[Coco] Glenside IDE Controller Question...

Sun Oct 21 23:10:09 EDT 2007

I downloaded the files.  Things seem to be moving in a more positive 
direction although I still
haven't been able to boot from Nitros 09.

At this time, I used your version of DSKINI.EXE to write a new 
disk.  When trying to boot from
a written copy of Disk 1 of Nitros 09, a whole bunch of the same 
patterns get thrown up on the
screen and things stop there.

Your copy of RETRIEVE.EXE did allow me to actually read a coco disk 
for the first time which is
good.

Unfortunately, I am still unable to boot from Nitros 09.  Once again 
I am assuming I should be
able to type DOS and boot from Disk 1.  Correct?

At 06:45 PM 10/21/2007, you wrote:
>Randy, I have sent you privately, a zip file with DSKINI.EXE and 
>RETRIEVE.EXE which are the versions I use.
>
>You need to use the /D option, because the file you are using is a 
>double-sided image.
>
>Hope it helps.
>
>--
>Regards, Bob Devries, Dalby, Queensland, Australia
>
>Isaiah 50:4 The sovereign Lord has given me
>the capacity to be his spokesman,
>so that I know how to help the weary.
>
>website: http://www.home.gil.com.au/~bdevasl
>my blog: http://bdevries.invigorated.org/
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Randy Just" <randyjust at comcast.net>
>To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007 11:36 AM
>Subject: Re: [Coco] Glenside IDE Controller Question...
>
>
>>
>>I am trying to copy the Nitros 09 system files from 
>>http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/nitros9
>>
>>The file I am working with right now is 362K bytes.
>>
>>There are very few switches for the command.  If you have any 
>>suggestions, let me know.
>>
>>At 05:58 PM 10/21/2007, you wrote:
>>>Randy, what is the size of the file you're trying to write?
>>>It should be ~158K if it is a single sided disk image. If it is 
>>>larger, then you need extra switches to tell the programme to use 
>>>both sides of the physical disk.
>>>
>>>--
>>>Regards, Bob Devries, Dalby, Queensland, Australia
>>>
>>>Isaiah 50:4 The sovereign Lord has given me
>>>the capacity to be his spokesman,
>>>so that I know how to help the weary.
>>>
>>>website: http://www.home.gil.com.au/~bdevasl
>>>my blog: http://bdevries.invigorated.org/
>>>
>>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Randy Just" <randyjust at comcast.net>
>>>To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>>>Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007 10:53 AM
>>>Subject: Re: [Coco] Glenside IDE Controller Question...
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>DSKINI A: NitroOS_1.DSK where the long filename was renamed to this
>>>>
>>>>The file appears to be written out --- it just won't boot.
>>>>
>>>>I tried to do a RETRIEVE and was unable to read coco floppies 
>>>>from the drive as well.  I
>>>>have an assortment of drives here.  I have tried this on both a 
>>>>PC/XT (yes, I have one of
>>>>those still) and a PII.  Both systems are using DR-DOS.
>>>>
>>>>Randy
>>>>
>>>>At 05:25 PM 10/21/2007, you wrote:
>>>>>Randy,
>>>>>with regards to DSKINI.EXE, please tell us *exactly* what your 
>>>>>command line is. You may be (a) using the wrong version of that 
>>>>>programme, or (b) using the wrong command line switches.
>>>>>
>>>>>--
>>>>>Regards, Bob Devries, Dalby, Queensland, Australia
>>>>>
>>>>>Isaiah 50:4 The sovereign Lord has given me
>>>>>the capacity to be his spokesman,
>>>>>so that I know how to help the weary.
>>>>>
>>>>>website: http://www.home.gil.com.au/~bdevasl
>>>>>my blog: http://bdevries.invigorated.org/
>>>>>
>>>>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Randy Just" <randyjust at comcast.net>
>>>>>To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>>>>>Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007 10:16 AM
>>>>>Subject: Re: [Coco] Glenside IDE Controller Question...
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Your notes are helpful, but....
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Unfortunately, I have spent a number of hours with this thing 
>>>>>>and am not much further than when I started.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>In particular I am trying to create the pair of NitrOS 9 floppy 
>>>>>>diskettes. I am assuming #1 is bootable
>>>>>>if it is made correctly and I can just type DOS when the Coco boots up.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>At this time, I just get read errors.  This is after trying 3 
>>>>>>different 360K drives under DR-DOS.  I don't
>>>>>>know if DR-DOS has any bearing.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>The *.DSK images indicate 40 tracks --- however, when using 
>>>>>>dskini, 0-79 tracks are written.  Confused
>>>>>>on that point.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>As much as I would like to use the Coco with the hard drive, it 
>>>>>>appears this may be a futile endeavor.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>At 01:47 AM 10/20/2007, you wrote:
>>>>>>> >Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:07:24 -0700
>>>>>>> >From: Randy Just <randyjust at comcast.net>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> >After swapping out a few drives and changing my controller to a
>>>>>>> >FD-501, the thing came to life.  While the IDE card was plugged in
>>>>>>> >and power on, I changed the jumper to 70 from 50 and then the thing
>>>>>>> >starting working.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>You really shouldn't change jumpers while things are on.  Talk like
>>>>>>>that make me cringe.  Please don't terrify me, I've had a rough
>>>>>>>day. ;-)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> >I am a bit puzzled as I thought the floppy was at 70 and per the
>>>>>>> >Glenside doc, the jumper should be in the 50 setting with a multipak
>>>>>>> >controller.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Yeah, the Glenside docs kinda suck.  The dood threw them together, and
>>>>>>>he clearly knew more about the IDE end then the CoCo end.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> >Is there a step-by-step procedure I can find somewhere to get a boot
>>>>>>> >diskette set-up where I can lformat the drive?
>>>>>>> >
>>>>>>> >Also, I see the update files for the IDE controller, but what is the
>>>>>>> >process to get them copied to 5.25" floppy diskettes?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>OK, frankly, you've got some homework to do.  First, goto
>>>>>>>http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/nitros9 and download it.  The
>>>>>>>Readme is a good introduction to transfering files and virtual disks
>>>>>>>between CoCo and PC.  (besides, NitrOS is much improved over old
>>>>>>>OS-9).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Once you have a standard floppy-only NitrOS boot, the only other
>>>>>>>software you'll need is the Glenside drivers and utilities, BASIC-09,
>>>>>>>and a good text editor.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Run detect_ide.  Think about what it tells you.  How many partitions
>>>>>>>are you going to create?  As I said before, 1-sector clusters are
>>>>>>>good.  NitrOS can handle bigger clusters, but some of the old OS-9
>>>>>>>software can cause problems because they all assume 1-sector
>>>>>>>clusters.  Is the drive LBA compatible?  There's a bug in makedesc
>>>>>>>concerning CHS partitions.  It's documented with the software on my
>>>>>>>site and rtsi and maltedmedia but I didn't *fix* it in those files.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>There are two versions of the driver, one supports 5 partitions and
>>>>>>>the other supports 11.  Choose which driver you will use.  I've had
>>>>>>>much better luck with the drivers which have the zero-sector bug
>>>>>>>fixed.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Then run makedesc.  Something else not mentioned in the Glenside docs
>>>>>>>is that device descriptor names are 3 chars. max.  Regular OS-9 naming
>>>>>>>convention for hard drives is H0, H1, etc.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>When you're done with makedesc you should have the device descriptors
>>>>>>>saved on your disk as h0.dd or whatever.  Copy the descriptors into
>>>>>>>NITROS9/6809LII/MODULES/RBF.  Copy the proper driver into the same
>>>>>>>directory.  Note the file names.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>In NITROS9/6809LII/BOOTLISTS, make a copy of standard.bl.  Call it
>>>>>>>original.bl or whatever.  Edit standard.bl.  In the RBF section, add
>>>>>>>the glenside driver and the descriptors.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>In ...6809LII/BOOTSCRIPTS, run the "mb" script to make a new bootdisk.
>>>>>>>When that's done, use dsave to copy the files on disk 1 to your new
>>>>>>>boot(use help to check the syntax of dsave, it has changed from the
>>>>>>>original).  Add the glenside utilities.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Reboot with your new boot disk.  If the gods are pleased it'll boot
>>>>>>>and you can lformat /h0.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>No, this isn't the quickest or easiest way to make a new boot disk,
>>>>>>>perhaps, but it's the way with the most control and the most
>>>>>>>educational.  Once you understand all of this, then you can play with
>>>>>>>ezgen or whatever.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>The last, and perhaps fussiest, step.  When you've copied stuff onto
>>>>>>>/h0 and you're confident everything's working, you can make a new DD
>>>>>>>descriptor.  Either use makedesc and be very careful to give it the
>>>>>>>same parameters as H0, or edit a copy of your H0.dd with ded, changing
>>>>>>>the name to DD (make sure the 0'th bit of the second "D" is set).
>>>>>>>Make a new bootdisk, replacing dd_ds40 with your new dd_ide.  If you
>>>>>>>can get this to work, it's the next best thing to having a IDE aware
>>>>>>>boot ROM. When you boot NitrOS, it will load os9boot and cmds/grfdrv
>>>>>>>off the floppy, then switch to the ide drive for everything else.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Willard
>>>>>>>--
>>>>>>>Willard Goosey  goosey at sdc.org
>>>>>>>Socorro, New Mexico, USA
>>>>>>>"I've never been to Contempt!  Isn't that somewhere in New Mexico?"
>>>>>>>    --- Yacko
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>--
>>>>>>>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
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>--
>>>>>Coco mailing list
>>>>>Coco at maltedmedia.com
>>>>>http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
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