[Coco] partial OS9 boot from hard drive (back on topic)

Mon Aug 29 08:22:13 EDT 2005

At 8/28/2005 08:31 PM, you wrote:

Vern,

When you bought your system from me it was your choice to not buy a 
drive with this NitrOS-9 installed. You explained all that you have 
in these posts. So with that I figured you had the skills and the 
tools to do this. As I have explained before. I don't have the time 
to support NitrOS-9 and do all that I need to get done from paying 
customers. Yes, I am WAY over due on the SuperBoard.

Too many details that can go wrong for Email support as even Robert 
Gault has noted.

Regards,

Mark
Cloud-9

><shrug> What I heard was "it's not worth my effort to contribute to 
>the answer of this question without being paid", which is just fine. 
>I'm far from an OS-9 newbie, although I've been gone long enough to 
>need a few minor pointers on some of the odder stuff (1st CoCo in 
>1981, have run all three models, OS-9 Level I, Level II, even have a 
>NitrOS-9 1.00 disk in the floppy box). I don't think I asked an 
>unforgivably basic newbie question here either (apologies if I did). 
>I just though it would a)be fun to get back into something I enjoyed 
>now that I have all this time on my hands and b) maybe dig up some 
>of the old software I wrote way back along to contribute to the library.
>
>Guess I just sort of figured buying a Cloud 9 product (for which I 
>have never asked at any time for support) and investing in another 
>as yet undelivered might entitle me to ask one pertinent question 
>"this is what I have done, did I do it right?".
>
>Vern
>
>
>Robert Gault wrote:
>>Calm down Vern, Mark did not mean what you think he meant. There is 
>>a steep learning curve with OS-9 and sometimes it is worth paying 
>>for a service rather than trying to do it yourself.
>>The NitrOS-9 Level 2 boot process is described at
>>http://nitros9.org/boot_process.html
>>Vern Burke wrote:
>>
>>>Well, heaven knows I don't want to put anyone out by asking for 
>>>help getting this to work, nor was I expecting free paid type 
>>>support. I'm simply asking for someone who has done this before or 
>>>knows more detail about the OS-9 boot process to either give me a 
>>>brief rundown on the steps in the boot process so I can understand 
>>>where this is going wrong or suggestions as to what it could be 
>>>trying to load that I'm not aware of that would cause the machine to crash.
>>>
>>>Anyone who doesn't want to answer, feel free to ignore me, 
>>>everyone else  who has replied with suggestions, I'm grateful.
>>>
>>>Vern
>>>
>>>
>>>Mark Marlette wrote:
>>>
>>>>Vern,
>>>>
>>>>The files work. The details of getting a distribution setup. I do 
>>>>it all the time and it can cause some problems in the process and 
>>>>the tool kit required is a good one. My life on the coco is it. 
>>>>That is why I offer the free installation on the drive. I have 
>>>>spent more time on these two Email's than it takes to do the 
>>>>complete installation of the distribution. I don't have the time 
>>>>to support a free OS. The SuperBoard will require the same 
>>>>drivers for the SCSI/IDE.
>>>>
>>>>Mark
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>At 8/27/2005 09:00 PM, you wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Mark:
>>>>>    It was just the controller (since I have/had a ton of SCSI 
>>>>> hard drives hanging around on the shelf). Unfortunately, the 
>>>>> recent disintegration of my business under extreme pressure and 
>>>>> the loss of almost everything I've worked for for the last 12 
>>>>> years leaves me with no discretionary funds at the moment.
>>>>>    I don't believe this is anything that hasn't been done 
>>>>> before, but 99% of the question answer volume has been "buy 
>>>>> something else", so I'll probably just end up re-shelving things.
>>>>>    Regarding NitrOS-9, I was finally able to tease what 
>>>>> appeared to be a good disk from the dsk file (now that I 
>>>>> understand which distribution file is supposed to be what)(disk 
>>>>> and files all readable from stock OS9)
>>>>>however it totally refuses to boot (after DOS command, simply 
>>>>>drops back to OK). The machine runs stock OS9 fine, has a 
>>>>>63C09E, and completely fails to run NitrOS9 (but runs the old 
>>>>>Gale Force version I've still got hanging around on floppy).
>>>>>    Maybe I'll bother pulling it back out when the SuperBoard 
>>>>> comes around (yes, I've got an outstanding deposit on a 
>>>>> SuperBoard from quite some time back).
>>>>>
>>>>>Vern
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Mark Marlette wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>At 8/27/2005 08:50 AM, Vern Burke wrote:
>>>>>>Vern,
>>>>>>Don't recall if you bought a SCSI system or just the 
>>>>>>controller. The TCC512 is no longer supported because it is 
>>>>>>replaced with SuperDriver.
>>>>>>If you bought a drive from me then it has a nitros9 directory 
>>>>>>in the root with the version you are running below it. Inside 
>>>>>>of that directory is a script and bootlist directory that 
>>>>>>builds the boot disks for you. If you didn't then you are 
>>>>>>probably finding out that $25 isn't to bad for a drive and a 
>>>>>>free installation. :)
>>>>>>If you have HDB-DOS then you will be able to boot directly from 
>>>>>>the hard drive at powerup.
>>>>>>Get to the current version of NitrOS-9,SuperDriver and HDB-DOS 
>>>>>>and you will have no problems. If not enjoy the challenge.
>>>>>>Regards,
>>>>>>Mark
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>OS is OS9 L2, the SCSI controller is a TCCC/Cloud 9 unit. The 
>>>>>>>driver is TCC512 and, yes, the working floppy boot contains 
>>>>>>>the driver and /h0 description for the hard drive. I sometimes 
>>>>>>>wish for the old days of my CoCo XT and the XT ROM.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>At the time I got mine, and as far as I know still, there is 
>>>>>>>no provision to boot this combination without use of a floppy, 
>>>>>>>or to load the boot track or os9boot from the hard drive.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I certainly can just make the /dd descriptor the hard drive 
>>>>>>>descriptor, the problem is that the boot will not finish with 
>>>>>>>/dd set as working directory and /dd/cmds set as execution. 
>>>>>>>The boot finshes up /d0 and /d0/cmds and it's a pain in the 
>>>>>>>butt because I have to do a manual chd/chx to the hard drive.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Vern
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Robert Gault wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Vern Burke wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Ok, we're straying way the heck off track here :). Lemme lay 
>>>>>>>>>this out again:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>What I have to work with:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>A working hard drive and SCSI controller with no support for 
>>>>>>>>>booting directly from the hard drive.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Why no support? What SCSI controller and OS? Do you just mean 
>>>>>>>>that you don't know how to set up OS-9 to boot from the hard 
>>>>>>>>drive or that your SCSI OS can't boot from the hard drive?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>A working OS9 boot floppy with /dd and /d0 as the floppy and 
>>>>>>>>>/h0 as the hard drive.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Does this working floppy contain a hard disk driver (hdisk) 
>>>>>>>>in the os9boot file?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>All the standard disk manipulation tools (ezgen/etc, ded)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>The goal:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Boot from floppy and finish with the hard drive as /dd, the 
>>>>>>>>>working directory set to /dd, and the execution directory set to /dd/cmds.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Just change /dd so that it is the hard drive. There should be 
>>>>>>>>substitute /dd modules on the NitrOS-9 80T disk or 40T disk 2 for this purpose.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I will not/can not:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Rewrite BOOT or any other module (I can patch where 
>>>>>>>>>required, not a programmer).
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Buy an RS-BASIC replacement.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Meaning what? Again, what disk OS is in use with your hard 
>>>>>>>>drive system?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>How do I get there from here? :)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Vern
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>--
>>>>>>>Coco mailing list
>>>>>>>Coco at maltedmedia.com
>>>>>>>http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>--
>>>>>Coco mailing list
>>>>>Coco at maltedmedia.com
>>>>>http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>
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