[Coco] Color Forth Help Request

[Stephen Pereira]

Hello again, all,

I am happy to say that I am one of the lucky ones who was able to get one of the last CoCo 3 systems from Cloud-9 - I got a fully tricked out CoCo 3 with a Pro-Tektor, a 6309 processor, and the Triad 512K RAM upgrade (Thanks a million for a great machine, Mark!).

I discovered a problem (for me):  My Color Forth code does not run properly on this machine!  What I found is that I can LOADM”CC-FORTH” and EXEC just fine.  I can issue Color Forth commands (although I have not attempted every command) and things seem OK.  I can issue my added DIR or BASIC commands, and those works well.  Then I try to load a file of Forth screens with my LSCR command.  Upon execution of that command, the CoCo goes off into never-never-land.  Usually, the machine simply goes off and never returns.  It does not access the disk, it just disappears.  Sometimes I get a beautiful screen of scrambled graphics, but not usually.

I had the bright idea to try all this on my VCC emulator.  The 512k RAM does not make any difference.  Color Forth runs just fine.  However, when I change the CPU to be a 6309, VCC fails in exactly the same way as I described above on my real system.  Actually, on VCC, when I execute the LSCR command with a filename, I get a blank green screen with an S in the upper left hand corner, as if the machine is trying to load a cassette file.  Since I removed all the cassette file code from the Color Forth source code, I am puzzled why this screen appears.

I am puzzled by this altogether.  Why should the 6309 not work like the 6809, if it is supposed to be code compatible?

I would like to hear from anyone who may be able to assist me in figuring out why my code that works fine on a CoCo with a 6809 does not work on a CoCo with a 6309.  Am I doomed to purchasing a 6890 and installing that instead?

Thanks very much for listening!

--
Stephen M. Pereira
Bedford, NH  03110
KB1SXE