[Coco] NOS9 v3.30 Multivue not working correctly

Bill Pierce ooogalapasooo at aol.com
Tue May 20 20:27:13 EDT 2014


Robert,
The multivue sources are in the repo. "gshell.asm" is multivue. (3rdparty/packages/multivue/cmds_6809/gshell.asm)
 
But all the modules (except gshell) for multivue were disassembled into "fcb data" statements instead of real code. I suspect that they were C files, therefore almost impossible to disassemble.
I think the gshell source is Curtis Boyle or Bill Noble's disassembly (or rewrite?).
 
There has been a problem with grfdrv (or cowin/cogrf or vtio) for some time now regarding multivue style menus. In 640x192, two color mode, the menu bar will not display properly. It's not noticed in multivue itself as MV does not allow this resolution/color mode. When you notice it is in any program that does use this mode and MV styled windows with MV system calls or anytime you write a program to use the menu bar in this resolution. One program of note that will show the bug is MV Canvas. In the hires 2 color mode, the menu bar is unreadable but still works properly. MV Canvas uses the MV menu system. This is why I didn't use the MV system calls for MShell... that and speed.
Bob Devries and I tried to trace this problem down and went all the way to NitrOS9 3.2.6 before we found a version that displayed this mode properly.

As a note, the MV Canvas disks in the MM archive do not have all the files required to run it. I will be uploading a disk with the completed file system to the Color Computer Archives later.

I haven't seen the color problem you describe, but I haven't looked either. I have noticed that MV does not "startup" in the settings you have saved in the "control panel" (env.file). If you just "open" the control panel, the settings will take effect and work properly then and you can close it.
 

BTW... the fonts, pointers and patterns should really be in the SYS folder, making the proper startup line:
"merge /dd/sys/stdfonts /dd/sys/stdptrs /dd/sys/stdpats_2 /dd/sys/stdpats_4 /dd/sys/stdpats_16"
This can also be done from the cmd line at anytime before running MV or an MV based program.
 

Bill Pierce
"Today is a good day... I woke up" - Ritchie Havens
 

My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
Co-Webmaster of The TRS-80 Color Computer Archive
http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/
Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
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E-Mail: ooogalapasooo at aol.com


 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Gault <robert.gault at att.net>
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Tue, May 20, 2014 7:47 pm
Subject: Re: [Coco] NOS9 v3.30 Multivue not working correctly


Tormod Volden wrote:
><snip>
> Robert, can you be more specific about which revision it was that
> worked? There was no v3.2.9 release so anything over the last 5 years
> was "3.2.9 development version". By the way, to avoid this confusion
> in the future I am not bumping the version number in the repo before
> 3.3.1 is released, so anything between the proper 3.3.0 and 3.3.1
> releases remains "3.3.0 development version".
>

Using http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/ as a reference, I've tested the 3.2.8 

release with the Multivue disks on the site. That can be used as a base for 
comparison with the current nightly builds.
To get the 3.2.8 disk to work, it is necessary to add the following to Startup:
cd sys
merge stdfonts stdptrs stdpats_4 stdpats_16
If these files aren't present on the boot disk, they will be on an MV disk. It 
will also be necessary to copy to the boot disk from an MV disk all the program 
files and the sys/env.file .
One crucial change must be made in the test env.file which will set MV to use 
the low res mouse. Change PTRRES=1 to PTRRES=0.

Now you can test MV by starting it with   gshell&   . Click on the X (menubar) 
and select Control. Play with the color selections.

Now compare booting from the MV nightly build and see how changing the colors 
work.

I really have no idea what is causing the change. We don't have source code for 
MV and the nightly build is not the same as the Tandy MV. Candidates are VTIO 
CoWin and any of the MV programs.

Robert



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