[Coco] SideKick 1.05 update

[Brian Blake]

Some thoughts on adapting SideKick to the DrivePak... (yes, I'm thinking 
out loud again...)

To expand on Luis' answer, Mark, if you're asking about Roger's creation 
(if not I'm going to waste a lot of words...), the DrivePak O.S., 
CoCoNet, is really a hacked version of RS-DOS and doesn't handle 
changing drives the same way as HDB-DOS/RGB-DOS. Luis (and other smarter 
than I am) could probably confirm, or not, my fear that adapting 
SideKick to the DrivePak would not be trivial. While you can assign any 
of the DrivePak's virtual disks using the DRIVE x,xxx format, CoCoNet 
doesn't handle those drives the same way HDB-DOS/RGB-DOS does. Using 
DRIVE 0, 125 will assign one virtual disk (125 in this case) to a 
logical device number (0-3). That gives you direct access to that image.

The command structure works the same way with CoCoNet and disk images 
hosted on the PC as well - but the commands to mount a disk image on a 
PC is about as friendly as a pissed off rattlesnake. Something like 
DRIVE 0,!"C:\COCOIMAGES\GAMES\DONKEYKONG" would mount the Donkey Kong 
image on my PC to DRIVE 0 in CoCoNet. Right now, if it's going to 
continue in development, what CoCoNet needs more than anything is a DW4 
like GUI on  the PC.

Below is some more out-loud thinking, trying to make sure I grasp 
everything. (it's a clear indication I haven't spent NEARLY enough time 
with my SuperIDE... ;-)   )

If I'm not mistaken, in HDB-DOS for the SuperIDE, you can have 4 drives 
(is partition a better word?), and each drive can host 256 images. 
Issuing a DRIVE ON turns on the physical floppy equipment (0-3) but you 
still have access to the disk numbers 5-255 on the SuperIDE. DRIVE OFF 
puts you back to all drives accessed thru the SuperIDE. DRIVE # n 
switches to another drive number on the SuperIDE that hosts a different 
set of 256 disk images. The offset calculation during the 
SuperIDE/HDB-DOS set up also allows you to have drives (partitions?) set 
up for NitrOS-9/OS-9 on the same storage media. Guru's out there, have I 
missed anything?

I'm hoping to try out Luis' utility over the holiday - it looks very 
helpful in managing images on the hard disk. I see a definite benefit 
for SideKick's use on the SuperIDE , but, I can't see it being useful 
for the DrivePak/CoCoNet in their current state of development. And 
unless it's just the skeptic in me, I don't think it'd be easy to adapt.

There's supposed to be a new owner/developer for the DrivePak and 
CoCoNet; supposedly they're working on past order fulfillment of the 
DrivePak before taking new orders. At least, that's the answer I 
received when I asked about it. I also asked about the possibility of 
future development of CoCoNet - I have yet to hear anything on that at 
all. It would be great if the people who were waiting for a DrivePak 
would start reporting back when they start getting them. Or IF they 
start getting them...


Later,

Brian



On 11/20/2012 2:25 PM, Luis Antoniosi wrote:
> looking to the drive pak commands it works different than hdb-dos.
>
> Instead of DRIVE 0-255, you should do DRIVE 0-3,0-255
>
> In this way only 4 drives will be visible and you cannot mount other
> images when in sidekick.
>
> Since I cannot emulate them in MESS or VCC, I won't be able to do it.
>
> On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 2:14 PM, Luis Antoniosi <retrocanada76 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Don't have one but AFAIK it will show only 4 drives as a regular FDC
>> right ? Or can you access any of the drives from basic like DRIVE 255
>> ? Dunno about the speed also.
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 2:03 PM, Mark Ormond <markormond at mtxsystems.com> wrote:
>>> Any chance of a version that will run with the drivepak?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> later,
>>> dabone
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Luis Antoniosi <retrocanada76 at gmail.com>
>>> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>>> Sent: Tue, Nov 20, 2012 1:52 pm
>>> Subject: [Coco] SideKick 1.05 update
>>>
>>>
>>> Just a  minor update, now you can use SHIFT+UP/DOWN to page up/down in drive or directory lists.
>>>
>>> Also, added a CLEAR 200 in basic launcher to clean up space for some hungry games.
>>>
>>> Been testing a while with hundreds of games and if it doesn't run from sidekick means it doesn't run from basic too.
>>>
>>> Enjoy as much I like it, I can't launch the games in the old way any more. I'm addicted to my own software :)
>>>
>>> Felipe
>>>
>>>
>
>