[Coco] This_looks_cool_-_Apparently_RUNs_FLEX_but_uses...

[jdaggett at gate.net]

On 9 May 2007 at 1:29, Willard Goosey wrote:

> >I have used Flex and have seen it work. It is not a bad OS and now
> >that most of the software has been released to public domain, there
> >is far more usable software than with the Coco. 
> 
> Interesting.  Tell me more.  I understant FLEX is vaguely CP/M like,
> but that doesn't really mean much...
> 
> You see, I kind of have this idea that a CoCo 3 FLEX would be the
> perfect platform for GCC to compile for.  Something that's not as
> multitasking as OS-9 (better for arcade games), but has more
> functionality than the BASIC ROMs supply.
**********************

Yes it somewhat CP/M like. To quote from the User Manual:

"The FLEX Operating System consists of three main parts: the 
Disk Operating System (DOS) which processes commands, the  
File  Management System (FMS) which manages files on a 
diskette, and the Utility Command Set, which are the user-
callable commands."

Everything is RAM based. There is a boot Rom that is about 2K in size for most 
of the GIMIX and SWTPC based machines. I gues a rudimentary BIOS? I gues to 
port TSC Flex over to run native on a CoCo3 would mainly have to deal with 
interfaces to the GIME chip. All the original TSC Flex Source code is written in 
assembly. There is a collection of drivers and improvements also.  

Interesting prospects though. The system would need a nice screen editor and not 
a line editor. 

james