[Coco] Booting OS9 on my CoCo 3

[Dave Philipsen]

Thanks, Kip.  If I can't get anywhere with the other methods I may 
enlist your help.  I appreciate the offer.

Dave


On 8/8/2017 1:26 PM, Kip Koon wrote:
> Hi Dave,
> Since you are trying to use the floppy drive for the first time is years, I don't suppose you can make a disk image of this floppy so I can test it in my 512KB Coco 3?  Do you have a PC with a 3.5" floppy drive you can use to make the disk image file?
> I don't remember how much memory was left over after booting the Original OS-9 master boot disk in a 128KB Coco 3 because it has just been too long ago.  The number 8KB does come to mind.  It wouldn't have been much more than that.  I can say that after booting one of the recent release disks from earlier versions of NitrOS-9 that I could take a directory listing but I definitely could NOT run format much less start up a ramdisk.  So I would concur that for that particular OS-9 master boot disk with ramdisk you mentioned, you will definitely need at least 512KB of ram to get it to boot and run on your Coco 3.
> Now, if you can get Drivewire 4 running on your PC or Linux box and connect it up to your 128KB Coco 3, you should be able to get one of the current unaltered NitrOS-9 release disk images to boot.  Of course that is about all you can do with 128KB, but at least you could dir all your 3.5" disks.
> If you need me to help you put something special together to boot the 128KB Coco 3, then I can create a floppy only version of NitrOS-9 so you can test your new hardware setup.  I could also grab the original OS-9 master boot disk and send it to you if that's what you would like to use.
> Let me know what you think.  I'll help you in any way I can.  Take care my friend.
>
>
> Kip Koon
> computerdoc at sc.rr.com
> http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/User:Computerdoc
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Coco [mailto:coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com] On Behalf Of Dave Philipsen
> Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2017 11:47 AM
> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
> Subject: Re: [Coco] Booting OS9 on my CoCo 3
>
> In fact, that may be the solution to all of my problems.  The only
> reason I'm trying to boot from a floppy is to take a look at all of my
> old disks to see if there's anything I want from way back.  I'm
> especially interested in seeing if I still have the original source code
> for SuperComm.  The source that's floating around now was Randy Wilson's
> disassembly and is missing a lot of good comments.  There are also some
> other projects that I had worked on that would be fun to resurrect...
>
> Dave
>
>
> On 8/8/2017 10:42 AM, Dave Philipsen wrote:
>> Yeah, that might be a good idea. The only problem is that I'm not
>> exactly sure what I'll need in the CoCo3, software-wise, to accomplish
>> that.  Is it best to boot from an alternate disk system with dw
>> support built in?  I can easily burn a new ROM if you can direct me to
>> an image.
>>
>> Dave
>>
>>
>> On 8/8/2017 10:37 AM, Bill Pierce via Coco wrote:
>>> Dave, I agree with Robert. It could be that you have 128k and the
>>> boot is requiring 512k due to the ramdisk.
>>>
>>> Why not make a drivewire cable, boot from drivewire, then you can
>>> explore/modify your real disks and see what the problem is.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Bill Pierce
>>> "Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won't stop going, no way
>>> to slow down!" - Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull
>>>
>>> My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
>>> https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
>>> Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
>>> http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
>>>
>>> E-Mail: ooogalapasooo at aol.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Dave Philipsen <dave at davebiz.com>
>>> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>>> Sent: Tue, Aug 8, 2017 3:12 am
>>> Subject: [Coco] Booting OS9 on my CoCo 3
>>>
>>> Ok, so it's been a REAL long time since I booted OS9 on my real CoCo
>>> 3 from a floppy disk.  Like almost thirty years.  So I picked up a
>>> used FD501 controller from eBay awhile back and I just now hooked up
>>> a 3.5" floppy to it.  I can format a floppy and I can save/load
>>> programs from it.  But when I try to boot an old disk (probably 30
>>> yrs old) I get the familiar "OS9 BOOT" screen and then the floppy
>>> does a seek at what sounds like a faster step rate and then it does
>>> nothing.  Frozen with "OS9 BOOT" on the screen and the floppy is
>>> still selected with the motor running.This is a very old boot disk
>>> that I labeled "OS9 Level II System Master with ramdisk".  My old
>>> setup was a CoCo 3 with 512K and a multipak and one of the old
>>> full-size floppy controllers and an RS232 Pak.  My new setup is a
>>> CoCo 3 with 128K, no MPI,  the FD501, and a 63C09.I've got some 5.25"
>>> OS9 disks too but I don't currently have a 5.25" drive so I'm hoping
>>> to get things worked out with the 3.5" drive. It may be that the
>>> floppy is just so old it's lost some of its retentivity but I just
>>> thought I'd put it out there to see if anyone has an idea. Maybe I'm
>>> missing something obvious.  The FD501 does not seem to work at
>>> hi-speed. Could that be the problem?Dave-- Coco mailing
>>> listCoco at maltedmedia.comhttps://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>
>>
>>
>