[Coco] Boot Dependacy List question...

[Gene Heskett]

On Saturday 08 November 2014 17:45:52 Bill Pierce via Coco did opine
And Gene did reply:
> Ok, in trying to complete my boot dependency tree, I've run across a
> couple of drivers I'm not sure of... I do not have the hardware, so I
> do not know their dependencies. 
> llide.dr
> lltc3.dr
> rbsuper.dr
> 
> 
> the only descriptors listed for these are:
> dds0_tc3.dd 
> s0_tc3.dd
> s1_tc3.dd
> s2_tc3.dd
> s3_tc3.dd
> s4_tc3.dd
> s5_tc3.dd
> s6_tc3.dd
> sh_tc3.dd
> ddi0_ide.dd
> i0_ide.dd
> i1_ide.dd
> ih_ide.dd
 
The first two are the "adapter" modules that make rbsuper.dr compatible 
and usable with either the Super-ide or I believe the GCC ide interface, 
or the TC^3 scsi controller that Mark sells. the lltc3.dr may also apply 
to some of the other scsi controllers sold over the years, but not to an 
SC-II+4n1 that I know of. That one (TC^3) is great, you can hang all the 
1Gb seagate Hawk scsi-II drives on it that you can round up these days.  I 
had 2 from an older miggy that are happily spinning on my coco right now.

IOW if the user has an ide drive controller, he should select the llide.dr 
and rbsuper.dr.

If he has a scsi interface like the TC^3, the you should select lltc3.dr 
and rbsuper.dr.

This lltc3.dr may also work with the RGB scsi interface, but I'll let 
Robert Gault confirm/deny that as I do not have one of those.

> What I need to know, is which ones go with which?
> I'm pretty sure ix_ide.dd goes with llide.dr and sx_tc3.dd goes with
> lltc3.dr, but what goes with rbsuper.dr?

Either of the ll* drivers that suits his hardware.  The sh_tc3.dd is a bit 
special as you can configure it with dmode to point at any of the 256 
virtual drives that HDBDOS gives you, with full read-write-format-boot 
from it access.  On a really big (for the coco) hard drive, like the 1Gb's 
I use, I could setup another 10 or 11 of these 256 vdisk banks beyond the 
500 megs assigned for os9 as each "bank" is just over 80 megabytes. One 
could do it, but I've had no urge to...  Shortage of round tuits I guess.

HOWEVER!!!!  Before formatting /sh when running nitros9, read the super 
descriptor docs very very, did I mention VERY CAREFULLY as there is a 1 
bit flag in one of the dmode accessible descriptor variables that tells 
format when it is to use the values specified in the sh_tc3.dd descriptor, 
or to query the drive for its capacity.  And if its not set correctly in 
the descriptor, it will very nonchalantly format the whole drive, which is 
NOT of course what you intended.  See the docs PLEASE.  Download the 
latest version from cloud9north.com/support, print it and stick it in the 
cubby hole next to your monitor for instant reference.  Oh, and READ it 
too. ;-)

Its possible that the ih_ide.dd could be used in a manner similar to 
sh_tc3.dd.  Untested by me.

Missing from your list I see, is a ddi0_ide.dd which gives the ide user a 
/dd drive which could be either the master or the slave drive on the 
controller respectively.  Master or slave likely controllable by a dmode 
setting. read the docs.  Then read them 3 or 4 more times.  They are 
concise and many times interdependent. 

We now also have:

ddsd0_cocosdc.dd
sd0_cocosdc.dd
sd1_cocosdc.dd

which will in turn need

llcocosdc.dr

as an extension to rbsuper.dr for access to the cocosdc.  I think, I hear 
there are problems with it yet.

> 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/
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> Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
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Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
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