[Coco] Speech and Sound Cartridge under NitrOS9

[K. Pruitt]

Is it at all possible to operate an UNMODIFIED speech and sound cartridge 
under NitrOS9 Level 2?

Here's what I am doing... I am halting the interrupts and dropping the CoCo 
down to 0.89Mhz. This allows the Speech and Sound cartridge to speak under 
Level 2.

I'm happy to post the code I am using, but it's just the BASIC listing 
starting on page 5 of the device's manual translated in to assembly.

This works fine under stock Level 2 OS-9 but leaves the system unstable. It 
works on NitrOS9 fine as far as speaking goes, but it never gets to the 
point of turning the interrupts back on and returning the CoCo to 1.79Mhz. A 
reset is required to recover from the hang-up as the interrupts are off
.
By the way, I use this method of turning off the interrupts and dropping the 
CoCo down to 0.89Mhz quite successfully with the Plug 'n Power controller. 
I've been running it for a couple of years now under NitrOS9 and is hasn't 
failed me once or caused any issues with the OS.

I installed the speech and sound cartridge drivers to play around with them 
(I assume they are for the modified cartridge) but when they are installed 
NitrOS9 won't boot for me. If I just load the drivers I get an error 207 
when I try and send something to them. This takes place no matter if the 
Speech and Sound cartridge is plugged in or not.

I'm just screwing around with the sound and speech cartridge here and am 
just curious if what I an trying is even possible to pull off. If anybody 
would care to chime in on the speech and sound cartridge I would really 
appreciate the input.

Thanks