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| author | roug |
|---|---|
| date | Thu, 20 Mar 2003 20:19:53 +0000 |
| parents | c9b63a3c0a17 |
| children | f5d45fbe3a76 |
| rev | line source |
|---|---|
| 144 | 1 <chapter> |
| 2 <title>Getting Started...</title> | |
| 3 | |
| 4 <section> | |
| 5 <title>What You Need to Run OS-9</title> | |
| 6 <para> | |
| 1017 | 7 This version of &os9level; runs on the &make;. To use it you'll need the following: |
| 144 | 8 </para> |
| 9 <itemizedlist mark="bullet"> | |
| 1017 | 10 <listitem><para>&minmem; &make; </para></listitem> |
| 11 <listitem><para>Disk Drive With Contoller Cartridge</para></listitem> | |
| 12 <listitem><para>&os9level; System Disk</para></listitem> | |
| 144 | 13 </itemizedlist> |
| 14 <para> | |
| 15 OS-9 is also ready to use the following optional equipment that you | |
| 16 may have now or may obtain in the future: | |
| 17 </para> | |
| 18 <itemizedlist mark="bullet"> | |
| 1011 | 19 <listitem><para>Additional Floppy Disk Drives</para></listitem> |
| 20 <listitem><para>SCSI or IDE Hard Drives</para></listitem> | |
| 1017 | 21 <listitem><para>Printers and Modems</para></listitem> |
| 22 <listitem><para>Additional Serial Ports</para></listitem> | |
| 23 <listitem><para>Joysticks and Mice</para></listitem> | |
| 144 | 24 <listitem><para>Other OS-9 Compatible Languages and Software</para></listitem> |
| 25 </itemizedlist> | |
| 26 | |
| 27 <section> | |
| 28 <title>Starting the System</title> | |
| 29 <para> | |
| 30 To start up OS-9 follow these steps: | |
| 31 | |
| 32 <orderedlist numeration="arabic"> | |
| 1011 | 33 <listitem><para>Turn the &make; and disk drive(s) on. You should see |
| 34 the usual BASIC greeting message on the screen.</para></listitem> | |
| 144 | 35 |
| 36 <listitem><para>Insert the OS-9 System Disk in drive zero and close the door.</para></listitem> | |
| 37 | |
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38 <listitem><para>Type "&DOSCMD;". After a few seconds of disk activity you should |
| 1011 | 39 see a screen with the words "OS9 BOOT".</para></listitem> |
| 144 | 40 |
| 41 <listitem><para>OS-9 will then begin | |
| 42 its "bootstrap" loading process, which | |
| 43 involves ten to twenty seconds of disk activity. When the system | |
| 1011 | 44 startup has finished, a message followed by the shell prompt will be |
| 144 | 45 displayed.</para></listitem> |
| 46 </orderedlist> | |
| 47 </para> | |
| 48 </section> | |
| 49 | |
| 50 <section> | |
| 51 <title>In Case You Have Problems Starting OS-9</title> | |
| 52 <itemizedlist> | |
| 1011 | 53 <listitem><para>If BASIC gives an error message after you |
|
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54 type "&DOSCMD;", remove the |
| 144 | 55 disk, turn the computer off and on, then try again. If this |
| 56 repeatedly fails your OS-9 diskette may be bad.</para></listitem> | |
| 57 | |
| 58 <listitem><para>Did you remember to turn the disk drive power switch on?</para></listitem> | |
| 59 | |
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60 <listitem><para>Does your &make; have &minmem; RAM? This is a must!</para></listitem> |
| 144 | 61 |
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62 <listitem><para>If your &make; doesn't seem to understand the &DOSCMD; command, your controller has DOS 1.0. You will need to upgrade to |
| 1011 | 63 DOS 1.1.</para></listitem> |
| 144 | 64 |
|
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65 <listitem><para>If the "OS9 BOOT" message is displayed but nothing else happens, |
| 144 | 66 you may have a corrupted system disk. Hopefully you did make a |
| 67 backup!</para></listitem> | |
| 68 </itemizedlist> | |
| 69 </section> | |
| 70 | |
| 71 <section> | |
| 72 <title>A Quick Introduction to the Use of the Keyboard and Disks</title> | |
| 73 <para> | |
| 74 For now, the only special keys on the keyboard of interest are | |
| 75 the SHIFT key which works like a typewriter shift key; the ENTER key | |
| 76 which you always use after typing a command or response to OS-9; and | |
| 77 the <- left arrow key which you can use to erase typing mistakes. | |
| 78 </para> | |
| 79 <para> | |
| 80 Your main disk drive is known to to OS-9 as "/D0" and is often | |
| 81 called "drive zero". If you have a second disk drive (drive one), | |
| 82 OS-9 recognizes it as "/D1". Why would anybody put a "/" in a name? | |
| 83 Because all input and output devices have names like files, and | |
| 84 names that start with "/" are always device names. | |
| 85 </para> | |
| 86 </section> | |
| 87 | |
| 88 <section> | |
| 89 <title>Initial Explorations</title> | |
| 90 <para> | |
| 91 When OS-9 first starts up, it will display a welcoming message, | |
| 92 and then ask you to enter the date and time. This allows OS-9 to | |
| 93 keep track of the date and time of creation of new files and disks. | |
| 94 Enter the current date and time in the format requested like this: | |
| 95 <screen> | |
| 1017 | 96 yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss |
| 97 Time ? 2003 03 01 14 20 | |
| 144 | 98 </screen> |
| 1011 | 99 In the example above, the date entered was March 1, 2003. OS-9 |
| 144 | 100 uses 24-hour time so the date entered was 1420 hours or 2:20 PM. |
| 1011 | 101 Next, OS-9 will print the shell prompt to let you know it is ready |
| 144 | 102 for you to type in a command. |
| 103 </para> | |
| 104 <para> | |
| 105 Now you're ready to try some commands. A good first command to | |
|
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106 try is <command>dir</command> (for "<emphasis>dir</emphasis>ectory"). |
| 144 | 107 This will display a list of the files |
| 108 on the System Disk. Just type: | |
| 109 <screen> | |
| 110 dir | |
| 111 </screen> | |
| 112 followed by a "return". OS-9 should respond with a listing of file | |
| 113 names which should look something like this: | |
| 114 <screen> | |
| 115 OS9Boot startup CMDS SYS DEFS | |
| 116 </screen> | |
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117 The file <filename>OS9Boot</filename> contains the OS-9 program in &CPU; machine |
| 144 | 118 language, which was loaded into memory during the bootstrap |
| 119 operation. | |
| 120 </para> | |
| 121 <para> | |
|
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122 The file <filename>startup</filename> is a "command file" which is automatically run |
| 144 | 123 when the system starts up, and has the commands that printed the |
| 124 welcoming message and asked for the time. Later, You may want to | |
| 125 replace this startup file with your own customized version after you | |
| 126 are more familiar with OS-9. Do you want to see the contents of | |
| 127 this file? If so, just type | |
| 128 <screen> | |
| 129 list startup | |
| 130 </screen> | |
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131 As you can see, the <command>list</command> command displays the contents of files |
| 144 | 132 that contain text (alphabetic characters). Some files like the |
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133 <filename>OS9Boot</filename> file contain binary data such as machine language |
| 144 | 134 programs. These files are called "binary files", and attempts to |
| 135 list them will result in a jumbled, meaningless display. On the | |
| 136 other hand, OS-9 will complain mightily if you try to run a text | |
| 137 file as a program! | |
| 138 </para> | |
| 139 <para> | |
| 140 As you may have surmised by now, the way you ask OS-9 to run a | |
| 141 program or command (they're really the same thing) is to simply type | |
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142 its name. Some commands like <command>list</command> require one or more names of |
| 144 | 143 files or options. If so, they are typed on the same line using |
| 144 spaces to separate each item. | |
| 145 </para> | |
| 146 <para> | |
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147 But where did the <command>list</command> and <command>dir</command> programs come from? There are |
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148 really more files on the disk than you suspect. The <command>dir</command> command |
| 144 | 149 showed you what is the disk's |
| 150 <emphasis>root directory</emphasis> - so named because the | |
| 151 OS-9 filing system resembles a tree. Growing out of the root | |
| 152 directory are three "branches" - files which are additional | |
| 153 directories of file names instead of programs or data. They in turn | |
| 154 can have even more "branches" - ad infinitum. If you draw a map on | |
| 155 paper of how this works it does look like a tree. | |
| 156 </para> | |
| 157 <para> | |
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158 The directory files on your system disk are called <filename class="directory">CMDS</filename>, |
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159 <filename class="directory">SYS</filename>, and <filename class="directory">DEFS</filename>. |
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160 The file <filename class="directory">CMDS</filename> is a directory that consists of |
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161 all the system commands such as <command>dir</command>, <command>list</command>, |
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162 <command>format</command>, etc. To see the files contained in this directory, enter: |
| 144 | 163 <screen> |
| 1011 | 164 dir cmds |
| 144 | 165 </screen> |
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166 which tells <command>dir</command> to show files on the directory file |
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167 <filename class="directory">CMDS</filename> instead |
| 144 | 168 of the root directory. After you type this you should see a long |
| 169 list of file names. These are the complete set of command programs | |
| 170 that come with OS-9 and perform a myriad of functions. Chapter | |
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171 Seven explains each one in detail. The <command>dir</command> command also has a handy |
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172 option to display the |
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173 <filename class="directory">CMDS</filename> directory with less typing: |
| 144 | 174 <screen> |
| 1011 | 175 dir -x |
| 144 | 176 </screen> |
| 177 Whenever you want a list of available commands you can use this so | |
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178 you don't have to look it up in the book. The <command>dir</command> command has |
| 1011 | 179 options which can give you more detailed information about each file. |
| 144 | 180 </para> |
| 181 </section> | |
| 182 </section> | |
| 183 <section> | |
| 184 <title>Making a Backup of the System Disk</title> | |
| 185 <para> | |
| 186 Before getting too much more involved in further experimentation, | |
| 187 NOW is the time to make one or more exact copies of your System Disk | |
| 188 in case some misfortune befalls your one and only master System | |
| 189 Disk. Making a backup involves two steps: formatting a blank disk | |
| 190 and running a backup program. | |
| 191 </para> | |
| 192 <section> | |
| 193 <title>Formatting Blank Disks</title> | |
| 194 <para> | |
| 195 Before the actual backup procedure can be done (or any fresh | |
| 196 diskette is used for any purpose), the blank disk which is to become | |
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197 the backup disk must be initialized by OS-9's <command>format</command> command. |
| 144 | 198 </para> |
| 199 <para> | |
| 200 IF YOU HAVE ONLY ONE DISK DRIVE you have to be extra careful not to | |
| 201 accidentally FORMAT your system disk. Type: | |
| 202 | |
| 203 <screen> | |
| 1011 | 204 format /d0 |
| 144 | 205 </screen> |
| 206 | |
| 207 and when you see the message | |
| 208 | |
| 209 <screen> | |
| 1011 | 210 COLOR COMPUTER FORMATTER |
| 1017 | 211 Formatting drive /d0 |
| 212 y (yes) or n (no) | |
| 1011 | 213 Ready? |
| 144 | 214 </screen> |
| 215 | |
| 216 immediately remove your system disk and insert a blank disk | |
| 217 <emphasis>before</emphasis> you type "Y". | |
| 218 | |
| 219 IF YOU HAVE TWO DISK DRIVES place the blank disk in drive one and | |
| 220 type: | |
| 221 </para> | |
| 222 <screen> | |
| 1017 | 223 format /d1 |
| 144 | 224 </screen> |
| 225 <para> | |
| 226 WHEN THE BLANK DISK IS IN THE RIGHT PLACE, type "Y", then "ENTER". | |
| 227 This initiates the formatting process. IF THE CORRECT DEVICE NAME | |
| 228 (/D1) IS NOT DISPLAYED: TYPE N RIGHT NOW and start over, OR YOU | |
| 229 MAY ERASE your System Disk. | |
| 230 </para> | |
| 231 <para> | |
| 232 When you are asked for a disk name, type any letter, then ENTER. | |
| 233 The name you give is not important. If you have only one drive, | |
| 234 replace the system disk after the FORMAT program has finished. If | |
| 235 the FORMAT program reported any errors, try again. Disks used for | |
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236 backups can't have any errors. You're now ready to run the <command>backup</command> |
| 144 | 237 program. |
| 238 </para> | |
| 239 <para> | |
| 240 It takes several minutes for the FORMAT program to run. During | |
| 241 its second phase the hexadecimal number of each track will be | |
| 242 displayed as it is checked for bad sectors. If any are found an | |
| 243 error message for each bad sector is given. | |
| 244 </para> | |
| 245 </section> | |
| 246 | |
| 247 <section> | |
| 248 <title>Running the Backup Program</title> | |
| 249 <para> | |
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250 The <command>backup</command> program makes an exact duplicate of a disk. It can be |
| 144 | 251 used even if you only have one disk drive. |
| 252 </para> | |
| 253 <para> | |
| 254 IF YOU HAVE ONE DRIVE type | |
| 255 </para> | |
| 256 <screen> | |
| 1011 | 257 backup /d0 #32k |
| 144 | 258 </screen> |
| 259 <para> | |
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260 The <command>backup</command> program will prompt you to alternately insert the source |
| 144 | 261 disk (the system disk) and the destination disk (the freshly |
| 262 formatted disk). | |
| 263 </para> | |
| 264 <para> | |
| 265 IF YOU HAVE TWO DRIVES type | |
| 266 </para> | |
| 267 <screen> | |
| 1011 | 268 backup #32K |
| 144 | 269 </screen> |
| 270 <para> | |
| 271 | |
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272 The <command>backup</command> program will respond with |
| 144 | 273 </para> |
| 274 <screen> | |
| 1017 | 275 Ready to backup from /d0 to /d1? |
| 144 | 276 </screen> |
| 277 <para> | |
| 278 Now enter Y for yes. It will then ask: | |
| 279 </para> | |
| 280 <screen> | |
| 1011 | 281 X is being scratched |
| 1017 | 282 Ok ?: |
| 144 | 283 </screen> |
| 284 <para> | |
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285 Answer "Y" for yes again, and the backup process should begin. |
| 144 | 286 </para> |
| 287 <para> | |
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288 The <command>backup</command> command has two phases: the first phase copies |
| 144 | 289 everything from drive zero to drive one checking for errors while |
| 290 reading from the master but not for "write" errors. The second | |
| 291 phase is the "verify" pass which makes sure everything was copied | |
| 292 onto the new disk correctly. If any errors are reported during the | |
| 293 first (copy) pass, there is a problem with the master disk or its | |
| 294 drive. If errors occur during the second (verify) pass, there is a | |
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295 problem with the new disk and the <command>backup</command> program should be run |
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296 again. If <command>backup</command> repeatedly fails on the second pass, reformat the |
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297 disk and try to <command>backup</command> again. If <command>backup</command> fails again, the disk is |
| 144 | 298 physically defective. |
| 299 </para> | |
| 300 <para> | |
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301 After you have made your backup disk, try turning the &make; |
| 1011 | 302 off and restarting the system with the copy you just made. |
| 144 | 303 If it works OK, store it in a safe place in case it is needed later. |
| 304 You should always have a backup copy of your system disk and all | |
| 305 other important disks. | |
| 306 </para> | |
| 307 </section> | |
| 308 </section> | |
| 309 </chapter> |