[Coco] dw 3

[Robert Gault]

Darren A wrote:
> On 11/21/10, Robert Gault<robert.gault at att.net>  wrote:
>>
>> The main point is that with 256 disks per drive#, copying from/to floppies
>> should not present any real problems. It is copying from one DW slot to
>> another
>> which is the main problem which is easily solved with a RAM disk designed to
>> work with HDBDOS.
>>
> ---
>
> Setting up a RAM disk along with DriveWire is an extra step that only
> complicates the process (assuming it's possible). Even then you have
> to make multiple BACKUPs to achieve the desired result.  Then there is
> the fact that some people may be using DriveWire on a CoCo 1 or 2
> where a RAM disk really isn't an option.
>
> Having a switchable setting in the server that allows each slot to be
> treated like a single floppy disk seems like an elegant solution to
> the problem.
>
> Darren
>

Darren,
I think you are saying that the switch should permit drives 0-3 to be drive0 on 
each Drivewire slot instead of drives 0-3 on a single Drivewire slot. If that is 
the case, copying files from one slot to another is not much simpler than using 
a floppy for the transfer.
To be most effective, the DW switch would need to be able to select any drive 
0-255 per slot. If, for example, slot 0 was drive1, slot1 drive23, slot2 
drive152, and slot3 drive237, and the Coco could address these as drives 0-3, 
then you would have an optimal solution.

The only way I can see this working is if the DW gui had a toggle to select 
normal HDBDOS operation or the option to select a drive# for each slot (0-255) 
while the Coco addressed the slots as 0-3. The gui would need to display the 
actual drive value per slot so the user did not get confused when using the 
alternate scheme of operation.
The user had better not use higher drive numbers (4-255) with the alternate 
scheme active, because HDBDOS would not function correctly.