Does the CocoSDC offer anything over the SuperIDE and DrivePak?

[UKRetrogamer]

As per the subject line, I already have a Cloud-9 SuperIDE and one of Roger Taylor's MicroSD DrivePaks.

 

Does the CocoSDC bring anything new to the table? Does it have any interesting features, lacking from the other interfaces?

 

Other than it being newer and more readily available, is there a compelling reason for a Coco owner to need one if they already own a SuperIDE or DrivePak?

[lumbee74]

As per the subject line, I already have a Cloud-9 SuperIDE and one of Roger Taylor's MicroSD DrivePaks.

 

Does the CocoSDC bring anything new to the table? Does it have any interesting features, lacking from the other interfaces?

 

Other than it being newer and more readily available, is there a compelling reason for a Coco owner to need one if they already own a SuperIDE or DrivePak?

I was wondering the same thing. I have being using MicroSD DrivePak for years and enjoy it. I have thought about getting the SuperIDE to had to my collection. I definitely like using the DrivePak over plugging in disk drive.

[UKRetrogamer]

Not that I've used either extensively, but I found the SuperIDE to be noticeably quicker for random-access than the DrivePak. Also, one of the (four, IIRC?) programmable ROM slots in the SuperIDE can be used (and switched in) to make it compatible with the Dragon 32/64 range of micros. (While I own Dragons, I've not tested the SuperIDE on them). I don't believe the SuperIDE is being made any longer so if you find one for sale, chances are, it'll be pre-owned.

Edited April 28, 2015 by UKRetrogamer

[JamesD]

I think Roger Taylor's SD cart basically uses a serial connection and drive wire internally.

The CoCoSDC *should* be able to handle much higher transfer speeds.

A 16 bit IDE interface should be able to transfer data faster than the CoCoSDC but I don't know if SuperIDE is 8 or 16 bit.

8 bit IDE would be about the same.

[random_rodder]

The SDC will load and execute multi-disk programs that neither the SuperIDE or DrivePak can. It also has minimal DriveWire functionality built into it for copying disks from your PC to the SD card using the CoCo. It's much more efficient to use a PC for this, however.

 

Yes, Roger's DrivePak uses a 6551 UART for serial communications to the SD card module - and it's slow. You can see some comparisons loading Sock Master's Donkey Kong conversion here.

 

Mark recently stated the SuperIDE and TC^3 adapters could be rolled to a new board in the future, the CPLD they used for those are ancient. Right now his focus is on another product.

[random_rodder]

Another note on the CoCo SDC - it is a floppy disk emulator, not just a storage device. It uses a ucontroller to emulate the CoCo floppy disk controller to talk to the SD card module. Which means that any software that uses custom DSKCON routines to directly access the controller hardware, instead of the built in routines offered by RS-DOS, should run as normal on the CoCo SDC, whereas they will not run properly on a DrivePak, SuperIDE or via DriveWire. It also has 8 - 16k banks of user programmable flash (really only 6 since banks 0 & 1 have SDC-DOS and Disk Basic 1.1 already)

[stevelanc]

I'm thinking of buying one of these.

 

Does anybody know if Pitstop ll will work on the CocoSDC? Whilst I stand to be corrected, when I tried it, Pitstop ll will NOT work using either DrivePak or Drive Wire.

 

Cheers

Steve

[rietveld]

On January 16, 2020 at 3:15 AM, stevelanc said:

I'm thinking of buying one of these.

 

Does anybody know if Pitstop ll will work on the CocoSDC? Whilst I stand to be corrected, when I tried it, Pitstop ll will NOT work using either DrivePak or Drive Wire.

 

Cheers

Steve

Yes. I just tried. It does work

[rietveld]

On April 26, 2015 at 9:13 AM, UKRetrogamer said:

As per the subject line, I already have a Cloud-9 SuperIDE and one of Roger Taylor's MicroSD DrivePaks.

 

Does the CocoSDC bring anything new to the table? Does it have any interesting features, lacking from the other interfaces?

 

Other than it being newer and more readily available, is there a compelling reason for a Coco owner to need one if they already own a SuperIDE or DrivePak?

Here is a video showing how I use my SDCSuperIDe, and drivewire together  

 

 

 

 

 

[Michael Kline]

On 1/16/2020 at 2:15 AM, stevelanc said:

I'm thinking of buying one of these.

 

Does anybody know if Pitstop ll will work on the CocoSDC? Whilst I stand to be corrected, when I tried it, Pitstop ll will NOT work using either DrivePak or Drive Wire.

 

Cheers

Steve

Yes it does. Even on a CoCo2 with a 6309 processor.

[eightbit]

I love the CoCoSDC. Admittedly I have only had experience with DW first and then this, but man is it easy to use. This combined with the SDCExplorer makes launching stuff on the CoCo simply a breeze. Multi disk stuff as well. I have not found a thing I cannot launch as a matter of fact....and I am something of a newb when it comes to this computer

[Barry Nelson]

On 4/26/2015 at 9:13 AM, UKRetrogamer said:

As per the subject line, I already have a Cloud-9 SuperIDE and one of Roger Taylor's MicroSD DrivePaks.

 

Does the CocoSDC bring anything new to the table? Does it have any interesting features, lacking from the other interfaces?

 

Other than it being newer and more readily available, is there a compelling reason for a Coco owner to need one if they already own a SuperIDE or DrivePak?

1. It supports FULL emulation of the disk controller.

2. Full emulation includes the ability to access copy protected and non standard disk images.
3. It also has 8 reprogrammable ROM banks in which you can run either SDC DOS, a standard RS DOS image, or any other ROM image up to 16K in size.
4. It combines the functions of a hard disk controller and a floppy controller in one cartridge.