[Coco] DW4 on MAc & Linux

[Al Hartman]

I'm sorry to intrude on this thread if my input is unwelcome, but...

When I wrote the manual for the Coco Greeting Card Designer (which was 
expanded for the Coco Graphics Designer and Plus versions...), I sat down 
with a Coco set up next to my wordprocessing system and wrote a section in 
the manual that went step-by-step in creating a greeting card.

I discussed each step in the process, and explained each decision point. It 
was a tutorial on creating a Greeting Card. There was a second chapter that 
was a description of all the commands, which was the reference chapter.

I'm not offering to do it (because, my current setup is not such that I 
could do it...), but it would be most helpful to have a start from nothing 
tutorial on setting up, and using Drivewire. One that assumes no prior 
knowledge of Drivewire at all.

I had to experiment to find which .wav file to use to get my Coco 3 to load. 
I had to experiment with Drivewire 4 to get the right settings for it to 
work. Now, I have to figure out how to get Coco software which isn't in a 
Virtual Disk file to my Coco.

I know this is all known by others. But, it's not documented anywhere. It's 
all in people's heads.

If a new Drivewire user doesn't know to come to this list, they are SOL.

Besides the tutorial, I'd like to see a file description added to the 
DRIVEWIRE.ZIP file. It should also be in the WIKI and documentation too. 
There should be a .dsk image in the DRIVEWIRE.ZIP file that contains the 
client-side software, and burnable ROM images. This way, on your first 
boot -- if you have a disk controller, you can make a diskette to start 
Drivewire in the future without a cassette cable.

I would like to see a tutorial on burning the ROMS from the provided images 
on a Coco, but given that there are no new burners being made (maybe someone 
could get the Coco Burner board to one of those board houses that will make 
them on order), I guess this isn't a priority and I'll have to buy a burner 
for my PC.

I found the Drivewire "documentation" on the Cloud9 site useless. It assumed 
so much knowledge on the user's part (like what files to use), that I found 
no answers to my questions in it. I learned more from the recent thread 
here, and the Youtube video than from any of the documentation.

My home is crammed with stuff right now, and I have my Coco setup on a snack 
table in my bedroom. But, if I can get it setup on a desk somewhere, I will 
try to tackle some of this.

I don't want to just be a complainer, I'll gladly help make things better. 
I'm just not set up to do that right now. I'll work on getting there. I just 
bought a desk, but need help building it.

-[ Al ]-