[Coco] seeking some help

[Robert Gault]

Richard Hawk wrote:
> When I start vcc up I have the hard drive image in and it boots up to a blue
> screen with 5 options
>
> I hit option 5 and it boots up into nitr0s-9 no problem
>
> I read I just need to type desk and deskmate will run,  but it doesn't
>
>
>
> I got this from the VCEmuDisk
>
>
>
> ------------------
>
> Nitros-9 Partition
>
> ------------------
>
> Miscellaneous source code in the SOURCES directory.
>
> OS-9 RiBBS in the ARCS directory.
>
> Assorted graphics in the GRFX directory, and software to view them.
>
> Assorted sound files in the SOUNDS directory, and the play command to play
> them.
>
> Umuse3 midi music player (load drivewire_mods, cd to /dd/music/some_folder
> and run umuse3 to start)
>
> Burke & Burke RSB (run rsb to start)
>
> Multi View (run gshell to start)
>
> Desk Mate 3 (run desk to start)
>
> The OS9 C compiler and Pascal are also installed as well as many things not
> listed here.
>
>
>

Richard,

The instructions on the VCEmuDisk.vhd are insufficient, at least as you've 
indicate above. Deskmate will not run from a Window but needs a VDG screen.

This version of NitrOS-9 starts with /term being an 80 column window. Startup 
creates additional windows, /W2 is another 80-col window with colors that seems 
to be for a composite monitor as startup includes 'montype c'. /W3 is a 40-col 
window, also for composite monitor. /W4 is a VDG 32-col screen.
So, use the PC Home button to switch to /W4 and then enter 'desk'. Deskmate3 
will start. The appears to be an error with the startup screen, so correct the 
date before hitting Enter.

The vdisk_mods are particularly useful when you want to Cobbler the OS9Boot 
file. You will note that /DD contains an OS9Boot file but that is not the file 
used when booting NitrOS-9. The file used is on "drive 255" or /V0.
That means you will need to "load vdisk_mods" before using Cobbler.
The author of VCC who created the .vhd image was somewhat confused about the 
boot process as drive255/v0 contains much more than is needed. All that needs be 
on /V0 is the kernel and OS9Boot.

As probably all users of VCC and VCEmuDisk.vhd will have an RGB monitor and you 
probably do, I suggest you remove the 'montype c' from the startup file or 
change the 'c' to 'r'.
If you intend to use MultiVue, I suggest you start it from /W4. If you start it 
from /Term and then exit MultiVue, you will have change the window type for /Term.

As you become more familiar with NitrOS-9, you will find that you may want to 
change the way this .vhd disk performs. For example, you may want to be able to 
boot into NitrOS-9 using different OS9Boot files. That can be done by editing 
the Basic file AUTOEXEC.BAS on drive253 for more selections. You can have more 
than one OS-9 disk on this .vhd drive and boot from any of them.
You can use LINK.BAS to select your boot drive. You can also make copies of 
LINK.BAS set to automatically select specific boot drives with /V0 set for those 
drives run from the AUTOEXEC.BAS menu.

Note that this .vhd was not correctly created such that all the Basic "drives" 
were formatted. If you turn off the floppies and enter DIR0TO255 , you will find 
drives with no content but indicating no free grans. That's because these drives 
were not formatted and contain $00 for all bytes.
You can format this drives either from Basic or NitrOS-9 (format /v0). That 
means you can create new boot disks from NitrOS-9 with alternate modules in OS9Boot.

Robert