Duncan's first computer was a Toshiba HX-10. Back in the days he was used to load games like Avenger, Way Of The Tiger, Finders Keepers, Knight Lore, and Knight Tyme from tapes.
In 2014 he bought a TAPuino for his C64, which was specific designed for the Commodore. But he asked himself if it would be possible to convert this idea to other computer systems, adding a motor control socket. This time Andrew Beer joined and helped programming the Arduino.
As they had ArduiTape up and running they started working on seeing if would be possible to could get the Arduino Nano to play .CAS files. Using CAS2WAV as the basis of their code and removing the low pass filter from the basic ArduiTape design they finally managed to get .CAS playback at the basic 1200 baudrate. At higher baudrates they noticed some issues appearing, especially with ASCII header games on both CASDuino and ArduiTape. They managed to fix that bug in CAS2WAV and got both machines working perfectly playing back at 1200/2400/3600 baudrates.
CASDuino has gone through a few changes since it was initially released in January of 2015 with help from various people. They’ve improved it’s compatibility, added Dragon and TRS-80 .CAS playback, more functionality, and the ability to use different screens. After implementing TZXDuino firmware, which can be uploaded to the basic CASDuino hardware, it can now be used with ZX 80/81/Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and use the TSX file format for MSX.
It behaves like an ordinary cassette player except it plays digital CAS files from a microSD card.
Also it connects to the computers via the standard cassette leads (not supplied) and can be powered either via Mini USB or Universal DC adaptor with a 5.5x2.5mm jack supplying between 6v to 9v (which is also not supplied when buying).
For more information on how to build your own and to look at the development of the CASDuino you can go to Duncan's blog or you can keep up to date with the latest information and find a link to his shop.
Instructions on how to download and install firmware can be found here.
Instruction on how to use the TZXDuino can be found here.
If you are going to visit the MSX fair in Nijmegen 2018, you can take a look at the CASDuino at hamlet's booth.
Comments (19)
By ray2day
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