[Coco] Coco] NitrOS-9 beginner

[David Gettle]

DECB (Disk Extended Color Basic) only uses 35 track single sided disks,
OS-9/Nitros9 can use all 40 tracks of the disk, and can access both sides
of double sided drives. If you take the case off your floppy drive and look
at it, if you see two read write heads without a disk in the drive then it
is DSDD, if not it is SSDD, but in either case it is most likely 40 track,
unless it is a full height drive. (twice the height of a modern CD-rom
drive)

If you have a DSDD (Double sided double density) drive you can use the .dsk
images in the .zip files under the nitros9 project, otherwise you will need
someone to create a .dsk image for you.

Hope this is of help.

On Tue, Jul 7, 2015 at 2:22 PM, Barry Nelson <barry.nelson at amobiledevice.com
> wrote:

> Is your 35 track drive single or double sided? I could try and make some
> system disks for you.
> You boot OS9 by inserting the disk into drive 0 and typing "DOS"
> Are you SURE your drive is only 35 tracks? Most drives are capable of 40
> track operation. Very few 35 track only drives were sold, and those were
> sold in the days of the CoCo 1s.
>
> On Jul 3, 2015, at 2:52 PM, coco-request at maltedmedia.com wrote:
>
> > Date: Fri, 03 Jul 2015 11:47:42 -0500
> > From: Robert Hermanek <rhermanek at centurytel.net>
> > To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> > Subject: [Coco] NitrOS-9 beginner
> > Message-ID: <5596BCAE.407 at centurytel.net>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
> >
> > I still have not had the time to learn how to even boot OS-9.
> >
> > Posts here indicate that at this point in the game, it would be better
> > to use NitrOS-9 instead of some kind of vintage OS-9 L2 disks.
> >
> > I have the "Complete Rainbow Guide to OS-9 Level II" sitting here and I
> > have an idea of stepping through the books nice and slow and perhaps
> > learning something.
> >
> > That being said:  I am confused by how/where to get "standard" or
> > "un-customized" disk images.  Also, I find there are 40 track disks, but
> > I do not have a 40-track capable system.
> >
> > So:  Assuming I have the rainbow guide in my hand, a 512K coco 3 with a
> > single 35 track drive, and a free hour on the weekend, how should I
> > proceed?  Does someone keep "reference" .DSK image(s) for OS-9?  If so,
> > and again assuming they are 35 track, I could take .DSK files, and get
> > them restored onto real floppies via HDB-DOS and drivewire with little
> > trouble.  I guess I just don't know which .DSK image to start with...
> >
> > Thanks
> > -RobertH
>
>
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