Dragon 64 with HDB-DOS, Drivewire and Floppy
Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2024 8:16 am
Maybe i can find some answers here. I already posted in the vcfed forum, but maybe this is the right place to ask this question.
I have a Coco 3 with an FD-502 (Replica) Disk Controller and a Gotek,
i also have a Dragon 64 with an original Floppy Controller and also a Gotek.
I upgraded the ROMs to HDB-DOS for Coco and for Dragon (i programmed a 27128 EPROM and added a switch to select one of the ROMs).
On the Coco 3 everything works fine (Coco3, FD-502, Gotek). I can load Nitros-9 with "DOS" and i can "DIR" Coco and OS-9 Images from Floppy AND from drivewire (i use DW4 4.3.3o).
On the Dragon i get a strange behaviour.
As far as i have read, Drivewire only works with HDB-DOS. I use HDB-DOS for Dragon and i put the EPROM in the Floppy Controller.
With the Dragon Controller Drivewire works but no Floppy Access whatsoever (i use "DRIVE OFF" to switch off drivewire to access the Floppy),
with the FD-502 Tandy Controller i can use Tandy Floppy Formatted disks (35Tracks) but no Dragon Data formatted disks (40 Tracks). I therefore can not boot OS-9 from Floppy because there is no version i found with OS-9 for Dragon 64 on a 35 Track disk.
What's the story here?
Is it impossible to use a real floppy WITH Drivewire on a Dragon 64?
-robert
I have a Coco 3 with an FD-502 (Replica) Disk Controller and a Gotek,
i also have a Dragon 64 with an original Floppy Controller and also a Gotek.
I upgraded the ROMs to HDB-DOS for Coco and for Dragon (i programmed a 27128 EPROM and added a switch to select one of the ROMs).
On the Coco 3 everything works fine (Coco3, FD-502, Gotek). I can load Nitros-9 with "DOS" and i can "DIR" Coco and OS-9 Images from Floppy AND from drivewire (i use DW4 4.3.3o).
On the Dragon i get a strange behaviour.
As far as i have read, Drivewire only works with HDB-DOS. I use HDB-DOS for Dragon and i put the EPROM in the Floppy Controller.
With the Dragon Controller Drivewire works but no Floppy Access whatsoever (i use "DRIVE OFF" to switch off drivewire to access the Floppy),
with the FD-502 Tandy Controller i can use Tandy Floppy Formatted disks (35Tracks) but no Dragon Data formatted disks (40 Tracks). I therefore can not boot OS-9 from Floppy because there is no version i found with OS-9 for Dragon 64 on a 35 Track disk.
What's the story here?
Is it impossible to use a real floppy WITH Drivewire on a Dragon 64?
-robert