[Coco] partial OS9 boot from hard drive (back on topic)

[Vern Burke]

Not to mention that the other primary answer has been to switch to 
NitrOS-9 which would be great except it will absolutely NOT run on this 
machine. Not like I'm left with much for options here.

Vern


Robert Gault wrote:

> Calm down Vern, Mark did not mean what you think he meant. There is a 

> steep learning curve with OS-9 and sometimes it is worth paying for a 

> service rather than trying to do it yourself.

> 

> The NitrOS-9 Level 2 boot process is described at

> http://nitros9.org/boot_process.html

> 

> Vern Burke wrote:

> 

>> Well, heaven knows I don't want to put anyone out by asking for help 

>> getting this to work, nor was I expecting free paid type support. I'm 

>> simply asking for someone who has done this before or knows more 

>> detail about the OS-9 boot process to either give me a brief rundown 

>> on the steps in the boot process so I can understand where this is 

>> going wrong or suggestions as to what it could be trying to load that 

>> I'm not aware of that would cause the machine to crash.

>>

>> Anyone who doesn't want to answer, feel free to ignore me, everyone 

>> else  who has replied with suggestions, I'm grateful.

>>

>> Vern

>>

>>

>> Mark Marlette wrote:

>>

>>> Vern,

>>>

>>> The files work. The details of getting a distribution setup. I do it 

>>> all the time and it can cause some problems in the process and the 

>>> tool kit required is a good one. My life on the coco is it. That is 

>>> why I offer the free installation on the drive. I have spent more 

>>> time on these two Email's than it takes to do the complete 

>>> installation of the distribution. I don't have the time to support a 

>>> free OS. The SuperBoard will require the same drivers for the SCSI/IDE.

>>>

>>> Mark

>>>

>>>

>>> At 8/27/2005 09:00 PM, you wrote:

>>>

>>>> Mark:

>>>>    It was just the controller (since I have/had a ton of SCSI hard 

>>>> drives hanging around on the shelf). Unfortunately, the recent 

>>>> disintegration of my business under extreme pressure and the loss of 

>>>> almost everything I've worked for for the last 12 years leaves me 

>>>> with no discretionary funds at the moment.

>>>>    I don't believe this is anything that hasn't been done before, 

>>>> but 99% of the question answer volume has been "buy something else", 

>>>> so I'll probably just end up re-shelving things.

>>>>    Regarding NitrOS-9, I was finally able to tease what appeared to 

>>>> be a good disk from the dsk file (now that I understand which 

>>>> distribution file is supposed to be what)(disk and files all 

>>>> readable from stock OS9)

>>>> however it totally refuses to boot (after DOS command, simply drops 

>>>> back to OK). The machine runs stock OS9 fine, has a 63C09E, and 

>>>> completely fails to run NitrOS9 (but runs the old Gale Force version 

>>>> I've still got hanging around on floppy).

>>>>    Maybe I'll bother pulling it back out when the SuperBoard comes 

>>>> around (yes, I've got an outstanding deposit on a SuperBoard from 

>>>> quite some time back).

>>>>

>>>> Vern

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> Mark Marlette wrote:

>>>>

>>>>> At 8/27/2005 08:50 AM, Vern Burke wrote:

>>>>> Vern,

>>>>> Don't recall if you bought a SCSI system or just the controller. 

>>>>> The TCC512 is no longer supported because it is replaced with 

>>>>> SuperDriver.

>>>>> If you bought a drive from me then it has a nitros9 directory in 

>>>>> the root with the version you are running below it. Inside of that 

>>>>> directory is a script and bootlist directory that builds the boot 

>>>>> disks for you. If you didn't then you are probably finding out that 

>>>>> $25 isn't to bad for a drive and a free installation. :)

>>>>> If you have HDB-DOS then you will be able to boot directly from the 

>>>>> hard drive at powerup.

>>>>> Get to the current version of NitrOS-9,SuperDriver and HDB-DOS and 

>>>>> you will have no problems. If not enjoy the challenge.

>>>>> Regards,

>>>>> Mark

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>>> OS is OS9 L2, the SCSI controller is a TCCC/Cloud 9 unit. The 

>>>>>> driver is TCC512 and, yes, the working floppy boot contains the 

>>>>>> driver and /h0 description for the hard drive. I sometimes wish 

>>>>>> for the old days of my CoCo XT and the XT ROM.

>>>>>>

>>>>>> At the time I got mine, and as far as I know still, there is no 

>>>>>> provision to boot this combination without use of a floppy, or to 

>>>>>> load the boot track or os9boot from the hard drive.

>>>>>>

>>>>>> I certainly can just make the /dd descriptor the hard drive 

>>>>>> descriptor, the problem is that the boot will not finish with /dd 

>>>>>> set as working directory and /dd/cmds set as execution. The boot 

>>>>>> finshes up /d0 and /d0/cmds and it's a pain in the butt because I 

>>>>>> have to do a manual chd/chx to the hard drive.

>>>>>>

>>>>>> Vern

>>>>>>

>>>>>> Robert Gault wrote:

>>>>>>

>>>>>>> Vern Burke wrote:

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> Ok, we're straying way the heck off track here :). Lemme lay 

>>>>>>>> this out again:

>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> What I have to work with:

>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> A working hard drive and SCSI controller with no support for 

>>>>>>>> booting directly from the hard drive.

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>> Why no support? What SCSI controller and OS? Do you just mean 

>>>>>>> that you don't know how to set up OS-9 to boot from the hard 

>>>>>>> drive or that your SCSI OS can't boot from the hard drive?

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> A working OS9 boot floppy with /dd and /d0 as the floppy and /h0 

>>>>>>>> as the hard drive.

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>> Does this working floppy contain a hard disk driver (hdisk) in 

>>>>>>> the os9boot file?

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> All the standard disk manipulation tools (ezgen/etc, ded)

>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> The goal:

>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> Boot from floppy and finish with the hard drive as /dd, the 

>>>>>>>> working directory set to /dd, and the execution directory set to 

>>>>>>>> /dd/cmds.

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>> Just change /dd so that it is the hard drive. There should be 

>>>>>>> substitute /dd modules on the NitrOS-9 80T disk or 40T disk 2 for 

>>>>>>> this purpose.

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> I will not/can not:

>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> Rewrite BOOT or any other module (I can patch where required, 

>>>>>>>> not a programmer).

>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> Buy an RS-BASIC replacement.

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>> Meaning what? Again, what disk OS is in use with your hard drive 

>>>>>>> system?

>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> How do I get there from here? :)

>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> Vern

>>>>>>

>>>>>>

>>>>>>

>>>>>>

>>>>>>

>>>>>> -- 

>>>>>> Coco mailing list

>>>>>> Coco at maltedmedia.com

>>>>>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>

>>>> -- 

>>>> Coco mailing list

>>>> Coco at maltedmedia.com

>>>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>

>