[N8VEM: 17635] Extension Idea for the 6809 version of Multicomp

[Kip Koon]

Hi Grant!

Would you be interested in looking into adapting NitrOS-9 6809 L1 v3.2.9 to
run on the 6809 version of your Multicomp project? There is a full Wiki
page with much documentation on NitrOS-9. Here is a link to that Wiki
describing how to build your own copy of the NitrOS-9 Distribution .dsk
files from the source code. All source code for the entire NitrOS-9
Operating System is available for anyone to download. Here is a link
describing how to do just that.

http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/nitros9/index.php?title=Building_NitrO
S9

The main page for NitrOS-9 begins here.

http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/nitros9/index.php?title=Main_Page

There is several versions. Level 1 which runs entirely in 64KB of
contiguous ram memory the Coco 1 and Coco 2 and Level 2 which uses the
memory management unit in the Coco 3 to be able to utilize up to 2MB of ram!
In addition to NitrOS-9 running on the 6809 microprocessor, NitrOS-9 runs on
the Hitachi 6309 as well which was as I understand it the initial motivation
to update OS-9 in the first place. Once the 6309's extended capabilities
were discovered the Coco Community decided to update OS-9 into what is now
called NitrOS-9. I am not yet able to make such a change to NitrOS-9, but
from what I see on your Project pages on your web site it seems that you
have the skills needed to accomplish such a monumental task. If you have
any questions, just drop a line on the Coco email list. I just dawned on me
that you might already know about NitrOS-9, but I wanted to share it with
you just in case you didn't. Take care my friend.

[Grant Searle]

Hi.
Funnily enough, I saw a mention of NitrOS-9 on this board a day or two ago,
and was thinking the same. I'm a bit busy for the next few days so won't
have much time to do "fun" things, but from what I briefly read then that
sounds interesting, and definitely a go-er :)

I'll do some investigation in the next few days (and any spare time I get
this weekend if possible).

Regards.

Grant

Post by Kip Koon
Hi Grant!
Would you be interested in looking into adapting NitrOS-9 6809 L1 v3.2.9
to run on the 6809 version of your Multicomp project? There is a full Wiki
page with much documentation on NitrOS-9. Here is a link to that Wiki
describing how to build your own copy of the NitrOS-9 Distribution .dsk
files from the source code. All source code for the entire NitrOS-9
Operating System is available for anyone to download. Here is a link
describing how to do just that.
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/nitros9/index.php?title=Building_NitrOS9
The main page for NitrOS-9 begins here.
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/nitros9/index.php?title=Main_Page
There is several versions. Level 1 which runs entirely in 64KB of
contiguous ram memory the Coco 1 and Coco 2 and Level 2 which uses the
memory management unit in the Coco 3 to be able to utilize up to 2MB of
ram! In addition to NitrOS-9 running on the 6809 microprocessor, NitrOS-9
runs on the Hitachi 6309 as well which was as I understand it the initial
motivation to update OS-9 in the first place. Once the 6309’s extended
capabilities were discovered the Coco Community decided to update OS-9 into
what is now called NitrOS-9. I am not yet able to make such a change to
NitrOS-9, but from what I see on your Project pages on your web site it
seems that you have the skills needed to accomplish such a monumental
task. If you have any questions, just drop a line on the Coco email list.
I just dawned on me that you might already know about NitrOS-9, but I
wanted to share it with you just in case you didn’t. Take care my friend.

[Kip Koon]

Hi Grant!

Thank you for answering my email so quickly. I appreciate that very much. I was just going over in my mind what I said to you yesterday and remembered that there is a capability built into NitrOS-9 that enables communication over an RS-232 serial I/O link with a java enabled OS like Windows on a PC (or Linux) running Drivewire 4 Server to get access to .dsk disk images in both floppy and hard drive image sizes.

In fact according to the authors of HDB-DOS DW3 for the Coco 1, 2 & 3 and those who participated in the NitrOS-9 upgrades the upper limit of disk sizes should be about 4GB though I’m not entirely sure how much ram is required to format that much hard drive space. HDB-DOS and NitrOS-9 both use 256 byte sectors and the LSN or Logic Sector Number size that both use is 24-bits or 3 bytes in length so an 8-bit sector size plus a 24-bit LSN size makes a total of 32-bits which is the maximum amount of data that HDB-DOS and NitrOS-9 should be able to access from what I’ve been told.

I’m sure the ram memory size of 512KBs in my setup may be keeping me from formatting a disk that size as I have only been successful in formatting 32MB NitrOS-9 partitions in the past and that is at 0.89MHZ at the default speed of the Coco. At that speed it take quite a while to format 32MBs of hard drive space. With verification the time is even longer. I’m running hard drives on both of my NitrOS-9 installations on a 512KB Coco 3 and a 128KB Coco 1. Although my Coco 1 has 128KB of ram only 64KB of ram is recognized by NitrOS-9 L1. L2 of course is running on my Coco 3.

The ECB 6x0x SBC VME PCB project has an MMU built in to it enabling the 6809 to access 1MB of address space in 4KB blocks. There are 1024KB / 4KB = 256 blocks total in this configuration and as we all know the 6809 or 6309 can access 64KBs of ram maximum at one time. 64KB / 4KB = 16 blocks are accessible at a time. Maybe you could use the MMU used by this board to expand the Multicomp beyond the 64KB barrier of these microprocessors.

The Z80 and 6502 versions of Multicomp could benefit also though I have no idea what software changes in CP/M is required to take advantage of this new capability in the hardware.

There is also DOS/65 for the 6502 which might be usable for the 6502 version as well though I have no knowledge whatsoever of that OS. So there we have three possible solutions of OSes for the Multicomp already. Then there is Flex9 and Uniflex for the 6809 version which makes five possible OSes.

When you get the 6800 VHDL core operational then we will have four cores running and Flex2 enters the picture as another possible OS that could run on the Multicomp for a told of six possible OSes.

I dare say that the popularity of your web site will soar to newer heights as these other operating systems come online for the Multicomp! These new possibilities for the Multicomp gets me very excited indeed. I believe you have your fun work cut out for you! :) Maybe some talented individuals will step in and share the excitement of getting these other OSes online. Have fun with all this and I will be looking on eagerly to play with all the possibilities. Hummm
 six operating systems! I have an FGPA mini-development board on the way but I will have to buy five more of these FPGA mini-development boards eventually! Take care my friends.

Kip



From: n8vem-/***@public.gmane.org [mailto:n8vem-/***@public.gmane.org] On Behalf Of Grant Searle
Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2014 6:21 AM
To: n8vem-/***@public.gmane.org
Cc: 'Grant Searle'
Subject: [N8VEM: 17637] Re: Extension Idea for the 6809 version of Multicomp



Hi.

Funnily enough, I saw a mention of NitrOS-9 on this board a day or two ago, and was thinking the same. I'm a bit busy for the next few days so won't have much time to do "fun" things, but from what I briefly read then that sounds interesting, and definitely a go-er :)



I'll do some investigation in the next few days (and any spare time I get this weekend if possible).



Regards.



Grant

On Saturday, 29 March 2014 07:31:00 UTC, computerdoc wrote:

Hi Grant!

Would you be interested in looking into adapting NitrOS-9 6809 L1 v3.2.9 to run on the 6809 version of your Multicomp project? There is a full Wiki page with much documentation on NitrOS-9. Here is a link to that Wiki describing how to build your own copy of the NitrOS-9 Distribution .dsk files from the source code. All source code for the entire NitrOS-9 Operating System is available for anyone to download. Here is a link describing how to do just that.

http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/nitros9/index.php?title=Building_NitrOS9

The main page for NitrOS-9 begins here.

http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/nitros9/index.php?title=Main_Page

There is several versions. Level 1 which runs entirely in 64KB of contiguous ram memory the Coco 1 and Coco 2 and Level 2 which uses the memory management unit in the Coco 3 to be able to utilize up to 2MB of ram! In addition to NitrOS-9 running on the 6809 microprocessor, NitrOS-9 runs on the Hitachi 6309 as well which was as I understand it the initial motivation to update OS-9 in the first place. Once the 6309’s extended capabilities were discovered the Coco Community decided to update OS-9 into what is now called NitrOS-9. I am not yet able to make such a change to NitrOS-9, but from what I see on your Project pages on your web site it seems that you have the skills needed to accomplish such a monumental task. If you have any questions, just drop a line on the Coco email list. I just dawned on me that you might already know about NitrOS-9, but I wanted to share it with you just in case you didn’t. Take care my friend.
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