[Coco] CoCo TALK #18 an introduction to OS9

[Wayne Campbell]

I was unable to attend the talk, but I watched the archived video. I found
it interesting that no one really detailed the differences between OS-9
L1/L2 and NitrOS-9 where command options is concerned. Specifically, dir e
works  in the original OS-9, but in NitrOS-9 the command is dir -e. Another
example is tmode. Turning page pause on or off in the original OS-9 uses
the option pause (turn it on) or -pause (turn it off). In NitrOS-9, the
same options are pau=1 (turn it on) and pau=0 (turn it off). These
differences can make or break a program that uses any of the command
modules. I realize that most commercial programs use system calls, not
command modules, but there are some that use some of the commands. Many
Basic09 programs are in this category, since it is easy to use them via the
SHELL command. This may be considered minor to most OS-9 users, but I don't
think it is at all trivial.

I laughed when Steve wrote his little Basic09 program. It works, and the
code is "legal" and "valid" BASIC code, even in Basic09. However, no one
told Steve that line numbers are only required in Basic09 if you are using
a GOSUB, or a GOTO. I would like to discuss this in the next CoCo Talk, as
I think a short course in Basic09 would be useful.


On Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 12:18 AM, Arthur Flexser <flexser at fiu.edu> wrote:

> Actually, "prototype case" is probably a more generous term than it
> deserved.  It was a one-of-a-kind mock-up of what might have resembled a
> case for a CoCo 4 if they ever seriously considered producing one.
>
> Art
>
> On Mon, Jul 24, 2017 at 10:31 PM, Gregory Law <glaw at live.com> wrote:
>
> > Yes, you're right. I was thinking of the prototype case with the
> > built-in floppy drive.
> >
> > On 7/24/2017 1:10:24 PM, "Arthur Flexser" <flexser at fiu.edu> wrote:
> >
> > >On Mon, Jul 24, 2017 at 8:01 AM, Gregory Law <glaw at live.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >>   In some ways I'm glad Radio Shack brought out the more
> > >>  capable Color Computer 3 instead of the Deluxe Color Computer,
> > >>although
> > >>  I think it would have been nice to have a more business-like case
> > >>like
> > >>  the Deluxe Color Computer.
> > >>
> > >
> > >First I've heard that the aborted Deluxe Color Computer had a case that
> > >was
> > >any different than that of the CoCo 3.  As I recall, there were several
> > >tiny pictures of it in RS catalogs that looked no different than a CoCo
> > >3.
> > >And the keyboard of it was identical to a CoCo 3, and sold for a time
> > >for
> > >$4.95 in the stores as a separate item, prior to the CoCo 3's advent.
> > >
> > >Maybe you are confusing it with the prototype case, never produced,
> > >that
> > >was pictured in Bill and Boisy's book, with the built-in floppy drive?
> > >
> > >Art
> > >
> > >--
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> >
> >
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-- 
Wayne

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