[Coco] DRIVE OFF - Replacement - What Do you think.

[Robert Gault]

You really need to specify the hardware on your system. That new command could be completely 
unnecessary. HDBDOS for Drivewire assumes (under Disk Basic) that you either have a "hard drive" 
mounted in DW drive0 or (with HDBDOS Translation ON) have all 256 DW drives "floppies."

If you have a hard drive on a real Coco, you need to have an HDBDOS ROM that does not see DW. If you 
use NitrOS-9, you boot it from your hard drive. Now you can access real floppies, your Coco hard 
drive, and DW drives based on the drivers installed and the descriptors.

There are tricks that can be used with multiple Basic hard drives mounted on DW.
With a multiple DOS ROM installed on a real Coco, you can manage to swap with a switch between 
accessing a Coco hard drive and a DW hard drive.

Here is a method I've used to copy files or BACKUP "drives" between a real had drive and DW drives. 
I use a Ram disk which is specific for drive#3. The RAM is not disturbed when rebooting the Coco, so 
if I swap ROMs before rebooting, I can transfer data between Basic drives on DW and a Coco hard 
drive with Basic "disks." Of course with real floppies, they can be used for transfers rather than a 
RAM disk.

Robert


Camillus Blockx wrote:
> Or DISKMODE H,W,R,F
>
> H  =  HARDDRIVE
> W =  WIREDRIVE
> R =   RAMDRIVE
> F =.  FLOPPY DRIVE
>
> This way it's easier to remember which device is mentioned to use
>
> Cb
>
> On Wed, Jul 4, 2018, 7:44 PM <coco at jechar.ca> wrote:
>
>>
>>    The DRIVE OFF command was a good Idea when there was just FLOPPY / HARD
>> DRIVE.
>>
>>    But Now we have Drive Wire in the mix.
>>
>>    Why not make a command such as
>>
>>    DSKMODE
>>
>>    Where the syntax  DSKMODE X
>>
>>    Where X = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
>>
>>    And
>>
>>    0 =  All Hard Drives 0 - 256
>>    1 =  All Drive Wire  0 - 256
>>    2 =  Drives 0 - 3 Floppy Drives,  Drives  4 - 256  Hard Drive
>>    3 =  Drives 0 - 3 Floppy Drives,  Drives 4 -9 Drive Wire, Drives  10 -
>> 256  Hard Drive
>>    4 =  Drives 0 - 3 Floppy Drives,  Drives 4 -9 Ram Disk, Drives  10 -
>> 256  Hard Drive
>>
>>
>>    Such a command would simplify dealing with all these media types.
>>
>>
>> --
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>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>
>