[Coco] B&B XTROM

[Chester Patterson]

That is correct.
The BnB rig is set up to run from slot 3 of the MPI, with the floppy
controller in slot 4. The MPI switch set to slot 3 so that the BnB ROM is
what runs on power on/reset. The BnB ROM software allows for a keypress
during its RAM check to switch control to slot 4 via software and run the
ROM in the floppy controller. BnB recommended the HYPER I/O software package
(another DOS but with the hard disk access routines) which one burned to
EPROM and put in the floppy or hard disk controller. I never used it myself,
allways having run OS9. HYPER I/O was quite pricey at the time, even with my
employee discount!

I used to plug the BnB controller directly into the Coco slot and boot up
OS9 like that. No MPI or floppies but it made for quick testing  for
problems.

/Chester

-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Hirsch [mailto:snhirsch at gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 5:26 PM
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [Coco] B&B XTROM


On Wed, 14 Jan 2009, Chester Patterson wrote:

> B&B rigs (of which I configured and sold several during my stint at Howard
> Medical) do not require a PROM installed in the controller (we used the
> DTC-5150 controller, several others were possible) The drive parameters
> (cylinders, tracks, etc) are set by the jumpers on the controller. The
only
> PROM sold for the B&B rig was optional, it was the AutoBoot PROM. If
> purchased, it was installed instead of the BIOS PROM supplied standard
with
> the controller. It first does a RAM test thereby allowing the hard disk to
> come up to speed. Then it checks track 128 for the OS9 bootstrap module
> (modified to access the hard disk) and boots OS9 from the hard disk. If
you
> hold down the ALT key during the RAM test then the PROM looks instead for
> the bootstrap module on track 129. This allows you to have two separate
> OS9Boot on a single drive. I used this feature to boot into either OS9
> command line prompt or OS9 Multivue.

Ok, so if the controller's slot in the MultiPak is selected at reset, the
ROM code gets control immediately?