[Coco] Nitros9 and Smartwatch

[Gene Heskett]

On Saturday 10 December 2016 17:01:42 L. Curtis Boyle wrote:

> Robert is correct in that some things have changed - the ‘-‘ sign on a
> lot of commands is one. TMODE and XMODE are radically different than
> the original OS-9 (and if you pull down some older OS-9 programs that
> fork out to these commands, they will not work properly without
> patching). So, you are correct in that we need some proper
> documentation (even just documenting differences/additions would be
> helpful). Another issue is that some commands in later NitrOS-9 (DIR
> is a prime example for me) have actually gone backwards from original
> NitrOS-9. As of version 2.01 of NitrOS-9, DIR had wildcard support
> (both * and ?), and extra options for recursive directory searches,
> etc. Then, for some unknown (to me) reason, that new “standard
> version” disappeared, and it went back to stock OS-9 in functionality,
> but with the ‘-‘ now required. And there are other examples like this
> as well.
>
>
> L. Curtis Boyle
> curtisboyle at sasktel.net
>
> TRS-80 Color Computer Games website
> http://www.lcurtisboyle.com/nitros9/coco_game_list.html
>
> > On Dec 10, 2016, at 2:54 PM, Robert Gault <robert.gault at att.net>
> > wrote:
> >
> > To add to Bill's comments, the NitrOS-9 WIKI is at
> > https://sourceforge.net/p/nitros9/wiki/Main_Page/
> >
> > There are some differences between OS-9 and NitrOS-9 which are minor
> > but confusing. Many of the commands can take parameters and some
> > have been changed. For example, in OS-9 the command dir can have two
> > parameters: x display current execution directory, e display full
> > description of each file. However, in NitrOS-9 these parameters now
> > require the - sign: dir -x   or  dir -e .
> >
> > As it happens, the built in Help function indicates the syntax for
> > dir. help dir
> >
> > and you will get
> >
> > Syntax: Dir [<opts>] [<path>]
> > Usage : Displays formatted list of file names in a directory
> > Opts  :
> >  -e = extended dir
> >  -x = execution dir
> >
> > Unfortunately not all commands or programs are included in Help but
> > you could edit the SYS/helpmsg file to include new command/program
> > names. Also some programs have their own built-in help messages.
> > Unfortunately many of these have been turned off in the current
> > NitrOS-9 build. You could edit the source code to turn on the
> > built-in help and recompile the programs.
> >
> > Robert
> >
> >
> > --
> > Coco mailing list
> > Coco at maltedmedia.com
> > https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco

I wasn't all that disappointed that the wildcard expansion disappeared. 
The expansion was handy, when its output could be contained in shells 
limited line buffer.  But if you wildcarded it in a directory with 
hundreds of files, the resultant hate & discontent, and the possibility 
of major filesystem damage made it less than an altogether nice 
experience.  IMO its safer w/o that ability.

Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
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