OS-9, NITROS-9, AND EOU
HARDWARE
OS-9 Level I supports the following hardware:
CC: Tandy Color Computer 1 or 2 with 64KB of
RAM, Disk Extended Color
BASIC 1.0 or 1.1 and at least a single 5.25“ floppy diskette drive.
CCIO /
TERM:
VDG Alphanumeric / Color Graphics Television output
-
-
CCDISK /
D0,
D1,
D2,
D3: Tandy Floppy Disk Controller for the WD17xx controllers
-
DragonData Dragon 32 and 64
EXORSR / Motorola Exorcisor
MM19
GIMIX / Gmx
SWTC / Swtpc
S09 / SwtMem
SSB / Smoke Signal Broadcasting
PERCOM / Percom
-
-
HELIX / Helix
ELEKTRA / Elekt AAA Chicago CPU
DIGALOG / Diglog Digalog CPU
SAT96 / Sat-96 board
SOFTWARE
OS-9 Level I came packaged as 2 x 5.25” Single-Sided Double-Density floppy diskettes.
V01.00.00: OS9L1V1B.DSK OS9L1V1M.DSK
The OS-9 package includes several different software systems together:
A Kernel to manage the system and provide shared services
A user Shell environment with procedures, redirections, pipelines, and job controls.
A Time-sharing package for true multi-user capabilities.
Maintenance and Administration tools for System Managers.
Disk Operating System (DOS) style commands to manage disk contents.
An
Editor /
Assembler /
Debugger package for both Disk Extended Color
BASIC and
OS-9 program development.
BOOT DISKETTE
See also “Getting Started with OS-9” chapter 3 “Starting up OS-9” pp.7-9
BOOT TRACK
The second floppy or “System Master” diskette is formatted with a customized OS-9 RBF file system with a Disk Extended Color BASIC 1.1-compatible boot on sectors 1-15 of track 34.
The boot track includes the following code, data, and modules:
DOS command '
OS' signature
DOS command jump vector
REL - relocation code to move the
OS-9 kernel from $2600 to up $F000 (later $EF00 for the CoCo 3)
OS9 - part one of the
OS-9 kernel
vectors - to setup the
MPU interrupt vectors to point into the kernel
OS9p2 - part two of the
OS-9 kernel
Init - initial configuration information for this boot
Boot - the module to load OS9Boot from diskette and transfer control to it.
OS9BOOT
Once the kernel initializes, it reads the RBF file system on disk to locate the OS9Boot file, load it into memory, and initialize all of the modules within.
The following modules are in the /D0/OS9Boot file:
-
/D0 device descriptor for Standard disk drive 0
/D1 device descriptor for Additional Disk Drive 1
/D2 device descriptor for Additional Disk Drive 2
/D3 device descriptor for Additional Disk Drive 3
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/TERM device descriptor for Video/keyboard device for standard 32 column display
-
-
-
-
-
Shell - usually added to OS9Boot to cache it in memory from startup onward.
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/T1 device descriptor for Terminal port using the standard
RS-232 serial port
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/P device descriptor for Printer port using the standard
RS-232 serial port
-
-
/Pipe device descriptor Allows use of the
OS-9 pipe facility
Enable Lowercase
OS-9 Level 1 V02.00.00 supports true lowercase if run on a Color Computer 2 with the MC6847T1 Video Display Generator.
The easiest way to tell without cracking open the case:
Simply type a zero.
If it looks like a square, then the Color Computer has an MC6847.
If it looks like a zero with a slash through it, then the Color Computer has an MC6847T1.
Before we begin … you did make a backup of your OS-9 System Master diskette, right? Right? RIGHT?
To configure OS-9 Level 1 V02.00.00 for true lowercase:
Boot into OS-9 from your backup System Master diskette with the DOS command from Disk Extended Color BASIC.
After the sign-on banner, enter the date and time at the Setime prompt as usual.
At the Shell prompt enable true lower case in the /TERM device descriptor:
OS-9: XMODE /TERM -UPC PAUSE TYPE=1
OS-9: COBBLER /D0
Once Cobbler finishes re-writing the boot track, press RESET once to reboot OS-9.
The prompts should now display using the MC6847T1 upper and lower case characters.
CMDS
With OS-9 up and running there is typically a startup file to run the Setime command and then the Shell itself presents its OS9: prompt for you to run OS-9 commands
The following commands are in /D0/CMDS/ directory:
Asm filename [opt][>list] - Standard
OS-9 Assembler
Attr filename [permissions] - Examine or change the security permissions of a file
Backup [e][s][-v][dev][dev] - Copies all data from one device to another
Binex filename1 filename2 - Converts binary file to S-record file
Build filename - Builds short text files from standard input
cmp filename1 filename2 - File comparison utility
Cobbler devname - Creates
OS-9 bootstrap file from current boot
Copy pathname pathname [-s] - copies data from one file to a second file
Date [t] - Specifies current system time and date
dcheck [-opts] devname - checks disk file structure
debug - Assembly language debugger
Del [-x] filename […] - Deletes the specified file(s)
Deldir directory name - Deletes all files in a directory and the directory itself
Dir [e][x][dir or path] - Displays formatted list of the file names in a directory
Display <hex>[…] - Displays converted characters to standard output
dsave [-opts][dev][pathname] - Generates procedure file to copy all files in a directory system
Dump [filename or devname] - Formatted file dump utility
Echo text - Echoes entered text to standard output
Edit [filename [filename]] - Standard
OS-9 text editor
Exbin filename1 filename2 - Converts S-record file to a binary file
Format devname - Initializes an
OS-9 diskette
Free [devname] - Displays number of free sectors on a device
Ident filename [-opts] - Displays header information of
OS-9 memory modules
Link memory module name - Link to a memory module
List filename […] - List the contents of text files
Load pathname - Loads modules into memory
Login - Login procedure for timesharing systems
Makdir pathname or dirname - Creates a new directory file
Mdir [e] - Displays the present memory module directory
Merge [filename][…] - Copies multiple input files to standard output
Mfree - Displays the amount of free
RAM memory
OS9gen devname [-s] - Creates and links an
OS-9 bootstrap file
Printerr - Prints full text error messages
Procs [e] - Displays a list of processes running in the system
pwd - Prints the current data directory path
pxd - Prints the current execution directory path
Rename filename new filename - Gives the file or directory a new name
Save filename modname […] - Saves memory module onto a file
Setime [yy/mm/dd/hh:mm:ss] - Sets and actives the system clock
Shell arglist -
OS-9 command interpreter
Sleep tick count - Puts the process to sleep for a number of clock ticks
Tee path or devname […] - Copies standard input to multiple outputs
Tmode [.pathname][params] - Displays or changes the operating parameters of the terminal
Tsmon [devname] - Monitors the terminals in timesharing systems
Unlink modname […] - Unlinks modules from memory
Verify [u] - Verifys[sic] and updates the module header and CRC value
Xmode devname [params] - Displays or changes the parameters of and[sic] SCF type device
See also: the “OS-9 Commands” manual.
ACCOUNTS
OS-9 is a multi-user / multi-programming / multi-tasking system.
Account information is kept in /SYS/password in the following format:
Username
Password
up to 32-characters.
may include spaces.
If empty, no password .
User index (ID) number
Initial process (CPU time) priority
Pathlist of initial execution path
Pathlist of initial data path
Name of the initial program to execute
Example Password file:
,,0,128,/D0/CMDS,.,SHELL
USER1,,1,128,.,.,SHELL
USER2,,2,128,.,.,SHELL
USER3,,3,128,.,.,SHELL
USER4,,4,128,.,.,SHELL
See also:
OS-9 Commands 2.4 “The File Security System” pp.22-24
OS-9 Commands 3.9 “Editing startup for Timesharing Systems” p.44
OS-9 Commands “Login” pp.93-95
BACKUPS
The floppy disk formatting used by Disk Extended Color BASIC and OS-9 are not the same.
Disk Extended BASIC provides a DSKINI and BACKUP to backup DECB-formatted floppies such as the OS9 Level I Boot disk.
OS-9 contains a FORMAT and BACKUP command to backup OS-9 formatted floppies such as the OS-9 Level I System Master disk.
See also: “Getting Started with OS-9” manual, chapter 4 “Formatting Disks and Making Backups” pp.11-16
MONITORING
The Free command allows you to monitor the free space of each disk.
The Mfree command allows you to monitor the free space in RAM.
The Procs command allows you to see the running processes / programs on the system.
SECURITY
The attr command allows you to see and modify (if you are the appropriate user) the security permissions of the OS-9 files and directories.
The permissions shown, in order, are:
d for directories
s for shareable files that may be loaded and used by multiple users at once
pe whether or not everyone can execute the file
pw whether or not everyone can write to the file
pr whether or not everyone can read the file
e whether or not the owner can execute the file
w whether or not the owner can write to the file
r whether or not the owner can read the file
A - (dash) in any position means that permission has not been granted.
Owners are described in the Login command.
The Verify command allows you to check the integrity of OS-9 modules.
TROUBLESHOOTING
The Boot Sequence details steps to bring up the OS-9 Level 1 system from Disk Extended Color BASIC after power-up.
The Printerr module command links in additional information and description for the OS-9 numeric error codes.
DOCUMENTATION
OS-9 Level I shipped with 4 well-written introduction and reference manuals:
Getting Started with OS-9 gets you started booting, making backups in case of emergency, and introductory info.
OS-9 Commands gets you much more in-depth information on using the Shell and details each of the commands supplied with
OS-9
OS-9 Program Development covers the
Edit tool to write assembly source code, the
Asm tool to assemble the source code into binaries to run, and the
Debug tool used to diagnose code errors.
OS-9 Technical Information provides the key reference to the internals of
OS-9, the RBF disk format, and the System Calls provided by the kernel needed to use the full power of
OS-9 in your Assembly language programs.
Dale Puckett and Peter Dibble wrote The Rainbow Guide to OS-9 which shares everything you need to know to get well started as an OS-9 user and developer.
The Rainbow Magazine, and several OS-9 specific newsletters provide many more tools and tricks for OS-9.
NITROS-9 EASE OF USE
HELPING USERS
SEE ALSO
RTS