[Coco] OS-9 is not for me

[Bill Pierce]

Nick, I hate to see you give up, but I will admit that OS9 is not for everyone. The thing that gets me the most is that you, being a software developer, cannot grasp OS9's system concepts. To add to Bob's analogy.. How many hours did you spend figuring out the "side scrolling" modes of the GIME for "Pop Star Pilot"? How many documents did you examine to learn the modes?
Every book ever published on OS9 and it's use is available in the archives and between them, covering "almost" every aspect of OS9.
Just for kicks, here's a simple list of advantages of hardware/software support in OS9 vs RSDOS....
Disk Access:
 RSDOS - Basic only, the user must either interface with basic or write their own when using Asm (same for all below)
 OS9 - Basic09, Asm, & C all have easily accessed system calls for disk access
Screen Control:
 RSDOS - Basic only
 OS9 - BASIC09, Asm, C
Graphics Control
 RSDOS - Basic only
 OS9 - Basic09, Asm C
Mouse/Joystick Control:
 RSDOS - Basic only
 OS9 - Basic09, Asm, C
Built In Menuing:
 RSDOS - None
 OS9 - Basic09, Asm, C
Telecommunications:
 RSDOS - None
 OS9 -  Basic09, Asm C
Midi:
 RSDOS - None
 OS9 - Basic09 Asm C
Expandable for new hardware by adding new drivers"
 RSDOS - NO
 OS9 - YES

And there's much more if I really wanted to get into it. It's all in the "installable" drivers... You cannot "easily" add anything to RSDOS without "internal" knowledge of hacking the system.OS9 allows easy expansion to the system just by installing a well-written driver. If it can be hooked up to the Coco, OS9 most likely has a driver for it. If not? It's not hard to write one and someone probably will.
Don't get me wrong... I understand your frustration. I struggled with OS9 Level 1 for about 2 years and "just didn't get it". I couldn't get much past booting the system disk. I gave up and went back to RSDOS and Asm. Then along came the Coco 3 and Level 2. All it took for me to see the power was running "King's Quest III" one time. After see the speed, graphics and power used in that software, I was determined I would learn it. I never actually "bought" a copy of OS9 L2, as I built my own OS9 L2 boot from L2 games disks and modules downloaded from Delphi and CIS. I learned the OS the hard way as I had no manuals, though I did borrow a friends OS9 L2 manual for about 3 months once. I "hand copied" a lot of info on making boots, graphics and system calls into a notebook, and that was my manual. I still have that notebook today (plus many more). In less than a year I was helping people in my local Coco User's Group to get started in OS9 and making their boot disks. In two years I was disassembling programs and writing my own. I NEVER looked back at RSDOS Basic again except to run a few games and run Lyra... until I bought Ultimuse3 for OS9 that is...  :-)
I am not some Computer Engineer or professional programmer. I have absolutely NO training in computers, or any college training. In fact, I am a blue-collar 10th grade dropout hippy musician who was a flooring installer by trade. I was actually a route delivery Milkman when I bought my first computer which was a 16k Coco 2 with only Color Basic and an Orch90 pak. I took the money for the Coco and Orch90 pak from my "cask intake" that day (which I had to put back when I got paid).
If I can learn OS9.... anybody can.
 

Bill Pierce
"Today is a good day... I woke up" - Ritchie Havens
 

My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
Co-Webmaster of The TRS-80 Color Computer Archive
http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/
Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
E-Mail: ooogalapasooo at aol.com