[Coco] SuperIDE and Superdriver rock , but...

[Benoit Bleau]

> You have the modules you just have to rebuild the boots and 
> first walk before you run.
Well, that's me,  hitting the ground running  (mostly hitting it)


> The bootlists are in /dd/nitros9/ver030204/bootlists 
> directory. The scripts that execute are in 
> /dd/nitros9/ver030204/scripts. Read the scripts and you will 
> understand the procedure. Simple, works everytime. The 
> bootlists are the modules contained in the OS9boot file.
> 
> 1. Build a floppy boot that works. This allows you till still 
> boot off the hard drive in case it doesn't work and repair it.
> 2. Once floppy is working then go to the hard drive boot.
> 3. Then go to the HDB-DOS boot.

I figured that by installing HDB-DOS first, it would calculate for me
the number of sectors to reserve for the virtual floppies... Lazy me.


> 
> Look in the following directory.
> 
> /dd/modules/superdriver/rbf/cloud9
> 
> You should see...
> 
> i0_ide_128mb_cfpart.dd
> dd_ide_128mb_cfpart.dd

> 
> The hard drive descriptors are also present in this 
> directory. These two files will work on any 128MB Compact 
> Flash. It is partitioned descriptor with the auto query bit 
> shut off so that the driver doesn't read the drives capacity 
> and over write the HDB-DOS's partition. 

Yes, I (think) I understood that.  This is what I thought I did
with "dmode /i0 cyl=A64 sid=8 typ=81"  I had calculated that it
would get /i0 to use sectors 0 to 680959 of the CF. HDB-DOS
had reported that the offset was 680960 (decimal). And typ=81
is the same typ as the one you used on my hard disk (bit 4=0)


> Anyway that should get you going....I didn't know you wanted 
> to run off of CF. Buy the CF and I do it for free. :) But 
> then what do ya learn. 

Exactly, what would be the fun in this. How would I truly understand
how to put this together? I appreciate the work you did with the
hard drive, since it gives me a working reference point.

>Read the scripts and understand them. 

I'll sure do that.


> Also remember that you are running a partitioned system and 
> HDB-DOS is offset to allow NitrOS-9 to exists on the drive as well.

Yep no problem here.

> 
> The power in this driver and HDB-DOS is nothing we have ever 
> had. With that comes added complexity. Straight up IDE no big 
> deal but when you start adding, SCSI, ATAPI, CF, etc... The 
> driver's architecture really is seen. I pushed Boisy on this 
> and he did it. Took him about 3 months start to finish. Very cool!

Very cool indeed.  One question:  will HDB-DOS or the superdrivers
support ZIP 100 drives?

> 
> Keep us posted.
> 

I sure will. This is the first time in 20 years that I actually have
fun with a computer! I've been working with SUN E10K and other biguns
but nothing is as fun as a coco. I feel that if I put my mind to it,
I'll understand everything (from the power supply to the video). Try
that with a PC, these days.

> Need help....We are here.........

Yeah, and I feel much better for it :D

> 
> Thanks,
> Mark
No, thank you!

-Ben