

#: 20465 S1/General Interest
    13-Oct-94  22:29:30
Sb: #Any suggestions?
Fm: Dick Watson 71320,2340
To: Anybody Home?

Sorry to say this folks, but this forum reminds me of an old age home for the
computationally challenged.  The last message that scrolled did so in 1991?!?

Seriously, as I sit here at my 486 WinNT speed burner, I prepare for my next
"opportunity to excel" at work.  Seems I've inherited a project that has to use
an OS-9 Lvl 1/BASIC-09 based communications handler module in a Programmable
Logic Controller.  A real museum piece by anybody's standards.  I didn't find
it exactly encouraging that there were NO messages in the 0S-9/6809 since the
last message scrolled.

Some questions:

Any suggestions where to lay hands on original reference documentation for this
stuff?  The module vendor provides some that they claim to have parroted from
Microware Many Moons Ago, but I keep feeling like they left about half of it
out to avoid printing costs.

I'm particularly interested in a) O/S interface to executables in case I end up
programming in ASM-09, b) BASIC-09 variable storage formats (i.e., what does
ADDR(var) point to?), c) most anything else relevant to OS-9 Lvl 1 and
BASIC-09.

Thanks for any help.  You might also reply by CIS or Internet email--this forum
looks pretty sleepy and I don't image that I'll stop by frequently to see no
messages since last stop.

Dick Watson 71320,2340
dwatson@page.mmc.com

There are 2 Replies.

#: 20467 S1/General Interest
    15-Oct-94  10:15:16
Sb: #20465-#Any suggestions?
Fm: Steve Wegert 76703,4255
To: Dick Watson 71320,2340 (X)

 > Sorry to say this folks, but this forum reminds me of an old age home for
 > the computationally challenged.  The last message that scrolled did so in
 > 1991?!?

Yes ... things are slower than they have been in the past but not _that_ slow!

Don't be misled by the date stamp on those first couple of messages on the
forum. They've been "held" because of their content. The first "real" message
on the board is from March of this year.


*- Steve -*


There is 1 Reply.

#: 20471 S1/General Interest
    16-Oct-94  15:43:17
Sb: #20467-Any suggestions?
Fm: Dick Watson 71320,2340
To: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 (X)

>>The first "real" message on the board is from March of this year.

Now that's more like it!

D. Watson

#: 20468 S1/General Interest
    15-Oct-94  17:51:42
Sb: #20465-#Any suggestions?
Fm: Bob van der Poel 76510,2203
To: Dick Watson 71320,2340 (X)

>Any suggestions where to lay hands on original reference documentation for
>this stuff?

You might want to contact Microware. I believe that they sell manuals, without
software. If they don't have the 6809 Basic manual, you might want to get the
68000 basic manual since the 2 basics are functionally identical (with the
execption of about 2 functions). Either that, or find someone dumping a Color
Computer 3 with Level II OS9 since, again, the Basic is the same.

>what does ADDR(var) point to?

It returns the address of the variable.

>You might also reply by CIS or Internet email--this forum looks pretty sleepy
>and I don't image that I'll stop by frequently to see no messages since last
>stop.

Sort of tough to get excited about sending replies if you aren't going to check
in from time to time <g>.

There is 1 Reply.

#: 20470 S1/General Interest
    16-Oct-94  15:42:24
Sb: #20468-#Any suggestions?
Fm: Dick Watson 71320,2340
To: Bob van der Poel 76510,2203 (X)

Microware disclaimed any knowledge of pre-OS-9/68000. I'm pursuing the Color
Computer route.

>>what does ADDR(var) point to?

>It returns the address of the variable.

Knew that.  Question was what is storage format, particularly for strings and
arrays and defined types and so forth? IF I have x=ADDR(somestring$) what is
really located there, byte for byte at x, x+1, x+2, x+n?

See, I did stop back by. Thanks for the information!

D. Watson

There is 1 Reply.

#: 20475 S1/General Interest
    17-Oct-94  19:04:42
Sb: #20470-Any suggestions?
Fm: Bob van der Poel 76510,2203
To: Dick Watson 71320,2340

> IF I have x=ADDR(somestring$) what is really located there, byte for > byte
at x, x+1, x+2, x+n?

Assume that somestring$ == "bob", then x='b', x+1='o', etc. Basic09 strings are
terminated with a $ff.

#: 20472 S3/Languages
    16-Oct-94  16:17:19
Sb: #20317-GNU C compiler
Fm: DTR 100302,3271
To: Bruno Nilsson 76407,600

YES - inquiries to fax ++49-431-86511    

#: 20462 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    12-Oct-94  05:08:49
Sb: #20431-Shell+ 2.2a
Fm: Ken Flanagan 75460,2514
To: Curtis boyle 71310,1271

Ok.  When you check the source for the wildcard offset, could you locate the ne
offsets for the 8K memory grabs as well?  Thanks.


#: 20463 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    12-Oct-94  11:55:42
Sb: #Sad Note Here :-(
Fm: Rogelio Perea 72056,1204
To: ALL

... here's a "cross-post" of an opening screen on "Jim's CoCo Corner"...


+------------------------------- CUT HERE -----------------------------------+
|                                                                            |
|                                                                            |
|  Auto msg by: Jim Snider [*1]                                              |
|                                                                            |
|  The BBS's end is near.....                                                |
|                                                                            |
|  Heres the latest System News...                                           |
|                                                                            |
|                                                                            |
|  *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*                                                     |
|  *  OCTOBER 9, 1994  *                                                     |
|  *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*                                                     |
|                                                                            |
|    As I'm sure a few of you have read, I'm looking for a day               |
|                                                                            |
|  that will be this system's last.. That's right, the "CoCo Corner"         |
|                                                                            |
|  will be no more.  I'm shutting it down, I just don't know when ?!         |
|                                                                            |
|  The number of people calling regularly I can count on 1 hand !!           |
|                                                                            |
|  It's not making sense anymore to keep this system running for so few.     |
|                                                                            |
|  I haven't used my coco for some time now, but I was keeping this bbs up   |
|                                                                            |
|  to be of help for those that do. But your numbers have gotten VERY small  |
|                                                                            |
|  Just too small to justify keeping it up.                                  |
|                                                                            |
|  I'll be watching the systems traffic over the next few weeks, then I'll   |
|                                                                            |
|  set the final day.               Sysop - Jim Snider                       |
|                                                                            |
|                                                                            |
|                                                                            |
+------------------------------ CUT HERE ------------------------------------+

end of "cross-post"


  :-(


Rogelio Perea Nogales Sonora MEXICO


P.S.  Maybe you'd like to drop by Jim's CoCo Corner : (313) 292 4713



There is 1 Reply.

#: 20464 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    13-Oct-94  13:45:11
Sb: #20463-#Sad Note Here :-(
Fm: Mark Griffith 76070,41
To: Rogelio Perea 72056,1204 (X)

Hi Rogelio!

Yeah, too bad interest in the CoCo is almost nil.  OS-9 as a personal computer
OS is about the same.  Shoot, so far this week I think there have only been
three or four messages on this forum.

It's the end of an era.  Too bad.

Mark

There is 1 Reply.

#: 20466 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    14-Oct-94  14:23:39
Sb: #20464-Sad Note Here :-(
Fm: Rogelio Perea 72056,1204
To: Mark Griffith 76070,41 (X)

Well, IMHO to say it is the end of an era... well, sort off. I still use my
CoCo on an almost day to day basis. Yes I have an 8088 PC clone, but the
"heavy" applications are on my CoCo. I use the PC mostly to write text files
when developing my COCo projects... sort of a souped-up scratch pad :-)

Maybe traffic here is slow because of the cost involved accesing CIS or Delphi,
you should see the amount of traffic goin' on the CoCo and OS9 echo
(FidoNET)..... I almost access a local BBS in Tucson that carries those echos
(and other) almost twice a week, if I don't, some messages just scroll by to
"bit heaven"

Take care... and hang around here, it's nice to see you name once in a while in
the messages!!

Rogelio Perea Nogales Sonora MEXICO

#: 20469 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    16-Oct-94  13:59:10
Sb: CoCo Comment&?
Fm: STEVE SANDISH 70712,2447
To: all

I want to go on record as using my CoCo nearly every day and not owning a PC
clone.  I have access to a PC clone at work and I'm not overly they are all
obsolete before you get them out the box.  The PC people I know think they're
hot  if they can do anything beyond push buttons by rote.  Configuring a PC to
just find initialization files and custom dictionaries qualifies one for
geniushood.

By the way, myhard disk CMDS directory is getting loaded up ith all kinds of
commands, utiliti Does anyone know if an MV icon can kick control over to a
Basic09 program to CHX and then execute a program?

#: 20473 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    17-Oct-94  13:15:59
Sb: #Config & os9gen
Fm: Rogelio Perea 72056,1204
To: ALL

Well, I managed to "trick" The Interbank Incident's [copybank] program into
transferring the three floppy disks to a single 40 track DS disk.... I was
hoping to use the game with the enhanced /d0 driver (6ms) I have on my system.
The thing actually filled up most of the new disk, however, there was some
space available to include the os9boot file in there, so I started to config a
new boot disk that used VDG_Term instead of the window term.... and here's were
my troubles really started:

Setting aside the point that I was originally trying to enhance the game, I
want to focus here on the events that took place after I tried to use CONFIG.
Yes, [config] would create a new boot disk just as I wanted, problem is that
every time I tried booting up with the new disk (with VDG_Term) the screen
would show "OS9 BOOT" and after a whine or two from the drive "FAILED" was
displayed. This happened everytime I tried to config a new boot disk.

How can I set up my system so that I can use windows (I love them!!) and still
have access to a VDG window from which I could run CoCo 2 OS9 programs?. I know
some of these are hard coded to run from /term, which I patched to boot as an
80 col screen, and recall seeing somewhere about patches to allow some programs
to run "out of" /term. By the way, I am using Shell 2.1 from Ron Lammardo.

Huh, one final question: going back to The Interbank Incident, has someone
managed to run this program using one 40 track DS disk?.

<=- ROGELIO PEREA -=>


P.S. I know that the os9boot file must be "os9gen"ed or "config"ed to a fresh
disk. That precaution was been tightly followed, I just "dsave"d all the files
in the 40T disk to the one with the new os9boot file... and there was still
some space left on that disk :-)


There is 1 Reply.

#: 20476 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    17-Oct-94  21:09:04
Sb: #20473-Config & os9gen
Fm: Bob van der Poel 76510,2203
To: Rogelio Perea 72056,1204

If you use a vdg TERM to boot to, you need to include VDGInit (If memory
serves...). You should also make sure that the boot includes the extra modules
needed by the game. VRN rings a bell.

BTW, if you have managed to use config to create a new boot disk, you are the
first person I know to do so. Most people just create a bootlist file and use
os9gen....much easier and faster.

#: 20474 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    17-Oct-94  13:16:40
Sb: Koronis Rift
Fm: Rogelio Perea 72056,1204
To: ALL

Koronis Rift: One good game for the CoCo 3!!!. Still I have to "finish" the
game. Why do I double quote finish?:

* There are 20 rifts (levels) to go through the game

* You build up on power by looting hulks and installing the new technology
  in your rover.

* In level 20 you must find the "mother" ship and destroy it to "win".

...... I have managed to get in one piece (and with tremendous fire power) to
rift 20, cleared the area of hulks except one: a BIG red saucer-like structure
that seems impenetrable. If I send the REPO-TECH droid as I did with other
hulks, the droid is destroyed!!. I have tried blasting the thing with several
"colored" lasers with no appreciable result, and those annoying sentry saucers
just keep on comin' -- so I keep 'em blowin' :-)

I have stayed for about 20 minutes firing at this target to see what happened,
well, it was a waste of time. Have I overlooked some thing? Maybe I discarded a
special weapon when I should have kept it for rift 20.... I am stumped.

Any hints, ideas, hacks..... words of sympathy?

<=- ROGELIO PEREA -=>


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