[Coco] Super IDE vs. Drive Pak

[Boisy G. Pitre]

Ok.  As Frank says, I probably spew out a chuckle when he asks... gotta love his persistence!

So, as has been mentioned, adding extra functionality to HDB-DOS would push it out of its comfy little 8K spot into a 16K footprint.

Here's why this is bad, in my opinion:

1. Legacy disk controllers like the FD-500, FD-501 and FD-502 which only can accommodate 8K ROMs.
2. Moving to a 16K EPROM breaks some legacy M/L programs (don't remember which ones, but this was a big reason back in the day for RGB-DOS (now HDB-DOS) to stay small)

One can argue if these are really "good" reasons, seeing that everyone is pretty much interested in running new software on new devices now-a-days, but then there are other considerations:

1. Adding this functionality would require syntax changes that I haven't fully explored the ramifications of.  Preserving existing syntax might be a challenge, might not...
2. It would require a lot of time for both development and testing.  Time is something I don't have much of anymore...

So, let me segue into another point of discussion: if I were to release the source code to HDB-DOS, would anyone be willing to take it and expand upon it?

Frankly, I'm thinking of doing just that.  As far as I know, we don't have a true community open source Disk BASIC DOS.  HDB-DOS has been around for a long time and the source is well commented.  It has room to grow, as others have mentioned...

If more than one person can put forth a good argument for me to do it, and, more importantly, promise to work on it, I may do just that...

Best Regards,
Boisy G. Pitre

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On Nov 16, 2011, at 4:07 PM, Frank Pittel wrote:

> Always! :-) I ask you for the ability to access the CF card in my Superide as well
> as drivewire at the same time at least once during every fest and based on the way
> you laugh when I ask have come to think of it almost as an inside joke!
> 
> The Other Frank
> 
> 
> On Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 03:34:49PM -0600, Boisy G. Pitre wrote:
>> Is it safe for me to poke my head in and discuss? :)
>> 
>> Best Regards,
>> Boisy G. Pitre
>> 
>> Join our forums at http://www.tee-boy.com/forums/ to exchange ideas and information with other WeatherSnoop enthusiasts.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Nov 16, 2011, at 3:56 PM, Frank Pittel wrote:
>> 
>>> On Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 04:15:21PM -0500, Aaron Wolfe wrote:
>>>> On Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 3:55 PM, Frank Pittel <fwp at deepthought.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> What I want is for Boisy to find a way to use the eprom space on the SuperIDE and modify HDB
>>>>> dos to work with the CF card and drivewire at the same time. :-)
>>>> 
>>>> I wanted something like this too and asked about it, but apparently
>>>> the only way to support multiple drive types like that is to use a 16k
>>>> rom.  HDBDOS is limited to an 8K rom for compatibility with all coco
>>>> models and software.  Boisy wasn't interested in going to a 16k rom
>>>> for those reasons.
>>>> 
>>>> Brett's CoCoBoot project is a nice workaround.  It is able to talk to
>>>> superide, floppy, drivewire, and more all at once and copy disks
>>>> between them.  it also can flash the rom slots in the superide,
>>>> pulling the rom image from any of the above.  lots of neat tricks.
>>> 
>>> I've been asking for this for a long time and Boisy has always made it clear
>>> that there isn't room for it in the 8K rom and wasn't interested in making it
>>> work with a 16K rom. I keep hoping, hope against hope that one day he gets tired
>>> of me asking and makes the change. Something along the lines of a "SuperHDB dos"
>>> for those of us with a SuperIDE interface. :-)
>>> 
>>> The Other Frank
>>> 
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