[Coco] Fw: getting files on a virtual disk

[Roger Taylor]

At 06:10 AM 2/15/2004 +0000, you wrote:
> > From: "Bonzzo" <bonzzo at twcny.rr.com>
> >
> > > To make a long story short I need to take /bas, /bin and /arc coco
> > files
> > > that are on my PC and transfer them to disk to be used on my CoCo.
>
>You can also use Roger Taylor's program Portal-9, which I believe is easier
>to use than Jeff Vavasour's emulator.
>
>My two cents..
>--Alan


The initial impression you might get when you first see Portal-9's screen 
and menu options is probably, "ok, now what?", but it's actually quite easy 
to move files from the PC directories onto virtual disks, and the whole 
session can be saved as a project.

You start by creating a new project (or opening some other previous project 
that does nothing but copy files onto a disk).  You're not limited to 
making one virtual disk, but as many as you like.  For instance, a single 
project can be set to create 5 virtual disks and load them up with a bunch 
of files in a few seconds.  Later, you can change a file here, a file 
there, and rebuild the whole project and out comes the new disks.

The first thing you do is add a target disk to the project.  This is the 
disk that will receive any files built by the project.  In our case, we'll 
just be copying files over to the disk and no real processing will be 
happening, as it would if you were assembling a source code file, etc.  You 
can add 1 disk or more.  If you forget to add a disk, Portal-9 will think 
you're trying to build a ROM image, most likely.

Now you simply Add components to the project until you have rounded up all 
of the files you want to be put on your virtual disks.  For each file, the 
left side panel will show what disk is to accept the file.  If you only 
have 1 disk, this will be set automatically for each file.  If you have 2 
or more disks, you can choose which disk to use from the drop-down 
list.  Easy enough.

There's other options in the left panel for controlling the storage format 
for each file on the disk.  If you know the file is a text file or document 
(which you'll be able to see because each file will have it's own editor 
window in the IDE), you can set that file to be stored on the disk as an 
ASCII file.

When all of your files are set, you click the Build button and your virtual 
disks will be created inside of the Disks subdirectory within your project 
folder, and at the same time, the project is automatically saved.  To 
rebuild the disks, just reload the project later and click Build.

So, there's a setup process that pays for itself by letting you take care 
of mistakes before you build the disks.  The whole thing can really be fun 
to do and watch.  It's pretty much *instantaneous*.  And let's say later 
you decide that one of the files to be placed on your virtual disk is a 
source code file but you need it to be assembled into a program for the 
disk... ofcourse, that's Portal-9's speciality, so you just tag the file as 
so and CCASM will jump in and crunch away for about a second and that will 
be done.  .BIN it is.

Have fun.


----------
Roger Taylor