textfiles/messages/ALANWESTON/1994/CIS11_12.txt

#: 20537 S1/General Interest
    09-Nov-94  16:21:17
Sb: #20273-#WWW OS-9 FAQs
Fm: L. Mark Stone 70612,100
To: Bill Dickhaus 70325,523 (X)

 > To those of you with access to a WWW browser (like Mosaic), the
 > OS-9 FAQ and OS-9 Users Group FAQ are now available

Bill,

        I do not have access to a WWW browser, and am interested in learning
more about OS-9.

        Do you (or any lurkers) have an address/phone # for the owner,
Microware?

        Thanking you in advance,

L. Mark Stone New York City


There is 1 Reply.

#: 20543 S1/General Interest
    10-Nov-94  16:28:05
Sb: #20537-WWW OS-9 FAQs
Fm: Bill Dickhaus 70325,523
To: L. Mark Stone 70612,100

The text version of this file is in LIB 1 as file OS9FAQ.TXT, the Microware
information is in there, as well as a lot of other information about OS9 and
OS9 vendors.

-Bill-

#: 20508 S1/General Interest
    01-Nov-94  20:24:40
Sb: #20506-#Any suggestions?
Fm: Dick Watson 71320,2340
To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X)

The pipe approach sounds best (a loaded data module might also work) but I'm
trying to avoid doing any .ASM.  Only tool that comes with the processor in
question is BASIC-09; ASM is extra cost.  Plus, ASM means I've really go to go
find the OS-9 operating system docs.

Can I get there (data modules or pipes) from BASIC-09?  I can set it up so that
the processes are parent/child (via a shell prob&) from the parent process.

Thanks for your thoughts,

Dick Watson

There is 1 Reply.

#: 20514 S1/General Interest
    03-Nov-94  11:13:35
Sb: #20508-Any suggestions?
Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230
To: Dick Watson 71320,2340 (X)

I believe so, by B09 is not my strong suit (I'm a C geek). I believe that
between using the SYSTEM() calls and a subroutine called 'syscall' you should
be able to do most of what you need.

You may find data modules a bit easier.

Pete

#: 20511 S1/General Interest
    02-Nov-94  19:59:15
Sb: #20493-Any suggestions?
Fm: Dick Watson 71320,2340
To: Bob van der Poel 76510,2203 (X)

Well, I didn't exactly want to know what ADDR() returned.  This I pretty much
knew.  What I wanted to know is what did the structure stored at that location
look like.  (Didn't TRS-80 BASIC store a DIM out there too?  That's what I was
wondering...)  What I've learned is that if I want some other module to be able
to look at a string safely, I have to somehow get it both ADDR(mystring$) and
SIZE(mystring$) so that I know where to poke about and where not to.

Whole reason to know this was that I'd like to be able to implement an
inter-process communications scheme for passing vlidated messages recieved in
realtime to a lower priority process that breaks them back and can queue them.
I still don't know a good way to do this.  The LOADed data module seems like
one way, but the complications to doing this without ASM are not clear.  Using
pipes may also be a way, but what would this look like from a B09 code/shell
procedure point of view?

Thanks for continued thought stream!  My system hardware should be here in a
few weeks so these will no longer be academic issues!

#: 20517 S1/General Interest
    03-Nov-94  23:15:54
Sb: #Help
Fm: Boisy G. Pitre 74464,3005
To: all

I'm in the process of uploading UUCPbb 2.1, and I seem to have run out of space
to upload the rest of the package.  Can the SYSOP (whoever that may be)
allocate more space for the 2 extra files I need to complete the submission?

There is 1 Reply.

#: 20518 S1/General Interest
    04-Nov-94  07:18:12
Sb: #20517-Help
Fm: Steve Wegert 76703,4255
To: Boisy G. Pitre 74464,3005 (X)

Boisy,

Wayne Day, Mike Ward, Bill Dickhaus and I try to keep things in order around
these parts. Pete Lyall and Kevin Darling along with Mark Griffith are also
still on the rolls ... so there's plenty of help around.

I've made some room available and I've asked Mike to work his magic as well, so
more space should be showing up soon.

Thanks for the heads up!


*- Steve -*


#: 20533 S1/General Interest
    07-Nov-94  21:25:22
Sb: #Info On SCulptor
Fm: Peter Baxter 74650,2522
To: 70310,317

Are Sculptor OS9/68K development versions (w/ manuals) still available ?
I am interested in a DBMS for OS-9.

Thanks for the bargain ??

Peter C. Baxter

There is 1 Reply.

#: 20538 S1/General Interest
    10-Nov-94  03:39:38
Sb: #20533-Info On SCulptor
Fm: Ed Gresick 76576,3312
To: Peter Baxter 74650,2522

 Sculptor 4GL + SQL OS9/68k development/runtime systems are very much
 available and fully supported.  The current version is 2.4.

 I believe Peripheral Technology still has several copies of the older
 version (1.16) available at an almost give away price.  These include
 manuals but are unsupported.  Call either Carol or Fred at 404-973-2156
 for further info.

 If you want further information for the current version send me E-Mail
 or call me.

 Ed Gresick - DELMAR CO  302-378-2555   FAX 302-378-2556
 Internet     76576.3312@compuserve.com  or  edelmar@delphi.com

#: 20541 S5/OS9 Users Group
    10-Nov-94  12:34:23
Sb: Device Driver Help Neede
Fm: David M. Horn 73260,242
To: Peter Baxter 74650,2522

Microware has a full NFS package that sits on top of
their InterNet Support Package.  Does this meet your
needs?

David Horn

#: 20522 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    05-Nov-94  10:20:56
Sb: #20501-#CoCo Comment&?
Fm: David Breeding 72330,2051
To: STEVE SANDISH 70712,2447 (X)

 > David - The big execution directory is the problem.  For example Home
 > Publisher is stuck with all the clipart in the execution directory. It

Umm, yes!  I never used Home Publisher, but I did read in MOTD several years
ago in an article where someone attempted to install it on a HD.  He seemed to
be constantly encountering problems.  IS is hardcoded to /dd/CMDS? if not, you
might put them in a seperate directory.  Then you could set up a procedure file
to "chx","chd", and whatever needed, and finally executes the Home Publisher
program.

 > takes for ever to scrough.  It would be neat to have it copy all HP to a
 > Ramdisk and switch execution directories through a progrm hooked to an

If an alternate cmds directory can be used, this could be accomplished in the
procedure file.  (You could generate the copy commands with "dsave <???> >
procfile".

 > icon. Data Windows would be similar. Utilities would be another directory.

Utilities? You mean the general utilities, like ident, etc?  I'd say these
should be in /dd/CMDS.  If any of these were called by HP, or any other app,
and you had "chx"ed, then you would have to have copies of these in the
alternate directory.  Note that the shell+ "path" cmd does not carry down into
programs called by shell.
                   -- David Breeding --
                 CompuServe :  72330,2051
                     Delphi :  DBREEDING

         ***  Sent via CoCo-InfoXpress V1.01 ***
                       ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^

There is 1 Reply.

#: 20528 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    07-Nov-94  17:48:03
Sb: #20522-CoCo Comment&?
Fm: STEVE SANDISH 70712,2447
To: David Breeding 72330,2051 (X)

Thanks for the reply David. It seems that what I'm looking for is the procedure
file to chx and chd. I understand what you are saying about the utilities.  I
was thinking more of things such as patch or repack. Probably more appropriate
would be a games exec. dir so I dont have to scroll through Mickey & Donald &
soforth. Guess I'll just have to roll the dice and try it. Fouling up the hard
disk structure is an abhorant thought.

#: 20510 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    02-Nov-94  19:33:27
Sb: #20504-#Basic09 "BUG"
Fm: Kevin Darling 76703,4227
To: Rogelio Perea 72056,1204 (X)

Probably the best way is to turn off echo, but a quick fix for your routine
would be to check for the ENTER key:

 PROCEDURE Program
      DIM userinput:STRING[1]
      REPEAT
        GET #0,userinput
        IF userinput<>"y" OR userinput<>"n" THEN
          IF userinput<>CHR$(13) THEN
            SHELL "display 07 08 20 08"
          ENDIF
        ENDIF
      UNTIL userinput="y" OR userinput="n"
      END


kev

There is 1 Reply.

#: 20515 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    03-Nov-94  17:45:30
Sb: #20510-Basic09 "BUG"
Fm: Rogelio Perea 72056,1204
To: Kevin Darling 76703,4227 (X)

Thanks Kevin, I will try. It seems I tried something like that but must have
been doin' somethin' wrong.... maybe it is that I have lo "unlearn" what I
learned when using RSDOS to learn BASIC09!!..

Rogelio

#: 20509 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    02-Nov-94  11:28:57
Sb: #Basic09 Tour Guide
Fm: Rogelio Perea 72056,1204
To: ALL

I must say that Dale L. Puckett's Official Basic09 Tour Guide is one of the
best books available for the Color Computer. After reading it and trying out
the examples I came across several "bugs" which I will outline here, maybe I am
doing something wrong on my end so I would like your comments:

On page 89 there's a procedure called "echoforawhile":

         PROCEDURE echoforawhile

         DIM char:BYTE

         LOOP
           GET #0,char
         EXITIF ASC(char)=$1B (* ESCAPE *)
           PRINT "Don't frown, you told me to ESCAPE."
         ENDEXIT
           PUT #1,char
         ENDLOOP
         END

here, char is declared as BYTE, but ASC evaluates STRINGs, so the CoCo reports
an error; I had to use EXITIF ASC(STR$(char))=$1B to use the procedure. Also,
it seems that $1B is not evaluated at all.

Turning to page 90, let us examine the procedure "exitgracefully":

         PROCEDURE exitgracefully
         DIM num,val,minimum:INTEGER

         num:=100 \ minimum:=-10

         REPEAT
           num:=num-1
         EXITIF num<0 THEN
           PRINT "Error - You can't take the square";
           PRINT "root of a negative number!"
         ENDEXIT
           val:=val+SQRT(num)
         UNTIL num < minimum
         END

the problem I found here is that "val" is a reserved word, so to get this
procedure working I had to change the variables's name to "value".

Going over to page 95, my CoCo III busts out with:

         PROCEDURE positiontest
         DIM yes:BOOLEAN
         yes:=TRUE
         WHILE yes DO
           PRINT "OK";
           yes:=POS x 50
         ENDWHILE
         END

the sixth line has an error, it should read -->  yes:=POS<50

Pages 100 and 101 have a procedure called "dayofweek" showing how to use the ON
... GOSUB control structure:

         PROECDURE dayofweek
         DIM day:INTEGER
         day:=1+INT(RND(6))
         ON day GOSUB 10,20,30,40,50,60,70

      10 PRINT "Sunday" / RETURN
      20 PRINT "Monday" / RETURN
      30 PRINT "Tuesday" / RETURN
      40 PRINT "Wednesday" / RETURN
      50 PRINT "Thursday" / RETURN
      60 PRINT "Friday" / RETURN
      70 PRINT "Saturday" / RETURN

well, all those slashes are backwards!!. To get it right I had to replace them
it the "inverse backslash" --> \

I'm almost through with this, so moving to page 119:

         PROCEDURE makefile

         TYPE inventory_item=name:STRING[25];list,cost:REAL;qty:INTEGER

         DIM inventory_array(100):inventory_item
         DIM work_record:inventory_item
         DIM path,counter:BYTE

         CREATE #path,"inventory"

         work_record.name:=""
         work_record.list:=0.
         work_record.cost:=0.
         work_record.qty:=0
         FOR counter:=1 to 100
           PUT #path,work_record
         NEXT counter
         END

my CoCo gives an error when DIMensioning counter as BYTE, but changing that to
DIM counter:INTEGER fixed things up. And to finish this up there's only one
more typo on page 136 with the AUTOMULT procedure. It seems that when printing
this page of the book a carriage return was overlooked and the procedure
PRINTANSWER began where AUTOMULT ended. Both work OK but as typed the
procedures can cause some confusion to the untrained eye.

There they are. Am I correct in assuming these could be described as bugs or
did I slip somewhere in the programs?. I haven't seen anywhere any information
on corrections to this book so all comments will be greatly appreciated...


Rogelio Perea


There is 1 Reply.

#: 20512 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    02-Nov-94  20:18:16
Sb: #20509-#Basic09 Tour Guide
Fm: Bob van der Poel 76510,2203
To: Rogelio Perea 72056,1204 (X)

I haven't looked at that book for years...and I never did type in all the
examples. Looks like you have found some typos.

In echoforawhile, you can leave 'char' as a BYTE, if you change the test line
to:

        EXITIF char=$1B THEN  (* ESCAPE *)

To really get it to work, you'll have to zap out the EOF value in the path
descriptor.

In makefile, all loop counters in for/next have to REAL or INTEGER.

Looks like someone decided to 'clean up' the code before it was printed.

If memory serves, the source for the finance program is in one of the libraries
here.


There is 1 Reply.

#: 20516 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    03-Nov-94  17:47:57
Sb: #20512-Basic09 Tour Guide
Fm: Rogelio Perea 72056,1204
To: Bob van der Poel 76510,2203 (X)

There's one more thing that slipped my mind also, in the Blackjack programs, I
think one of the called procedures in one of the modules is missing. I do not
recall right this minute which one is... would it be helpful to compile the
bugs into a file as to distribute it here and in other BBS 'round the country?

Rogelio

#: 20526 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    07-Nov-94  01:38:58
Sb: #COMM4.AR
Fm: Brother Jeremy, CSJW 76477,142
To: Sysop (X)

Dear Sysop: At one time there was a file in DL10 called COMM4.AR. It was about
using the COMM4 board under Level 2.  Is that file still available in offline
storage, and if so could it be placed on line so that I may download it? With
all best wishes, Brother Jeremy, CSJW

There are 2 Replies.

#: 20527 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    07-Nov-94  04:14:09
Sb: #20526-COMM4.AR
Fm: Mike Ward 76703,2013
To: Brother Jeremy, CSJW 76477,142 (X)

I checked what offline archives I have and came up empty on COMM4.AR

Best,

Mike

#: 20544 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    10-Nov-94  16:28:13
Sb: #20526-#COMM4.AR
Fm: Bill Dickhaus 70325,523
To: Brother Jeremy, CSJW 76477,142 (X)

Brother Jeremy,

I found a copy of comm4.ar in my archives, and have passed it on to Mike Ward
to put back into LIB 10. I have a COMM4, and don't remember doing the address
hack that's described in the file, though it might have been done already.

-Bill-

There is 1 Reply.

#: 20548 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    12-Nov-94  02:32:03
Sb: #20544-COMM4.AR
Fm: Brother Jeremy, CSJW 76477,142
To: Bill Dickhaus 70325,523 (X)

Dear Bill: Thank you for your help.  If you ever decide to sell the COMM4, or
if you know of someone who might have one, please let me know. With all best
wishes,

Brother Jeremy, CSJW

#: 20536 S11/OS9/6809 (Non-CoCo)
    09-Nov-94  01:38:50
Sb: sp9000 and os9
Fm: william blaylock 75201,2372
To: all

Is there any possibility that anyone still supports os9 on the cbm machines (I
have an old sp9000 I am in the process of getting out of moth balls... the
machine works, many of the disks are gone/dead, and some of the manuals are in
less than good shape <G>)

THANKS in advance!


at 00:17:03 on Wed  11-09-94 W. A. Blaylock 75201,2372 thunked it!
 in Salt Lake, Utah, USA  *BB*

#: 20524 S12/OS9/68000 (OSK)
    05-Nov-94  23:32:48
Sb: #20271-#CD ROM DRIVES
Fm: Peter Baxter 74650,2522
To: Bob van der Poel 76510,2203 (X)

Mr. van der Poel -

I am interested in the "file manager" part of your CD ROM project.  Would you
know where one could find a complete file manager and device driver (w/ source)
for a SCSI-I/II, prefer NCR 53C710-based ?

Any/all leads greatly appreciated.

Peter Baxter

There is 1 Reply.

#: 20529 S12/OS9/68000 (OSK)
    07-Nov-94  18:07:06
Sb: #20524-#CD ROM DRIVES
Fm: Bob van der Poel 76510,2203
To: Peter Baxter 74650,2522 (X)

Peter, Sorry if some earlier messages misled you. I'm not writing a CD ROM
driver set. I'd like one... Carl Krieder has written a series of utilities
which work on the mm/1 which read CDROMS. They should work on other scsi
systems too (however, I tried them on my mvme 147s and they didn't). You might
want to contact Carl to get more information. I believe he was planning on
writing a file manager (the guts for the manager are all embedded in the
utilities right now). Don't know what the status is. I do know that several
folks are reading CDS on the mm/1 right now. I have a drive and mm/1...however,
I have to take things apart to add in another scsi port and just haven't felt
like it. Maybe this week.

BTW, Carl's CIS ID is 71076,76; however it doesn't appear that he is checking
in too often here. Don't know if he has an internet address?

Hope this helps.

Bob.


There is 1 Reply.

#: 20530 S12/OS9/68000 (OSK)
    07-Nov-94  21:12:28
Sb: #20529-CD ROM DRIVES
Fm: Peter Baxter 74650,2522
To: Bob van der Poel 76510,2203 (X)

Bob -
Thabks for the info. I have written a SCSI target device driver that makes OS-9
on an Omnibyte Taurus or Synergy SV420 (both 68040s) look like a tape or a disk
drive. Had lots of fun, but now I'm looking for a SCSI host device driver. If
you come across anything, I greatly appreciate it. I will email Carl.

Again, thanks,

Peter

#: 20531 S12/OS9/68000 (OSK)
    07-Nov-94  21:17:30
Sb: #Device Driver Help Neede
Fm: Peter Baxter 74650,2522
To: All

Looking for source for an OS-9 device driver and file manager. I have a custom
app. where I need o convince NFS that I have a directory/file structure. Any
leads on where I could find a complete sample ? Does Microware have such a
thing ?

All help appreciated,
Peter C. Baxter

There is 1 Reply.

#: 20539 S12/OS9/68000 (OSK)
    10-Nov-94  08:57:07
Sb: #20531-#Device Driver Help Neede
Fm: Kevin Darling 76703,4227
To: Peter Baxter 74650,2522

Peter,

Yes, you should call Microware and order "OS-9 Insights", a book which has
sample file managers in C and some driver samples.

Another book to get is "The OS-9 Guru, Part 1", which you can get here in the
states from Windsor Systems, I believe.  Someone online can post the address
(I've been looking for that address, too!)

kev

There are 2 Replies.

#: 20540 S12/OS9/68000 (OSK)
    10-Nov-94  12:33:52
Sb: #20539-Device Driver Help Neede
Fm: David M. Horn 73260,242
To: Kevin Darling 76703,4227

Windsor Systems can be reached at (502)425-9560.

I have a copy of "OS-9 Guru" and it seems to be a very
good book at a more reasonable price than Microware's. 

#: 20546 S12/OS9/68000 (OSK)
    11-Nov-94  06:38:08
Sb: #20539-Device Driver Help Neede
Fm: Bill Dickhaus 70325,523
To: Kevin Darling 76703,4227

Kevin,

Windsor Systems info is in version 13 of OS9FAQ, which hasn't found its way
into our libraries yet, but is on chestnut in /incoming (they haven't gotten
around to it yet, either). Right out of the FAQ:

 [20]-------------------
  Steven Weller
  Windsor Systems
  2407 Lime Kiln Ln
  Louisville, KY 40222
  502-425-9560
  502-426-3944 fax
  stevenw@coplex.com
  steve@barefoot.com
  sweller@aol.com

  http://iglou.com/~stevenw/windsorhome.html

More than you probably wanted to know! :-)

-Bill-

Press <CR> !>