Storage Solution to buy for my CC-40

[mutantcamel1979]

Hi guys I would like to buy a storage method for my trusty CC-40. I know Arcade Shopper has numerous options:

 

TI Hexbus SD Card Disk Drive

CC-40 512K Ram Cartridge

 

Being a technical novice, what would be the best option to buy?

Using the disk drive can you save programs inputted onto a CC-40 directly as well as running downloaded files from the internet?

 

I know you can also buy a Multicart with all the released cartridge programs on it. Can you download those programs onto a SD card and run on the Disk Drive?

 

With a RAM Cartridge I assume is only useful to save any programs inputted onto the CC-40 first.

 

I was also pleased to see a text adventure game I help adapt onto the CC-40/TI-74 many years ago is available to download:

 

https://ftp.whtech.com/CC40/cc40HAUNTED.TXT

Edited February 16, 2022 by mutantcamel1979

[+arcadeshopper]

The sdcard drive saves to a fat32 sdcard making it easy to copy to and from the device card from your PC I'm not sure if you can import text files from the PC to the correct format.. haven't tried that

The ram cart is battery backed ram and requires you to keep power to it to store anything long term

The multicart is not available on disk that I know of



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[mutantcamel1979]

Thanks - Am I right to assume the CC40 lacks the data that the CC40+ and TI-74 contains which allows them to load programmes from cassette? 

 

Device 1 is not recognised by the CC40. I dug out my old hexbus to dockbus adapter I used to connect the PCIF to the CC40 many years ago just out of interest to see if the CC40 would recognise the TI74 cassette interface.

 

I am not sure my PCIF still works. I tried connecting it up to my laptop via a parallel to USB cable, running TIIF in Dos Box, but I believe DOS does not support USB.

Edited February 18, 2022 by mutantcamel1979

[+acadiel]

On 2/18/2022 at 6:06 AM, mutantcamel1979 said:

Thanks - Am I right to assume the CC40 lacks the data that the CC40+ and TI-74 contains which allows them to load programmes from cassette? 

 

Device 1 is not recognised by the CC40. I dug out my old hexbus to dockbus adapter I used to connect the PCIF to the CC40 many years ago just out of interest to see if the CC40 would recognise the TI74 cassette interface.

 

I am not sure my PCIF still works. I tried connecting it up to my laptop via a parallel to USB cable, running TIIF in Dos Box, but I believe DOS does not support USB.

Nope - that's because the cassette code for the CC-40+ in the CPU ROM.  They made the CPU in the + a 70C40 (4K CPU ROM) instead of the 70C20 (2K CPU ROM) that was in the CC-40.  This extra 2K has the cassette routines.  The CI-7 type hardware was built into a daughterboard on the 40+ inside, with the DB9 cassette connector.  

 

Until someone makes a FPGA 70CXX type replacement CPU that you can easily erase and program the CPU ROM, our CC-40's are stuck being non-cassette.    That's all that's really keeping the 40 from doing so.

 

[JB]

This concludes your annual reminder of how crippling the Wafertape drive's failure was.