[Coco] Nitros9 boot fails with HDB DOS in rompak

Thu Oct 10 09:06:26 EDT 2013

I had a similar problem on my SuperIDE when I accidentally switched off the
auto-start dip switch.
Check if your rom pak has the CART line disabled.

On Thu, Oct 10, 2013 at 4:01 PM, Charlie Pelosi <chaspelosi at outlook.com>wrote:

> Thanks for the reply.
> You can use your HDB-DOS rompak (no MPI) and boot The King's Quest 1 disk
> image? (Any Nitros9 image really)
> Mine seems to work fine too, until I try to boot a Nitros9 image.
>
> 27C64 is what I am using. Typing tutor is an older rompak? The ones I'm
> using are coco 3 specific. All the older rompaks I open have a black blob
> on the PCB and not a 28 pin chip. I'm not sure of any other roms paks
> besides the later ones that have a 28 pin chip.
>
> I am not using an MPI or the disk controller and rompak together. I remove
> the rom from the rompak place it in the fd502 rom socket and then use the
> fd502 controller with the coco. Then it works. When I say works, I mean
> does not fail when booting Nitros9. Like KQ1 and arcadepack. Otherwise the
> rompak does work using rsdos.
>
> maybe something about the way these particular rompaks (later coco3 ones)
> are that keep Nitros9 from booting.
> After the C on the boot screen, the screen should switch to the "Welcome
> to Nitros9...." screen but that never happens. Something about the rompak
> is preventing that from happening.
>
>
> ------------------------------**--------------------
> From: "Retro Canada" <retrocanada76 at gmail.com>
> Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2013 8:32 AM
>
> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Cc: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Subject: Re: [Coco] Nitros9 boot fails with HDB DOS in rompak
>
>
>  i do have a rompak with hdbdos and it works fine. it uses a 27C64 and was
>> the typing tutor.
>>
>> do you have an mpi? how do you put the fd502 and the rompak together ?
>>
>> you can replace the fd502 rom as well to hdbdos.
>>
>> using a mpi the fdc must be on the selected slot. so if you boot from
>> rompak slot you later either switch the button to the slot 4 or perform a
>> poke &hff7f,51
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2013-10-10, at 8:09 AM, Charlie Pelosi <chaspelosi at outlook.com> wrote:
>>
>> When I LOADM RSDOS games they are DSK images. DW4 has HDBDOS translation
>> enabled. (It turns that off automatically when the Nitros9 DSK images are
>> mounted).
>>
>> I found my cassette cable with my MC-10 so I'm going to try to cloadm the
>> HDBDW3CC3.WAV from my ipod after work today.
>> I am guessing this will work because everything points to the physical
>> rompaks.
>>
>> When I installed the sockets in the game rompaks (one was Football II the
>> other was Super Pitfall) I checked continuity from the socket to the card
>> edge for every pin.
>> I will recheck them again tonight, maybe I broke a solder joint or
>> something.
>>
>> I wonder if anyone has done the same and can confirm it working? Anyone
>> else use a game rompak PCB the same way?
>> Or are they using a different board in a rompak? Didn't cloud-9 used to
>> sell a HDB-DOS rompak? Was that as simple as this PCB?
>>
>> The game PCB is very simple. There are no parts to it. Just a board with
>> traces and one resistor (I think) next to the game rom.
>> I wonder if something on the PCB needs to be modified because the rompak
>> itself can only be whats causing it...
>> I shouldn't say that until I try to tape load HDB-DOS tonight. :)
>>
>> Still, three 512K coco3's, Rom, Drivewire,  works with a FD502 disk
>> controller in place of the rompak. It only doesn't work when the rompak is
>> inserted.
>> Maybe the way the games pcb is "wired" maybe a trace or 2 needs to be
>> cut.... hoping someone knows...
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------**--------------------
>> From: "Bill Pierce" <ooogalapasooo at aol.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 11:58 PM
>> To: <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>> Subject: Re: [Coco] Sierra games and DW
>>
>>
>>> Charlie,
>>> When you run RSDOS games, do you load them from a dsk image indw or a
>>> vhd image in dw?
>>>
>>> Bill Pierce
>>> My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
>>> https://sites.google.com/site/**dabarnstudio/<https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/>
>>> Co-Webmaster of The TRS-80 Color Computer Archive
>>> http://www.**colorcomputerarchive.com/<http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/>
>>> Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
>>> http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/**index.php/Main_Page<http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page>
>>> E-Mail: ooogalapasooo at aol.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Charlie Pelosi <chazbeenhad at hotmail.com>
>>> To: coco list <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>>> Sent: Wed, Oct 9, 2013 11:55 pm
>>> Subject: Re: [Coco] Sierra games and DW
>>>
>>>
>>> Yes, newest version of dw4. Downloaded it today and checked update. All
>>> good.
>>>
>>> Also remember, the rom and DW work fine when its in a disk controller.
>>>
>>> Wouldn'tthat rule out DW?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Sent from Windows Mail
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> From: Aaron Wolfe
>>> Sent: Wednesday, October 9, 2013 11:52 PM
>>> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Oct 9, 2013 at 11:08 PM, Charlie Pelosi <chaspelosi at outlook.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Aaron. I have three 512K coco3's here all act the same. So it can't
>>>> be
>>>> the computer. And DW works fine if the disk controller is in.
>>>> So it must be something with the ROMPAK and or the ROM I am using. Can
>>>> someone point me at the exactly .rom file I should burn ?
>>>>
>>>
>>> It really should not matter what ROM you are using as long as its a
>>> "standard" one..  any DW3 ROM sold by Cloud 9 or provided on their
>>> website is fine.  You could also use the open source version from the
>>> Toolshed project, but it has to be one of the "hdbdw3ccX" flavors,
>>> *not* the ones labeled "hdbdw4ccX" (assuming the sierra disks are
>>> still using the stock os9 drivers and not the "turbo" flavors, which
>>> should be true).
>>>
>>>  I think the versions I've tried where HDB-DOS 1.4 DW3 coco 3 and the
>>>> same
>>>> 1.2 that I got years ago from Boisy.
>>>>
>>>
>>> As long as the bootup message says "DW3" I think you are fine.  All
>>> the ROM does is load the boot track, after all.  It is not used at all
>>> once OS9 starts booting.
>>>
>>>
>>>> When I soldered in the socket, it was a Football II cart, I simply
>>>> unsoldered the game chip and soldered in the socket.
>>>> Nothing else. I don't think any soldering is bad because I have two of
>>>> these
>>>> and they both do the same.
>>>>
>>>
>>> You're probably right, I can't imagine it being a soldering or socket
>>> issue.
>>>
>>> One question, are you sure you're using the latest DW4 server?  It
>>> should report "4.3.3p" when you enter 'dw server status' in the
>>> command box at the bottom of the gui.  If it does not, please select
>>> "Check for new version" from the tools menu and update.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------**--------------------
>>>> From: "Aaron Wolfe" <aawolfe at gmail.com>
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 10:01 PM
>>>>
>>>> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>>>> Subject: Re: [Coco] Sierra games and DW
>>>>
>>>>  On Wed, Oct 9, 2013 at 7:28 PM, Charlie Pelosi <chaspelosi at outlook.com
>>>>> >
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm having trouble emailing the list I think because my reply address
>>>>>> for
>>>>>> my Microsoft account is a different alias than the primary I have
>>>>>> subscribed
>>>>>> to the list...
>>>>>> Hello.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I am trying to play The King's Quest games with a coco3 and
>>>>>> drivewire4.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I downloaded KingsQuest1_dw.dsk from http://www.nitros9.org/latest/
>>>>>> I have a rompak in a COCO3 that has HDB-DOS 1.4 DW3 COCO 3 (Ive tried
>>>>>> 1.2
>>>>>> also)
>>>>>> I am using the very latest DW4 in Windows.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> When I mount the KingsQuest1_dw.dsk in drive 0 and type DOS to start
>>>>>> Nitros9 starts to boot.
>>>>>> When it gets to i2xoC and then the coco just hangs sitting there
>>>>>> forever
>>>>>> doing nothing.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Any ideas on what is wrong or how to get this to work?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I tried to send the above earlier and it didn't work. But that worked
>>>>>> out
>>>>>> because in the meantime I discovered something.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If I move the rom chip to an actual FD502 controller the boot gets
>>>>>> past
>>>>>> i2xoC and the game starts.
>>>>>> So I would guess because Nitros9 is loading a driver or looking for
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> disk hardware.
>>>>>> So is there a version that doesn't do that so that people loading
>>>>>> from a
>>>>>> simple rompak or even tape can boot these games with DW and enjoy
>>>>>> them?
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> The version you have is not intended to require a disk controller.
>>>>> Last time I played it, it worked here with just a CoCo 3 and DW3 rom
>>>>> in a rompak, no additional hardware.  That was a while back, it is
>>>>> possible some bug has been introduced.  However, Bill is not seeing a
>>>>> problem currently.  I don't have things set up to test at the moment
>>>>> but I think it is possible the need for a disk controller on your
>>>>> system is a side effect of some other problem.  It is definitely not
>>>>> by design.
>>>>>
>>>>> --
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>>>>>
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