[Coco] Drivewire issues

Barry Nelson barry.nelson at amobiledevice.com
Sun Nov 22 23:12:28 EST 2015


You are booting from your Super IDE disk aren't you? Error 221 is key, it tells me that you do not have all the proper DriveWire modules loaded. I suggest before attempting to access DriveWire from your Super IDE boot disk, you try booting from DriveWire directly. To do that you will need a DriveWire HDBDOS or DW boot rom. You can soft load that from floppy, Super IDE or tape. Also you will need a NitrOS9 DriveWire boot disk image. To make sure I send you the correct links I need to know:

What Color Computer you have, 1, 2, or 3.
What machine are you running the DriveWire server on, Windows, Linux or Mac? What OS version? What version of Java?
Has your Color Computer been updated with a 6309 processor?
How do you want to load the DriveWire HDBDOS or boot image? Floppy disk? Tape (wave audio file)? Disk floppy image on your Super IDE? Actual rom or possibly some sort of flash eeprom? The Super IDE controller has 4 banks of user programmable flash rom. I suggest programming HDBDOS into one of the banks.

So fill out this form… :)

Color Computer Model (1, 2, 3, or dragon):
Processor type (original 6809, or 6309):
Do you only want to use Drive Wire for NitrOS9 or would you like to use it with DECB also (NitrOS9 or Both, answer both if in doubt):
How do you want to initially load HDBDOS or DW DOS (Floppy (I would actually have to mail you a disk), Tape (wave audio file), Disk floppy image on your Super IDE):
Do you want to program HDBDOS or DW DOS into a flash EEPROM or ROM (No (not recommended for long term use), Yes - ROM, Yes - Flash/EEPROM (Specify type, e.g. Super IDE)):

The following questions pertain to the computer where you will run the Drive Wire server.

Type of computer (Windows, Linux, Mac):
(Note, only Intel based Macintoshes will work, and 32 bit Macs are limited to running DriveWire 4.3.2 or earlier)
Version of Java currently installed:

After I see your answers I will send instructions and links to assist you. Please be thorough and complete all the information so I can best assist you. Eventually you should be able to access Drive Wire from a Super IDE boot disk, but that will require you to become familiar with the Drive Wire system and construct a new NitrOS9 boot file, or at least load driver modules. To do that you should first see Drive Wire work from the prebuilt disk images.


> Theodore (Alex) Evans alxevans at concentric.net 
> Sun Nov 22 10:19:35 EST 2015
> 
> On 11/22/2015 07:12 AM, Robert Gault wrote:
> > Theodore (Alex) Evans wrote:
> >> I recently moved and was finally able to get some of my CoCo stuff set
> >> back up.
> >> I have a Cloud-9 SuperIDE and am trying to get started using Drivewire.
> >> Unfortunately, I am having no luck.
> >>
> >> I have a server up and running, but any drivewire related command on
> >> my coco
> >> results in an error.  Any dw command returns 221 (module not found)
> >> reading from
> >> X0 gives me 244 (read error) and formatting X0 gives me 245 (write
> >> error).  At
> >> this point I am pretty lost.  Any suggestions would be helpful.
> >>
> >
> > Theodore,
> >
> > Are you using DW3 or DW4? Have you set Drivewire so that it expects to
> > talk to the correct Coco model? Have you programmed the SuperIDE with a
> > ROM that can talk to the correct Drivewire version?
> 
> I am running NitrOS9, so I would think the ROM was immaterial, but it is 
> an HDB-DOS ROM that kicks off NitrOS9.  The Server is Drivewire 4. 
> Drivewire is set up for a CoCo3.  And the machine itself is a 512k 
> CoCo3.  For testing I don't have any peripherals connected other than 
> the cassette cable (which I got from cloud-9 at the same time as the 
> SuperIDE) and a SuperIDE.
> 
> > At least tell us exactly what you have done and of what your system
> > consists.
> 
> I would think that even if I had done nothing other than boot up the 
> CoCo into NitrOS9, I shouldn't be getting an error 221 from the dw command.
> 
> 1) connect hardware - SuperIDE, Drivewire Cable, USB Serial Adapter.
> 2) Start Drivewire 4 server
> 3) Run wizard, configure for CoCo3
> 4) On the server command line type "dw disk create 0"
> 5) Start CoCo (autoboots into NitrOS9)
> 6) type "dw" on CoCo receive error 221
> 7) "format /x0"
> get all the prompts for formatting then receive error 245
> 8) try "dir /x0" (expecting a type error) receive error 244
> 
> If I tell the format command to do a physical format, I see the server 
> show a write and a number of reads to the disk image before I get the 
> error 245



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