[Coco] Software

[Willard Goosey]

On Sun, Jul 17, 2011 at 11:16:02PM -0500, Steve Ostrom wrote:
> Willard, you are correct.  "DOS" did not start the game, and it is the 
> original disk, not a copy.  

Bummer for you, as it makes your life a little more complicated.  

>Since my OS-9 background is little to none, if 
> I boot OS-9, I should be able to find the disk directory, and from there, 
> the executable file.  Please tell me the procedure.  I'm sure my OS-9 disk 
> will boot with "DOS".  What is the procedure to look for this executable?

Well, L. Curtis went over this but he went pretty quick.

You do have an OS-9LII boot disk?  It goes in drive 0 and you type DOS. 
Magic things happen.  You might be asked for a time & date.  Eventually
you should get a shell prompt.

1 drive:  You can see if "dir" is in memory by running "mdir".  mdir
          lists all the "modules"  -- binaries (mostly programs) already in
          memory.  If "dir" isn't in the list, use "load dir" to load it into
          memory.  You'll need it later.  list is another good program
          probably want to make sure is in memory by "load"-ing it.

While you're probably familiar with the idea of a current directory from
other operating systems, OS-9 is a little strange in that it has 2
current directories:  the DATA directory, which is the default path for
regular files, and the EXECUTABLE directory, which is where it looks for
programs to run.   The OS can be fussy about which files are where.  CHD
is like CD, it changes your current data directory.  CHX does the same
sort of thing, but changes the executable directory.

The floppy drives are usually /d0, /d1, /d2 on a CoCo.  These are drive
0, 1, 2 under Disk BASIC.

So, put the Ironsides disk in a disk drive.  "chd /dX" where X is the
drive number of the drive.

"dir" should then give you the root directory of the floppy.  It's
normal practice for subdirectory names to be in UPPER case.

There might or might not be a Readme, README, READ.ME, read.me, or any
other varient.  "list FILE" to dump a text file to the screen.

It's normal for a disk like this to have a CMDS
directory.  The games data files may be in the root directory or in
their own subdirectory.  To look inside directories, use "dir
DIRECTORYNAME"

Assuming that there is a CMDS directory, "chx /dX/cmds" to change the
executable directory to the game's CMDS directory.

The game is probably ironsides or crimson or something like that.  

Willard
-- 
Willard Goosey  goosey at sdc.org
Socorro, New Mexico, USA
I search my heart and find Cimmeria, land of Darkness and the Night.
  -- R.E. Howard