#: 3285 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 05-May-90 11:33:52 Sb: #Ram Boards? Fm: Ken Drexler 75126,3427 To: Carl Kreider Carl, Everyone seems to refer to you for SS-50 parts. So . .. Last year I bought a SSB system for use as my law office system. I came with 32K ram boards. These are hot power hogs and I want to replace them with 64K or bigger SS-50 boards which use less power. Do you know of anyone who has 64K or bigger SS-50 ram boards available? I want to get about 256k worth. Thanks for the help. Ken There is 1 Reply. #: 3294 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 05-May-90 13:41:44 Sb: #3285-#Ram Boards? Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Ken Drexler 75126,3427 (X) Ken - talk to Computer Excellence. I use one in the Gimix. Can use either 64K or 256K's for total RAM of 256K/1Meg. They're at: Computer Excellence 4834 N.E. 12th Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334 (305) 752-8321 Hope they're still in business! Pete P.S. Runs cool too! There is 1 Reply. #: 3392 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 10-May-90 00:26:05 Sb: #3294-Ram Boards? Fm: Ken Drexler 75126,3427 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 Pete, Thanks for the tip. I will give them a call. Cool sounds good too. My 32k SSB boards use 2.2 amps each. (I also use Digital Research of Texas 64k boards - much cooler.) Ken #: 3432 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 12-May-90 11:13:01 Sb: SS-50 Ram Boards Fm: Ken Drexler 75126,3427 To: Pete Lyall, 76703,4230 (X) Pete, I tried to call Computer Excellence as you suggested. It appears they are out of business. Their phone number is now a residence and information has no listing for them. I guess I will have to look for SS-50 ram boards elsewhere. Ken #: 4163 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 08-Jun-90 20:19:03 Sb: #Never mind Fm: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 To: Kevin Darling 76703,4227 (X) Kevin, I knew it would happen. As soon as I wrote to you, the disk and documentation arrived. So, in the words of .... ah .... what's-her-name .... (Gilda), ``...Never mind.'' Unfortunately, no matter how I torture my d1 descriptor, I can't read the Virtual Terminal disk. I can read the root directory. But, trying to access anything deeper results in a 247 error (using a standard OS9 level two system). In fact, I can dump the first 9 sectors from the disk, but no further. Does that sound like a blown disk to you or just a reading problem - perhaps the wrong number of sectors per track? Wendell There is 1 Reply. #: 4166 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 08-Jun-90 21:20:00 Sb: #4163-Never mind Fm: Kevin Darling (UG Pres) 76703,4227 To: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 (X) Wendell - I figured that you'd get it right after leaving me a message! Hmmm. Well it must not be a single density track 0, if you can dump it that far. Perhaps the sector offset is wrong? If you dump it, does the first sector you see look like LSN 0 at all? (if you're not sure what one looks like, dump a good disk). If it doesn't, and you have the SC-II cc3disk or bob santy's cc3disk... try doing a "dmode /d0 typ=22" and see what you get. On my driver at least, there's no need to change tos/sct except when formatting oddball disks. Kev #: 4173 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 09-Jun-90 00:23:29 Sb: #Am I crazy? Fm: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 To: Kevin Darling 76703,4227 (X) Kevin, Thanks for the note. My computer, however, is NOT a Coco 3. It's a Creative Micro System Level Two (version 1.2) box with 192K ram, two RS232 ports, Wyse 50 terminal, an 80 track floppy and 10 meg hard drive. It reads and writes standard OS9 disks with single density track 0. Coco disks (and the Virtual Terminal program disk from SE Media) make it choke. As you suggested, I looked at the first sector of the disk with a disk editor and it looks Ok - however, the TKS and SPT settings are both $0A; the FMT is $00; the TOT is only $015E; and the DAT ($49,$20,$40,$00,$03) doesn't make any sense at all unless you're Rod Serling :-). I've tried changing the TKS and SPT (using Dmode at startup) from $10 to $0A and the FMT from $07 to $00. But, no go. I even tried setting up an identical Ram disk to backup from drive d1 to r0. It worked until track $0A. Then error 247. (Sectors 1 to 9 look Ok.) Does the $0A value for the TKS and SPT sound reasonable? Could sector 0 be corrupted? Wendell There are 2 Replies. #: 4176 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 09-Jun-90 02:15:14 Sb: #4173-#Am I crazy? Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 (X) Wendell - On standard OS9 diskettes, t0s (track 0's sector count) always = 10 ($0a), and they are single density. Most of the other tracks are double density, and will have 16 sectors per track (sct = $10). If the disk is single density, then the other tracks will likely also be 10 sectors long (sct = $0a), like track 0. Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 4177 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 09-Jun-90 03:59:46 Sb: #4176-#Am I crazy? Fm: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete, I've been playing with the D1 descriptor all day. And no matter what values I give it, I can't read past sector 9. I even changed the bootfile D1 descriptor to expect single density throughout the disk. And just about every other combination. I still can't read past sector 9. I'm beginning to think this disk has taken a hit. Is there any other reason why I can't read it? Wendell There is 1 Reply. #: 4184 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 09-Jun-90 12:49:16 Sb: #4177-Am I crazy? Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 (X) Wendell - Either that, or your disk drivers are 'hardwired', as your terminal drivers were. If you REALLY are desparate to read that thing, bring it up later this week and we'll have a go at it here. The GIMIX will be going down for good shortly after that. Pete #: 4200 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 09-Jun-90 18:25:29 Sb: #4173-#Am I crazy? Fm: Bruce Isted (UG VP) 76625,2273 To: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 (X) ~ Wendell, Since both T0S and TKS are $0A, it probably means a single density disk throughout. Try setting your T0S to $0A, and if that doesn't work then try setting DNS (density) to $00. Just a shot in the dark, but any drivers I've written depend on having the number of sectors on track 0 and the basic disk type ($00 for standard vs. $20 for CoCo) correct. They can figure out the rest of the disk from there if the LSN0 info is good. Oh, if you're trying to read the disk in a 96 tpi drive, you might have to set the DNS to $02, which should tell the driver that the drive is 96 tpi and then it'll be able to figure out whether or not double stepping is required for a 48 tpi disk (maybe! ). Bruce PS: Since I saw some more message traffic between yourself & Pete Lyall after composing this reply I think it sounds more like the tpi might be the problem. There is 1 Reply. #: 4203 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 09-Jun-90 19:13:31 Sb: #4200-Am I crazy? Fm: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 To: Bruce Isted (UG VP) 76625,2273 Thanks Bruce. I'll give it a try. Wendell #: 4263 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 11-Jun-90 15:04:44 Sb: #4184-#Am I crazy? Fm: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete, I beginning to think the problem is with my non-standard computer: I can format a single-sided, single-density disk. But I can't read or write to it without horrendous errors. The machine has been 'hardwired' to give me a headache. Perhaps it is time for another pilgrimage to the far west-end of the San Fernando Valley: to the great Gimix, where OS9 standards are adhered to with religious fervor. Let me know when it's convenient with you. Thanks. Wendell There is 1 Reply. #: 4265 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 11-Jun-90 17:48:10 Sb: #4263-#Am I crazy? Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 (X) Wendell - Best deal might be to mail me the disk. I'm blocked until Sunday, and then I may be taking the system down for shipping. Mon & Tues are school, Wed is bills, Thu a new bass player is coming over, Friday is possibly open, Saturday is clogged until late afternoon. Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 4267 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 11-Jun-90 18:58:04 Sb: #4265-Am I crazy? Fm: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete, The U.S. Mail sounds fine to me. I'll send the Southeast Media disk, a freshly formatted 80-track disk and postage to cover return mail. To: 524 Kitty, Newbury Park, 91320. I assume that's correct. Thanks, Pete. Wendell #: 4339 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 13-Jun-90 13:46:32 Sb: #What it is! Fm: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete, Thanks for the midnight upload! I was really surprised. I've installed the Virtual Terminal program and so far it seems to work as advertised - almost like Windows. If you'd like to give it a try, load vmods, type (switch 0 1), then when the screen goes blank hit a carriage return. To open the other demo window, hit a tilda and then 1. That will put you into the second window. Again, hit a carriage return to initiate the shell. To jump back and forth between windows in this demo program, just type the tilda and either 0 or 1. To exit close the shell (with an escape) go to next window, escape again and then type tilda and Q. That's all. So far, it seems to work. I've got Dynastar in window one, Dynaspell in two, and Xcom9 in three. Thanks again. Wendell There is 1 Reply. #: 4340 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 13-Jun-90 14:59:36 Sb: #4339-#What it is! Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 (X) Wendell - Happy to help! The only thing I had heard about the Vterm package was that it sucked up a lot of the system memory... izzat the case? Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 4342 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 13-Jun-90 16:25:05 Sb: #4340-What it is! Fm: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete, I believe you're right about system memory hogishness. But I know so little about Level Two that I'd be hard pressed to prove it. I do know that each window (datamodule, descriptor, shell and whatever else is in play) takes up about 16k. Of course, I made all the datamodules maximum size (for complete screen refresh when jumping from one window to another). I can pare that down when I finally figure out what I'm doing. I can also incorporate the whole mess into the bootfile. That also may help. But, now I have a new problem. Where did all my memory go? I used to have plenty. Now, in my quest to run everything at once (grin) I'm as parched as the Santa Barbara water supply. And Creative Micro Systems wants $495 for a 256K (EXORbus) memory board (they still make Level One and Two OS9 computers - in Los Alamitos). $2 per K is .. ah ... a LITTLE HIGH!!!! Give me a break! Nevertheless, so far so good. Thanks again. Pete. Wendell #: 4464 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 18-Jun-90 01:39:48 Sb: #GIMIX going away? Fm: Ken Drexler 75126,3427 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete I saw your message to Wendell Benedetti #4177. "The GIMIX will be going down for good shortly." Another SS-50 user bites the dust? What hardware will you be running post GIMIX other than your Coco? Say, I was able to find some SS-50 memory. I found a 1985 ad for D.P. Johnson's 1 Meg dynamic ram board and on a lark called him. After getting by his answering machine, he said he has several blank boards around and would build me a 512K board. I expect to get it in the next week or two. He has a Smoke Signal machine like mine, so I hope it will work without a hitch. Ken There is 1 Reply. #: 4534 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 20-Jun-90 23:22:05 Sb: #4464-#GIMIX going away? Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Ken Drexler 75126,3427 (X) Ken - Well, with luck I'll be navigating up the learning curve on a developmental MM/1... Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 4540 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 21-Jun-90 00:33:16 Sb: #4534-GIMIX going away? Fm: Ken Drexler 75126,3427 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) I hope you will keep all of us on here advised on it as you get into it. It has been fascinating to watch the MM/1 and the Tomcat develop here. Ken #: 4600 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 24-Jun-90 11:27:01 Sb: #4265-#Am I crazy? Fm: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete what is it at the far west end of the Ssan Fernando Valley (near where I live) that has to do with Gimiz or OS9 ? TC There is 1 Reply. #: 4624 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 24-Jun-90 23:16:49 Sb: #4600-#Am I crazy? Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 (X) Tony - Admittedly I'm out of context, but I haven't a clue as to what you're talking about... care to give it another shot? Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 4627 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 25-Jun-90 00:35:48 Sb: #4624-#Am I crazy? Fm: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) I read a message that you sent to ?? recently, and it said something about Gimix, OS-9 and heading to the West SanFernando Valley. I thought that maybe there was a store that sold Gimix or other OS9 systems in the area. So I thought I would inquire. Don't woory about it if it doesn't ring any bells. Curiosity got the better of me. Thats what I get for reading sombody else's messages ! TC There are 2 Replies. #: 4629 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 25-Jun-90 03:27:14 Sb: #4627-#Am I crazy? Fm: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 To: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 (X) Tony, I was the one who wrote the obscure reference to the far west end of the San Fernando Valley. By far west end I was referring to Newbury Park - where Pete lives. Admittedly, that's stretching the Valley a wee bit to the west. And I should know better! I'm a columnist at the Daily News in ... ah ... Woodland something (grin). But, I don't live in the Valley. I do all my writing via the modem. (I know. I know. What a poor excuse!) By making a pilgrimage to the far west end I was referring to a proposed visit to Pete's home - one time abode of the now departed GIMIX Ghost. My computer wouldn't read a single density disk. His GIMIX could. And did. I hope that clears up any confusion. And, yes, I am crazy! (grin) Wendell Benedetti There is 1 Reply. #: 4862 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 04-Jul-90 02:18:42 Sb: #4629-#Am I crazy? Fm: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 To: Wendell Benedetti 72766,2605 (X) Thanx for the info. For a while there I think Pete thought I wuz the crazy one. I've talked to him a few times about making the journey to see his Gimix system, but we have never solidified any plans. I've been really buzt with school and such. Interesting idea journalism via modem ! What do you write (type) about ? Are you still running a Gimix system ? The closest thing I 'v ever come to seeing a Gimix wuz on the back cover of Color Computer News (REMEMBER THAT ONE COCO VETERANS !!!!!!!!). You and Pete may not have heard of that magazine if you are strictly Gimix users, but it was another of the thousands (just kidding Lonnie !) of Color Ccomputer magazines to come and go since day 1, and yes I do beleive Rainbow is on it's way out too. Staples this month !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So if I don't get to see Pete's Gimix system maybe I could convince you to give me a tour if you have the time. Thanx. TC There are 2 Replies. #: 4865 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 04-Jul-90 04:11:30 Sb: #4862-#Am I crazy? Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 (X) Tony - Ahem.... I was getting Rainbow when it was printed using an Epson MX-80 (with the Graphtrax option!), and duplicated on a copier and stapled together. I started out with an 'E' series (possibly 'D'?), and had the hot rodded piggy backed 32k hack. I have been a 6809'er for a loooong time. (g) Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 4938 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 07-Jul-90 01:11:03 Sb: #4865-#Am I crazy? Fm: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Ssorry. I din't know that. Anyway, it wasn't intended as an insult. I just thought since I usually hear you talking about Gimix systems, that it was your first system. I still have a gray dinosaur myself, but my Rainbows don't go back as far as yours. Guess you been round longer. Ok you win. Maybe not. I forgot, I have Thunder Ram on my CC 1. It was a 256K ram board that allowed you to have 4 separate 64k basic banks running. But only 1 bank would actually be running a program at a time. The other 3 would just sit there waiting to be mapped in . Wwhat a neat idea WAY back then, but the true applications for that were somewhat limited ( actually it wuz just our imaginations that were limited). Thanks to Chris Erving, Thunder Ram wuz made possible. I wonder what happedened to him. I used to see him at the Color Aamerica meetings, but then he defected to the Amiga crowd. I guess he was entitled to it. He helped stretch the coco 1's capabilities several times. Aanybody know where Chris is or what he is doing ????? TC There is 1 Reply. #: 4942 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 07-Jul-90 01:27:34 Sb: #4938-#Am I crazy? Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 (X) Tony - Nope.... I checked in waaaaay before Thunder Ram.... circa 81. We use to share neat tech tips like inverting the cassette recorder for better reliability. Chris Irving was a young fellow here in the LA area. I don't know what became of him. Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 4977 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 08-Jul-90 11:33:56 Sb: #4942-#Am I crazy? Fm: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete Wwhen you said you inverted the cassette player did you mean you physicaaly turned it upside down, or did you mean you inverted the signal that comes from the player during playback. If you did mean physical inversion, how ddid that make the cassette player more reliable ? TC There is 1 Reply. #: 5003 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 08-Jul-90 17:13:05 Sb: #4977-Am I crazy? Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 (X) Upside down.... held the tape closer to the head better. Pete #: 4870 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 04-Jul-90 10:23:07 Sb: #4862-#Am I crazy? Fm: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 To: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 (X) **Staples** ???? Now there's a step backwards in time. Steve There is 1 Reply. #: 4940 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 07-Jul-90 01:18:47 Sb: #4870-Am I crazy? Fm: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 To: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 (X) You got it. Next thing you know the Rainbow will be shipped, as a kit and you have the option of binding it yourself ! TC #: 4634 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 25-Jun-90 09:39:11 Sb: #4627-#Am I crazy? Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 (X) Oh - okay. I have been in the air most of this week (literally - Boston, Washington, and Fresno), and was caught off guard. Actually, there used to be an SS50 manufacturer here in Westlake Village, but I believe they've closed their doors (Smoke Signal Broadcasting). Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 4863 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 04-Jul-90 02:21:23 Sb: #4634-Am I crazy? Fm: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Yep. I remember Ssmoke Signals adds in 68 Micro Journal (I think) ? There is are hardware/software guy that used to do some work for them working at the company I work for (Micropolis). He was the ORIGINAL author for Dircopy. TC #: 4866 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 04-Jul-90 04:12:43 Sb: Coco 3 + 80 MB Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 (X) Tony - Is it SCSI? New? I may be interested. Pete #: 4943 S11/Non-CoCo OS-9 07-Jul-90 01:29:04 Sb: Coco 3 + 80 MB Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: TONY CAPPELLINI 76370,2104 (X) Tony - Well - I'm still curious.... what are you able to snag the MFM drives for. Pete #: 8216 S11/OS9/6809 (Non-CoCo) 16-Nov-90 06:44:41 Sb: Tomcat Fm: MOTD Editor..Bill Brady 70126,267 To: ALL Well, I finally decided to jump off the fence. I'm on the list for a TC-9 board. I also have ordered a tower case.