[Coco] newb: Can I use DriveWire with my CoCo 2?

[Aaron Wolfe]

On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 12:51 AM, Chad H <chadbh74 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> RS-DOS was the rudementry DOS included in the Disk Controller PAKS that
> supplemented the machine's internal BASIC ROM's, without replacing them.
>
> OS-9 was a whole new OS that was loaded from floppy disk and gave access to
> the full 64K (*64k is required actually) on CoCo 1's & 2's.  OS-9 Level 2
> came later with more enhancements specifically for the CoCo 3 and will not
> run on a CoCo 2.
>
> I'm not really sure of the best way to tell you to identify which format a
> disk is in, short of just 'knowing' if it's a OS-9 game/app or not, or
> looking it up.  Otherwise, attempt a DIR and see if you get garbage.  If so,
> it's probably the other kind of disk.

DW4 will tell you the type of disk that is mounted in the info line
for each drive (see circled area on:  http://i.imgur.com/hrRtsjs.png )
You can also tell by the little OS9 or DECB rainbow icons on the disk roots.

It is very normal and harmless to see garbage when doing a DECB "DIR"
on an OS9 disk.  The fact that garbage appeared when do DIR on a
BASIC09 disk image probably means everything is working fine.

Not every OS9 format disk is a bootable OS9 disk, for instance the
BASIC09 disk from the NitrOS9 project is not bootable.  To use these
you must first boot the OS9 operating system from a disk that is
bootable.  You can find some on the DW4 download page or the NitrOS9
project page.  The ones that will boot NitrOS9 via DW are typically
labeled "nos96X09lYvZcocoA_dw3" where X is 3 or 8 corresponding to a
6809 CPU or 6309 CPU, Y is 1 or 2 for OS9 Level 1 or 2, Z is the
version, and A is 1 2 or 3 for CoCo 1, 2, or 3.   If in doubt, get
nos96809l2v030209coco3_dw3.dsk.