[Coco] Remembering my RS-DOS days...

[Allen Huffman]

The CoCo was my primary computer until around 1996. In December of 1995, I got my first PC laptop with Windows 3.1. I'm not counting the Tandy 1400LT I bought used back around 89/90 that I really only used as an offline reader for the GEnie online service. I actually still had it set up for awhile, and even set it back up after I moved but never used it much. I think I last used it around 2004 when I bought a Cloud-9 SuperIDE and copied my SCSI disks over to CompactFlash.

During those primary usage days, I got in to OS-9 as a power user, with hard drives, multiple RS232 paks, etc. I loved being able to run a BBS and still be able to work on my computer. Using RS-DOS was something I only did grudgingly and other than some games, I really didn't buy anything that wasn't for OS-9. (There's a note about "The OS-9 Divide" on the Wikipedia entry on the CoCo.) And I certainly didn't want anything to do with CoCo 1/2 software.

But today, I have no need for the CoCo to be my primary machine, and find the spirit of retro has me interested in all kinds of early CoCo history. I fondly remember my first days using my CoCo 1 and a cassette drive. (I think I found my box of CoCo tapes - I plan to digitize them and see what is on them too.)

As I find myself rediscovering RS-DOS, I realize I have forgotten so much. I did not remember that BACKUP erases the BASIC program in memory (so I lost my project last night; I was saving often, and ran my latest version down to the BACKUP command and it worked, so I did a SAVE of the current version, not realizing I was saving an empty file over it - oops).

I am finding manuals online to remember ONERR (there was ONBRK too? I forgot that one). Trying to recall how OPEN worked for files. It's really fun - but it does make me think I'd prefer writing my program in OS-9 with all the high level OS system calls.

I am glad to have this group around. I can't imagine I'd get very far without you folks. Happy new year!

		-- Allen in Des Moines, Iowa