[Coco] OS-9 / NOS-9

[Robert Gault]

Chester A Patterson wrote:
> The rig worked as is perfectly 12 years ago (CC3-512, MPI, B&B XT
> Interface with DTC-5150, CRC mini FDC, Teac 5.25" 360k, Sony 3.5" 720k)
> I had it booting from the ST225 no problems (B&B XT ROM) The BBFhdisk I
> took from the original release disk (I have original release disks for
> several B&B OS9 products, unfortunately RSB went belly up though)  The
> /H0 descriptor is the one I made 16-17 years ago with ddmaker that
> worked perfectly then, and works perfectly now under OS9L2. Ident shows
> no problems either under OS9 or NOS9 for the driver and descriptors.
> Under OS9 we used to load BBFhdisk and descriptors all the time, just to
> test drive systems we put together (we sold many) and this worked fine.
> Just to format and test access. For permanent installations we ezgen'd
> the dr/dd combo in right after RBF. Which is what I want to do with
> NOS9. I wanted to test how it worked before doing this, hence the loads,
> which give me "No Permission" Drat!
> 
> The NOS9 version I downloaded fresh a couple of months ago. I'll recheck
> that Burke directory thing, I know I ident'd a module in there to see if
> it was BBFHdisk and a generic descriptor but it was a single module, so
> I don't know what it is, perhaps a driver for something else.
> 
> The ST225 I had to re-format (horrors! I lost so much there) some months
> ago when I first fired up the rig after a dozen years. It reported and
> continues to report no errors or problems. Runs great under OS9 (just
> those dang seek and read errors all the time with the floppies, is
> really why I need to move completely to NOS9 ASAP)
> 
> I religously park my ST225 after every session.
> 
> I thought perhaps something to do with the revision level? Or could it
> be the date?
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert Gault [mailto:robert.gault at worldnet.att.net] 
> Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 8:29 AM
> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
> Subject: Re: [Coco] OS-9 / NOS-9
> 
> Chester A Patterson wrote:
> 
>>Hello. Have ST-225 Burke and Burke system, CC3-512k, MPI, CRC mini 
>>controller.
>>
>>OS9 gives me seek and read FDD errors all the time. NOS9 does not.
>>Must be that BLOB thing discussed here some time ago. Never had that 
>>problem before!
>>
>>I Boot NOS9 from 3.5" 720kb (made on a 1.44 PC FDD) Just to see if I 
>>can access /H0, I try to load bbfhdisk.dr and H0_ST225.dd from /D1 but
> 
> 
>>get No Permission error. Attr on both files is --e-w-ewr Why won't 
>>they load? How to solve this?
>>
>>I notice in the NOS9 directories on the boot disk that there is a 
>>module named Burke.
>>What is the purpose of this file?
>>
>>I DO plan to move to all the new hardware eventually, however I really
> 
> 
>>want to make certain I can get this old rig up and running, and get 
>>re-accostomed to working with a Coco after over a decade.
>>I've got several other hardware problems but right now this is the 
>>main one.
>>
>>I appreciate your help! Thanks.
>>
>>/Chester
>>
> 
> 
> Please specify which version of NitrOS-9 you are using. It reads like an
> original Gale Force v1.22 rather than any current version from
> nitros9.org.
> 
> If it is an original version, Burke is not a module but a directory
> containing several bbfhdisk.dr drivers.
> 
> There are several issues here. 1) Will the CRC controller work with the
> B&B hard drive system? Do you additionally have a B&B controller and
> have selected the correct driver for it?
> 2) You can't just separately load bbfhdisk.dr and H0_ST225.dd and expect
> them to work. At the very least, they must be merged into a single file
> with the e pe attributes set. Are you sure that H0_ST225.dd is the
> correct descriptor for the bbfhdisk.dr driver?
> 

OK, the hardware should be good and you are using the same driver & 
descriptor as used previously so they also should be good.

If you have accurately described the method for loading the driver & 
descriptor (which seemed to be as individual files) that will be a 
problem. You really need to merge them into one file with execution 
attributes set; for ex.
merge bbfhdisk.dr H0_ST225.dd >hdisk
attr hdisk e pe
load hdisk
iniz /H0

Then try reading the hard drive and report what the results are.