[Coco] Starting OS9 games

[Robert Gault]

Vincent Tran wrote:
> Hi all -- I have a question about booting OS9 games. After mounting the
> .dsk file and typing 'dos'. the coco boots into OS9. How do I know what to
> type in order to start the game? I tried PacMan last night and type
> 'pacman' at the prompt, but the coco just froze. Any info would be
> appreciated.  Thanks.
>
> -Vince
>

Vincent,

First, you have not made clear what "the .dsk file" actually is. Is it a 
NitrOS-9 or OS-9 system disk or an OS-9 game disk? The general format of most 
OS-9 games is that they auto-start, so only a DOS is needed after mounting the 
game disk.

Now, specifically about PacMan, the game @
http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/coco/Disks/Games/Pacman%20(OS-9)%20(Coco%203).zip
will auto-start when the .dsk is mounted in an emulator and DOS entered from 
Basic. This disk will not work with Drivewire and possibly not with an SDC pack 
as the kernel and OS9Boot file is intended for use with a floppy disk.

If you want to run this game from Drivewire, an SDC, or a hard drive, you can 
boot NitrOS-9 from any device. Then do the following:
1) Mount the PacMan .dsk in a real or emulated floppy drive0.
2) Change directories to the game .dsk:
    cd /d0; cx /d0/cmds
3) Type
    program [ENTER]
4) Wait for the game to start.

The above disk has a Basic09 program in Intermediate code in the CMDS directory 
and the source in the root directory. The CMDS directory has both Basic09 and 
RUNB for running Basic09 programs.

Robert