[Coco] NitrOS-9 newbie needs some help

[Boisy G. Pitre]

On Aug 10, 2004, at 2:22 AM, Nickolas Marentes wrote:

> I've run the modified for 50Hz version of NitrOS-9 that Boisy sent me 
> and it
> didn't change any of the problems I am experiencing. It does mean I 
> don't
> have to keep reaching for the vertical hold on my monitor to stop it 
> rolling
> when switching to 60Hz.

It's a small but slight improvement.  Subsequent releases will have the 
50Hz images available for European and Australian users.

> I plugged in my multi-pak (that thing takes all the elegence out of the
> CoCo! It's so kludgy looking, especially when loaded up with 
> cartridges!)
> and I plugged in my FD502 controller which is giving me near 100% 
> format
> failures and found that formatting problems ALMOST all dissappeared. 
> It's
> still not perfect but it shows that the problem must be some "bus 
> loading"
> or "edge triggering" problem.

That's interesting.  The multi-pak does provide power to the cartridge 
through its own power supply, but I don't know why that would make a 
difference in its behavior.

> What I would like is an internal IDE connector. Does anyone have one of
> these available for sale?

I presume you mean having an internal IDE interface?  The closes thing 
would be to get the SuperIDE and fold it inside of the computer 
somehow, using a small piece of ribbon cable.  I believe Bob Emery has 
done something similar with a 3.5" disk drive.

> Is there some sort of bus buffer that would allow me to keep the 
> Multi-crap
> interface out of site or better still, mount the innards in a box 
> along with
> floppy drives and placed under the monitor (ala TRS-80 model 1 
> expansion
> box)?

Cloud-9's Pro-Tector+ would definitely help in that it boosts bus 
signals going out of the cartridge port, and would help in a ribbon 
cable extended environment.  Just send an email to mark at cloud9tech.com 
with the products that you are interested in, and he'll send you out a 
quote via email.

Boisy