[Coco] VCC, VHD, NitrOS09 3.2.6 and RGD Dos question

[Gene Heskett]

On Wednesday 22 October 2008, Ed Orbea wrote:
>This question will probably have to be answered by Robert Gault as the
>guru of RGBDos, and I'm sorry if I seem to ramble, but....
>
>I am running VCC 1.40 in a Windows XP, SP3 laptop.
>VCC is configured as
>6809 @ 1mhz speed with 512k of RAM
>Multipak with: slot 1 empty, slot 2 empty, slot 3 FD-502, slot 4 Hard
>Drive + Cloud9 RTC
>FD-502 if configured with no overclocking, RGBDos
>FD-502 drive 0 is Nitros9 40tkdsdd, ver 030208, 6809, disk 1 (no
>Nitros9, Bootlist, scripts directory)
>FD-502 drive 1 is Nitros9 40tkdsdd, ver 030208, 6809, disk 2 (with
>Nitros9, Bootlist, scripts directory)
>FD-502 drive 2 is empty
>FD-502 drive 3 is empty
>HD Drive 0 is the Nitros09 VHD
>
>I want to upgrade the current Nirtos-9 on the VHD from 3.2.6 to 3.2.8,
>so I:
>saved boot as boot_vcc
>saved emudsk as emudsk.dr
>saved h0 as h0_emu.dd
>saved d0 as d0_emu.dd
>all from the default VHD boot disk (which does boot 3.2.6 with /h0 as /dd)
>copied these files into the appropriate folders on nitros9 3.2.8 disk 2
>
>Then I used copy -r to replace all the files in CMDS, NITROS9, SYS, DEFS
>on the VHD from the 3.2.8 release disk
>
>Then I made a new mb script using boot_vcc
>Then I made a revised standard.bl file usine the emudsk.dr, h0_emu.dd
>and dd_emu.dd, as well as d0_40dd.dd, d1_40dd.dd, d2_40dd.dd, cloud9
>cloud9 clock file, w1 to w3 and so on.
>I them made sure that dmode for /d2 showed: dns=01, cyl=28, sid=02, anf
>formated it as a 40tkDSDD disk
>
>Then I executed my modified mb to create a new 3.2.8 boot disk, and
>populated it
>
>I am able to boot Nitros-9 from this disk, and /dd is indeed /h0, so...
>So Far So Good
>Then I tried to backup 0 to 254 which is the boot floppy on the VHD
>But, when I run link.bas fron drive 254 (the tools disk) it fails, so I
>thought that if I formatted a 35thSSSD floppy and made it a boot disk, I
>could execute the backup and subsequent link command, so could
>"basically" boot without any floppy drive
>
>So I created a new blank 35tk, SSSD from the VCC menu (as a dmk type of
>file, just like above, but as a 35tkSSSD disk)
>After booting the release disks I used dmode to change /d2 to cyl=23,
>sid=01
>Them I used the modified mb script to create a new boot disk and
>'sparcely' populated it.
>When I insert this disk in /d0 and boot, it displays 6 "." showing it
>has read 6 sectore of LNSO and then hangs.
>It does not matter if I have the system configured to use a HD
>controller or not, nor does it matter if I have selected Disk Basic or
>RGBDos, but when I replace it with any other "boor disk" then the boot
>completes successfully
>
>I have done an ident -s to compare the os9boot file on the 35tkSSSD disk
>against the 40tkDSDD, and they exactly match.
>The CMDS dir on the 35tkSSSD disk contains: shell, grfdrv, utilpak1,
>wcreate, swread and dmode
>The root directory on the 35tkSSSD disk contains OS9boot, sysgo and the
>CMDS directory
>Dcheck doesn't show any problems with the 35tkSSSD disk.
>
>So what did I miss, what do I need to check?

Thanks for enough clues.  We don't normally get that with the first 
message. :)

You missed the boot track, normally on track 34, the last track of a 35 track 
floppy since the tracks are numbered from zero.  This does not have a 
directory entry, and if its bits are allocated in the FAT because it is 
installed, then dcheck should have fussed about those 18 sectors as being in 
the allocation map (FAT) but not in the directory structure.  And you said it 
was clean.  Too clean in this case.

The modules 'boot', 'rel' and os9p1/krnp1 reside in this hidden track.

Inspect carefully, the mb script in a text editor, IIRC there was a typu in my 
copy that would cause the boot track install to fail, silently.  A stray ` 
character IIRC.

>Thanks
>
>Ed Orbea
>
>
>
>
>--
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-- 
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
"...Deep Hack Mode--that mysterious and frightening state of
consciousness where Mortal Users fear to tread."
(By Matt Welsh)