[Coco] Glenside IDE Controller Question...

Sun Oct 21 21:36:51 EDT 2007

I am trying to copy the Nitros 09 system files from 
http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/nitros9

The file I am working with right now is 362K bytes.

There are very few switches for the command.  If you have any 
suggestions, let me know.

At 05:58 PM 10/21/2007, you wrote:
>Randy, what is the size of the file you're trying to write?
>It should be ~158K if it is a single sided disk image. If it is 
>larger, then you need extra switches to tell the programme to use 
>both sides of the physical disk.
>
>--
>Regards, Bob Devries, Dalby, Queensland, Australia
>
>Isaiah 50:4 The sovereign Lord has given me
>the capacity to be his spokesman,
>so that I know how to help the weary.
>
>website: http://www.home.gil.com.au/~bdevasl
>my blog: http://bdevries.invigorated.org/
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Randy Just" <randyjust at comcast.net>
>To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007 10:53 AM
>Subject: Re: [Coco] Glenside IDE Controller Question...
>
>
>>
>>DSKINI A: NitroOS_1.DSK where the long filename was renamed to this
>>
>>The file appears to be written out --- it just won't boot.
>>
>>I tried to do a RETRIEVE and was unable to read coco floppies from 
>>the drive as well.  I
>>have an assortment of drives here.  I have tried this on both a 
>>PC/XT (yes, I have one of
>>those still) and a PII.  Both systems are using DR-DOS.
>>
>>Randy
>>
>>At 05:25 PM 10/21/2007, you wrote:
>>>Randy,
>>>with regards to DSKINI.EXE, please tell us *exactly* what your 
>>>command line is. You may be (a) using the wrong version of that 
>>>programme, or (b) using the wrong command line switches.
>>>
>>>--
>>>Regards, Bob Devries, Dalby, Queensland, Australia
>>>
>>>Isaiah 50:4 The sovereign Lord has given me
>>>the capacity to be his spokesman,
>>>so that I know how to help the weary.
>>>
>>>website: http://www.home.gil.com.au/~bdevasl
>>>my blog: http://bdevries.invigorated.org/
>>>
>>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Randy Just" <randyjust at comcast.net>
>>>To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>>>Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007 10:16 AM
>>>Subject: Re: [Coco] Glenside IDE Controller Question...
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>Your notes are helpful, but....
>>>>
>>>>Unfortunately, I have spent a number of hours with this thing and 
>>>>am not much further than when I started.
>>>>
>>>>In particular I am trying to create the pair of NitrOS 9 floppy 
>>>>diskettes. I am assuming #1 is bootable
>>>>if it is made correctly and I can just type DOS when the Coco boots up.
>>>>
>>>>At this time, I just get read errors.  This is after trying 3 
>>>>different 360K drives under DR-DOS.  I don't
>>>>know if DR-DOS has any bearing.
>>>>
>>>>The *.DSK images indicate 40 tracks --- however, when using 
>>>>dskini, 0-79 tracks are written.  Confused
>>>>on that point.
>>>>
>>>>As much as I would like to use the Coco with the hard drive, it 
>>>>appears this may be a futile endeavor.
>>>>
>>>>At 01:47 AM 10/20/2007, you wrote:
>>>>> >Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:07:24 -0700
>>>>> >From: Randy Just <randyjust at comcast.net>
>>>>>
>>>>> >After swapping out a few drives and changing my controller to a
>>>>> >FD-501, the thing came to life.  While the IDE card was plugged in
>>>>> >and power on, I changed the jumper to 70 from 50 and then the thing
>>>>> >starting working.
>>>>>
>>>>>You really shouldn't change jumpers while things are on.  Talk like
>>>>>that make me cringe.  Please don't terrify me, I've had a rough
>>>>>day. ;-)
>>>>>
>>>>> >I am a bit puzzled as I thought the floppy was at 70 and per the
>>>>> >Glenside doc, the jumper should be in the 50 setting with a multipak
>>>>> >controller.
>>>>>
>>>>>Yeah, the Glenside docs kinda suck.  The dood threw them together, and
>>>>>he clearly knew more about the IDE end then the CoCo end.
>>>>>
>>>>> >Is there a step-by-step procedure I can find somewhere to get a boot
>>>>> >diskette set-up where I can lformat the drive?
>>>>> >
>>>>> >Also, I see the update files for the IDE controller, but what is the
>>>>> >process to get them copied to 5.25" floppy diskettes?
>>>>>
>>>>>OK, frankly, you've got some homework to do.  First, goto
>>>>>http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/nitros9 and download it.  The
>>>>>Readme is a good introduction to transfering files and virtual disks
>>>>>between CoCo and PC.  (besides, NitrOS is much improved over old
>>>>>OS-9).
>>>>>
>>>>>Once you have a standard floppy-only NitrOS boot, the only other
>>>>>software you'll need is the Glenside drivers and utilities, BASIC-09,
>>>>>and a good text editor.
>>>>>
>>>>>Run detect_ide.  Think about what it tells you.  How many partitions
>>>>>are you going to create?  As I said before, 1-sector clusters are
>>>>>good.  NitrOS can handle bigger clusters, but some of the old OS-9
>>>>>software can cause problems because they all assume 1-sector
>>>>>clusters.  Is the drive LBA compatible?  There's a bug in makedesc
>>>>>concerning CHS partitions.  It's documented with the software on my
>>>>>site and rtsi and maltedmedia but I didn't *fix* it in those files.
>>>>>
>>>>>There are two versions of the driver, one supports 5 partitions and
>>>>>the other supports 11.  Choose which driver you will use.  I've had
>>>>>much better luck with the drivers which have the zero-sector bug
>>>>>fixed.
>>>>>
>>>>>Then run makedesc.  Something else not mentioned in the Glenside docs
>>>>>is that device descriptor names are 3 chars. max.  Regular OS-9 naming
>>>>>convention for hard drives is H0, H1, etc.
>>>>>
>>>>>When you're done with makedesc you should have the device descriptors
>>>>>saved on your disk as h0.dd or whatever.  Copy the descriptors into
>>>>>NITROS9/6809LII/MODULES/RBF.  Copy the proper driver into the same
>>>>>directory.  Note the file names.
>>>>>
>>>>>In NITROS9/6809LII/BOOTLISTS, make a copy of standard.bl.  Call it
>>>>>original.bl or whatever.  Edit standard.bl.  In the RBF section, add
>>>>>the glenside driver and the descriptors.
>>>>>
>>>>>In ...6809LII/BOOTSCRIPTS, run the "mb" script to make a new bootdisk.
>>>>>When that's done, use dsave to copy the files on disk 1 to your new
>>>>>boot(use help to check the syntax of dsave, it has changed from the
>>>>>original).  Add the glenside utilities.
>>>>>
>>>>>Reboot with your new boot disk.  If the gods are pleased it'll boot
>>>>>and you can lformat /h0.
>>>>>
>>>>>No, this isn't the quickest or easiest way to make a new boot disk,
>>>>>perhaps, but it's the way with the most control and the most
>>>>>educational.  Once you understand all of this, then you can play with
>>>>>ezgen or whatever.
>>>>>
>>>>>The last, and perhaps fussiest, step.  When you've copied stuff onto
>>>>>/h0 and you're confident everything's working, you can make a new DD
>>>>>descriptor.  Either use makedesc and be very careful to give it the
>>>>>same parameters as H0, or edit a copy of your H0.dd with ded, changing
>>>>>the name to DD (make sure the 0'th bit of the second "D" is set).
>>>>>Make a new bootdisk, replacing dd_ds40 with your new dd_ide.  If you
>>>>>can get this to work, it's the next best thing to having a IDE aware
>>>>>boot ROM. When you boot NitrOS, it will load os9boot and cmds/grfdrv
>>>>>off the floppy, then switch to the ide drive for everything else.
>>>>>
>>>>>Willard
>>>>>--
>>>>>Willard Goosey  goosey at sdc.org
>>>>>Socorro, New Mexico, USA
>>>>>"I've never been to Contempt!  Isn't that somewhere in New Mexico?"
>>>>>    --- Yacko
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>--
>>>>>Coco mailing list
>>>>>Coco at maltedmedia.com
>>>>>http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>--
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>>>>http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
>
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