[Coco] A little help with OS9

[Barry Nelson]

 The easiest way for you to get your CoCo 3s running again is probably using Drivewire. The site is https://sites.google.com/site/drivewire4/. For initial testing you can load drivewire through the cassette port with the wav file inside this zip file: http://www.frontiernet.net/~mmarlette/Cloud-9/Software/drivewire.zip. The wav file hdbcc3.wav will load a version of HDB dos that works with drivewire. I think the wav file dw3doscc3.wav boots Nitros9 directly. There are also rom images you can burn and install into a cartridge so that you don't have to constantly load from "cassette". You will need a PC, Mac, or Linux computer with a serial port or a USB to serial adapter, and a serial to CoCo "bit banger" 4 pin serial port cable. The pinout for the cable is below. If you can eventually get a floppy controller, you can install the ROM in the floppy controller like I have and access both your virtual disk images and physical disks. This will allow you to copy your disks to disk images, preserving them. These images will work with either Drivewire or an emulator such as MESS.

http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/images/d/da/CoCo-serial-cable.png


On Apr 23, 2015, at 9:38 PM, coco-request at maltedmedia.com wrote:

> Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2015 19:37:54 -0500
> From: Dave Philipsen <dave at davebiz.com>
> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Subject: [Coco] A little help with OS9
> Message-ID: <55399062.1060703 at davebiz.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
> 
> It's been more than 20 years since I booted my CoCo 3 into OS9 and now 
> I've pulled out of storage two NOS CoCo3s that have been collecting 
> dust.  Both of them run just fine and I've already implanted a 63C09 
> into one of them.  All of my old CoCo stuff is long gone including the 
> Magnavox monitor, my B&B hard drive interface, ACIA Pak, floppy 
> controller, and MPI.  I'm using a 19" arcade game style frame monitor 
> that I also pulled out of storage.
> 
> What I would like to do is get OS9 and/or NitrOS9 up and running as 
> easily as possible and without a lot of extra cost. I have no problem 
> with hacking the main board, burning new ROMs, etc.  I've got all the 
> equipment to do that.  But what is the easiest and quickest way to get 
> booted and actually have the ability to load/save files given the fact 
> that I don't have any peripherals anymore?
> 
> Ultimately, I want to create at least a partial CoCo 3 functionality on 
> my Multicomp board and eventually write device drivers to support an SD 
> card, PS/2 keyboard, etc. so that I can boot OS9 on it eventually 
> running at 25 MHz.  And, at some time in the future, I'd like to figure 
> out a way to read and archive all of my old OS9 floppies (if they're 
> even readable at all any more).  Any comments/help/guidance would be 
> appreciated.
> 
> Dave Philipsen