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1 <article>
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2 <articleinfo>
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3 <author><firstname>Bob</firstname><surname>Montowski</surname></author>
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4 <title>An OS9 Tutorial</title>
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5 </articleinfo>
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6 <section>
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7 <title>Lesson 1</title>
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8 <para>
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9 This will be my first tutorial on using
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10 OS-9 and it will be for the beginners
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11 who bought OS-9 and are now ripping
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12 their hair out trying to figure out how
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13 to use it now that they have it...
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14 OS-9 is <emphasis>not</emphasis> a programming language.
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15 It is totally different from BASIC and
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16 if you wish to program in Basic then I
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17 suggest you buy Basic09 after you are a
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18 bit familiar with OS-9.
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19 For people who have Disk Basic 1.0 you
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20 will need to load the OS-9 BOOT disk
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21 and RUN"*". This will then tell you to
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22 put the OS-9 Master Disk in Drive 0 and
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23 push any key to continue.
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24 If you have Disk Basic 1.1 then all you
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25 need to do is put the OS-9 Master Disk
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26 in Drive 0 and type DOS...
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27 Now that OS-9 has started up and given
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28 you your Logo and license information it will
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29 ask you for the DATE and TIME. This
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30 information is <emphasis>very</emphasis> important and should
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31 be given correctly each time you start
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32 up OS-9. Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> just hit enter, give
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33 a date and time. This information is added to
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34 each file as it is saved to disk and
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35 will be used by the OS-9 in the future
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36 to keep track of current files. The
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37 same information is also available to you to
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38 help you keep tabs on the dates and
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39 times of the files that you saved to
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40 disk.
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41 OS-9 runs on a 24 hour clock so when
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42 giving the time you must remember that
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43 times after 12 noon convert to the
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44 following:
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45 <literallayout>
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46 1 pm-1300 hours
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47 2 pm-1400 hours
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48 3 pm-1500 hours
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49 .
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50 .
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51 .
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52 10 pm-2200 hours
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53 11 pm-2300 hours
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54 midnite-0000 hours
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55 </literallayout>
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56
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57 To enter Dec 25, 1985...3:30 pm you
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58 would type
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59 <screen>
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60 YY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS
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61 85/12/25 15:30:00
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62 </screen>
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63
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64 After a date and time have been given
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65 to OS-9 you may check this time anytime
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66 you want from OS-9 by typing DATE T at
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67 OS9: prompt. If you just say DATE that
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68 is all you will get. You must say
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69 DATE T to get the date and the time...
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70 OS-9 has only a few commands already in
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71 memory. All the rest of the commands
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72 that you can use from OS-9 are on your
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73 Master Disk. Each time you give a
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74 command at the OS9: prompt the computer
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75 will check to see if the command is in
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76 memory and then it will go to the disk
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77 in drive 0 and check the /D0/CMDS
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78 directory to see if the command is in
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79 there. You must remember to type the
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80 command in correctly (SPELLING) or it
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81 won't be found when the computer goes
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82 to the /D0/CMDS directory looking for it.
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83 OS-9 can be a bit slow as it has to go
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84 to the /D0/CMDS directory each time you
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85 type a command at the OS-9 prompt but
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86 you can speed this up a bit by loading
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87 some of the commands that you will use
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88 the most in OS-9. So you could type:
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89 <screen>
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90 OS9:load dir list del attr copy
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91 </screen>
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92 You will now have the commands <command>dir</command>,
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93 <command>list</command>, <command>del</command>,
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94 <command>attr</command>, <command>copy</command> all in memory and
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95 they are ready for quick access. The
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96 drawback is that they are taking up
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97 memory that you might need later. The
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98 only way around this right now is to
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99 either set your drives to run at a new
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100 faster step rate (another tutorial) or
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101 to get a Hard Disk Drive for use with
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102 your OS-9. Radio Shack had OS-9 coded
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103 to run the disk drives at 30 MS. track
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104 to track and to format the disk as 35
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105 tracks. Both of these can be changed
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106 with a little knowledge of OS-9 or by
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107 buying some commercial software that
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108 will make the changes in OS-9 for you.
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109 Another way to speed up OS-9 is to add
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110 a 256K Ram Disk to your CoCo. With the
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111 256K Ram board installed and the right
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112 software added to OS-9 the extra memory
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113 will act like a <emphasis>very</emphasis> fast 40 track
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114 disk drive.
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115 </para>
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116 <para>
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117 OS-9 always has 2 directories that it
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118 keeps track of. One is the DATA and the
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119 other is the EXECUTION directory. When
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120 you type a command OS-9 will check the
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121 current EXECUTION directory which is
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122 /D0/CMDS at startup for the command you
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123 just typed in. When you go to do a
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124 list, dir, del, rename, etc... OS-9 is
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125 going to do to the current DATA
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126 directory and look for your file there.
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127 The current DATA directory at startup
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128 is /D0.
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129 So if you just type <userinput>DIR</userinput>, OS-9 will go
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130 and assume you meant DIR /D0. If you
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131 wish to get a directory of say the
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132 DEFS directory you must give OS-9 the
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133 whole pathlist (NAME) to the directory.
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134 In this case you would type:
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135 <userinput>DIR /D0/DEFS</userinput> and OS-9 will know which
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136 directory you are talking about.
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137 So how do you know what is a command?
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138 Or what is a data file? Or what is a
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139 directory? You can get this information by
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140 typing:
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141 <userinput>DIR E /D0</userinput>
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142 and OS-9 will give you a directory
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143 of everything that is in the /D0
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144 directory with exact information on each entry
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145 in that directory. You will get the
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146 date and time the entry was put on the
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147 disk and the user number (0 which means
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148 you), the entry's name, the attributes
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149 of the entry and the size of the entry
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150 in hexadecimal.
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151 It is the attributes of an entry that
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152 we will want to check. They list across
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153 like this:
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154 <screen>
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155 DSPPPERW
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156 EWR
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157 --------
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158 </screen>
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159 That is 8 slots that can have a letter
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160 in it. If the <command>dir e</command> command shows this
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161 on a line
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162 <screen>
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163 D--RW-RW
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164 </screen>
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165 It would mean that it is a directory
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166 and that you and any timesharing users
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167 you had on your system could read and
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168 write to that directory...
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169 If the entry gives this back:
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170 <screen>
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171 --E--ERW
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172 </screen>
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173 It would mean that it is a command that
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174 can be used by you and your timesharing
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175 users and that you have the right to
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176 say copy that file, rename that file or
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177 delete that file. The timesharing user
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178 would only be able to execute the file.
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179 </para>
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180 <para>
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181 If you don't want to do a <command>dir e</command> on a
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182 whole disk than you can get the information
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183 you need on a single entry by typing:
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184 <screen>
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185 ATTR /D0/startup
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186 </screen>
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187 this will printout the attributes in
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188 the same manner as the <command>dir e</command> command
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189 did, but you now have the option of
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190 changing the attributes of a file on
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191 the disk.
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192 We'll use the /D0/startup file for an
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193 example. say the <userinput>ATTR /D0/startup</userinput>
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194 prints this
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195 <screen>
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196 ------rw
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197 </screen>
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198 This means that the file can be read
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199 and written to. But say you don't want
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200 to accidently delete or rename the file
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201 in the future? You can type:
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202 <screen>
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203 ATTR /D0/startup -w
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204 </screen>
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205 and the write ability to that file will
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206 be taken away. If you tried to delete
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207 that file now you would get an error
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208 message. You can use this <command>attr</command> command
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209 to change the attributes on all your
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210 important files so that they will not
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211 be deleted by accident in the future.
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212 This is kind of like having a write
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213 protect tab on your disk like in Disk
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214 Basic. But you can protect single files
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215 on the disk. Or even lock out a DATA
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216 directory from having files written or
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217 deleted from it.
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218 </para>
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219 <para>
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220 When I told you that OS-9 will check
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221 to see if a command is in memory and
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222 then check for it in the EXECUTION
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223 directory I left out a final thing that
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224 it does. It will go to the DATA
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225 directory and check to see if there is
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226 a DATA file there with the same name as
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227 what you typed in at the OS-9 prompt.
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228 You can check this out yourself. LIST
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229 the file startup like this:
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230 <screen>
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231 list /D0/startup
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232 </screen>
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233 You will see this:
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234 <screen>
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235 setime <term
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236 </screen>
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237 it looks like a command right? Well it
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238 is what OS-9 calls a procedure file.
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239 OS-9 will take the command you type in
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240 and first check to see if it is in
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241 memory, if that fails it will go to the
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242 EXECUTION directory and see if the
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243 command is there, if that fails it will
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244 go to the DATA directory and see if
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245 there is a procedure file there with
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246 the name you typed in. If there is it
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247 will read one line at a time from that
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248 file and treat it like you were typing
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249 in the lines from the keyboard. If
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250 you want to try this, just type startup
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251 at any OS-9 prompt and the system will
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252 ask you again for the DATE and TIME to
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253 use on the system.
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254 You can build a procedure file of your
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255 own that does a little more than the
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256 startup file does. <emphasis>Do this</emphasis> at the OS-9
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257 prompt:
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258 <screen>
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259 OS9:build /d0/myfile
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260 </screen>
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261 you will then see a (?)
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262 at each (?) type these lines
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263 <screen>
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264 ? dir /d0
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265 ? dir /d0/cmds
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266 ? mfree
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267 ? free
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268 ? (enter)
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269 </screen>
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270 You will now have a data file on /D0
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271 called myfile. If you were to type
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272 myfile at an OS-9 prompt you will then
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273 see a DIR of /D0 and then a DIR of
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274 /D0/CMDS and then you will get a mfree
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275 (memory free), and finally you will get
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276 a free (free disk space) all listed to
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277 your screen one at a time. OS-9 did
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278 all the commands in the data file as if
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279 you just typed them in at the keyboard.
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280 Not bad huh?
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281 </para>
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282 <para>
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283 Now the next important thing to worry
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284 about with OS-9 is how does it keep
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285 tabs on free space in memory and on the
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286 disks? Memory in the computer is
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287 split up in blocks of 256 bytes. If
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288 you do a <command>mfree</command> you will get back about
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289 159 to 162 blocks of memory. If you
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290 know that 4 blocks of 256 bytes makes
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291 one K (kilobyte) then you know you have
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292 about 40K free in memory for your
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293 programs and commands. This same idea
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294 is carried over to the disk drive. All
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295 writes to the disk are done in blocks
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296 of 256 bytes or 1 sector. A newly
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297 formatted disk will have about 630
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298 sectors on it. But 10 of these sectors
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299 are taken away for use as directory
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300 pointers. As OS-9 only writes out to
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301 the disk in blocks of 256 bytes you will
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302 be able to get more information on an OS-9
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303 disk than a Radio Shack DOS disk which
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304 stores data to the disk in blocks of
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305 9 sectors (9*256=2304 bytes). Write 1
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306 character to an OS-9 disk and you lose 1
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307 sector. Write 1 character to a RS DOS disk
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308 and you lose 9 sectors!!!
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309 </para>
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310 <para>
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311 Now do a <userinput>dir /D0/CMDS</userinput> and you will see
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312 quite a long list of commands that are
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313 available to you. Don't worry about all
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314 those titles because as you learn OS-9
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315 you will become familiar with all of
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316 them and probably not use all of them.
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317 The nice thing about OS-9 that was so
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318 different from RS Disk Basic was that
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319 it is so easy to add <emphasis>more</emphasis> commands to
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320 OS-9 than it was to add commands to the
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321 RS DOS. If you know 6809 machine
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322 language you might even write some
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323 commands that you will find useful and
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324 might want to sell or trade with other
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325 OS-9 users. If you aren't all that
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326 familiar with machine language then you
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327 can buy some new commands for OS-9 from
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328 companies like Frank Hogg or from
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329 Computerware or D.P. Johnson. These
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330 are commands that are so easy to
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331 install on your OS-9 disk! All you
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332 need to do is copy them to your
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333 EXECUTION directory which is usually
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334 the /D0/CMDS directory. They are then
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335 available for your use. No worry on
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336 your part as to will they work with
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337 your OS-9! Some of these programs
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338 are actual commands that you call from
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339 OS-9 and other programs are what are
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340 called <emphasis>filters</emphasis> that you pipe data through
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341 under OS-9.
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342 </para>
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343 <para>
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344 And now one final thing to cover on
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345 OS-9 before I end this lesson. Is
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346 there a difference between upper and lower
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347 case when you type in commands? The
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348 answer is no... no... no...
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349 If you type in <userinput>DIR /D0</userinput> or <userinput>dir /d0</userinput> they
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350 will both act correctly... if you type
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351 <userinput>LIST /D0/STARTUP</userinput> or <userinput>list /d0/startup</userinput>
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352 they will both work correctly. OS-9
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353 doesn't care about the case of the
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354 commands you type in. But here is a
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355 standard that you might wish to keep to
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356 so that what is on your disk are a bit
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357 easier to understand. It is felt that
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358 if you keep all directory names in
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359 capital letters and all data/command
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360 files in lower case you will have a
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361 better idea of what is on your disk
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362 when you use the <command>dir</command> command. I find
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363 this a useful tip and try to follow it
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364 strictly when I work with OS-9.
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365 </para>
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366 <para>
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367 The next lesson in the tutorial series
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368 will be on nested directories and on
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369 pipe and filters and how they are most
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370 useful under OS-9.
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371 </para>
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372 </section>
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373 <section>
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374 <title>Lesson 2</title>
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375 <para>
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376 OK, glad to see that you are back for
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377 lesson #2. I'll cover the way the OS-9
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378 has multiple directories and how each
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379 directory can have directories within
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380 that. What is this good for and how can
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381 you use this on your OS-9 system? Well,
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382 first it makes it very easy to put your
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383 files on your disks in a manner that
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384 will make it easy for you to find those
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385 files again in the future...
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386 Let's take a blank disk and format it.
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387 If you have one drive do this:
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388 <screen>
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389 OS9:load format dir makdir build free
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390 </screen>
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391 take your Master Disk out of drive 0
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392 and put in a blank disk. Now at the OS9
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393 prompt you type format /d0. You will
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394 be asked if you really want to format
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395 the disk in drive 0? Type Y for yes.
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396 When the format is done you will be
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397 asked for a name to put on the disk.
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|
398 Each disk you format under OS-9 will
|
|
|
399 have a NAME on the disk. For the time
|
|
|
400 being we'll call this disk JUNK DISK.
|
|
|
401 OS-9 will check the disk to be sure all
|
|
|
402 the sectors are good and if not OS-9
|
|
|
403 will lock out the bad sectors from the
|
|
|
404 directory. This means that you could
|
|
|
405 use a scratched disk that you were not
|
|
1148
|
406 able to format under RS DOS... But you
|
|
999
|
407 should beware of doing this if you
|
|
1148
|
408 intend to put anything <emphasis>really</emphasis>
|
|
999
|
409 important on this disk.
|
|
|
410 Now that the format is done at
|
|
1148
|
411 the OS-9 prompt. Type:
|
|
999
|
412 <screen>
|
|
|
413 OS9:free /d0.
|
|
|
414 </screen>
|
|
|
415 This will check the disk you just did
|
|
|
416 the format on in drive 0 and it will
|
|
|
417 tell you the name of the disk... how many
|
|
|
418 total sectors there are on the disk and
|
|
|
419 how many of those sectors are available
|
|
|
420 for you to store data in. OS-9 is set
|
|
|
421 up for a 35 track system with 18 sectors
|
|
1148
|
422 per track. This gives you 630 sectors
|
|
999
|
423 total on the disk and OS-9 will take 10
|
|
|
424 of those sectors for its Directory
|
|
|
425 information. If you do not see 620
|
|
|
426 sectors free for use than the disk had
|
|
|
427 some bad sectors on it and you might
|
|
|
428 not want to put anything important on
|
|
|
429 this disk. But for now we will just
|
|
|
430 experiment with the disk.
|
|
|
431 at the OS9 prompt type:
|
|
|
432 <screen>
|
|
|
433 OS9:makdir /d0/LETTERS
|
|
|
434 OS9:makdir /d0/BILLS
|
|
|
435 OS9:makdir /d0/LETTERS/FROM.JOE
|
|
|
436 OS9:makdir /d0/LETTERS/FROM.SUE
|
|
|
437 OS9:makdir /d0/LETTERS/FROM.TOM
|
|
|
438 OS9:makdir /d0/BILLS/PHONE
|
|
|
439 OS9:makdir /d0/BILLS/GAS
|
|
|
440 OS9:makdir /d0/BILLS/FOOD
|
|
|
441 OS9:chd /d0
|
|
|
442 OS9:dir /d0
|
|
|
443 </screen>
|
|
1148
|
444 ....You will see that the <command>dir</command> returns
|
|
999
|
445 LETTERS BILLS
|
|
|
446 as what is on the disk in drive 0
|
|
|
447 But you made 6 directories... so where
|
|
|
448 are the other ones? Try this:
|
|
|
449 <screen>
|
|
|
450 OS9:dir /d0/BILLS
|
|
|
451 PHONE GAS FOOD
|
|
|
452 </screen>
|
|
|
453 is what you will get. See how you can
|
|
|
454 cluster important stuff in directories
|
|
|
455 so that it has a logical flow and you
|
|
1148
|
456 can work your way down through the levels
|
|
999
|
457 of the directories to get the information you
|
|
|
458 want????
|
|
|
459 Try this:
|
|
|
460 <screen>
|
|
|
461 OS9:dir /d0/LETTERS
|
|
|
462 FROM.JOE FROM.SUE FROM.TOM
|
|
|
463 </screen>
|
|
|
464 is what you get... in a real life
|
|
|
465 situation... say the business world you
|
|
|
466 could then do this:
|
|
|
467 <screen>
|
|
|
468 OS9:dir /d0/LETTERS/FROM.TOM
|
|
|
469 </screen>
|
|
|
470 and you would see the letters you stored
|
|
|
471 from someone called TOM... A very neat,
|
|
|
472 logical way to store and retrieve data
|
|
|
473 from your disk. When you get into
|
|
|
474 owning double sided disks for storage
|
|
|
475 or even a Hard Disk drive for storage
|
|
|
476 you will see how this makes it easier
|
|
|
477 to get to your information. Imagine
|
|
|
478 having a Hard Disk under RS DOS? A Dir
|
|
|
479 of that drive might return a directory
|
|
|
480 listing some 100-500 lines long... It
|
|
|
481 would be a real pain to read all those
|
|
|
482 titles and try to find the file you
|
|
|
483 wanted to del or copy or rename...
|
|
|
484 </para>
|
|
|
485 <para>
|
|
|
486 If you have a two drive OS-9 system
|
|
1148
|
487 then you can go through this exercize too
|
|
999
|
488 by just putting the disk you wish to
|
|
|
489 format in drive /d1 and changing all
|
|
|
490 the makedir and dir statements I gave
|
|
|
491 so they say /d1 instead of /d0.
|
|
|
492 </para>
|
|
|
493 <para>
|
|
|
494 Now in the prior example I showed you
|
|
|
495 the command chd... what is this? Well
|
|
|
496 OS-9 has two commands built into it and
|
|
|
497 you can call them to tell OS-9 that you
|
|
|
498 are changing your DATA directory or your
|
|
|
499 EXECUTION directory. Now this is very
|
|
|
500 important to remember!!! If you take
|
|
|
501 the Master Disk out of drive /d0 and
|
|
|
502 put in a new Master Disk that say has
|
|
|
503 more commands in its /D0/CMDS directory
|
|
|
504 you <emphasis>must</emphasis> tell OS-9 that you did
|
|
|
505 this... you do this by:
|
|
|
506 <screen>
|
|
|
507 OS9:chx /d0/cmds
|
|
|
508 OS9:chd /d0
|
|
|
509 </screen>
|
|
|
510 OS-9 will then check this disk so it
|
|
|
511 will know where the DATA directory is
|
|
|
512 on the disk and where the EXECUTION
|
|
|
513 directory is on the disk. It will <emphasis>not</emphasis>
|
|
|
514 always be in the same spot on each disk.
|
|
|
515 You might be used to RS DOS where the
|
|
|
516 directory was <emphasis>always</emphasis> on track 17,
|
|
|
517 but this is not true under OS-9. OS-9
|
|
|
518 must always know where these two
|
|
|
519 directories are before it will do a
|
|
|
520 read/write for that disk.
|
|
|
521 Another benefit of the chd and chx
|
|
|
522 command are to save you some typing.
|
|
|
523 So if you are not a quick or accurate
|
|
|
524 typist these commands are a real boon
|
|
|
525 to you. Take the example above where
|
|
|
526 we had directories within directories.
|
|
|
527 If you wished to copy files or delete
|
|
|
528 files or build files in the
|
|
|
529 /d0/letters/from.joe directory you would
|
|
|
530 think you would have to type that long
|
|
|
531 line each time. You could for your own
|
|
|
532 piece of mind but there is a shortcut
|
|
|
533 to all that typing... do this:
|
|
|
534 <screen>
|
|
|
535 OS9:chd /d0/letters/from.joe
|
|
|
536 </screen>
|
|
|
537 If you do a dir now you will see that
|
|
|
538 there are <emphasis>no</emphasis> files in the directory
|
|
|
539 you are in...
|
|
|
540 You could build a file in this new
|
|
|
541 DATA directory by typing
|
|
|
542 <screen>
|
|
|
543 OS9:build /d0/letters/from.joe/june.1st
|
|
|
544 </screen>
|
|
|
545 or you could just say:
|
|
|
546 <screen>
|
|
|
547 OS9:build june.1st
|
|
|
548 </screen>
|
|
|
549 as you used the chd command earlier OS-9
|
|
|
550 knows to add that whole string of characters
|
|
|
551 in front of june.1st to make the whole
|
|
|
552 pathlist to where you wish to build a
|
|
|
553 file. You see that there is less chance
|
|
|
554 of a typing error in this shorthand
|
|
|
555 method rather than typing out that long
|
|
|
556 string of characters each time....
|
|
|
557 </para>
|
|
|
558 <para>
|
|
|
559 When you go to makdir or build something
|
|
|
560 on the disk you have to keep in mind
|
|
|
561 that OS-9 expects titles of directories
|
|
|
562 and files to obey certain rules. The
|
|
|
563 names of these files/directories <emphasis>must</emphasis>
|
|
|
564 begin with a letter(upper/lower case)
|
|
|
565 and may have no spaces in the title.
|
|
|
566 If you wanted to build a file called:
|
|
|
567 a letter from my buddy
|
|
|
568 You would need to type it in as:
|
|
|
569 a.letter.from.my.buddy
|
|
|
570 for OS-9 to accept it... you could have
|
|
|
571 even typed it in as:
|
|
|
572 aletterfrommybuddy
|
|
|
573 But this is a bit harder to read...
|
|
|
574 Another character you can use to separate
|
|
|
575 words for easier reading is the left
|
|
|
576 arrow sign... this can be made by typing
|
|
|
577 the clear key/minus sign together...
|
|
|
578 depending on the type screen you are
|
|
|
579 reading OS-9 on you will see a left
|
|
|
580 arrow or an underline. They are both
|
|
|
581 the same ascii character. But the character. rom
|
|
|
582 on the CoCo was setup for the left
|
|
|
583 arrow sign. This clear key/minus key
|
|
|
584 is a bit hard to remember and harder
|
|
|
585 yet to type so I use the period(.) to
|
|
|
586 separate my words in my titles and
|
|
|
587 directories.
|
|
|
588 File names and directories can be up to
|
|
|
589 29 characters long... You can have numbers
|
|
|
590 mixed into this but the first characters of
|
|
|
591 each file/directory <emphasis>must</emphasis> be a letter!
|
|
|
592 so these names are perfectly legal:
|
|
|
593 <screen>
|
|
|
594 number11111111 jan281985
|
|
|
595 q1234567890 a2gggg8888cccc9999
|
|
|
596 </screen>
|
|
|
597 NO SPECIAL CHARACTERS MAY BE USED IN A FILE
|
|
|
598 NAME OR A DIRECTORY NAME!!! This means
|
|
|
599 no !@#$%^&*+="'- are allowed in any
|
|
|
600 title. Some of these characters are used by
|
|
|
601 OS-9 to perform other useful functions
|
|
|
602 that will be covered in a future lesson.
|
|
|
603 </para>
|
|
|
604 <para>
|
|
|
605 OS-9 has the ability to take information
|
|
1148
|
606 and pass it through a pipe into a filter to
|
|
999
|
607 change the information in some manner before
|
|
|
608 showing it on your screen or your
|
|
|
609 printer. The command for a pipe is the
|
|
|
610 exclamation point(!). A filter can be
|
|
|
611 thought of as a program that will take
|
|
|
612 data in and do something with it before
|
|
|
613 passing some data out. The ONLY filter
|
|
|
614 that you have with your original OS-9
|
|
|
615 is the filter called TEE. If you were
|
|
|
616 to do this:
|
|
|
617 <screen>
|
|
|
618 OS9:list startup ! tee /d0/f1 /d0/f2
|
|
|
619 </screen>
|
|
|
620 it would list the data in the file
|
|
1148
|
621 called startup through the pipe (!) into
|
|
999
|
622 the filter TEE... this program would then
|
|
|
623 send the data out to two files that
|
|
|
624 are called /d0/f1 /d0/f2 and you would
|
|
|
625 have two perfect copies of the file
|
|
|
626 startup called f1 and f2... You could
|
|
|
627 have done this same thing by typing:
|
|
|
628 <screen>
|
|
|
629 OS9:copy /d0/startup /d0/f1
|
|
|
630 OS9:copy /d0/startup /d0/f2
|
|
|
631 </screen>
|
|
|
632 TEE will take any data that is piped
|
|
|
633 into it and send it to the list of
|
|
|
634 devices or files that are printed after
|
|
|
635 the tee command and separated by spaces.
|
|
|
636 so a line like this:
|
|
|
637 <screen>
|
|
|
638 OS9:dir /d0 ! TEE /d0/stuff /p /d0/s2
|
|
|
639 </screen>
|
|
|
640 will send a directory of /d0 to your
|
|
|
641 screen, a file called /d0/stuff, to the
|
|
|
642 printer, and to a file called /d0/s2.
|
|
|
643 This is a way to get some data to a lot
|
|
|
644 of different places all at about the
|
|
|
645 same time. There are other filters you
|
|
|
646 can buy that will do the following:
|
|
|
647 <screen>
|
|
|
648 OS9:list startup ! upper
|
|
|
649 </screen>
|
|
|
650 this will take any data in a file
|
|
1148
|
651 called startup and send it through the
|
|
999
|
652 filter called upper... upper will take
|
|
|
653 ALL lower case letters and change them
|
|
|
654 to upper case before passing that information
|
|
|
655 on...
|
|
|
656 <screen>
|
|
|
657 OS9:list startup ! wc
|
|
|
658 </screen>
|
|
|
659 This command will list the file startup
|
|
1148
|
660 through the pipe into the filter wc which
|
|
999
|
661 will count the # of lines, characters, and
|
|
|
662 words in the file which <command>wc</command> will then
|
|
|
663 print out to your screen. Imagine
|
|
|
664 doing that by hand?
|
|
|
665 There are a <emphasis>lot of filters</emphasis> that you can
|
|
|
666 buy. Check the Official OS-9 Tour
|
|
|
667 Guide out for a list of the filters you
|
|
|
668 can buy and who sells them.
|
|
|
669 </para>
|
|
|
670 <para>
|
|
|
671 A piece of advice now. If you think you
|
|
|
672 are going to get into OS-9 you should
|
|
|
673 consider getting a 2nd disk drive if
|
|
|
674 you now only have 1 drive. OS-9 can be
|
|
|
675 run on a single drive CoCo but it is a
|
|
|
676 real PAIN IN THE BUTT!!! On a 2 drive
|
|
|
677 system you can keep all your commands on
|
|
|
678 drive /d0 and all your data on drive /d1
|
|
|
679 and should speed along just fine and not
|
|
|
680 worry about space being tight on your
|
|
|
681 drives when you go to build files in
|
|
|
682 the future.
|
|
|
683 </para>
|
|
|
684 <para>
|
|
|
685 Until you become familiar with OS-9 and
|
|
|
686 the way it gives error #'s instead of
|
|
|
687 letter codes for the errors you make
|
|
|
688 then do this:
|
|
|
689 <screen>
|
|
|
690 OS9:printerr
|
|
|
691 </screen>
|
|
|
692 this will then print the error # of any
|
|
|
693 error you have and give you a short
|
|
|
694 english(???) sentence of what was wrong.
|
|
|
695 As you use OS-9 more you will find that
|
|
|
696 you will likely get 4-6 error codes that
|
|
|
697 tend to repeat a lot. Most errors on
|
|
|
698 OS-9 are caused by typing errors when
|
|
|
699 entering directory names or file names.
|
|
|
700 </para>
|
|
|
701 <para>
|
|
|
702 I hope I don't appear to be jumping
|
|
|
703 about two much with these lessons but
|
|
|
704 I am trying to tackle the problems of
|
|
|
705 OS-9 in the same manner that I ran into
|
|
|
706 them and am sure other new users are
|
|
|
707 finding them. So I give this final bit
|
|
|
708 of advice... OS-9 comes with 3 books.
|
|
|
709 a red(purple) one, a blue one and a
|
|
|
710 yellow(orange)one. Don't even look at
|
|
|
711 the blue book yet. It has machine language information in
|
|
|
712 it that you <emphasis>may never</emphasis> use unless you
|
|
|
713 get into machine language programming under OS-9.
|
|
|
714 The red book will tell you all the
|
|
|
715 commands available under OS-9 and a bit
|
|
|
716 on how they work. READ THIS BOOK OVER
|
|
|
717 AND OVER AT LEAST 4 TIMES!!! The yellow
|
|
|
718 book has information on the text editor that
|
|
|
719 comes with OS-9. This is covered in
|
|
|
720 the 1st half of the book... READ THIS
|
|
|
721 VERRRRRY CLOSELY... IT GETS COMPLICATED
|
|
|
722 but there are a lot of examples...
|
|
|
723 The 2nd half of the yellow manual also
|
|
|
724 has some machine language information in it for doing
|
|
|
725 assembly of machine language programs... If you are
|
|
|
726 not going to get into machine language ever then you
|
|
|
727 don't need to read this info. Even
|
|
|
728 though you have these 3 fine manuals, run
|
|
|
729 to the nearest RS store and buy the
|
|
|
730 Official OS-9 Tour Guide. It has more
|
|
|
731 information than these 3 manuals and it is
|
|
|
732 written in a lot friendlier manner than
|
|
|
733 these 3 manuals. It also gives better
|
|
|
734 examples on how to use the commands
|
|
|
735 available to you under OS-9 and give
|
|
|
736 a history of OS-9 and why it is such a
|
|
|
737 fine Operating System to run on your
|
|
|
738 CoCo.
|
|
|
739 </para>
|
|
|
740 <para>
|
|
|
741 Next lesson? I will tell you the
|
|
|
742 commands that you might never use and
|
|
|
743 how to delete them to make more space
|
|
|
744 on your Master Disk.
|
|
|
745 </para>
|
|
|
746 </section>
|
|
|
747 <section>
|
|
|
748 <title>Lesson 3</title>
|
|
|
749 <para>
|
|
|
750 Below is a list of the commands that you
|
|
|
751 may seldom use and therefore may delete
|
|
|
752 from your EXECUTION directory which is
|
|
|
753 /D0/CMDS...
|
|
|
754 <note><para> NONE OF THESE COMMANDS SHOULD BE
|
|
|
755 DELETED FROM YOUR ORIGINAL DISK... NEVER
|
|
|
756 DELETE FILES/DIRECTORIES/COMMANDS FROM
|
|
|
757 YOUR ORIGINAL OS-9 MASTER DISK. ALWAYS
|
|
|
758 MAKE THESE DELETIONS/CHANGES TO A BACKUP
|
|
|
759 OF YOUR MASTER DISK</para></note>
|
|
|
760 To make a backup of your OS-9 Master
|
|
|
761 disk do this:
|
|
|
762 For a single drive system you must at
|
|
|
763 the OS-9 prompt type this:
|
|
|
764 <screen>
|
|
|
765 OS9:load format free
|
|
|
766 </screen>
|
|
|
767 Take your OS-9 Master disk out of your
|
|
|
768 drive /d0... put a blank disk in drive
|
|
|
769 /d0... now at the OS-9 prompt type:
|
|
|
770 <screen>
|
|
|
771 OS9:format /d0
|
|
|
772 </screen>
|
|
|
773 When OS-9 asks if your really want to
|
|
|
774 format the disk in drive /d0 respond
|
|
|
775 Y for yes or R for ready... When the
|
|
|
776 format is done OS-9 will ask you for a
|
|
|
777 name to put on the disk. You may give
|
|
|
778 any name up to 32 characters. The name at
|
|
|
779 this point does not matter as when we
|
|
|
780 backup the original Master disk to this
|
|
|
781 disk... it will retain the name of the
|
|
|
782 original Master disk. So you can just
|
|
|
783 call the disk NEW.
|
|
|
784 When the format is done and the verify
|
|
|
785 pass is done the OS-9 prompt will return
|
|
|
786 At this point you want to type:
|
|
|
787 <screen>
|
|
|
788 OS9:free /d0
|
|
|
789 </screen>
|
|
|
790 If the free does not say...630 sectors
|
|
|
791 total on the disk... and 620 available
|
|
|
792 for use... <emphasis>Do not use this disk to do a
|
|
|
793 backup onto... it will <emphasis role="bold">not</emphasis> work!!!</emphasis>
|
|
|
794 Take the newly formatted disk out of
|
|
|
795 drive /d0 and put your original Master
|
|
|
796 disk back in drive /d0. At the OS-9
|
|
|
797 prompt you will type:
|
|
|
798 <screen>
|
|
|
799 OS9:unlink format free
|
|
|
800 </screen>
|
|
|
801 This will take the two commands out of
|
|
|
802 memory and give you more memory to work
|
|
|
803 with when you go to do your backup.
|
|
|
804 At the OS-9 prompt you will type:
|
|
|
805 <screen>
|
|
|
806 OS9:load backup
|
|
|
807 </screen>
|
|
|
808 Take your original Master disk out of
|
|
|
809 drive /d0 and put your newly formatted
|
|
|
810 disk in drive /d0...
|
|
|
811 at the OS-9 prompt you type:
|
|
|
812 <screen>
|
|
|
813 OS9:backup s /d0 #32k
|
|
|
814 </screen>
|
|
|
815 OS-9 will ask you if you are ready to
|
|
|
816 backup from /d0 to /d0... You type Y for
|
|
|
817 yes. OS-9 will now say ready the
|
|
|
818 destination disk... you already have it
|
|
|
819 in the drive. Hit any key to continue
|
|
|
820 ... OS-9 will list the name that was on
|
|
|
821 the disk and ask if it ok to write over
|
|
|
822 this disk... type Y for yes... OS-9 will
|
|
|
823 then say ready SOURCE disk hit a key...
|
|
|
824 Put your OS-9 Master disk back in drive
|
|
|
825 /d0 and hit any key... When OS-9 says to
|
|
|
826 ready the DESTINATION disk... Take your
|
|
|
827 Master disk out of drive /d0 and put the
|
|
|
828 newly formatted disk in drive /d0... hit
|
|
|
829 any key to continue... OS-9 will repeat
|
|
|
830 this prompting till the whole original
|
|
|
831 disk is copied exactly over to the new
|
|
|
832 disk...
|
|
|
833 <warning><para>If the disk that you did
|
|
|
834 the format on did not give you the whole
|
|
|
835 630 sectors on the disk and 620 free for
|
|
|
836 use when you did the
|
|
|
837 free /d0 on it... you may not backup to
|
|
|
838 that disk... backup is a mirror copy of
|
|
|
839 the original disk to the new disk... if
|
|
|
840 there was a bad sector on he new disk
|
|
|
841 the backup will not work... if there was
|
|
|
842 a bad sector on the original disk the
|
|
|
843 backup will not work... BOTH DISK MUST BE
|
|
|
844 FREE OF ERRORS AND HAVE THE SAME NUMBER
|
|
|
845 OF SECTORS ON THE DISK... A DISK WITH 80
|
|
|
846 TRACKS CAN'T BE BACKED UP TO A DISK WITH
|
|
|
847 40 TRACKS... A DOUBLE SIDED DISK CAN'T BE
|
|
|
848 BACKED UP TO A SINGLE SIDED DISK... A
|
|
|
849 HARD DISK CAN'T BE BACKED UP TO A FLOPPY
|
|
|
850 DISK... OS-9 WILL CHECK TO SEE WHAT SIZE
|
|
|
851 THE DISK IS THAT YOU ARE BACKING UP FROM
|
|
|
852 AND TO... IT WILL ABORT THE BACKUP IF
|
|
|
853 THEY ARE NOT THE SAME TYPE/SIZE...</para></warning>
|
|
|
854 WHEN THE BACKUP IS DONE DO THIS:
|
|
|
855 Put your original Master disk away. You
|
|
|
856 can leave the new Master disk in drive
|
|
|
857 /d0... but you must let OS-9 know that
|
|
|
858 there is a new disk in the drive...
|
|
|
859 so at the OS-9 prompt you will type:
|
|
|
860 <screen>
|
|
|
861 OS9:chd /d0
|
|
|
862 OS9:chx /d0/cmds
|
|
|
863 </screen>
|
|
|
864 OS-9 is now ready to continue... and we
|
|
|
865 can now delete some seldom used commands
|
|
|
866 and gain some disk space back for our
|
|
|
867 own files...
|
|
|
868 To delete these commands you will type:
|
|
|
869 <screen>
|
|
|
870 OS9:del /d0/cmds/command.name
|
|
|
871 </screen>
|
|
|
872 Where command name is the names of each
|
|
|
873 command you are deleting...
|
|
|
874 </para>
|
|
|
875 <variablelist>
|
|
|
876 <varlistentry><term>binex</term>
|
|
|
877 <term>exbin</term>
|
|
|
878 <listitem>
|
|
|
879 <para>
|
|
|
880 These two commands are
|
|
|
881 for turning a binary file into a text
|
|
|
882 file and vice/versa. I have never used
|
|
|
883 these two commands to date. While they
|
|
|
884 might be useful, I am not sure who
|
|
|
885 they are useful to?
|
|
|
886 </para>
|
|
|
887 </listitem>
|
|
|
888 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
889 <varlistentry><term>cmp</term>
|
|
|
890 <listitem>
|
|
|
891 <para>
|
|
|
892 This is for comparing two text
|
|
|
893 files together and listing where (with
|
|
|
894 an offset) the differences are. I find
|
|
|
895 it easier/quicker/more reliable to just
|
|
|
896 list the two files to my screen and look
|
|
|
897 for the differences...
|
|
|
898 </para>
|
|
|
899 </listitem>
|
|
|
900 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
901 <varlistentry><term>cobbler</term>
|
|
|
902 <listitem>
|
|
|
903 <para>
|
|
|
904 This is only used for making a
|
|
|
905 new os9boot file on your master disk.
|
|
|
906 You won't need to use this command till
|
|
|
907 later lessons to make a new boot disk.
|
|
|
908 So you can delete it from the /D0/CMDS
|
|
|
909 directory for now.
|
|
|
910 </para>
|
|
|
911 </listitem>
|
|
|
912 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
913 <varlistentry><term>dcheck</term>
|
|
|
914 <listitem>
|
|
|
915 <para>
|
|
|
916 This command does a total
|
|
|
917 search of the disk it is called to check
|
|
|
918 and will report if any files on the disk
|
|
|
919 have been destroyed in some manner. You
|
|
|
920 will only need to use this command on
|
|
|
921 a disk that is used a lot and is almost
|
|
|
922 full. If you ever try to use a command
|
|
|
923 or file and get an error, try the ATTR
|
|
|
924 command on the file/command to see if
|
|
|
925 you have permission to use the file or
|
|
|
926 command. If the ATTR says you do and
|
|
|
927 you still can't get to the file/command
|
|
|
928 then I would use the dcheck on the disk
|
|
|
929 to see if the disk was damaged in some
|
|
|
930 manner. Dcheck is very powerful but it
|
|
|
931 will usually be the case that when you
|
|
|
932 need to use it is when the sh*t has
|
|
|
933 already hit the fan and some of the
|
|
|
934 files on your disk have been damaged in
|
|
|
935 some manner. For this reason you may
|
|
|
936 want to feel safe and keep this command
|
|
|
937 in your /D0/CMDS directory.
|
|
|
938 </para>
|
|
|
939 </listitem>
|
|
|
940 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
941 <varlistentry><term>display</term>
|
|
|
942 <listitem>
|
|
|
943 <para>
|
|
|
944 If you don't have a printer
|
|
|
945 hooked up to your OS-9 system than you
|
|
|
946 probably won't need the display command.
|
|
|
947 It is meant for sending some series of
|
|
|
948 hex codes to a device... if you do this:
|
|
|
949 <screen>
|
|
|
950 OS9:display 0c
|
|
|
951 </screen>
|
|
|
952 the screen will clear... this is sending
|
|
|
953 a control-l to the screen... if you did
|
|
|
954 this:
|
|
|
955 <screen>
|
|
|
956 OS9:display 0c >/p
|
|
|
957 </screen>
|
|
|
958 it will send a control-L to your printer
|
|
|
959 which in most cases will do a form feed
|
|
|
960 on your printer. If you have a decent
|
|
|
961 printer you may use the display command
|
|
|
962 with the (>) redirect sign to send hex
|
|
|
963 codes to your printer for setting it for
|
|
|
964 double strike, emphasized, underline,
|
|
|
965 and any other special features your
|
|
|
966 printer might support. As far as being
|
|
|
967 able to send all the codes from 0 to 255
|
|
|
968 to your screen? I haven't found much
|
|
|
969 use for this. I have only used the
|
|
|
970 display Oc to clear the screen so far.
|
|
|
971 </para>
|
|
|
972 </listitem>
|
|
|
973 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
974 <varlistentry><term>kill</term>
|
|
|
975 <listitem>
|
|
|
976 <para>
|
|
|
977 This command is only used to kill
|
|
|
978 off some multi-process command that you
|
|
|
979 may have started up to run in the
|
|
|
980 background... if you did this:
|
|
|
981 <screen>
|
|
|
982 OS9:dir e /d0/cmds >/p&
|
|
|
983 </screen>
|
|
|
984 OS-9 will do a dir e of your EXECUTION
|
|
|
985 directory and send it to the printer.
|
|
|
986 The OS-9 prompt will return and the list
|
|
|
987 will continue in the background. If you
|
|
|
988 did a procs e command at this point you
|
|
|
989 will see that there is a process 3 or 4
|
|
|
990 or 5 running in the background and it is
|
|
|
991 called list. To stop the list from
|
|
|
992 continuing..you would have to type:
|
|
|
993 <screen>
|
|
|
994 OS9:kill 3
|
|
|
995 </screen>
|
|
|
996 or
|
|
|
997 <screen>
|
|
|
998 OS9:kill 4
|
|
|
999 </screen>
|
|
|
1000 or whatever the process # is that you
|
|
|
1001 wish to stop... You won't be doing a lot
|
|
|
1002 of multi-processing while you learn
|
|
|
1003 OS-9 so you should not need this command
|
|
|
1004 in your /D0/CMDS right now...
|
|
|
1005 </para>
|
|
|
1006 </listitem>
|
|
|
1007 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1008 <varlistentry><term>link</term>
|
|
|
1009 <listitem>
|
|
|
1010 <para>
|
|
|
1011 This one is hard to explain right
|
|
|
1012 now... let's just say that when you do
|
|
|
1013 a load command... the computer does a
|
|
|
1014 link for you... so this command should
|
|
|
1015 not be really necessary for now. If you
|
|
|
1016 do a mdir e and see that a commands link
|
|
|
1017 count is say 3 or 4... then you would
|
|
|
1018 have to unlink the command 3 or 4 times
|
|
|
1019 to get it <emphasis>out</emphasis> of memory!!!
|
|
|
1020 </para>
|
|
|
1021 </listitem>
|
|
|
1022 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1023 <varlistentry><term>login</term>
|
|
|
1024 <listitem>
|
|
|
1025 <para>
|
|
|
1026 This is only needed if you are
|
|
|
1027 going to hook up your OS-9 system so
|
|
|
1028 that outside people can link into your
|
|
|
1029 CoCo and use the computer at the same
|
|
|
1030 time you are using it... When you delete
|
|
|
1031 this command you may also delete the 2
|
|
|
1032 files in the /d0/sys directory called
|
|
|
1033 /d0/sys/motd and /d0/sys/password...
|
|
|
1034 </para>
|
|
|
1035 </listitem>
|
|
|
1036 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1037 <varlistentry><term>merge</term>
|
|
|
1038 <listitem>
|
|
|
1039 <para>
|
|
|
1040 This is used for putting two
|
|
|
1041 data files into a single data file with
|
|
|
1042 a new name... this can also be done with
|
|
|
1043 the list command like this:
|
|
|
1044 <screen>
|
|
|
1045 OS9:list data1 data2 >/data3
|
|
|
1046 </screen>
|
|
|
1047 so the merge command is not needed right
|
|
|
1048 now...
|
|
|
1049 </para>
|
|
|
1050 </listitem>
|
|
|
1051 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1052 <varlistentry><term>os9gen</term>
|
|
|
1053 <listitem>
|
|
|
1054 <para>
|
|
|
1055 This command is used for making
|
|
|
1056 a new boot disk... the new boot disk
|
|
|
1057 might have more/less commands that it
|
|
|
1058 will load into memory when it starts up.
|
|
|
1059 For the time being you won't need this
|
|
|
1060 command until the next lesson where I
|
|
|
1061 will try to teach you how to make a new
|
|
|
1062 and better boot disk...
|
|
|
1063 </para>
|
|
|
1064 </listitem>
|
|
|
1065 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1066 <varlistentry><term>printerr</term>
|
|
|
1067 <listitem>
|
|
|
1068 <para>
|
|
|
1069 When you are first learning
|
|
|
1070 OS-9 you will find this command most
|
|
|
1071 useful... when you start to learn the
|
|
|
1072 error numbers by heart you will be able
|
|
|
1073 to delete this command. You can also
|
|
|
1074 delete the /d0/sys/errmsg file also.
|
|
|
1075 </para>
|
|
|
1076 </listitem>
|
|
|
1077 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1078 <varlistentry><term>procs</term>
|
|
|
1079 <listitem>
|
|
|
1080 <para>
|
|
|
1081 You will only need this command
|
|
|
1082 if you do multi-processing... it will
|
|
|
1083 show you what is running in the computer
|
|
|
1084 and who is running it and how much of a
|
|
|
1085 priority it has... for now you will not
|
|
|
1086 use this command often.
|
|
|
1087 </para>
|
|
|
1088 </listitem>
|
|
|
1089 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1090 <varlistentry><term>setpr</term>
|
|
|
1091 <listitem>
|
|
|
1092 <para>
|
|
|
1093 This is for resetting the
|
|
|
1094 priority of a multi-process that you
|
|
|
1095 have running in the background... you
|
|
|
1096 won't need this command until you get
|
|
|
1097 into multi-process running.
|
|
|
1098 </para>
|
|
|
1099 </listitem>
|
|
|
1100 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1101 <varlistentry><term>sleep</term>
|
|
|
1102 <listitem>
|
|
|
1103 <para>
|
|
|
1104 This is for making a process
|
|
|
1105 stop doing what it was doing for a set
|
|
|
1106 period of time... I have never used this
|
|
|
1107 command... if used wrong it will seem
|
|
|
1108 like you locked up your computer as it
|
|
|
1109 counts down its sleep time.
|
|
|
1110 </para>
|
|
|
1111 </listitem>
|
|
|
1112 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1113 <varlistentry><term>tsmon</term>
|
|
|
1114 <listitem>
|
|
|
1115 <para>
|
|
|
1116 This command is used to make
|
|
|
1117 OS-9 scan the built in rs232 port for
|
|
|
1118 a carrier ready signal... it is used to
|
|
|
1119 set the computer up for another caller
|
|
|
1120 usually calling over a phone line... it
|
|
|
1121 is the basics of setting your OS-9
|
|
|
1122 system up as a bbs.
|
|
|
1123 </para>
|
|
|
1124 </listitem>
|
|
|
1125 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1126 </variablelist>
|
|
|
1127 <para>
|
|
|
1128 Read over the commands in your red OS-9
|
|
|
1129 book and decide for yourself how often
|
|
|
1130 you might use the commands listed above.
|
|
|
1131 If you think you will not need the
|
|
|
1132 commands often then delete them on your
|
|
|
1133 backup master disk. This will give you
|
|
|
1134 more space to store your own files on
|
|
|
1135 that disk, and if you are working with
|
|
|
1136 as single drive system then this is
|
|
|
1137 <emphasis>very</emphasis> important...
|
|
|
1138 You may also delete the asm command from
|
|
|
1139 your /d0/cmds directory if you <emphasis>never</emphasis>
|
|
|
1140 intend to do any machine language work... If you do
|
|
|
1141 delete the /d0/cmds/asm command then you
|
|
|
1142 can also get rid of the data files in
|
|
|
1143 the defs directory that the asm
|
|
|
1144 command works with. Do this by typing:
|
|
|
1145 <screen>
|
|
|
1146 OS9:deldir /d0/defs
|
|
|
1147 </screen>
|
|
|
1148 OS-9 will than say deleting a directory
|
|
|
1149 and offer you a list, delete or quit
|
|
|
1150 option... if you choose to list... it will
|
|
|
1151 show you what is in the directory that
|
|
|
1152 you wish to delete... if you choose to
|
|
|
1153 delete the directory... you will not be
|
|
|
1154 prompted again unless there is another
|
|
|
1155 directory found in the directory...
|
|
|
1156 This command will take a bit of time to
|
|
|
1157 get rid of the directory /d0/defs...
|
|
|
1158 but it will clear up a LOTTTTTTT of
|
|
|
1159 space for your own use....
|
|
|
1160 </para>
|
|
|
1161 <para>
|
|
|
1162 OK, I saved you a bit of disk space now
|
|
|
1163 let me save you a bit of a headache!!!
|
|
|
1164 Radio Shack now has two versions of the
|
|
|
1165 OS-9 operating system. These are the
|
|
|
1166 1.00.00 and the 1.01.00 versions. The
|
|
|
1167 1.01.00 has some new stuff added to it
|
|
|
1168 but it is basicly the same as 1.00.00
|
|
|
1169 It is not exactly the same... close but
|
|
|
1170 not exact. For this reason if you see
|
|
|
1171 any articles in say Rainbow mag that say
|
|
|
1172 you can change your OS-9 to have 6 ms.
|
|
|
1173 step rates on your drives or 40 tracks
|
|
|
1174 on your disk... you should be <emphasis>very</emphasis>
|
|
|
1175 careful that the instructions refer to
|
|
|
1176 your version of OS-9. Some of the early
|
|
|
1177 articles in Rainbow refer to making
|
|
|
1178 changes to OS-9 1.00.00... The most
|
|
|
1179 recent articles in Rainbow will usually
|
|
|
1180 say that these patches are for 1.00.00
|
|
|
1181 or 1.01.00... With Radio Shack getting
|
|
|
1182 ready to come out with OS-9 2.00.00 it
|
|
|
1183 is very important you know what OS-9
|
|
|
1184 you have when you read any articles that
|
|
|
1185 say how to change your OS-9 to add some
|
|
|
1186 new features to it.
|
|
|
1187 </para>
|
|
|
1188 <para>
|
|
|
1189 If you have the original OS-9 1.00.00
|
|
|
1190 then you can get the OS-9 upgrade from
|
|
|
1191 Radio Shack to 1.01.00 for about $15.
|
|
|
1192 The upgrade to OS-9 2.00.00 will cost
|
|
|
1193 about $25. These upgrades are only
|
|
|
1194 available to original owners of OS-9
|
|
|
1195 1.00.00 or 1.01.00.
|
|
|
1196 </para>
|
|
|
1197 <para>
|
|
|
1198 Let's talk about the devices that are
|
|
|
1199 available for you to use under OS-9.
|
|
|
1200 </para>
|
|
|
1201
|
|
|
1202 <variablelist>
|
|
|
1203 <varlistentry><term>/p</term>
|
|
|
1204 <listitem>
|
|
|
1205 <para>
|
|
|
1206 this is for your serial printer
|
|
|
1207 </para>
|
|
|
1208 </listitem>
|
|
|
1209 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1210 <varlistentry><term>/t1</term>
|
|
|
1211 <listitem>
|
|
|
1212 <para>
|
|
|
1213 this is for the built in RS232 port
|
|
|
1214 </para>
|
|
|
1215 </listitem>
|
|
|
1216 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1217 <varlistentry><term>/t2</term>
|
|
|
1218 <listitem>
|
|
|
1219 <para>
|
|
|
1220 this is for the RS232 cartridge
|
|
|
1221 </para>
|
|
|
1222 </listitem>
|
|
|
1223 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1224 <varlistentry><term>/d0</term>
|
|
|
1225 <listitem>
|
|
|
1226 <para>
|
|
|
1227 this is drive 0
|
|
|
1228 </para>
|
|
|
1229 </listitem>
|
|
|
1230 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1231 <varlistentry><term>/d1</term>
|
|
|
1232 <listitem>
|
|
|
1233 <para>
|
|
|
1234 this is drive 1
|
|
|
1235 </para>
|
|
|
1236 </listitem>
|
|
|
1237 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1238 <varlistentry><term>/d2</term>
|
|
|
1239 <listitem>
|
|
|
1240 <para>
|
|
|
1241 this is drive 2
|
|
|
1242 </para>
|
|
|
1243 </listitem>
|
|
|
1244 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1245 <varlistentry><term>/d3</term>
|
|
|
1246 <listitem>
|
|
|
1247 <para>
|
|
|
1248 this is drive 3
|
|
|
1249 </para>
|
|
|
1250 </listitem>
|
|
|
1251 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1252 <varlistentry><term>/term</term>
|
|
|
1253 <listitem>
|
|
|
1254 <para>
|
|
|
1255 this is for your keyboard and video screen
|
|
|
1256 </para>
|
|
|
1257 </listitem>
|
|
|
1258 </varlistentry>
|
|
|
1259 </variablelist>
|
|
|
1260 <para>
|
|
|
1261 On my system I have a /H0 and /R0 which
|
|
|
1262 tell the OS-9 that I have a hard disk
|
|
|
1263 drive and a ram disk drive. If you
|
|
|
1264 are good at machine language you can write your own
|
|
|
1265 code to add your own hardware onto your
|
|
|
1266 OS-9 system. I understand that OS-9
|
|
|
1267 2.00.00 has a device called /ssp and it
|
|
|
1268 is for the Radio Shack Speech Sound Pak
|
|
1148
|
1269 and will let you send a text file through
|
|
|
1270 it and it will speak the file out.
|
|
|
1271 So you could do this:
|
|
999
|
1272 <screen>
|
|
|
1273 OS9:dir /d0 >/ssp
|
|
|
1274 </screen>
|
|
|
1275 and you would hear your directory. This
|
|
|
1276 could be very useful for anyone with
|
|
|
1277 impaired sight.
|
|
|
1278 While I have been talking about how you
|
|
|
1279 can add devices to your OS-9 system I
|
|
|
1280 also need to say that you can delete
|
|
|
1281 devices from your system also. This
|
|
|
1282 will free up ram for other programs you
|
|
|
1283 might wish to run. In OS-9 2.00.00 you
|
|
|
1284 can usually get rid of /d2, /d3 and the
|
|
|
1285 /t2 drivers. Most people don't have
|
|
|
1286 the drive 2 and 3 and don't have the
|
|
|
1287 Radio Shack RS232 pak so why keep these
|
|
|
1288 modules in memory wasting space?
|
|
|
1289 So you can delete them and save some space
|
|
|
1290 that is badly need in the 64K CoCo.
|
|
|
1291 How do you do this? We'll cover that
|
|
|
1292 in our next lesson; Making a new boot
|
|
|
1293 disk.
|
|
|
1294 </para>
|
|
|
1295 </section>
|
|
|
1296 <section>
|
|
|
1297 <title>Lesson 4</title>
|
|
|
1298 <para>
|
|
|
1299 Today we are going to make a new OS-9
|
|
1148
|
1300 boot disk. we can do this several
|
|
|
1301 different ways. First type this:
|
|
999
|
1302 <screen>
|
|
|
1303 OS9:mdir
|
|
|
1304 </screen>
|
|
|
1305 this will show you all the programs and
|
|
|
1306 descriptors that are in memory... you
|
|
|
1307 should see something like this:
|
|
|
1308 <screen>
|
|
|
1309 OS9 OS9P2 INIT
|
|
|
1310 BOOT CCDISK D0
|
|
|
1311 D1 D2 D3
|
|
|
1312 CCIO TERM IOMAN
|
|
|
1313 RBF SCF SYSGO
|
|
|
1314 CLOCK SHELL RS232
|
|
|
1315 T1 PRINTER P
|
|
|
1316 PIPEMAN PIPER PIPE
|
|
|
1317 </screen>
|
|
|
1318 These are all modules that are loaded
|
|
|
1319 into memory from the OS9boot file and
|
|
|
1320 you can change the OS9boot file so that
|
|
|
1321 it will load in more or less of these
|
|
|
1322 modules at boot time. For now we will
|
|
|
1323 just make a new boot disk that will load
|
|
|
1324 in all of the above modules exactly the
|
|
|
1325 same way. We can do this one of two
|
|
1148
|
1326 ways... First let's format a new disk
|
|
999
|
1327 and we'll put our new OS9boot on it. At
|
|
|
1328 the OS-9 prompt type:
|
|
|
1329 <screen>
|
|
|
1330 OS9:load format free
|
|
|
1331 </screen>
|
|
|
1332 take your OS-9 master disk out of drive
|
|
1148
|
1333 /d0, and install a blank disk in /d0
|
|
999
|
1334 now at the OS-9 prompt type:
|
|
|
1335 <screen>
|
|
|
1336 OS9:format /d0
|
|
|
1337 </screen>
|
|
|
1338 when OS-9 asks if you are ready... type
|
|
|
1339 R for ready or Y for yes. When OS-9
|
|
|
1340 asks you for a name to put on the disk
|
|
|
1341 give it the name NEW BOOT DISK. When
|
|
|
1342 the format is done at the OS-9 prompt
|
|
|
1343 type:
|
|
|
1344 <screen>
|
|
|
1345 OS9:free /d0
|
|
|
1346 </screen>
|
|
|
1347 and you should get 630 sectors on the
|
|
|
1348 disk with 620 available for use. This
|
|
|
1349 lets you know that the format was good
|
|
|
1350 with no bad sectors that needed to be
|
|
|
1351 locked out. Take the new disk out of
|
|
|
1352 drive /d0 and put your OS-9 master disk
|
|
|
1353 back in. Now type:
|
|
|
1354 <screen>
|
|
|
1355 OS9:load cobbler makdir save os9gen build echo
|
|
|
1356 </screen>
|
|
1148
|
1357 You should now have the commands <command>format</command>,
|
|
|
1358 <command>free</command>, <command>cobbler</command>,
|
|
|
1359 <command>makdir</command>, <command>build</command>, <command>os9gen</command>,
|
|
|
1360 <command>save</command> and <command>echo</command> in your memory...
|
|
999
|
1361 Take your master disk out of drive /d0
|
|
|
1362 and put the new disk in. Now at the
|
|
|
1363 OS-9 prompt type:
|
|
|
1364 <screen>
|
|
|
1365 OS9:cobbler /d0
|
|
|
1366 </screen>
|
|
|
1367 This will put the file OS9boot on the
|
|
|
1368 disk in drive /d0 and it will contain
|
|
|
1369 all the modules that were loaded into
|
|
|
1370 memory from the <emphasis>last</emphasis> boot. To get all
|
|
|
1371 the other files/commands/directories
|
|
|
1372 over onto this new boot disk you need
|
|
|
1373 to be very patient because you will
|
|
|
1374 have to go through a lot of typing,
|
|
|
1375 copying and swapping.
|
|
|
1376 Essentially what you have to do is:
|
|
1148
|
1377 Use the <command>makdir</command> command to make all the
|
|
999
|
1378 directories on this new disk that were
|
|
|
1379 on the old Master disk. So you will
|
|
|
1380 have to do this:
|
|
|
1381 <screen>
|
|
|
1382 OS9:makdir /d0/sys
|
|
|
1383 OS9:makdir /d0/cmds
|
|
|
1384 OS9:makdir /d0/defs
|
|
|
1385 </screen>
|
|
1148
|
1386 Then you will need to use the <command>copy</command>
|
|
999
|
1387 command to move all the files/commands
|
|
|
1388 over from the old Master disk to this
|
|
|
1389 NEW Master disk. We are talking about
|
|
|
1390 a <emphasis>lot</emphasis> of disk swapping here and you
|
|
|
1391 just might not be up to going through
|
|
|
1392 all this work. Read on... there are 2
|
|
|
1393 easier ways to do this and I will let
|
|
1148
|
1394 you decide which you like better.
|
|
999
|
1395 </para>
|
|
|
1396 <para>
|
|
1148
|
1397 While <command>cobbler</command> will help us to make a new
|
|
999
|
1398 boot disk there is no flexibility to it
|
|
|
1399 and you are stuck with a mirror image
|
|
|
1400 of the modules from the last boot you
|
|
|
1401 did. To give us total control of what
|
|
1148
|
1402 goes in the <filename>OS9boot</filename> file we will need
|
|
|
1403 to use the <command>OS9gen</command> command.
|
|
|
1404 Leave the new boot disk in drive /d0 and
|
|
999
|
1405 format it again... then do the free on
|
|
|
1406 it to be sure the total sectors and free
|
|
|
1407 sectors works out to 630 and 620. We
|
|
|
1408 will now type:
|
|
|
1409 <screen>
|
|
|
1410 OS9:makdir /d0/modules
|
|
|
1411 OS9:save /d0/modules/ccdisk ccdisk
|
|
|
1412 OS9:save /d0/modules/d0 d0
|
|
|
1413 OS9:save /d0/modules/d1 d1
|
|
|
1414 </screen>
|
|
|
1415 <note><para>if you only have a 2 drive system
|
|
|
1416 you can leave out the next two lines</para></note>
|
|
|
1417 <screen>
|
|
|
1418 OS9:save /d0/modules/d2 /d2
|
|
|
1419 OS9:save /d0/modules/d3 /d3
|
|
|
1420
|
|
|
1421 OS9:save /d0/modules/ccio ccio
|
|
|
1422 OS9:save /d0/modules/term term
|
|
|
1423 OS9:save /d0/modules/ioman ioman
|
|
|
1424 OS9:save /d0/modules/rbf rbf
|
|
|
1425 OS9:save /d0/modules/scf scf
|
|
|
1426 OS9:save /d0/modules/sysgo sysgo
|
|
|
1427 OS9:save /d0/modules/clock clock
|
|
|
1428 OS9:save /d0/modules/shell shell
|
|
|
1429 </screen>
|
|
|
1430 <note><para>if you never intend to let an
|
|
|
1431 outside user link with your CoCo
|
|
|
1432 by an outside phone line then
|
|
|
1433 leave out the next 2 lines</para></note>
|
|
|
1434 <screen>
|
|
|
1435 OS9:save /d0/modules/rs232 rs232
|
|
|
1436 OS9:save /d0/modules/t1 t1
|
|
|
1437 </screen>
|
|
|
1438
|
|
|
1439 <note><para>if you don't have a printer you may
|
|
|
1440 leave out the next two lines</para></note>
|
|
|
1441 <screen>
|
|
|
1442 OS9:save /d0/modules/printer printer
|
|
|
1443 OS9:save /d0/modules/p p
|
|
|
1444
|
|
|
1445 OS9:save /d0/modules/pipeman pipeman
|
|
|
1446 OS9:save /d0/modules/piper piper
|
|
|
1447 OS9:save /d0/modules/pipe pipe
|
|
|
1448 </screen>
|
|
|
1449
|
|
|
1450 <note><para>if you don't have the Radio Shack
|
|
|
1451 RS232 pak than you can leave out the
|
|
|
1452 next two lines</para></note>
|
|
|
1453 <screen>
|
|
|
1454 OS9:save /d0/modules/acia acia
|
|
|
1455 OS9:save /d0/modules/t2 t2
|
|
|
1456 </screen>
|
|
|
1457
|
|
|
1458 We have moved an image of the modules
|
|
|
1459 that are in memory over to the disk in
|
|
|
1460 drive /d0. If you did not have a
|
|
|
1461 printer or did not have drives /d2 and
|
|
|
1462 /d3 then you did not save the listed
|
|
|
1463 modules over to the disk. If you did
|
|
|
1464 not intend to have an outside user then
|
|
|
1465 you did not save rs232, t1, acia, and
|
|
|
1466 t2 over to the disk.
|
|
|
1467 </para>
|
|
|
1468 <para>
|
|
|
1469 We are now going to build a data file
|
|
|
1470 that is going to tell OS9gen what
|
|
|
1471 modules it is to put into the OS9boot
|
|
|
1472 file that we are going to put on this
|
|
|
1473 disk. It is very important that the
|
|
1148
|
1474 spellings you used in the <command>save</command> command
|
|
999
|
1475 are the same as the modules are spelled
|
|
|
1476 in memory... The new OS9boot we are
|
|
|
1477 going to make might not work if you
|
|
|
1478 spell any of the saved modules names
|
|
1148
|
1479 wrong!
|
|
999
|
1480 OK, now at the OS-9 prompt you type:
|
|
|
1481 <screen>
|
|
|
1482 OS9:build /d0/bootlist
|
|
|
1483 </screen>
|
|
|
1484 You will then see a (?) for the prompt.
|
|
|
1485 at each (?) prompt type in the following
|
|
|
1486 lines... <emphasis>without the (?) marks!!!</emphasis>
|
|
|
1487 <screen>
|
|
|
1488 ? ccdisk
|
|
|
1489 ? d0
|
|
|
1490 ? d1
|
|
|
1491 </screen>
|
|
1148
|
1492 <note><para>if you did not save <emphasis>d2</emphasis> and <emphasis>d3</emphasis> in the
|
|
999
|
1493 save operation leave the next two lines
|
|
|
1494 out!!!</para></note>
|
|
|
1495 <screen>
|
|
|
1496 ? d2
|
|
|
1497 ? d3
|
|
|
1498 ? ccio
|
|
|
1499 ? term
|
|
|
1500 ? ioman
|
|
|
1501 ? rbf
|
|
|
1502 ? scf
|
|
|
1503 ? sysgo
|
|
|
1504 ? clock
|
|
|
1505 ? shell
|
|
|
1506 </screen>
|
|
1148
|
1507 <note><para>if you did not save <emphasis>rs232</emphasis> and <emphasis>t1</emphasis> in
|
|
999
|
1508 the save operation leave the next two
|
|
|
1509 lines out!!!</para></note>
|
|
|
1510 <screen>
|
|
|
1511 ? rs232
|
|
|
1512 ? t1
|
|
|
1513 </screen>
|
|
|
1514 <note><para>if you don't have a printer and left
|
|
1148
|
1515 <emphasis>printer</emphasis> and <emphasis>p</emphasis> out of the save operation
|
|
999
|
1516 then leave the next two lines out!!!</para></note>
|
|
|
1517 <screen>
|
|
|
1518 ? printer
|
|
|
1519 ? p
|
|
|
1520 ? pipeman
|
|
|
1521 ? piper
|
|
|
1522 ? pipe
|
|
|
1523 </screen>
|
|
1148
|
1524 <note><para>if you did not save <emphasis>acia</emphasis> and <emphasis>t2</emphasis>
|
|
999
|
1525 in the save operation leave the next
|
|
|
1526 two lines out!!!</para></note>
|
|
|
1527 <screen>
|
|
|
1528 ? acia
|
|
|
1529 ? t2
|
|
|
1530 ? (enter)
|
|
|
1531 </screen>
|
|
|
1532 We now have everything we need on the
|
|
1148
|
1533 disk in drive /d0 to make <command>os9gen</command> put an
|
|
|
1534 <filename>os9boot</filename> file on that disk...
|
|
999
|
1535 At the OS-9 prompt type:
|
|
|
1536 <screen>
|
|
|
1537 OS9:chd /d0/modules
|
|
|
1538 OS9:os9gen /d0 </d0/bootlist
|
|
|
1539 </screen>
|
|
1148
|
1540 You will then have a working <filename>os9boot</filename>
|
|
999
|
1541 file on the disk in drive /d0. Now if
|
|
1148
|
1542 you left out the <emphasis>d2</emphasis>, <emphasis>d3</emphasis>, <emphasis>printer</emphasis>, <emphasis>p</emphasis>,
|
|
|
1543 <emphasis>rs232</emphasis>, <emphasis>t1</emphasis>, <emphasis>acia</emphasis> and <emphasis>t2</emphasis> modules when you
|
|
|
1544 did your <command>save</command> and when you built your
|
|
999
|
1545 bootlist... those modules will not be in
|
|
|
1546 memory when you use this disk to do
|
|
1148
|
1547 your next boot... <emphasis>But don't
|
|
|
1548 boot with this disk yet. It has no
|
|
|
1549 command directory on it.</emphasis> You will need
|
|
999
|
1550 to copy all the data files and commands
|
|
|
1551 off your master disk to this disk by
|
|
|
1552 the same method explained in the start
|
|
|
1553 of this tutorial where I talk about the
|
|
1148
|
1554 <command>cobbler</command> command.
|
|
999
|
1555 </para>
|
|
|
1556 <para>
|
|
|
1557 Now I also said earlier that there was
|
|
|
1558 2 other ways to make this boot disk and
|
|
|
1559 you have to decide if they suit your
|
|
1148
|
1560 taste. The first way is to make the
|
|
|
1561 new <filename>OS9boot</filename> file with either <command>cobbler</command>
|
|
|
1562 or <command>os9gen</command> in the same way that I have
|
|
999
|
1563 already explained. Now that the boot
|
|
|
1564 file is on that disk... Don't copy the
|
|
|
1565 whole Master disk over to this new disk!
|
|
|
1566 Instead only do this:
|
|
|
1567 <screen>
|
|
|
1568 OS9:makdir /d0/cmds
|
|
|
1569 </screen>
|
|
1148
|
1570 Copy the commands <command>setime</command>,
|
|
|
1571 <command>dir</command>,
|
|
|
1572 <command>free</command> and <command>echo</command>
|
|
999
|
1573 over to the /d0/cmds directory on this
|
|
|
1574 new disk from /d0/cmds on the old disk.
|
|
1148
|
1575 Use the <command>build</command> command to build a new
|
|
999
|
1576 startup file on this disk...
|
|
|
1577 <screen>
|
|
|
1578 OS9:build /d0/startup
|
|
|
1579 </screen>
|
|
|
1580 and enter these lines in the file:
|
|
|
1581 <screen>
|
|
|
1582 ? setime </term
|
|
|
1583 ? echo take the disk out of drive 0
|
|
|
1584 ? echo and put your working disk in
|
|
|
1585 ? echo drive 0... This is ONLY A BOOT
|
|
|
1586 ? echo DISK!!!
|
|
|
1587 ? (enter)
|
|
|
1588 </screen>
|
|
|
1589
|
|
|
1590
|
|
|
1591 So now when you wish to BOOT OS9 you can use
|
|
|
1592 this disk. After OS-9 boots ok you
|
|
|
1593 will take this disk out of /d0 and put
|
|
|
1594 in your Master disk. Then type:
|
|
|
1595 <screen>
|
|
|
1596 OS9:chd /d0
|
|
|
1597 OS9:chx /d0/cmds
|
|
|
1598 </screen>
|
|
1148
|
1599 and you will be up and running. This
|
|
999
|
1600 will be your working disk and the other
|
|
|
1601 disk will be used each time you wish to
|
|
1148
|
1602 BOOT OS-9.
|
|
999
|
1603 </para>
|
|
|
1604 <para>
|
|
|
1605 Another way to make a new BOOT disk is
|
|
1148
|
1606 to do this: Backup the old master disk
|
|
999
|
1607 to a newly formatted disk. Leave this
|
|
|
1608 new disk in /d0. Now type:
|
|
|
1609 <screen>
|
|
|
1610 OS9:chd /d0
|
|
|
1611 OS9:chx /d0/cmds
|
|
|
1612 </screen>
|
|
1148
|
1613 This will let OS-9 know that you have changed disks.
|
|
|
1614 Use the <command>makdir</command> command to make a new
|
|
999
|
1615 directory called /d0/modules...
|
|
1148
|
1616 Follow all the <command>save</command> commands listed
|
|
999
|
1617 earlier in this tutorial. Use the
|
|
1148
|
1618 <command>build</command> command to build a file called
|
|
|
1619 <filename>/d0/bootlist</filename>. Type in all the lines as
|
|
999
|
1620 listed earlier in this tutorial.
|
|
|
1621 When this is all done, you will use
|
|
1148
|
1622 the <command>del</command> command to:
|
|
999
|
1623
|
|
|
1624 <screen>
|
|
|
1625 OS9:del /d0/os9boot
|
|
|
1626 </screen>
|
|
|
1627 at this point you will:
|
|
|
1628
|
|
|
1629 <screen>
|
|
|
1630 OS9:chd /d0/modules
|
|
|
1631 OS9:os9gen /d0 </d0/bootlist
|
|
|
1632 </screen>
|
|
|
1633 and your new BOOT file will go on this
|
|
|
1634 disk with more/less modules as you told
|
|
|
1635 it to put in the BOOT file.
|
|
1148
|
1636 <emphasis>Both</emphasis> of these methods will give you a
|
|
999
|
1637 new BOOT disk but they both have their
|
|
|
1638 drawbacks. The first method gives you
|
|
|
1639 a boot disk but with little else on it
|
|
|
1640 in the way of commands. The 2nd way
|
|
|
1641 will give you a boot disk that has all
|
|
|
1642 your commands on it and all your
|
|
|
1643 working files. But the 2nd way to make
|
|
|
1644 a new BOOT disk will not work 100% of
|
|
1148
|
1645 the time. When you go to <command>cobbler</command> or
|
|
|
1646 <command>os9gen</command> a new os9boot file on a new disk
|
|
999
|
1647 it will write that file out to track 34
|
|
1148
|
1648 of that disk. It <emphasis>must</emphasis> have an
|
|
999
|
1649 unbroken number of sectors on track 34
|
|
|
1650 to put this bootfile. If you go to
|
|
1148
|
1651 <command>cobbler</command> or <command>os9gen</command> on a disk that is
|
|
|
1652 pretty full the <command>cobbler</command> or <command>os9gen</command> might
|
|
|
1653 fail. <emphasis>if</emphasis> you use <command>os9gen</command> to make a new
|
|
999
|
1654 os9boot file and it has <emphasis>less</emphasis> modules in
|
|
|
1655 it then before the 2nd method will work just
|
|
|
1656 fine. <emphasis>But</emphasis> if the new os9boot file will
|
|
|
1657 have <emphasis>more</emphasis> modules in it then this 2nd
|
|
|
1658 method will not work 100% of the time.
|
|
|
1659 </para>
|
|
|
1660 <para>
|
|
|
1661 It is for this reason that I
|
|
1148
|
1662 suggest you <command>os9gen</command> on a disk that only
|
|
999
|
1663 had the /d0/bootlist file on it and
|
|
|
1664 the /d0/modules directory on it. You
|
|
|
1665 can then copy over to this new disk
|
|
|
1666 the few commands you think you will
|
|
|
1667 need and after you boot with this disk
|
|
|
1668 take it out of /d0 and put in the disk
|
|
1148
|
1669 you intend to work with. A disk that
|
|
999
|
1670 has <emphasis>all</emphasis> the commands you know you
|
|
|
1671 will need!!!
|
|
|
1672 </para>
|
|
|
1673 <para>
|
|
|
1674 You might also want to add some commands
|
|
|
1675 to the os9boot file so that they will
|
|
|
1676 be in memory at bootup time. Some very
|
|
|
1677 useful commands to have in memory all the
|
|
1148
|
1678 time are <command>dir</command>, <command>build</command>,
|
|
|
1679 <command>del</command>, <command>mfree</command> and
|
|
|
1680 <command>free</command>.
|
|
999
|
1681 The only disadvantage of having these
|
|
|
1682 modules in the os9boot file is that once
|
|
|
1683 you boot and these modules are in memory
|
|
1148
|
1684 all the unlink-ing in the world will <emphasis>not</emphasis>
|
|
999
|
1685 get them out of memory. So you have to
|
|
|
1686 decide if you want them in memory that
|
|
|
1687 bad. It should not cause too much of a
|
|
|
1688 memory problem if you have left out the
|
|
1148
|
1689 <emphasis>d2</emphasis>, <emphasis>d3</emphasis>, <emphasis>rs232</emphasis>,
|
|
|
1690 <emphasis>t1</emphasis>, <emphasis>acia</emphasis>,
|
|
|
1691 <emphasis>t2</emphasis>, <emphasis>printer</emphasis>, and
|
|
|
1692 <emphasis>p</emphasis> modules.
|
|
999
|
1693 </para>
|
|
|
1694 <para>
|
|
|
1695 One of the advantages to making a
|
|
|
1696 tailored os9boot file is that it gets
|
|
|
1697 rid of modules that you were never going
|
|
1148
|
1698 to use and cleans up some RAM for you to
|
|
|
1699 use also. Not a lot of RAM but enough
|
|
999
|
1700 to make all this worthwile. The most
|
|
|
1701 important thing to remember though when
|
|
1148
|
1702 using the <command>os9gen</command> command is that you
|
|
999
|
1703 must move the modules from memory out
|
|
|
1704 to a directory where you will
|
|
|
1705 put all the modules you wish in the new
|
|
1148
|
1706 os9boot file. Then you must build a
|
|
999
|
1707 data file with the names of all the
|
|
1148
|
1708 modules you saved; change your data
|
|
999
|
1709 directory to the directory that has all
|
|
1148
|
1710 the modules in it; then invoke the
|
|
|
1711 <command>os9gen</command> command telling it where to put
|
|
999
|
1712 the os9boot file and where it is to
|
|
|
1713 get the list of the modules it is to
|
|
|
1714 put in the os9boot file.
|
|
|
1715 </para>
|
|
|
1716 <para>
|
|
|
1717 You may have noticed way back in the
|
|
|
1718 beginning that there were some modules
|
|
|
1719 in memory that were called:
|
|
|
1720 <literallayout>
|
|
|
1721 os9 os9p2 init boot
|
|
|
1722 </literallayout>
|
|
|
1723 and we did not save them out to the
|
|
|
1724 /d0/modules directory and we did not put
|
|
1148
|
1725 them in our bootlist. You don't need
|
|
|
1726 to. OS-9 knows to put those 4 modules
|
|
999
|
1727 in each new os9boot file it makes. It is
|
|
|
1728 something you <emphasis>should not try to do.</emphasis>
|
|
|
1729 </para>
|
|
|
1730 <para>
|
|
|
1731 Right about this time you may be saying
|
|
|
1732 to yourself that it sure is a pain to
|
|
|
1733 go about making a new boot disk? Well
|
|
|
1734 on a single disk drive system it <emphasis>is</emphasis>.
|
|
|
1735 There is no getting around this. If you
|
|
|
1736 had two disk drives you could have
|
|
|
1737 formatted the disk in drive /d1. Then
|
|
1148
|
1738 used the <command>cobbler</command> or <command>os9gen</command> command to
|
|
999
|
1739 put os9boot on that disk. You could
|
|
1148
|
1740 have then used the <command>dsave</command> command to
|
|
999
|
1741 move all the directories/files from
|
|
|
1742 /d0 over to /d1 and you would have
|
|
|
1743 saved a lot of time and typing. So I
|
|
|
1744 now repeat that OS-9 will run on a 1
|
|
|
1745 drive system but it sure runs a lot
|
|
1148
|
1746 better on a 2 drive system!
|
|
999
|
1747 </para>
|
|
|
1748 <para>
|
|
|
1749 You probably read this whole tutorial
|
|
|
1750 and said to yourself that you are
|
|
|
1751 <emphasis>never</emphasis> going to use cobbler or os9gen
|
|
|
1752 to make a new boot disk. Sounds like
|
|
|
1753 too much work. Well after reading this
|
|
|
1754 all over I tend to agree with you. I
|
|
|
1755 had OS-9 for about 1 year before I got
|
|
|
1756 around to using os9gen to make a
|
|
|
1757 tailored os9boot file. Why did I use
|
|
|
1758 it? I saw some fine articles in
|
|
|
1759 Rainbow magazine telling how to make my
|
|
|
1760 disk drives run at 6ms. under OS-9 and
|
|
|
1761 how to make OS-9 use the full 40 tracks
|
|
|
1762 that my drives were capable of. It was
|
|
|
1763 then I decided how great a command
|
|
1148
|
1764 <command>os9gen</command> was and learned how to use it.
|
|
999
|
1765 </para>
|
|
|
1766 </section>
|
|
|
1767 </article>
|
