[Coco] Using HDB-DOS for DriveWire 3

[N8WQ]

Tim,
Thanks for the explanation and help. I followed your instructions to the 
letter and I now have a blank disk image on /x3

Today I am going to download the toolshed tools and start using them. 
But first, I need a cup of coffee! :)

O. Alan Jones

-- 
N8WQ - Canal Winchester, Ohio
http://exwn8jef.googlepages.com/home
CompTIA: A+ Certified Professional



Tim Fadden wrote:
> N8WQ wrote:
>> Yes, I would like to have a blank .vhd image.  I don't  know what  
>> size to shoot for though.  As you can probably tell I am a  newbie at 
>> this.  :)
>>
>> O. Alan Jones
>>
> I am thinking that the /x? drivers supplied is a specific size, but I 
> am not sure.  The way I did it was to first use dmode to modify /x0 
> for the number of sectors I wanted.  Saved it, and made a new os9boot 
> with the new descriptor.  You could also use cobbler. Then I used the 
> toolshed tool os9 to create an image with the same number of sectors 
> as I had in the /x0 descriptor. This may not be required. I can mount 
> the image I created on one of the unmodified /x? and it works just the 
> same.
>
> If you tell me exactly what size disk etc, you want. I could create 
> it, or give you vague instructions and make you figure it out, :-) or 
> exact  instructions in which you would learn less. he he he
>
> With the toolshed program os9, you can make images that only have the 
> allocation table, and grow as you put data on it, or create file the 
> full size from the beginning.  They seem to work the same to me, but I 
> was told that you must create it full size. So far I have not found 
> this to be true.
>
> Here is a way to create a disk image without using the toolshed tools:
>
> Boot into os9 with the nitros09DW3 image in /x0.
> Then on the Drive Wire Server, select an empty floppy say, /x3. 
> Instead of selecting a file to mount, select type as os9, and type in 
> a file name of your choice, say, newdisk. the server will create the 
> file newdisk.os9
>
> Now from os9, try a dir on /x3 you should get a 253 error 
> "Non-Shareable file busy"
> Now type in: format /x3 ........   Follow the prompts, and do both a 
> physical and verify format.  If you watch the drive wire server 
> interface, you can see the read/write to the file, and you can watch 
> the file on the pc grow in size as it goes along.
>
> It will take a while, but when done, you will have a new blank disk 
> image of about 8.3 meg .  If you want a different size, use dmode on 
> the /x? you are formating, beforehand, and it will be the size you 
> specify.
>
> I could not find any of this documented, but it seems to work just fine.
>
>
>
> P.S. don't get hung up on the .vhd extension.  I have used .dsk, and 
> .os9 for the image extensions, and they both work the same with Drive 
> Wire anyway. I finally ended up using .os9 for the standard, as that 
> is what it is.
>
> If you have any questions, feel free.
>
> Tim Fadden
>
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