[Coco] Multiple HDB-DOS 256 drive partitions Software Wanted

Wed Apr 24 11:39:38 EDT 2013

Don't worry, a CF card can be entire rewritten in 1 minute using unix dd.
It's the best thing for prototyping.

On Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 11:33 AM, Gene Heskett <gheskett at wdtv.com> wrote:

> On Wednesday 24 April 2013 10:53:55 Mark Marlette did opine:
>
> > Luis,
> >
> > I don't believe this is correct.
> >
> > In the current configuration of  the NitrOS-9 offset is 0 and works as
> > you say but.....
> >
> > If you were to add an offset to the SuperDriver descriptor it would then
> > use that as it's relative LSN0 offset.
> >
> > The size / drive geometry then kicks in to effect and you go up from
> > there.
> >
> There is a bit, IIRC in the IT.TYP byte of the descriptor, and I miss typed
> in the previous nsg & called it IT.DNS, my bad!
>
> See the superdriver descriptor doc you have on your site, which tells
> format whether it should query the drive for its geometry and size, or
> should take the descriptor info as gospel.  For a virtual floppy, my /sh's
> IT.TYP is $81, but READ the docs!
>
> THIS BIT IS THE MOST DANGEROUS MINEFIELD IN NITROS9.
>
> Read, and set the bits in each device descriptor very carefully else you
> may format the whole drive with a MB script.
>
> YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
>
> With this bit properly set, and the offsets in the descriptor properly set
> so its safe to format based on the descriptor, you can do anything you
> want. One could theoretically setup the first partition at 120 megabytes so
> it would only need a 1 sector per cluster FAT map, then setup the next
> 41,287,680 bytes of the disk as 256 hdbdos virtual floppies, then do the
> next 120 megs as a 2nd os9 partition, then by poking new values into
> HDBDOS, have another 41,287,680 byte piece of the drive as vdisks 257-512,
> and repeat that several more times on a 1Gib disk.  All accessable at the
> same time with nitros9 if you have enough /sh-like descriptors in the
> bootfile, each properly configured, with even the 257-xxx hdbdos vdrives
> being bootable with the use of my bootlink utility.
>
> The theory there in case its not clear, is that the default HDBDOS boot
> vdrive is bootable, In my case drive $80.  The boottrack, track 34 is
> loaded from that location set into HDBDOS when the rom was configured &
> burnt.
>
> But in the boot process, once that is loaded, AND the boot module itself is
> the correct one for your HD controller, in my case boot_tc3, then the boot
> module itself, looking to load the rest of the system known as the OS9Boot
> file, looks at the data in the drives LSN0 to find the address on the
> drive, and the size of the file to load.  This can be ANYWHERE on the
> drive!  You will need the /sh descriptor in your bootfile of course, and
> you can preset it to any of the hdbdos vdrives and do a MB on it.  Once
> that is done, and lets assume you've made a bootable vdrive 200 with MB,
> then booting from it, using that OS9Boot file, is a simple matter of
> issuing "bootlink 200".  It will check to see if its really bootable, and
> if so, will update the data in the hard drives LSN0 so the next time it
> boots, it will use that particular OS9Boot file.  And will continue to do
> so until you change it again.
>
> > Boisy... is this a correct assumption from a hardware guy????    :)
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Mark
> > http://www.cloud9tech.com
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> >  From: Luis Antoniosi (CoCoDemus) <retrocanada76 at gmail.com>
> > To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 8:34 AM
> > Subject: Re: [Coco] Multiple HDB-DOS 256 drive partitions Software
> > Wanted
> >
> >
> > afaik you cannot create more than on os-9 partition since it begins from
> > bottom-up. how can you put two LSN0 ?
> >
> > the thing you can multiply is the 256-RGB disks, by poking a new hdb-dos
> > offset. Check the last image I sent to you, it has a second 256-disk
> > partition for mod player.
> >
> > On Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 6:23 AM, Kip Koon <computerdoc at sc.rr.com> wrote:
> > > Hi Everyone,
> > >
> > > Now that I have figured out how to poke the MPI slot register to
> > > activate the Floppy drives under HDB-DOS 1.1D LBA rom image in the
> > > flash memory of the SuperIDE, I want to experiment with multiple
> > > HDB-DOS 256 Drive partitions and some type of Huge Disk cataloging
> > > program to index all the partitions in one big database file.
> > >
> > > I have a 4BG hard drive connected to the IDE connector to try my hand
> > > at formatting what I understand is the Largest hard drive capacity
> > > NitrOS-9 can
> > > handle.  It has over 8 million LBA sectors on it.  I might have to
> > > partition
> > > the HD into multiple NitrOS-9 partitions, but I'm going to try one
> > > huge partition first after the HDB-DOS 256 Drives are setup.
> > >
> > > I'm trying to find a DB9F solder connector in my spare RS-232 parts
> > > and/or cables, but so far I have found nothing compatible yet.  I
> > > know it's in storage somewhere.  I want to get Drivewire 4 Server
> > > communicating with my Coco 3 SuperIDE setup.
> > >
> > > Well, everyone have fun at the CoCoFEST.  Please let us all know about
> > > the video feed so I watch it this year.  I had forgot about the video
> > > feed last year, so I missed all the action.
> > >
> > > Take care all and have fun Cocoing!
> > >
> > > Kip
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Coco mailing list
> > > Coco at maltedmedia.com
> > > http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
>
> Cheers, Gene
> --
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