[Coco] Multipak and Drivewire

[Ron]

Hi Robert,

I am sure about the RGBDOS in the Distro Super Controller Cart.  I use 
that cart, along with a TC^3 controller to access my real floppy drives 
and SCSI hard drive.  The DSC cart is connected to the floppy drives 
(I'm not using the SCSI connector on it) and the TC^3 controller is 
connected to the SCSI hard drive.  I boot up with RGBDOS (in MPI slot 4) 
and able to access the hard drive with no issue.  Issuing a DRIVE OFF 
command allows access to real floppy drives 0-4.  In reality, I do not 
need to use the DSC cart as I'm not using any of it's other 
capabilities.  I was going to to try to use the SCSI hard drive access 
feature on it, but already have the TC^3 controller for that.

Now that I have a miniFLASH cart, I put that in MPI slot 3 (with HDBDOS 
DW) and leave the SDC in MPI slot 4.  Using Barry's poke suggestion, I'm 
able to access the DriveWire drives and real floppies with no issue.

I'm going to try your suggestions now, as well, to see if I can get that 
same concurrent access with DriveWire and the floppies.

Thank you for all you help!

-Ron


On 5/15/2015 9:13 AM, Robert Gault wrote:
> Ron wrote:
>> Hi Bill, Michael..
>>
>> Michael, your timing was perfect with your questions about DriveWire, 
>> HDBDOS,
>> etc...  I'm in a situation where I'm struggling to figure out how to 
>> backup real
>> physical floppy disks to my DriveWire 4 system.
>>
>> My configuration is as follows:
>>
>> Coco 3
>> MPI (upgraded PAL)
>> Distro Super Controller (I) in MPI slot 4.  EPROM 0 is default, boots 
>> to RGBDOS
>> and is physically connected to my floppy drives.
>> multiFLASH cart in MPI slot 3.  This has HDBDOS "flashed" and allows 
>> access to
>> DriveWire.
>>
>> No matter which MPI slot I select (with MPI selector switch or poke), 
>> I am
>> unable to figure out the correct combination to allow access to the 
>> physical
>> floppy drives and DriveWire drives.  I have a pretty good 
>> understanding of the
>> various (but similar) DRIVE commands needed to enable/disable real vs 
>> virtual
>> drives.
>>
>> I'm wondering if I will need an actual HDBDOS EPROM (for DW) burned and
>> installed in a floppy controller cart to access both types of drives 
>> at the same
>> time.  Am I running into a situation where both carts would map to 
>> the same
>> address space and I'm unable to use both at the same time?
>>
>> Thank you for any help anyone can provide!
>>
>> -Ron
>
> Ron,
>
> Are you sure your report is correct? You say you are using RGBDOS in 
> the Disto controller but there is no reason for that as you don't 
> report having a Ken-Ton hard drive system.
> Did you mean Disk Basic?
>
> Anyway, when running Drivewire HDBDOS, your default configuration at 
> turn on is all drives are on Drivewire. As stated many times on this 
> list, there are several commands that set the number of floppy drives 
> active vs 256 Drivewire drives.
> DRIVE ON - all drives are on Drivewire
> DRIVE OFF - drives 0-3 are hardware floppies
> DRIVE OFF n - where n is a number 0-3, n is the last active floppy drive
> DRIVE #n - where n is a number 0-255, n selects the active Drivewire 
> drive
>
> Given your setup, set the MPI to slot #4, LOADM a disk version of DW 
> HDBDOS, and enter DRIVE OFF. That will give you access to 4 floppies 
> and DW drives 4-255.
> It would be easier if the disk ROM in the Disto controller was DW 
> HDBDOS. However, I think you should be able to set the MPI to slot #3, 
> and still access your floppies if after turning on the system, you may 
> need to set the MPI to slot #4 via software but possibly not. You 
> would still need the DRIVE OFF command.
>
> Robert
>
>