[Coco] NitrOS-9 sc6551 driver

[John W. Linville]

On Wed, Apr 01, 2009 at 10:42:07PM -0500, Roger Taylor wrote:
> At 10:09 PM 4/1/2009, you wrote:

>> That's not the ROM Roger shipped.  It is my CoCo port of the MON09
>> monitor program from the Dunfield tools package.
>
>
> Cool, how does it work?

Well the base MON09 code talks over the serial port.  It didn't
require much work beyond relocating it, although it does expect two
serial ports by default.  I made some minor modifications to convince
it to use only one serial port and commented-out some of the commands
related to using more than one.

What you see in Allen's picture is the startup routine I wrapped around
MON09.  It enables you to change the baud rate, and it implements
a simple terminal program so that you can manage your connection
from the CoCo side as necessary.  On the bluetooth pak you can do
scans and connect or disconnect, etc.  If it were the RS pak you
might setup a modem connection or talk to a host at the other end.
Once the connection is established you use the BREAK key to start
the monitor itself.

The monitor program allows you to display memory (hex or disassembly),
modify memory, load code, set breakpoints, run code, step through the
code after a breakpoint, etc.  It is _extremely_ useful for debugging
code and having a nice, fast development cycle.  Plus it gives you
a window onto the machine without requiring the use of the CoCo's
video or keyboard -- so debugging graphical programs is just as easy
as non-graphical ones.

Dave Dunfield was nice enough to let me distribute binaries to
CoCoFEST! attendees, but only during the CoCoFEST!.  If anyone wants
to buy Dunfield's XTOOLS package (which contains the MON09 sources),
I'll be happy to help them replicate what I have done:

	http://www.dunfield.com/products/xtools.htm

Beyond that, I'm not sure where I'll go with this.  What I have now
meets my needs quite well, but it would be nice to be able to share
it more easily.  If there seemed to be more interest, I might rip-out
the MON09 bits and recreate the project using ASSIST09 or some other
monitor.  But judging from the level of interest at the CoCoFEST!,
I'm not sure that would be worth much of my time...

John
-- 
John W. Linville		Someday the world will need a hero, and you
linville at tuxdriver.com			might be all we have.  Be ready.