[Coco] Update: os9gen on 128k coco3, rs323 pack

Sun Feb 15 13:40:30 EST 2009

I think what Mikey may be seeing is an issue with the current sc6551  
driver related to the DCD signal.  If that signal is not asserted,  
then there is hanging when writing.  I am not an expert on the driver,  
but as I recall, if you tie the DCD signal to DTR (as DTR is sourced  
FROM the PC), then information will start flowing.

That said, the sc6551 driver could really use an adoptive parent at  
this point; someone to take it under their wings and really work to  
understand it (and fix lingering issues).

On Feb 15, 2009, at 12:30 PM, Gene Heskett wrote:

> On Sunday 15 February 2009, Michael Furman wrote:
>> Robert and everyone else:
>>
>> Thank you very much for your help getting os9gen to work.  I wanted  
>> to
>> let you know that it worked and I have been trying to create working
>> 3.2.8 and 3.2.6 boot disks all weekend.
>>
>> There are many potential issues.
>>
>> It looks like both of my source 3.2.8 disks created from the
>> distribution images have bad sectors or hard-to-read sectors.  Some  
>> of
>> the 3.2.8 boot disks that I create with the term_vdg driver have the
>> issues I mentioned previously, that it gets i2xoC then hangs.  When I
>> try to use the 80 col term I get a Nitros9 boot message then the
>> system hangs.  Unfortunately I don't have a desktop PC with a floppy
>> drive in it currently so I can't write new images out to continue  
>> with
>> this.
>>
>> I have been using the silly default line editor.  I learned that
>> without giving it additional memory, it doesn't read the entire
>> standard.bl file into memory.  It doesn't truncate the file but it's
>> still rather weird.  After figuring this out, giving the editor  
>> enough
>> memory and building yet more disks the hangs mentioned above still
>> happen.  This doesn't appear to be the problem.
>>
>> I made a boot disk using 3.2.6 and added the sc6551.dr and
>> t2_sc6551.dr modules to it.  this booted up.  When I tried something
>> like echo hi >/t2 the system hangs.  Not sure what's going on.  Any
>> specific rs323 handshaking issues I need to be aware of?  I even  
>> tried
>> booting the standard unmodified disk and manually loading the driver
>> and descriptor with the same result.  This might  be due to some
>> additional problems:
>>
>> I tried using the rs232 pak ROM and it seems to hang occasionally.   
>> My
>> RS323 pack no longer has its black plastic case.  I don't think this
>> in itself is a problem but it's been unprotected for many years (some
>> kid took it out of the box to look at it and lost the parts, hmm, I
>> wonder who that is...)  I know that static discharge is less of an
>> issue with mounted parts than it is with unmounted parts, but  
>> still...
>> I have to wonder if there's any damage to this board...
>>
>> I'm using an MPI that has not been modified for use with a coco3.  I
>> need to order a new PAL and get this done.
>>
>> Seems like I have more problems than good news to report.  I will go
>> off and continue playing around to see what I can get to work.   It  
>> is
>> also apparent that I need to get some additional hardware...
>>
>> --Mikey
>
> Mikey, are you perchance running Linux?  If so, you can put these 2  
> lines in
> the coco's startup file, and then run a minicom session in a linux  
> shell if
> you have the correct rs232 cabling.  I am actually using a hunk of  
> cat-5,
> wired up as '7 wire' here, with a db25 on the coco end and a db9 on  
> the pc
> end, and about 25 feet long.  You will have to play with minicoms  
> character
> translations using stty.  A query shows what I use here:
>
> [root at coyote grub]# stty -F /dev/ttyS0 -a
> speed 9600 baud; rows 0; columns 0; line = 0;
> intr = ^C; quit = ^\; erase = ^?; kill = ^U; eof = ^D; eol =  
> <undef>; eol2 = <undef>; swtch = <undef>; start = ^Q; stop =
> ^S; susp = ^Z;
> rprnt = ^R; werase = ^W; lnext = ^V; flush = ^O; min = 1; time = 0;
> -parenb -parodd cs8 hupcl -cstopb cread clocal -crtscts
> -ignbrk -brkint -ignpar -parmrk -inpck -istrip -inlcr -igncr icrnl  
> ixon -ixoff -iuclc -ixany -imaxbel -iutf8
> opost -olcuc -ocrnl onlcr -onocr -onlret -ofill -ofdel nl0 cr0 tab0  
> bs0 vt0 ff0
> isig icanon iexten echo echoe echok -echonl -noflsh -xcase -tostop - 
> echoprt echoctl echoke
>
> See man stty for how to arrive at a similar translation setup.
>
> The startup file additions:
> iniz /t2
> shell i=/t2 &
>
> I would think there might be a windows terminal proggy that would  
> also work,
> but there isn't any windows here for me to test.
>
> As my coco3 has a 1 GB drive and all the rz/sz goodies, I can then  
> use that
> to move stuff from the network to the coco, including whole .dsk  
> images that
> can then be put on a coco floppy with a "copy image.dsk /d0@", which  
> if I
> didn't mess up the @ syntax (its been a while), should write that  
> image to
> the disk just as if I had used linux's dd to do it.
>
> --
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>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
>
>
> -- 
> Cheers, Gene
> "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
> soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
> -Ed Howdershelt (Author)
> A prohibitionist is the sort of man one wouldn't care to drink with
> -- even if he drank.
> 		-- H.L. Mencken
>
> --
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Regards,
Boisy G. Pitre
--
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