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Tandy CoCo2 New Owner

MarkO_ said:
Keep us Informed... We would like you to be successful... ;)

I still need to Test a Full Disk Read with my Upgraded 26-3022 Controller.

MarkO
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Thank you for the kind wishes!

And sorry it took me soooooooooo long to finally actually test out my hypothesis that the fuse was the problem. Now, three months and the birth of one son later, I finally acquired and tried putting a new fuse into my disk drive and... blech. Nothing.

So, now I have the problem of what to do with the disk drive and the system. Without it I'm not sure what I can do that doesn't involve dropping quite a few more bucks!
 
Get a CoCoSDC and a serial cable - the SDC has basic DriveWire compatibility built in. Almost all of the CoCo software library exists as dsk files that can be loaded from the SDC. That'll get you up and running for under $60, and will give you time to decide if you want to fiddle with the floppy disk any more.
 
Al Hartman said:
As I've already said, until you attach it to a disk controller, the drive will do nothing but sit there even after power is applied.
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This is not an entirely accurate statement. When you first turn the power switch on, regardless of whether the controller is hooked up or not, the drive head will do a quick seek - it sounds and feels like a short vibration. On some drives, the LED will blip on then off also - the LED blip was common on 5 1/4" drives, I've not seen it on 3 1/2" drives. I just tested three different drives in three different cases, all three made the noise I mentioned above. If the power supply and floppy drive are good, then you should get at least one of the results I just mentioned. If not, one of the two is bad, it's just a matter of determining which one. Without any tools to test with, or other hardware to swap around, it's really difficult to tell which one is bad.
 
Al Hartman said:
That supply is just a standard PC power supply. It has nothing to do with a Coco. Are you sure your power supply is bad?

Have you checked the output voltages with a multimeter?
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No, haven't checked it - don't own a multimeter. Maybe I could run to a local hardware store and they could check it for me.

If that auction has nothing to do with a Tandy/Coco compatible disk drive, why is it specifically billed as being a replacement PSU for a disk drive compatible with Coco 1, 2, and 3? I am legitimately asking - there must be something I am not getting.

Just to clarify it is the disk drive's PSU I am looking to replace, not the computer's.
 
Well, I let that PSU go. When I next have some money to blow on stuff like this I might just try the SD card reader option someone suggested in this thread.
 
While not a CoCo specific PSU (the one listed appears to be a PC/AT PSU), it would be a good way to figure out whether or not your problem lies with the floppy drives or the PSU itself. The eBay PSU would never fit inside of a floppy case - unless you have a dual, full height drive case - and then you'll be pushing it. You could really use any PC/AT supply to connect your drives to. Do NOT try to use an ATX PSU - that one needs some rewiring to be able to do that (see dabone's post).
 
Out of the box, an ATX PSU will not wok. He doesn't even have a multi-meter to check voltages with. It wasn't a warning as in DANGER, DANGER! and maybe it came across as such - my bad. If he has a spare ATX, and follows directions well, it'd be pretty easy, as you say (I've done this several times myself). But, if he has to buy one, why not just go for the PC/AT PSU and not have to worry about it?
 
The Coco sdc is a great way to go now.
You get a floppy emulator that uses a sd card, plus the drivewire style rom.

Zippster sells them on the coco mailing list. I bought my last one, with a preloaded sd card and shipping for $52.48

With this device, you don't need anything else besides the coco, it emulates the floppy drive controller for disk images, so even games that ignored dos worked. (I'm looking at you infocom....)

You can PM me for zippster's email address or find him on the coco mailing list at

https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco


Later,
dabone
 
So I finally got a multimeter yesterday and... it didn't work. Tried it first on another computer's PSU that I have (an Atari 800XL) and then on just some batteries I know work to see what was going on, and it never gave me a reading on anything.

Ugh. I'll see about getting another one, returned this one to Lowe's and don't want to try again with the same brand.
 
mozartpc27 said:
So I finally got a multimeter yesterday and... it didn't work. Tried it first on another computer's PSU that I have (an Atari 800XL) and then on just some batteries I know work to see what was going on, and it never gave me a reading on anything.

Ugh. I'll see about getting another one, returned this one to Lowe's and don't want to try again with the same brand.
Click to expand...

I've got another multimeter, and it works.

I am an electronics illiterate, so please bear with me.

Based on the information on the sticker on the back of the drive, should I be setting the multimeter to read in the 250V range (voltage is listed as 120V) or in the 50V range (Volt-Amps is listed as 30 V-A)?

My multimeter's units seem to be ohms, V.mA (Voltage milliamps - is this a measure of DC?), "AC10V," and dB. It's an analog meter.
 
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