[Coco] Another ROMable NitrOS9 question

[Bill Pierce]

Bill, OS-9 puts the machine in full 64k ram state. So Coco 1 or 2 doesn't matter. Ideally, you would copy the rom to ram before executing the kernel. If not, any portion of the rom not being used by the OS9 code would be wasted as it could not be written to. The only real convenience of an OS9 rom would be instant loading for running in ram.
With the proper drivvers, you should be able to run the C compiler from a terminal, but I'm not familiar with running terminals. I know it was done in the 80s as I read messages on Delphi and BBSs about people doing just that to get an 80 column screen for c compiling. Also, a lot of people used the various 80 col cards. much less overhead on the cpu and only needed a /term driver (I suppose?).
In any case, the big thing is to trim your boot down and get rid of anything you're not using.
There's a complete article in one of the 85 or 86 (?? month) Rainbows on how to set up Level 1 for the C compiler. That article got me going. If I happen to locate it, I'll post the issue.

Bill Pierce
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-----Original Message-----
From: billg999 <billg999 at cs.uofs.edu>
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Mon, Jan 13, 2014 3:53 pm
Subject: Re: [Coco] Another ROMable NitrOS9 question


> This is a good point, dropping rb_1773 will gain you some precious
> ram.  Also if you don't need full screen capabilities, you can use the
> headless disks, which will drop the coco video modules altogether.
> This makes for a pretty massive gain in free space, at the cost of
> running anything that needs the CoCo console to be a VDG instead of
> just dumb terminal.  Should work great for running c compiler.
>

I'll try some of this.  Personally. I prefer working remotely from a
VT-terminal (usually putty but expect to want C-Kermit once I have a
Kermit server running on OS-9 again.  I have lost a lot of what I did
all those years ago when the only game in town was the original OS-9.)

But, it still leaves me wondering if it would be doable to replace
the BASIC ROM with a NitrOS-9 ROM and have a purely NitrOS-9 machine.
What would it take to disable the ROM in the COCO without completely
unsoldering it?  If I merely removed Vcc could I then overlay that
address space with a PROM in a cartridge?  So much fun, so little time...

bill




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