[Coco] MAME 0.169 Not booting NitrOS-9 images

[Robert Gault]

Barry Nelson wrote:
> Ok, I checked that disk, it is the proper size, 368640 bytes. I ran a free and a dcheck on the system system and found no issues with the disk image. I was able to boot the disk after renaming it to a .os9 extension using Mess version:
> M.E.S.S. v0.150 (Sep 18 2013)
> It looks like someone broke something since then. I will try to look into this when I have time. I currently have this version compiled for Windows and Mac, and I have the source code.
>
> The windows version is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8RnV5G0TZFZYlNzak1rb2cwMUk/view?usp=sharing
> A working Mac version can be downloaded from http://www.macmess.org/
> The source code with Mac binaries from version 150b is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8RnV5G0TZFZNkpGdExhMlQ5ZXc/view?usp=sharing
> The source code should build fine on Linux, but make sure you type "make clean" first. Then "make TARGET=mess" (I think, it's been a while).
>
> Or you can use VCC running under Wine.
>
> On Jan 21, 2016, at 4:08 AM, BootLoop2Dope Doll Neden Hunter <bootloop at juggadollslinux.org> wrote:
>
>> This one: nos96809l2v030300coco3_40d_1.dsk (renamed nos96809l2v030300coco3_40d_1.os9)

Guys,

This is a long standing issue with MESS. The main problem is that it will not 
correctly read the .ini and .cfg for your emulator and will sometimes corrupt 
them. At one time, it was suggested that you make your .ini files read only.
#
# CORE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
#
readconfig                1
writeconfig               0

The main bug is that MESS insists, regardless of what you tell it, that a pak 
instead of an fdc is installed.
With some versions, you could force the fdc as follows in Coco emulation.
portions of the .ini file
#
# CORE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
#
readconfig 1
writeconfig 0
...
#
# SLOT DEVICES
#
rs232                     printer
ext                       fdcv11

However, with v169, this will show you floppies in the MESSUI initial screen 
"media view" but as soon as emulation starts you don't see floppies. If you 
ScrollLock/Tab/SlotDevices you will see pak and can't select fdcv11 as MESS says 
"This option is NOT currently mounted in the running system."
Nothing I've tried will convince MESS v169 that the fdc is mounted.

Support for the Coco in MESS is essentially non-existent so posting a Bug Report 
is unlikely to be answered.

Robert