[Coco] DW4 on MAc & Linux

[Aaron Wolfe]

On Thu, Sep 26, 2013 at 10:02 AM, Al Hartman <alhartman6 at optonline.net> wrote:
> I'm sorry to intrude on this thread if my input is unwelcome, but...
>

Everyone's input is welcome in my opinion, and I suspect others feel the same.

> When I wrote the manual for the Coco Greeting Card Designer (which was
> expanded for the Coco Graphics Designer and Plus versions...), I sat down
> with a Coco set up next to my wordprocessing system and wrote a section in
> the manual that went step-by-step in creating a greeting card.
>
> I discussed each step in the process, and explained each decision point. It
> was a tutorial on creating a Greeting Card. There was a second chapter that
> was a description of all the commands, which was the reference chapter.
>

This type of "hold your hand" documentation is great for new users,
and when developing commercial software it can be a big selling point
and revenue generator.  When creating free software, there is little
motivation to do such things unless the author just enjoys doing it.
Most do not, myself included.  However, it is very common with open
source projects to find how-to and step by step guides created by
users who like doing that sort of thing.  When we are talking about
free software intended for use by hobbyists, it is difficult to
rationalize anyone doing anything that they don't enjoy.

( A little editing of the OP here to consolidate this next item... )

>
> I had to experiment to find which .wav file to use to get my Coco 3 to load.

> I found the Drivewire "documentation" on the Cloud9 site useless. It assumed
> so much knowledge on the user's part (like what files to use), that I found
> no answers to my questions in it.

I reviewed the Cloud-9 documentation again.  Here is a trimmed quote
from that page:

"If you do not have HDB-DOS or DW3DOS burned into ROM, then the
quickest way to get your CoCo running DriveWire is to use one of the
supplied .WAV files...

...To get started, you must choose which .WAV file to load:

If you want to run HDB-DOS, your CoCo 1 or 2 must have Extended BASIC
and 64K of RAM; you will need to queue the hdbcc1.wav or hdbcc2.wav
file in your favorite music player on your Mac or PC. CoCo 3 users
should queue up the hdbcc3.wav file.

If you want to use DW3DOS to boot right into a NitrOS-9 disk image,
then your CoCo 1 or 2 must have 64K and you will need to queue the
dw3doscc1.wav or dw3doscc2.wav file in your favorite music player on
your Mac or PC. CoCo 3 users should queue up the dw3doscc3.wav file."

Prior to this quote is information about using WAVs vs ROMs, and next
the docs talk about how to use and adjust the audio source along with
the CLOADM command on the CoCo.

I must say I am at a loss to how these instructions have failed.  They
specifically explain what the files do and what is required and what
file to use on which model of CoCo.

I'm sure Cloud-9 would be happy to improve this documentation, but
again I'm sort of lost on what that would mean.  Specific examples
would help.


> I had to experiment with Drivewire 4 to get the right settings for it to
> work.

I am interested to know what settings were not correct when you
completed the setup wizard, or if it was that a step in the setup
wizard did not make sense.  I can fix this if you let me know.

> I don't want to just be a complainer, I'll gladly help make things better.
> I'm just not set up to do that right now. I'll work on getting there. I just
> bought a desk, but need help building it.

Help is very welcome.  I think specific examples of specific
paragraphs or sentences that are unclear would be most helpful for
improving the documentation.