[Coco] dw 3

[Aaron Wolfe]

On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 9:06 AM, Robert Gault <robert.gault at att.net> wrote:

> Darren A wrote:

>>

>> On 11/21/10, Robert Gault<robert.gault at att.net>  wrote:

>>>

>>> The main point is that with 256 disks per drive#, copying from/to

>>> floppies

>>> should not present any real problems. It is copying from one DW slot to

>>> another

>>> which is the main problem which is easily solved with a RAM disk designed

>>> to

>>> work with HDBDOS.

>>>

>> ---

>>

>> Setting up a RAM disk along with DriveWire is an extra step that only

>> complicates the process (assuming it's possible). Even then you have

>> to make multiple BACKUPs to achieve the desired result.  Then there is

>> the fact that some people may be using DriveWire on a CoCo 1 or 2

>> where a RAM disk really isn't an option.

>>

>> Having a switchable setting in the server that allows each slot to be

>> treated like a single floppy disk seems like an elegant solution to

>> the problem.

>>

>> Darren

>>

>

> Darren,

> I think you are saying that the switch should permit drives 0-3 to be drive0

> on each Drivewire slot instead of drives 0-3 on a single Drivewire slot. If

> that is the case, copying files from one slot to another is not much simpler

> than using a floppy for the transfer.

> To be most effective, the DW switch would need to be able to select any

> drive 0-255 per slot. If, for example, slot 0 was drive1, slot1 drive23,

> slot2 drive152, and slot3 drive237, and the Coco could address these as

> drives 0-3, then you would have an optimal solution.

>


Hrmm we may have some wires crossed.  What the switch does is to
ignore the drive sent in the DW op call altogether, and instead map to
a disk image based on the sector being read or written to.  Sectors
0-629 point to "disk 0", 630-1259 are "disk 1", and so on all the way
up to disk 255.  DRIVE #0-3 makes no difference, DRIVE 0-255 does.


> The only way I can see this working is if the DW gui had a toggle to select

> normal HDBDOS operation or the option to select a drive# for each slot

> (0-255) while the Coco addressed the slots as 0-3. The gui would need to

> display the actual drive value per slot so the user did not get confused

> when using the alternate scheme of operation.

> The user had better not use higher drive numbers (4-255) with the alternate

> scheme active, because HDBDOS would not function correctly.

>

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