[Coco] A little help with OS9

[Dave Philipsen]

Very cool!  Thanks for the tip!

Dave

On 4/24/2015 9:32 PM, Barry Nelson wrote:
>
>
>       Color Computer Disk Utility version 0.7
>
>       About:
>
>       This program is a Graphical Front End utility that communicates
>       with the fdrawcmd.sys floppy disk driver available from
>       <http://simonowen.com>. The purpose of this utility is to allow
>       Windows XP, 2000, Vista, etc.... users to read, write and format
>       floppy disks for use with the Tandy Color Computer.
>
>
>       http://www.nitros9.org/howto.html
>
>
>
> *Since **Windows 2000 / XP / Vista** don't allow direct access to the 
> hardware, **Fdrawcmd.sys * <http://simonowen.com/fdrawcmd/>*, a 
> special driver is needed.**
> **After installing it, download**CoCoDisk * 
> <http://www.nitros9.org/FILES/CoCoDisk.zip>*.*
> *This program is quite simple to use.
> *
> *
> *
> On Apr 24, 2015, at 1:03 AM, Dave Philipsen <dave at davebiz.com 
> <mailto:dave at davebiz.com>> wrote:
>
>> Excellent!  That's not too difficult.  If I had enough time I'd do it 
>> tonight but it"ll probably have to wait 'til tomorrow.  Another 
>> question: Does anyone know if there are any drivers that would allow 
>> me to read my old OS9 floppies (720K 3.5") on a modern computer say, 
>> under Windows or Linux perhaps?
>>
>> On 4/23/2015 11:24 PM, Barry Nelson wrote:
>>>  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 
>>> <http://www.frontiernet.net/%7Emmarlette/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
>>>
>>> <Mail Attachment.png>
>>>
>>> On Apr 23, 2015, at 9:38 PM, coco-request at maltedmedia.com 
>>> <mailto:coco-request at maltedmedia.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2015 19:37:54 -0500
>>>> From: Dave Philipsen <dave at davebiz.com <mailto:dave at davebiz.com>>
>>>> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com 
>>>> <mailto:coco at maltedmedia.com>>
>>>> Subject: [Coco] A little help with OS9
>>>> Message-ID: <55399062.1060703 at davebiz.com <http://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
>>>
>>
>