[Coco] (no subject)

[Robert Gault]

Tony Cappellini wrote:
> (this was accidentally save to my drafts and never got sent)
> 
>>> OK, there is a good bit of confusion on how to use Vcc. There is a pdf
>>> file Welcome to Vcc.pdf that explains how to use the emulator but the
>>> explanation seems to need some help.
> I didn't know there was a pdf until now. It's installed in Program
> Files when you run the installer.
> (I have been looking for some docs for Vcc for awhile)
> 
> First of all, I'm able to boot Nitros by doing DOS 253, but i want to
> understand a few things along the way.
> 
> When I boot, it shows the Nitros9 image is from 2006. It probably
> makes good sense for me to make a new vhd with the 2008 version of
> Nitros.

Yes and you can get that from the SourceForge site
http://sourceforge.net/projects/nitros9/

> 
> Does the Cloud 9 RTC pull the date/time from my Windows PC?
> When I booted the vjhsd, it has the same time as my Windows system.
> Obviously a soft version of the RTC can't
> maintain state when Vcc isn't running.
> 

Since Vcc is an emulation, the only place the emulated Cloud-9 
controller can get the time from is the PC clock. Don't confuse emulated 
hardware with the real thing. :)

> I guess was confusing was, Slot 3 of the MPI shows a hard drive + RTC,
> when in reality it is a hard drive controller emulator(not an actual
> hard drive emulator).

Right, drives are not mounted in the MPI only device controllers.

> 
> 
>>> So for example, if slot 4 is selected for the Cloud-9 controller then RGBDOS is active and a .vhd drive can be accessed but no floppies.
> 
>>> If the FD-502 is mounted in slot 4 and RGBDOS is selected, a .vhd image can
>>> ..be accessed as well as floppies but there is no RTC.
> 
> These two statements are confusing.

How so?

> 
> Is there something different about slot 4 than the other 3 slots?

There is nothing different about the 4 MPI slots. However only one at a 
time can be active. The default slot is 4 where the floppy controller 
containing a DOS ROM is normally placed.

> 
> 
>> Now as NitrOS-9 is already installed along with the boot disk and LINKed
>>> by the LINK.BAS program on drive 254, just enter DOS253 and NitrOS-9
>>> will boot.
> Yes, this works.
> 
>>> Further as HDBDOS (Cloud-9) is modeled on RGBDOS for
>>> which Boisy now own the rights, you can also get the HDBDOS docs from
>>> Cloud-9 and they will match the emulator RGBDOS functions quite well.
> Is there an advantage to HDBDOS over RGBDOS?

Again, you are confusing real and emulated systems. On emulated systems 
there is no HDBDOS version only RGBDOS. Since RGBDOS is no longer sold 
for real hardware, the differences between HDBDOS and RGBDOS are a moot 
point. Read the docs on HDBDOS and see how many of the commands and 
features are present in RGBDOS for emulated systems.

> 
> Since I'm only running emulators at this point, having a HDBdos in a
> rom doesn't seem useful. Perhaps I'm wrong.

There is no version of HDBDOS for emulated systems known to me.

> 
>>> The helper programs included with RGBDOS, some of which are on the VCC
>>> .vhd image, are self explanatory for the most part.
> Since I've booted the HD, are these programs still needed?
> I havent run them, because I dont know what they will do, nor do I
> know which of them to run in which order.

Read the docs included with my RGBDOS package for emulated systems or 
just look at the Basic code.

> 
> Thanks for these explanations, it's been very interesting and helpful.
>