[Coco] NitrOS9 L2 CoCo 3 question: Display settings/modifications

[Kip Koon]

Hi Rogelio,
The following procedure is powerful and if used incorrectly will render your NitrOS-9 Boot disk inoperative so while you are learning how to do this to gain confidence, PLEASE USE A COPY OF THE ORIGINAL BOOT DISK TO PRACTICE ON!!!  Ok, with that said, let's play!
There is a utility on the current NitrOS-9 distribution disks called DED that I use to make permanent changes to modules in the OS9Boot file.  The first change I ever made was to change the colors in the TERM module.  I didn't care for black on green either.  <grin>  
The three bytes immediately before the bytes that contain "Term" are the three colors.  They are located at bytes $33 - $35.  That's hexadecimal!  
$33 - Foreground Color
$34 - Background Color
$35 - Border Color
This is the procedure I use to change the colors for the Term module in the OS9Boot file.  
1. After booting NitrOS-9, you will be on the default drive /DD so issue the "DED OS9Boot" command.  Of course don't type the double quotes.  
2. Once DED boots, you will be looking at sector $0 of the OS9Boot file.  To link to a particular module, Issue the "L" command.
3. You will see the question "Link to which module? ".  type "Term".
4. Now you see the Term module.  Issue the "E" command to edit the binary code.
5. Press the down arrow key three times until the blinking curser is on line "30:".  
6. Press the right arrow key three times until you are on column "3" - byte $33.  
7. Byte $33 is the foreground color.  In my setup, I have a $0 here for white.  Enter any color you wish.  All text will be displayed in this color.
8. Press right arrow key once to go to column "4" - byte $34. 
9. This is the background color.  In my system I have a 2 for Black.  Enter any color you wish, EXCEPT the Foreground color you chose earlier in Step 7!  NOTE: If the foreground and background colors are the same, you will see no text whatsoever!  You will be typing blind!
10. Now type the right arrow key one more time.  You will be at Column "5" - byte $35.
11.  This is the border color, I typically use the same color as the background so I have a 2 here also.  
12. Once you are finished, press enter to return to the "CMD: " prompt.  
13. To save the changes, type "W" and you will see the prompt, "Are you sure? (Y/N) ".  Type "Y" to make the changes permanent.  
14.  To exit DED, type "Q" to quit.  You will again be greeted with the question, "Are you sure? (Y/N) ".  Type "Y" to exit.
15. You are back at the NitrOS-9 command interpreter prompt.  Reboot NitrOS-9 to see your new color scheme.  New colors will begin after the OS9Boot file is loaded and control is transferred to the "SYSGO" module.  
If you do this correctly, you will be able to make any color scheme the default color scheme on boot up you wish without having to recreate the entire boot disk from scratch which saves a lot of time.  
If you have any questions, just drop me a line.  You can also call me on Skype.  My Skype name is Drwho7777 and is also found on my WIKI page in the Contacts section if you would like to talk directly with me.  I wish you well and I hope you enjoy the beginning of making customized changes to NitrOS-9!  Take care my friend.

Kip Koon
computerdoc at sc.rr.com
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Coco [mailto:coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com] On Behalf Of Rogelio Perea
> Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 8:39 AM
> To: coco at maltedmedia.com
> Subject: [Coco] NitrOS9 L2 CoCo 3 question: Display settings/modifications
> 
> On my Tandy stock OS9 L2 I patched the TERM to allow the CoCo 3 boot into
> 80 columns white text on black background.
> 
> As much as I love the nuclear green on the computer I would like to set
> NitrOS9 the same way: boot into a white text on black background (and
> border) 80x24 screen... I know the display settings can be modified after the boot process is done, leaving that as a last resort.
> 
> I have the patch file for my stock setup in a disk at home... got some downtime at work with VCC on my laptop. Even if I had the
> patches with me I doubt they would work on NitrOS9 with all the changes compared to the stock Tandy release of OS9.
> 
> Any hints greatly appreciated.
> 
> 
> -- RP
> 
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