Dragon Beta OS-9 disks

A place to discuss everything Dragon related that doesn't fall into the other categories.
Pernod70
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Apr 22, 2017 10:06 pm
Location: Croydon, UK

Re: Dragon Beta OS-9 disks

Post by Pernod70 »

prime wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:03 pm
Pernod70 wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2020 1:33 pm Who actually has these Beta OS-9 floppies? Could they be re-imaged in a more suitable format such as HFE?
I have a copy of them, I can rig up a grease wezel setup and archive them at some point if you want.
Yes please :)
prime
Posts: 266
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:40 am

Re: Dragon Beta OS-9 disks

Post by prime »

Pernod70 wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:26 pm
prime wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:03 pm
Pernod70 wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2020 1:33 pm Who actually has these Beta OS-9 floppies? Could they be re-imaged in a more suitable format such as HFE?
I have a copy of them, I can rig up a grease wezel setup and archive them at some point if you want.
Yes please :)
I've uploaded the zipped .scp files of the disks to : http://penguin.stats.warwick.ac.uk/~sts ... 0Disks.zip

These can be loaded into the HxC software and processed into other formats.

Cheers.

Phill.
Pernod70
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Apr 22, 2017 10:06 pm
Location: Croydon, UK

Re: Dragon Beta OS-9 disks

Post by Pernod70 »

prime wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:32 am These can be loaded into the HxC software and processed into other formats.

Cheers.

Phill.
Thanks, at least I can now rule out any mis-interpretation of the floppy format. Are all discs bootable?

Took another look at the driver last night, the implementation of the memory banking looks overly complicated, and is probably now broken. The memory sub-system in MAME has improved immensely since then so should be able to simplify this and make it more readable.
prime
Posts: 266
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:40 am

Re: Dragon Beta OS-9 disks

Post by prime »

Pernod70 wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:02 pm Thanks, at least I can now rule out any mis-interpretation of the floppy format. Are all discs bootable?

Took another look at the driver last night, the implementation of the memory banking looks overly complicated, and is probably now broken. The memory sub-system in MAME has improved immensely since then so should be able to simplify this and make it more readable.
The OS-9 ones should be, not sure about the C compiler one. We do know they do boot on the one real machine we know still exists.

The banking prolly is more complicated than it needs to be, I was kinda learning by example from other drivers so pretty much winging it :)

Cheers.

Phill.
Pernod70
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Apr 22, 2017 10:06 pm
Location: Croydon, UK

Re: Dragon Beta OS-9 disks

Post by Pernod70 »

prime wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 8:12 pm The banking prolly is more complicated than it needs to be, I was kinda learning by example from other drivers so pretty much winging it :)
I've modernised most of the driver which has simplified the code by removing ~400 lines, but am still struggling to get the thing to boot :( Both CPU's hit a SYNC and wait forever, so I presume an interrupt issue somewhere.

Is there a documented disassembly of the boot rom anywhere?

I remember seeing some schematics for the keyboard and floppy sections, but can't find them anywhere. Were any other schematics found and are they archived anywhere?
Alastair
Posts: 669
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:33 pm

Re: Dragon Beta OS-9 disks

Post by Alastair »

Pernod70 wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 7:35 pm I remember seeing some schematics for the keyboard and floppy sections, but can't find them anywhere.
See http://www.dragondata.co.uk/tech/circui ... index.html
(You have to click on the pictures, and not on the text links.)
Pernod70
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Apr 22, 2017 10:06 pm
Location: Croydon, UK

Re: Dragon Beta OS-9 disks

Post by Pernod70 »

Alastair wrote: Fri Apr 03, 2020 10:35 pm
Pernod70 wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 7:35 pm I remember seeing some schematics for the keyboard and floppy sections, but can't find them anywhere.
See http://www.dragondata.co.uk/tech/circui ... index.html
(You have to click on the pictures, and not on the text links.)
Thanks, just couldn't remember where I'd seen them. I presume no others are known to exist?
Alastair
Posts: 669
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:33 pm

Re: Dragon Beta OS-9 disks

Post by Alastair »

Pernod70 wrote: Fri Apr 03, 2020 10:42 pm I presume no others are known to exist?
I wouldn't know.
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