[Coco] Howto for Altera DE1?

[Steven Hirsch]

On Mon, 28 Jun 2010, Becker, Gary wrote:

> Steve
>
> The large disk you downloaded from the Yahoo group is for the old 
> version on the Xilinx board. In that version, the serial port was 
> directly used by the 6809 processor. It also used a modified version of 
> Disk BASIC ROM instead of the normal ROM. Depending on what you want to 
> do, there are several options for boot disks. But before you decide 
> which disk to use, I need to make sure you are using the correct FPGA 
> file. The one on the Yahoo group only supports the standard floppy disk 
> controller.

That's the one I'm using.  I did not receive anything from Aaron.

> If all you want to do is get NitrOS9 running, use the 
> standard CoCo3 6809 boot disk. It is a 40 track double sided disk. This 
> workd well with the standard FDC FPGA and the DW3 server. The CoCo3FPGA 
> runs in "legacy" mode and the disk controller appears to all the 
> software to be a standard floppy disk controller.

That's not working.

- Mounted 'nos96809l2v030209coco3_40d_1.dsk' on drive
   0 in a DW3 server.

- Downloaded fpga code.

- Most of the time I do not get the splash screen - even from a fresh
   power up.  Is something not being reinitialized properly?  Even a POKE
   113,0 followed by reset is not doing the trick.

- Typing 'DOS' usually comes right back to the prompt with no activity.

- Occasionally, it will go away for a few seconds, DW will report a
   handful of reads, then the OK prompt reappears.  It never boots.


> If you want to go to the next level, then you will need to get a newer 
> version. Aaron mentioned he could send it to you. I am not 100 percent 
> certain that that version will work a t 115200 bps. I just fixed an 
> issue with my code where it would only run at the faster speeds. I plan 
> on uploading a newer version, but I have been busy and have not had the 
> time to finish it yet. Hopefully later this week. With the newer 
> version, run the becker disk as Aaron has suggested. He says it will 
> also work with the DW3 server, but I have not tried it. If you switch to 
> the newer DW4 server, it might take a newer version. There have been 
> some changes that made the 2.01 version unusable. Aaron knows more about 
> that than I do. When you use this disk, you need to be very careful that 
> you use the correct disk driver / descriptors. Both the DW driver is 
> loaded with descriptors for /dd. /x1, /x2.... The standard FDC 
> controller is also loaded with descriptors /d0, /d1, and /d2. If by 
> accident you try to use the standard FDC disk, the FPGA board will lock 
> up. It is not designed to be run in both DW mode and standard FDC mode 
> at the same time.

Ok, I'll take this one step at a time.  Would be happy to simply see the 
40-track OS9 disk boot.

> As Mark McDougall mentioned, these types of issues are expected. This 
> project is still in early stages of development and there is zero 
> documentation. Before I release an official version, I will put together 
> a complete user manual. It will be similar to the one for the earlier 
> version on the Xilinx board. I am impressed that you have made it this 
> far this fast with no documentation. Thanks go to Aaron and Mark.

I'm embarrassed at making such a pain of myself.  Some of the problems 
were my own impatience, but I do seem to be up against the wall now.

Steve


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