[Coco] RE: NitrOS-9 newbie needs some help

[mmarlett at isd.net]

Nick,

As far as the floppy goes. As Mike pointed out on the location of your
floppy drive. Keep in mind that the CRT is a huge magnetic field and the
floppy’s head/disk/ribbon cable could be induced with outside EMI. When you
turn your monitor on the degaussing coil REALLY emits! You can say why does
it work in RSDOS then???? Eliminate the issue till you have this resolved
and functional. Then relocate and see if the problem reappears. Basic
troubleshooting applies here.

What kind of errors are being reported from the format of the disk? Please
provide descriptor/dmode settings and the actual error(s) being reported.
Need more to go on rather than the same problems are still present. I have
probably configure well over 75 new coco systems with complete setups.
NitrOS-9 works on NTSC systems! I suspect hardware problems or PAL timing
issues??? Other thing to watch out for is that DECB formats SSDD 35 tracks.
NitrOS-9 will do DSDD 40T, watch the media that you use to make sure it is
certified as such. The people are here to help you out and work through ANY
issue(s) you might have with getting the OS up and running.

As far as a hard drive
Skip that to
.Go to a solid state drive setup.
SuperIDE is bar far the best product that we have created. The FLASH allows
you to put HDB-DOS into it and configure yourself, no more EPROMs. The IDE
interface and onboard compact flash socket is nice and compact, pun
intended. No power supplies, no cables. Cost is always an issue. If my
sales volume increases I can lower the price! :)

Look forward to your response and working through the issues “down under”.
:)

Regards,

Mark
Cloud-9

>
>I've run the modified for 50Hz version of NitrOS-9 that Boisy sent me and
it
>didn't change any of the problems I am experiencing. It does mean I don't
>have to keep reaching for the vertical hold on my monitor to stop it
rolling
>when switching to 60Hz.
>
>I plugged in my multi-pak (that thing takes all the elegence out of the
>CoCo! It's so kludgy looking, especially when loaded up with cartridges!)
>and I plugged in my FD502 controller which is giving me near 100% format
>failures and found that formatting problems ALMOST all dissappeared. It's
>still not perfect but it shows that the problem must be some "bus loading"
>or "edge triggering" problem.
>
>I am beginning to feel that a hard drive is a must have to do anything
>serious with OS-9.
>
>What I would like is an internal IDE connector. Does anyone have one of
>these available for sale?
>
>Is there some sort of bus buffer that would allow me to keep the
Multi-crap
>interface out of site or better still, mount the innards in a box along
with
>floppy drives and placed under the monitor (ala TRS-80 model 1 expansion
>box)?
>
>Why do I hate the Multi-crap interface so much?
>
>1) I have the tandy monitor platform and with the multi-crap, I can't
slide
>the CoCo under it to save deskspace.
>
>2) Because my dual floppy drives are on the right of my monitor and up on
>the platform, with the floppy cart in I can't access the drives without
>bumping the controller.
>
>3) It makes the CoCo3 look very much like a prototype and incomplete
>computer (still under development). Everyone who sees it laughs.
>
>4) It gets in the way while I'm typing, I keep bumping the carts with my
>right hand.
>
>
>5) It blew my 6809 a few years back so now I don't trust it.
>
>
>Nick
>
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