[Coco] OS9 68K, MM/1 software and questions

[Joel Ewy]

On 12/28/2015 12:00 PM, Zippster wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> So, I have recently been lucky enough to get an MM/1 computer from Michael Knudsen, and a
> bunch of OS9 68K Manuals and the OS9 Professional 2.4 distribution disks from John Linville.
> Thank you guys!
>
> This is my first foray into the world of OS9, and my first experience with the MM/1.
>
> So far, I’ve been able to find the MM/1 User and Technical manuals, schematics, and a
> smattering of other info specific to the MM/1, mostly from the Malted Media FTP site.
>
> What I’d really like to get ahold of is a copy of the original MM/1 distribution disks and any
> MM/1 specific software possible.  The only MM/1 specific software I have is what is on the
> hard drive, and a couple of floppies.  I’m hoping to do a full backup and then a clean install
> from the distribution disks to get a better idea of what’s going on here.
>
> I’d also like to put together an archive with as much MM/1 information and software as I can find.
> Does anyone have any MM/1 software they’d be willing to share?  I’ll be happy to pay for floppies
> and shipping.

Hi Ed.

I've got an MM/1 and still have the original disks, the OS-9/68K 
manuals, and the MM/1 User Guide and Technical Manual.  The MM/1 works, 
but I need to put a new hard drive in it.  I did just a little 
programming on it in the late '90s, adding Joel Hegberg's clibboard 
library to Andrjez Kotanski's (hope I'm not mangling his name too badly) 
JPEG viewer, so you could copy the decoded image into the clipboard and 
then use another utility to save it out again as a CLUT IFF, which would 
load much faster.
> And a couple of OS9 68K questions...
>
> Are there any tools out there anyone knows of to mount OS9 68K Universal Format floppies
> or images on a modern operating system?  I’m looking for a way to transfer files easily back
> and forth, and get backups into a modern machine for storage.  Kermit is installed on the machine,
> so there’s also the possibility to do serial file transfers.
>
A few years back I believe I sent some MM/1 files to Bob Devries, but I 
had to copy the files onto MS-DOS floppies, load them into a more modern 
PC, and then zip them up to send in email.  I don't know whether I 
didn't think of it, or tried it and failed to get it to work, but I 
suspect that the Toolshed OS9 command should be configurable to image 
MM/1 floppy disks.
> Does anyone know of a good archive out there for OS9 68K software?
>
> BTW, I am planning a remake of the system boards for the MM/1, gathering the ICs etc to
> build several.  It’s an interesting system with an interesting history, and a good way for me
> to explore the OS9 operating system which I’ve always heard of, but never used.
Well, I may be able to help you a little.  When I ordered my MM/1, after 
Blackhawk Enterprises bought it from IMS, I was told by David Graham 
that I'd have to wait because they needed somebody to stuff I/O and 
memory boards.  I thought, "hey, I can do that," and called him back.  
It turned out that what he needed was a sub-contractor to buy 
components, stuff the boards, burn GAL chips, and ship them to 
customers.  I was young and eager.

Turns out there were problems with the Version 3 I/O board (perhaps a 
race condition in a state machine in one of the GALs that interfaces the 
SCSI chip?) and that held up production of the I/O board, reducing the 
already low sales.  I did ship a few memory boards and sent a couple I/O 
boards back to Blackhawk and a few guys who were trying to get the 
problems ironed out.  David got me an older I/O board that worked 
properly, and I put one of my own 4M memory backplanes on it and ended 
up with a nice machine for myself.  But I also ended up with a bunch of 
parts I'd paid for that I couldn't get rid of.  Water under the bridge, 
and no hard feelings.

The upshot is that 2 moves and 20 years later, I still have a bunch of 
parts for faulty Version 3 I/O boards, and good 4M memory backplanes, 
including PC boards.  I used up most of the power supply connectors that 
go on the memory backplanes, but most of the other parts are still 
available.  I have logic equations for the GAL chips, and a UDP that 
will burn them.  I also have kept some email correspondence with Ray 
Patterson, who was doing re-works for Blackhawk, in which we discuss the 
Version 3 I/O board problems and some attempts at working around them.

Are you still able to source the Signetics chipset?  Seriously, if you 
are interested this stuff, maybe we could finally work out the bugs in 
the newer I/O board.  I'd be happy to make these parts available if it 
will mean more working MM/1s in the world.  The Dallas Smartwatch 
batteries are probably shot by now...  And I'd love an SD-based storage 
solution for the MM/1.  These SCSI hard drives keep failing on me.  I 
would also love to see a Drivewire client ported to OS-9/M68K.  This 
machine is just bristling with serial ports and parallel ports, 
especially in its expanded form with an I/O board.

>
> I guess I find it intriguing…  :)
I concur.  It really was a very nice computer in its day.  I also had 
(and still have) an Amiga 1000, and it compares very favorably with that 
machine.  The clock speed was better, and the 256-color graphics were 
sharper than HAM.  On the other hand, by the time it came out it was 
competing with the likes of the A1200, the A4000, the Atari Falcon, the 
Quadra 700 (that one may be a little later?) and '386 and '486 PCs with 
SVGA.  But OS-9 is very cool, and there was a lot of GNU software 
already that ported easily.  K-Windows was mostly upwardly compatible at 
a source-code level with CoCo 3 OS-9 WINDINT code.  If more software for 
that system had been developed, it would have been very nice.

JCE
> Thanks,
>
> - Ed
>