DragonMMC Update.

A place to discuss everything Dragon related that doesn't fall into the other categories.
prime
Posts: 266
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:40 am

Re: DragonMMC Update.

Post by prime »

sixxie wrote:Might not be useful - and is only a workaround anyway - but I seem to remember with SuperDOS, periodic use of the CLOSE command ensured things were flushed to disk. It also helped avoid spurious "?NE ERROR"s.
Though the current version of DragonDOS on the DragonMMC uses a patched and bugfixed version of Dragon's original rather than being derrived from Superdos.

I've just sent the final version of the next release for final testing so hopefully there will be a Firmware 1.1 release soon.

As for The Hobbit, how tied is it to Dragondos, i.e. could it just use files directly on the DaronMMC card?

Cheers.

Phill.
pser1
Posts: 1655
Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:32 pm
Location: Barcelona (SPAIN)

Re: DragonMMC Update.

Post by pser1 »

prime wrote: As for The Hobbit, how tied is it to Dragondos, i.e. could it just use files directly on the DaronMMC card?Phill.
Hi Phill,
in fact the Hobbit calls the some DOS functions, so it is heavily tied to the DOS
If I remember correct, it supports DDos1.x (Dragon Data), DDOS4.x (Eurohard) and DosPlus (S3)

cheers
pere
prime
Posts: 266
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:40 am

Re: DragonMMC Update.

Post by prime »

pser1 wrote:
prime wrote: As for The Hobbit, how tied is it to Dragondos, i.e. could it just use files directly on the DaronMMC card?Phill.
Hi Phill,
in fact the Hobbit calls the some DOS functions, so it is heavily tied to the DOS
If I remember correct, it supports DDos1.x (Dragon Data), DDOS4.x (Eurohard) and DosPlus (S3)
So is it making direct calls to the ROM? or calling through the indirect table at the beginning? If the former, then it's probably going to fall over even with the updated firmware.

Cheers.

Phill.
pser1
Posts: 1655
Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:32 pm
Location: Barcelona (SPAIN)

Re: DragonMMC Update.

Post by pser1 »

prime wrote: So is it making direct calls to the ROM? or calling through the indirect table at the beginning? If the former, then it's probably going to fall over even with the updated firmware.
Yes, it is making calls to internall DOS subroutines, some of them being patched in RAM to avoid that any error ends up returning
to the Basic Interpreter. Instead, it shows the error in the Hobbit message field and you can try to solve it.
You are right, the program detects the kind of DOS in the computer and patches it as needed. So if the DOS that is 'seen' after starting
the MMC is not one of the 'standard' ones then it could crash because of the applied patches ... or simply be rejected because the program
detects that it is not supported. Which is the DOS that comes by default in the MMC module?
I would give it a try on XRoar to see if it is supported ...
cheers
pere
prime
Posts: 266
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:40 am

Re: DragonMMC Update.

Post by prime »

pser1 wrote:
prime wrote: So is it making direct calls to the ROM? or calling through the indirect table at the beginning? If the former, then it's probably going to fall over even with the updated firmware.
Yes, it is making calls to internall DOS subroutines, some of them being patched in RAM to avoid that any error ends up returning
to the Basic Interpreter. Instead, it shows the error in the Hobbit message field and you can try to solve it.
You are right, the program detects the kind of DOS in the computer and patches it as needed. So if the DOS that is 'seen' after starting
the MMC is not one of the 'standard' ones then it could crash because of the applied patches ... or simply be rejected because the program
detects that it is not supported. Which is the DOS that comes by default in the MMC module?
I would give it a try on XRoar to see if it is supported ...
The problem is that becase the DragonMMC dos is built from source** so locations of routines may change from once compliation to the next. I guess this is why DD put a jump table at the beggining of the ROM, you where supposed to access through that so you where not making direct calls to the ROM that may change locations on the next version. My intent is do do this with the DragonMMC part of the ROM too.

** It's built from a disassembily of DragonDos 1.00 + various fix patches from Dragon User etc.

Is the source of the 6809 port of The Hobbit available anywhere?

Cheers.

Phill.
pser1
Posts: 1655
Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:32 pm
Location: Barcelona (SPAIN)

Re: DragonMMC Update.

Post by pser1 »

prime wrote: The problem is that becase the DragonMMC dos is built from source** so locations of routines may change from once compliation to the next. I guess this is why DD put a jump table at the beggining of the ROM, you where supposed to access through that so you where not making direct calls to the ROM that may change locations on the next version. My intent is do do this with the DragonMMC part of the ROM too.
** It's built from a disassembily of DragonDos 1.00 + various fix patches from Dragon User etc.
Hi, Phill
Dragon data published and allowed access to some functions from $c000-$c028, but as I planned to 'patch' them to get info from the errors and send them back to The Hobbit, I need to 'intercept' the actual code inside the ROM (once copied to RAM)
I am pretty shure that the DDOS1.0 will be accepted if the patches applied are the ones by Philip G Scott, that you will find here
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5289&p=14428&hilit=patches#p14428
By the way, all of the Dragon Data DOS versions allow any kind of disk 180-360-720k, so the limitation on the MMC card should reside
in the firmware, I assume.
Is the source of the 6809 port of The Hobbit available anywhere?
Yes, it is. Here you could download last version source code.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5521&p=15611&hilit=Hobbit#p15611

cheers
pere
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