now or best offer, so I put in an offer and got it. It is my birthday today, so I couldn't think of a better gift for myself. I have wanted one for a long time, but my money was never right, but I got one now. Is there anyone here on the forums that have one? What has your experience been?

 

Nice score mate, Hopefully one day I will get my hands on one

[Hatta]

Yes, they are. Roger has a new website set up to sell his warez - http://tandycolorcomputer.com/

 

Thanks. I couldn't find that on google, or linked from coco3.com.

[UKRetrogamer]

Just on coco MicroSD pak from Ebay. The maker is was selling 2, but now down to one on Ebay. It was buy now or best offer, so I put in an offer and got it. It is my birthday today, so I couldn't think of a better gift for myself. I have wanted one for a long time, but my money was never right, but I got one now. Is there anyone here on the forums that have one? What has your experience been?

Glad you got one. Looks like I'll NEVER own one, even though I paid for one from coco3.com in late 2010 along with a pre-order of his Phoenix IDE.

 

I SERIOUSLY wouldn't consider ordering anything from ANY site run by, or associated with Roger. He claims he sold coco3.com in order to fund production of his MicroSD Packs. Months later and they're still a no show!

 

I've been buying retro-computing items from various sites and traders for a number of years now and Roger is the only dishonest seller I've had the misfortune to buy from.

 

I'm awaiting delivery of an item from a seller on AtariAge which is beginning to drag on a little but the seller is keeping his buyers informed. This I don't mind, but Roger no longer even responds to emails.

 

From day one, all I've had are excuses, false promises and a prima donna attitude with Roger trying to make me feel sorry for him as he feels victimised by a more professionally run outfit.

 

Last month I asked him to refund my PayPal payments as I believe being made to wait 16 months for delivery of the two items I purchased is frankly quite ridiculous.

 

Roger hasn't even had the good manners to reply - let alone refund my payment. PayPal don't want to know because of the elongated time-frame involved so now I'm s*** out of luck and around $100 down.

 

BUYER BEWARE

Edited March 23, 2012 by UKRetrogamer

[telengard]

Just on coco MicroSD pak from Ebay. The maker is was selling 2, but now down to one on Ebay. It was buy now or best offer, so I put in an offer and got it. It is my birthday today, so I couldn't think of a better gift for myself. I have wanted one for a long time, but my money was never right, but I got one now. Is there anyone here on the forums that have one? What has your experience been?

Glad you got one. Looks like I'll NEVER own one, even though I paid for one from coco3.com in late 2010 along with a pre-order of his Phoenix IDE.

 

I SERIOUSLY wouldn't consider ordering anything from ANY site run by, or associated with Roger. He claims he sold coco3.com in order to fund production of his MicroSD Packs. Months later and they're still a no show!

 

I've been buying retro-computing items from various sites and traders for a number of years now and Roger is the only dishonest seller I've had the misfortune to buy from.

 

I'm awaiting delivery of an item from a seller on AtariAge which is beginning to drag on a little but the seller is keeping his buyers informed. This I don't mind, but Roger no longer even responds to emails.

 

From day one, all I've had are excuses, false promises and a prima donna attitude with Roger trying to make me feel sorry for him as he feels victimised by a more professionally run outfit.

 

Last month I asked him to refund my PayPal payments as I believe being made to wait 16 months for delivery of the two items I purchased is frankly quite ridiculous.

 

Roger hasn't even had the good manners to reply - let alone refund my payment. PayPal don't want to know because of the elongated time-frame involved so now I'm s*** out of luck and around $100 down.

 

BUYER BEWARE

 

Hate to also chime in on this, but I experienced something similar. I purchased on eBay and heard nothing for over 3 months, no responses to email etc. Had to get a refund through paypal right before the window for it closed. I totally don't mind waiting (I waited over a year for my Vic-20 Multi-cart) but at least respond to an email.

 

I have no doubt the product is great, but just be a little careful when ordering if he is still selling them.

 

~telengard

[UKRetrogamer]

And to top it off, I just noticed he's let the domain name of his latest marketing site expire. I very much doubt anyone who has paid him money for his vapourware MicroSD Paks will ever see either their goods or money again.

[lumbee74]

I have noticed this too and i am very disappointed for those who have paid and did not get the MicroSD Paks. I don't know what went wrong with Roger's bussiness, but have really enjoyed mine and I am happy to have gotten one.

Edited April 7, 2012 by lumbee74

[UKRetrogamer]

Incidentally, it would appear those of us who have yet to receive products or refunds from Roger Taylor are definitely NOT ALONE:

 

A Cautionary Tale for the Tandy CoCo Community

http://www.bytecella...coco-community/

Edited April 9, 2012 by UKRetrogamer

[+evg2000]

He is at it again, he has them available for $114 at the site: http://www.colorcomputer.net/. I'm still waiting for mine, it will be 2 years in June. Don't know how he is selling them again when he put up a story saying he is unable to manufacture them anymore, and that he still has about 30 - 60 to still deliver. I think that was the number he quoted on the coco3.com website, the site is very flakey (doesn't work as often as it does).

[killersquirel]

I have to say that I'm one of the lucky ones. I had heard that the drive pak had a long waiting list to get one. I saw them on ebay last August and made a purchase. I got an email from Roger and he was a little confused on my payment, he then wrote back almost immediately when he realized that I made the purchase from the ebay auction. He sent the item quickly and I've enjoyed it.

 

For those looking for something similar, you might want to check the cloud 9's superIDE located here http://www.cloud9tech.com/

 

The superIDE looks like it does more than the drive pak, but I haven't tried it yet. Anyone have any experience with the superIDE?

 

-mike

[aaronwolfe]

I have to say that I'm one of the lucky ones. I had heard that the drive pak had a long waiting list to get one. I saw them on ebay last August and made a purchase. I got an email from Roger and he was a little confused on my payment, he then wrote back almost immediately when he realized that I made the purchase from the ebay auction. He sent the item quickly and I've enjoyed it.

 

For those looking for something similar, you might want to check the cloud 9's superIDE located here http://www.cloud9tech.com/

 

The superIDE looks like it does more than the drive pak, but I haven't tried it yet. Anyone have any experience with the superIDE?

 

-mike

 

(full disclosure: I am not a cloud9 employee but I work closely with them on some projects)

 

The SuperIDE does indeed do more than the Drive Pak. I am constantly surprised by all the stories of people waiting and waiting for a DrivePak and not getting one. I'm no longer surprised they are getting ripped off, sadly that seems to have become par for the course. What surprises me is that they order one in the first place when a clearly superior offering has been available since long before the Drive Pak was ever created.

 

As you can see on the cloud9 website, the SuperIDE has tons of features and it's performance blows the doors off the DrivePack. I won't reiterate that info. Just wanted to let you know that they do exist, you will get one if you order one, and they work great. I have one myself and use it regularly. The ability to flash multiple coco roms in the different slots is super handy for some projects I work on, without that I'd have probably worn out a few eprom burners and wasted lots of time.

Edited April 30, 2012 by aaronwolfe

[telengard]

I have to say that I'm one of the lucky ones. I had heard that the drive pak had a long waiting list to get one. I saw them on ebay last August and made a purchase. I got an email from Roger and he was a little confused on my payment, he then wrote back almost immediately when he realized that I made the purchase from the ebay auction. He sent the item quickly and I've enjoyed it.

 

For those looking for something similar, you might want to check the cloud 9's superIDE located here http://www.cloud9tech.com/

 

The superIDE looks like it does more than the drive pak, but I haven't tried it yet. Anyone have any experience with the superIDE?

 

-mike

 

(full disclosure: I am not a cloud9 employee but I work closely with them on some projects)

 

The SuperIDE does indeed do more than the Drive Pak. I am constantly surprised by all the stories of people waiting and waiting for a DrivePak and not getting one. I'm no longer surprised they are getting ripped off, sadly that seems to have become par for the course. What surprises me is that they order one in the first place when a clearly superior offering has been available since long before the Drive Pak was ever created.

 

As you can see on the cloud9 website, the SuperIDE has tons of features and it's performance blows the doors off the DrivePack. I won't reiterate that info. Just wanted to let you know that they do exist, you will get one if you order one, and they work great. I have one myself and use it regularly. The ability to flash multiple coco roms in the different slots is super handy for some projects I work on, without that I'd have probably worn out a few eprom burners and wasted lots of time.

 

It sounds like a very cool device. This device and the MicroSD Pak confuse me somewhat in functionality. Most of my other similar devices (uiec, sio2sd, CF7, etc) allow me to put disk images etc on them and then boot or use them. Is that how these work? From reading the manual on the SuperIDE, I couldn't tell exactly what it did, although it did seem like it could do a lot of different things.

[aaronwolfe]

I have to say that I'm one of the lucky ones. I had heard that the drive pak had a long waiting list to get one. I saw them on ebay last August and made a purchase. I got an email from Roger and he was a little confused on my payment, he then wrote back almost immediately when he realized that I made the purchase from the ebay auction. He sent the item quickly and I've enjoyed it.

 

For those looking for something similar, you might want to check the cloud 9's superIDE located here http://www.cloud9tech.com/

 

The superIDE looks like it does more than the drive pak, but I haven't tried it yet. Anyone have any experience with the superIDE?

 

-mike

 

(full disclosure: I am not a cloud9 employee but I work closely with them on some projects)

 

The SuperIDE does indeed do more than the Drive Pak. I am constantly surprised by all the stories of people waiting and waiting for a DrivePak and not getting one. I'm no longer surprised they are getting ripped off, sadly that seems to have become par for the course. What surprises me is that they order one in the first place when a clearly superior offering has been available since long before the Drive Pak was ever created.

 

As you can see on the cloud9 website, the SuperIDE has tons of features and it's performance blows the doors off the DrivePack. I won't reiterate that info. Just wanted to let you know that they do exist, you will get one if you order one, and they work great. I have one myself and use it regularly. The ability to flash multiple coco roms in the different slots is super handy for some projects I work on, without that I'd have probably worn out a few eprom burners and wasted lots of time.

 

It sounds like a very cool device. This device and the MicroSD Pak confuse me somewhat in functionality. Most of my other similar devices (uiec, sio2sd, CF7, etc) allow me to put disk images etc on them and then boot or use them. Is that how these work? From reading the manual on the SuperIDE, I couldn't tell exactly what it did, although it did seem like it could do a lot of different things.

 

Yes, both the drivepak and the superide are ways to put a bunch of disk images onto (something) and then use them as if they were floppies (or hard drives, in the case of OS9).

In the case of the drivepak, the (something) is a microSD card. With the SuperIDE, (something) is either a CF card, an SD or microSD via adapter, or any IDE device.. the superide has 2 channels so you can connect both a CF/SD card and a regular IDE device at the same time as well.

 

The SuperIDE is a proper disk controller in the same style as the hard disk controllers that were available in the CoCo's heyday. The coco rom or os9 drivers talk directly to it as a disk device using the regular I/O area in the memory map, and any emulation of logical drives is implemented on the coco. With the DrivePak, the coco sees it as a serial port so its a little different (and a lot slower).

 

In the end, both will let you use modern media to store/access lots of CoCo disks. Hope that is clear

[UKRetrogamer]

The site he's currently using to "SELL" (YEAH, RIGHT!) his Micro-Paks has a "Contact Admin" link.

 

If you'd like to contact Roger, you can (presumably) do so at the following link:

http://box511.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/coconet_colorcomputer.net

 

Care to tell him how you really feel about his shoddy business practices?

[random_rodder]

Hate to make a Zombie here, but...

 

While Aaron and I have disagreed on the overall functionality of the DrivePak vs. SuperIDE, I will not go into that here. What I will say is I own both devices; they each do what their respective makers say they do - allow access to disk images stored on various media types. I will also say that while Roger made some decent headway in increasing the throughput of the DrivePak, the SuperIDE was clearly faster, in most cases.

 

As for Roger, I'm really disappointed these issues are going on. I do know he was having some health issues that impacted his ability to assemble the paks, and he was trying to sell the 'rights' to the various paks he made and the associated business aspect so he could concentrate on programming for the CoCo. However, that doesn't negate the responsibility he had to those whom have paid for the devices. I would love to see him get this all resolved, but, based on what I've read today and the apparent lack of communication, I have my doubts.

I had offered to assemble and ship the paks for him - at no charge, but, had no interest in actually running an online business.

[Tempest]

Since I'm about to sell off all my Coco stuff other than the system itself, I'm curious about the Super IDE Interface (since it appears that the Micro SD Pak is not available anymore). Does it act the same was as the CF7+ for the TI-99 does? Meaning does it basically emulate disk drives on a IDE card? have any of the CoCo cartridges have been converted to disk images or do I have to still hang onto my cartridges?

[aaronwolfe]

Meaning does it basically emulate disk drives on a IDE card?

Yes, for BASIC, and for OS-9 it provides a hard disk partition.

have any of the CoCo cartridges have been converted to disk images or do I have to still hang onto my cartridges?

some have been converted but not all. some games can also be flashed into the superIDE's four rom slots (Downland lives in my superIDE

there also are some newer games that used bank switching in the rompak and cannot be used this way, and some games that never were transferred to disk.

no universal rule there.