Allison J Parent wrote:
>
> <Tandy had little input into the design really), it was a fine machine.
> <OS-9 on the CoCo was the first real OS I ever used - it taught me a lot
> <about writing device drivers, multitasking, etc. And the CoCo3 (alas not
> <at all common in the UK) was a very interesting box.
>
> OS9, I've heard a little about it but never seen it. Is it available?
> I have a COCO (I think a III, has a few ASICs and 128k), no disk
> controller but that can't be much majik.
If it has more than 64k, it's a 3, period. That one started at 128k
and could expand to 512k. The 1 and 2 stopped at 64k. The official
disk controller for Color Computers had an extension to the MS BASIC
in the box -- I really don't know enough to figure out how to build
one without that -- the TRS OS-9 boot loader was invoked from BASIC
which then was gone until powewr cycle -- but it's been so long since
I _looked_ at the boot loader that I can't remember the details for
OS-9 level one, and since in the few weeks since I've had since I
finally got a couple of CoCo 3s, my weekends have been annoyingly
filled with house maintenance crap (and a _really_ nasty strain of
influenza), I _finally_ hope to boot the bastards (with several
non-Tandy components that look fun) this weekend. If that damned
flu doesn't come back -- and my throat is sore already.
> <And don't forget the 3rd party software for the Z-80 machines. LDOS was
> <arguably the finest Z80 operating system at the time - it was a lot
>
> What ever happend to LDOS?
Well, the market for the Z-80 dried up, and there went Logical Systems
and then MisoSys, the creators. MisoSys (Roy Soltoff) sold many items
for several years (including The Source and LS-DOS for the 2/12/16/6000
systems), my 8" LS-DOS was serial number 25, bought after Tandy had
cancelled Z-80 boxes except to support a few school contracts. (It ran
most Mod 4 programs fine except that due to different character
generators, anything with the 8th bit set looked weird; I got used to it
until the move that destroyed all evidence that I ever owned it.
--
Ward Griffiths
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows.
Of course, the main reason they cuddle up is to screw somebody else.
Michael Flynn, _Rogue Star_
Received on Fri May 29 1998 - 23:47:28 BST