[Coco] NitrOS9 with Deluxe RS232 Pak

[Ron]

Hi Gene,

I started reading through the OS9 Level 2 documentation and it helped me 
quite a bit.

The ramdisk sounds very interesting!  I only have 512K of RAM (like most 
folks).  Wish there was a 2MB upgrade readily available to use for your 
ramdisk.  Perhaps someday.

I have been using Drivewire, though it's been limited to DECB. 
Impressive way to replace the antiquated floppy drives.  Frees up more 
desk space (which is a good thing).  I'm amazed at the speed at which 
that bit-banger port operates!

Thank you, sir!

-Ron



On 6/17/2015 8:27 PM, Gene Heskett wrote:
> On Wednesday 17 June 2015 20:32:57 Ron wrote:
>> Hi Gene,
>>
>> I appreciate you taking the time to reply to my numerous questions and
>> comments.  What you've said makes sense.  It looks like I have a lot
>> more to learn (i.e. tboot command, /t2 parameter changing and saving,
>> creating new bootfiles, etc.).
>>
>> I'm still looking for a good sources of documentation (beyond the
>> nitros9.org website).  Is OS9 documentation still relevant when using
>> NitrOS9?
> Quite a bit of it is.  Occasionally we'll figure out a better way.  The
> dsave is one command that has had a syntax change, and tmode/xmode are
> all built from the same src file, so the operative syntax diffs have
> disappeared.  XMode/DMode have been dressed up a bit, and both can now
> work on disk files by prefacing the pathname with a leading - sign.
>
> Some of us have written replacements for existing utilities but with more
> bell & whistles.  I wrote a ramdisk quite a few years back that can be
> made operational for a compile, and then return every byte back to the
> system when its no longer needed.  Doesn't need an initial format before
> use as it actually does it in the few milliseconds delay you see if you
> do a dir /r0, as it detects the command, and holds it until it can show
> you the empty directory.  Access speed is essentially the same as a good
> scsi circuit, essentially the speed the cpu can move the data, 11
> seconds for a megaread on a 63x09 equipt machine, 13 or so for a 68x09.
>
> Other folks are encouraged to blow their own horns when the opportunity
> presents itself.
>
> You will want to get acquainted with drivewire at some point, so get
> ready for the loss of the use of /t1, drivewire uses it, at speeds up to
> 110 kilobaud to access files on your pc that are disk storage to the
> coco.  Faster than a real floppy!
>
> The future is bright, so you may want to wear shades. :)
>
>> Thanks again!
>>
>> -Ron
>>
>> On 6/17/2015 5:20 PM, Gene Heskett wrote:
>>> On Wednesday 17 June 2015 17:04:34 Ron wrote:
>>>> Hello everyone,
>>>>
>>>> I'm just just getting started with NitrOS9, but being familiar with
>>>> Linux has help considerably to navigate around the OS.
>>>>
>>>> I have a Coco 3 with a MultiPak.  Slot 4 has an SDC controller and
>>>> I've mounted the NitrOS9 SDC version
>>>> (nos96809l2v030300coco3_cocosdc.dsk
>>>> <http://www.nitros9.org/latest/nos96809l2v030300coco3_cocosdc.dsk>)
>>>> . Slot 1 has a Deluxe RS232 Pak.  I've connected this pak to my PC
>>>> with a NULL modem cable.  RS232 pak seems to work fine with my PC
>>>> (tested it at 9600 baud) using the RS built-in term program from
>>>> DECB.
>>>>
>>>> I am, however, unable to connect to the Coco (running NitrOS9) from
>>>> my PC.  Information is a bit spotty online, so I apologize in
>>>> advance if this is well documented and I just missed it.
>>>>
>>>> I run the following command to initiate a shell:
>>>>
>>>> shell i=/t2&
>>> This is correct.
>>>
>>>> I believe this telling NitrOS9 to use the Deluxe RS232 Pak and not
>>>> the bit-banger port.  I'm unfamiliar with how to verify the proper
>>>> driver is being loaded for /t2 and unable to get the correct syntax
>>>> for the xmode command to verify what the default term settings are.
>>>> I'm also thinking there may be a way to communicate faster than
>>>> 9600 baud using the Deluxe RS232 Pak (from within NitrOS9) as well.
>>> There is, but in the long run when the coco is on the receiving end
>>> of that data, it cannot go faster than about 5500 baud if overruns
>>> are to be avoided.  Particularly if using an error correcting
>>> transfer protocol such as rzsz.
>>>
>>>> I must say, I'm thoroughly impressed by the power of the Coco
>>>> running NitrOS9.  It was so far ahead of it's time.
>>> There is also a time limit that I have not discovered the cause of,
>>> that says if I don't start, or have already running, a copy of
>>> minicom, there comes a time when the /t2 port is no longer
>>> responsive to the incoming login from minicom.  10 minutes late, and
>>> the coco will need rebooted.
>>>
>>> As for the xmode command bear in mind it only works on an unopened
>>> path, so for playing with /t2's params live, you use tmode .0 or .1,
>>> or even .2, where 0 is stdin, 1 is stdout, and 2 is stderr.
>>> Permanent changes to /t2.dd need to be done using xmode, and then
>>> generating a new bootfile useing the modified /t2.dd.  Or you can
>>> transfer the changes to the in memory copy, and then save it for use
>>> in a new bootfile. We actually have several methods of skinning that
>>> cat. ;-)
>>>
>>>> Thank you!
>>>>
>>>> -Ron
>>> Cheers, Gene Heskett
> Cheers, Gene Heskett