
Below is a list of the commands that you
may seldom use and therefore may delete
from your EXECUTION directory which is
/D0/CMDS...
>>> NONE OF THESE COMMANDS SHOULD BE
DELETED FROM YOUR ORIGINAL DISK...NEVER
DELETE FILES/DIRECTORIES/COMMANDS FROM
YOUR ORIGINAL OS-9 MASTER DISK. ALWAYS
MAKE THESE DELETIONS/CHANGES TO A BACKUP
OF YOUR MASTER DISK<<<
To make a backup of your OS-9 Master
disk do this:
For a single drive system you must at
the OS-9 prompt type this:
OS9:load format free
Take your OS-9 Master disk out of your
drive /d0...put a blank disk in drive
/d0...now at the OS-9 prompt type:
OS9:format /d0
When OS-9 asks if your really want to
format the disk in drive /d0 respond
Y for yes or R for ready...When the
format is done OS-9 will ask you for a
name to put on the disk.  You may give
any name up to 32 chrs.  The name at
this point does not matter as when we
backup the original Master disk to this
disk...it will retain the name of the
original Master disk.  So you can just
call the disk NEW.
When the format is done and the verify
pass is done the OS-9 prompt will return
At this point you want to type:
OS9:free /d0
If the free does not say...640 sectors
total on the disk...and 630 available
for use...DO NOT USE THIS DISK TO DO A
BACKUP ONTO...IT WILL >>NOT<< WORK!!!
Take the newly formatted disk out of 
drive /d0 and put your original Master
disk back in drive /d0.  At the OS-9
prompt you will type:
OS9:unlink format free
This will take the two commands out of
memory and give you more memory to work
with when you go to do your backup.
At the OS-9 prompt you will type:
OS9:load backup
Take your original Master disk out of
drive /d0 and put your newly formatted
disk in drive /d0...
at the OS-9 prompt you type:
OS9:backup s /d0 #32k
OS-9 will ask you if you are ready to
backup from /d0 to /d0...You type Y for
yes.  OS-9 will now say ready the
destination disk...you already have it
in the drive.  Hit any key to continue
...OS-9 will list the name that was on
the disk and ask if it ok to write over
this disk...type Y for yes...OS-9 will
then say ready SOURCE disk hit a key...
Put your OS-9 Master disk back in drive
/d0 and hit any key...When OS-9 says to
ready the DESTINATION disk...Take your
Master disk out of drive /d0 and put the
newly formatted disk in drive /d0...hit
any key to continue...OS-9 will repeat
this prompting till the whole original
disk is copied exactly over to the new
disk...
>>> Warning...If the disk that you did
the format on did not give you the whole
640 sectors on the disk and 630 free for
use  when you did the
free /d0 on it...you may not backup to
that disk...backup is a mirror copy of
the original disk to the new disk...if
there was a bad sector on he new disk
the backup will not work...if there was
a bad sector on the original disk the
backup will not work...BOTH DISK MUST BE
FREE OF ERRORS AND HAVE THE SAME NUMBER
OF SECTORS ON THE DISK...A DISK WITH 80
TRACKS CAN'T BE BACKED UP TO A DISK WITH
40 TRACKS...A DOUBLE SIDED DISK CAN'T BE
BACKED UP TO A SINGLE SIDED DISK...A
HARD DISK CAN'T BE BACKED UP TO A FLOPPY
DISK...OS-9 WILL CHECK TO SEE WHAT SIZE
THE DISK IS THAT YOU ARE BACKING UP FROM
AND TO...IT WILL ABORT THE BACKUP IF
THEY ARE NOT THE SAME TYPE/SIZE...
WHEN THE BACKUP IS DONE DO THIS:
Put your original Master disk away. You
can leave the new Master disk in drive
/d0...but you must let OS-9 know that
there is a new disk in the drive...
so at the OS-9 prompt you will type:
OS9:chd /d0
OS9:chx /d0/cmds
OS-9 is now ready to continue...and we
can now delete some seldom used commands
and gain some disk space back for our
own files...
To delete these commands you will type:
OS9:del /d0/cmds/command.name
Where command name is the names of each
command you are deleting...


binex...exbin...these two commands are
for turning a binary file into a text
file and vice/versa...I have never used
these two commands to date...while they
might be useful...I am not sure who
they are useful to?
cmp...this is for comparing two text
files together and listing where (with
an offset) the differences are...I find
it easier/quicker/more reliable to just
list the two files to my screen and look
for the differences...
************************
cobbler...this is only used for making a
new os9boot file on your master disk.
You won't need to use this command till
later lessons to make a new boot disk.
So you can delete it from the /D0/CMDS
directory for now.
***************************
dcheck...This command does a total
search of the disk it is called to check
and will report if any files on the disk
have been destroyed in some manner. You
will only need to use this command on
a disk that is used a lot and is almost
full...if you ever try to use a command
or file and get an error..try the ATTR
command on the file/command to see if
you have permission to use the file or
command...if the ATTR says you do and 
you still can't get to the file/command
then I would use the dcheck on the disk
to see if the disk was damaged in some
manner.  Dcheck is very powerful but it
will usually be the case that when you
need to use it is when the sh*t has
already hit the fan and some of the
files on your disk have been damaged in
some manner.  For this reason you may
want to feel safe and keep this command
in your /D0/CMDS directory.
****************************
display...If you don't have a printer
hooked up to your OS-9 system than you
probably won't need the display command.
It is meant for sending some series of
hex codes to a device...if you do this:
OS9:display 0c
the screen will clear...this is sending
a control-l to the screen...if you did
this:
OS9:display 0c >/p 
it will send a control-l to your printer
which in most cases will do a form feed
on your printer.  If you have a decent
printer you may use the display command
with the (>)redirect sign to send hex
codes to your printer for setting it for
double strike, emphasized, underline,
and any other special features your
printer might support...As far as being
able to send all the codes from 0 to 255
to your screen?  I haven't found much
use for this...I have only used the
display oc to clear the screen so far.
**********************************
kill...this command is only used to kill
off some multi-process command that you
may have started up to run in the
background...if you did this:
OS9:dir e /d0/cmds >/p&
OS-9 will do a dir e of your EXECUTION
directory and send it to the printer.
The OS-9 prompt will return and the list
will continue in the background. If you
did a procs e command at this point you
will see that there is a process 3 or 4
or 5 running in the background and it is
called list.  To stop the list from
continuing..you would have to type:
OS9:kill 3
or
OS9:kill 4
or whatever the process # is that you
wish to stop...You won't be doing a lot
of multi-processing while you learn
OS-9 so you should not need this command
in your /D0/CMDS right now...
****************************
link...this one is hard to explain right
now...let's just say that when you do
a load command...the computer does a
link for you...so this command should
not be really necessary for now. If you
do a mdir e and see that a commands link
count is say 3 or 4...then you would
have to unlink the command 3 or 4 times
to get it >out< of memory!!!
********************************
login...This is only needed if you are
going to hook up your OS-9 system so 
that outside people can link into your
CoCo and use the computer at the same
time you are using it...When you delete
this command you may also delete the 2
files in the /d0/sys directory called
/d0/sys/motd and /d0/sys/password...
*********************************
merge...this is used for putting two
data files into a single data file with
a new name...this can also be done with
the list command like this:
OS9:list data1 data2 >/data3
so the merge command is not needed right
now...
********************************
os9gen...This command is used for making
a new boot disk...the new boot disk
might have more/less commands that it
will load into memory when it starts up.
For the time being you won't need this
command until the next lesson where I
will try to teach you how to make a new
and better boot disk...
*****************************
printerr...when you are first learning
OS-9 you will find this command most
useful...when you start to learn the
error numbers by heart you will be able
to delete this command.  You can also
delete the /d0/sys/errmsg file also.
*****************************
procs...you will only need this command
if you do multi-processing...it will
show you what is running in the computer
and who is running it and how much of a
priority it has...for now you will not
use this command often.
*********************************
setpr...this is for resetting the
priority of a multi-process that you
have running in the background...you
won't need this command until you get
into multi-process running.
*****************************
sleep...this is for making a process
stop doing what it was doing for a set
period of time...I have never used this
command...if used wrong it will seem
like you locked up your computer as it
counts down its sleep time.
********************************
tsmon...this command is used to make
OS-9 scan the built in rs232 port for
a carrier ready signal...it is used to
set the computer up for another caller
usually calling over a phone line...it
is the basics of setting your OS-9
system up as a bbs...
**********************************
Read over the commands in your red OS-9
book and decide for yourself how often
you might use the commands listed above.
If you think you will not need the
commands often then delete them on your
backup master disk...this will give you
more space to store your own files on
that disk...and if you are working with
as single drive system than this is
>>VERY<< important...
You may also delete the asm command from
your /d0/cmds directory if you >NEVER<
intend to do any m/l work...If you do
delete the /d0/cmds/asm command then you
can also get rid of the data files in
the os9defs directory that the asm
command works with...do this by typing:
OS9:deldir /d0/os9defs
OS-9 will than say deleting a directory
and offer you a list, delete or quit
option...if you choose to list...it will
show you what is in the directory that
you wish to delete...if you choose to
delete the directory...you will not be
prompted again unless there is another
directory found in the directory...
This command will take a bit of time to
get rid of the dirctory /d0/os9defs...
but it will clear up a LOTTTTTTT of
space for your own use....
**************************************
OK, I saved you a bit of disk space now
let me save you a bit of a headache!!!
Radio Shack now has two versions of the
OS-9 operating system.  These are the
1.00.00 and the 1.01.00 versions.  The
1.01.00 has some new stuff added to it
but it is basicly the same as 1.00.00
It is not exactly the same...close but
not exact.  For this reason if you see
any articles in say Rainbow mag that say
you can change your OS-9 to have 6 ms.
step rates on your drives or 40 tracks
on your disk...you should be >VERY<
cafeful that the instructions refer to
your version of OS-9. Some of the early
articles in Rainbow refer to making
changes to OS-9 1.00.00...The most
recent articles in Rainbow will usually
say that these patches are for 1.00.00
or 1.01.00...With Radio Shack getting
ready to come out with OS-9 2.00.00 it
is very important you know what OS-9
you have when you read any articles that
say how to change your OS-9 to add some
new features to it.
************************************
If you have the original OS-9 1.00.00
then you can get the OS-9 upgrade from
Radio Shack to 1.01.00 for about $15.
The upgrade to OS-9 2.00.00 will cost
about $25.  These upgrades are only
available to original owners of OS-9
1.00.00 or 1.01.00................
************************************
Lets talk about the devices that are
available for you to use under OS-9.
/p...this is for your serial printer
/t1..this is for the built in RS232 port
/t2..this is for the RS232 cartridge
/d0..this is drive 0
/d1..this is drive 1
/d2..this is drive 2
/d3..this is drive 3
/term...this is for your keyboard and
        video screen
On my system I have a /H0 and /R0 which
tell the OS-9 that I have a hard disk
drive and a ram disk drive.  If you
are good at m/l you can write your own
code to add your own hardware onto your
OS-9 system.  I understand that OS-9
2.00.00 has a device called /ssp and it
is for the Radio Shack Speech Sound Pak
and will let you send a text file thru
it and it will speak the file out...
So you could do this...
OS9:dir /d0 >/ssp
and you would hear your directory. This
could be very useful for anyone with
impaired sight.
While I have been talking about how you
can add devices to your OS-9 system I
also need to say that you can delete
devices from your system also.  This
will free up ram for other programs you
might wish to run.  In OS-9 2.00.00 you
can usually get rid of /d2, /d3 and the
/t2 drivers...Most people don't have
the drive 2 and 3 and don't have the
Radio Shack RS232 pak so why keep these
modules in memory...wasting space?
Se can delete them and save some space
that is badly need in the 64K CoCo.
How do you do this???  We'll cover that
in our next lesson...Making a new boot
disk.
*************************************
Bob Montowski   215-277-6951

>>>>LET ME CORRECT AN ERROR IN THE BEGINNING
OF THIS LESSON....ON A NEWLY FORMATTED OS-9
COCO DISK THERE ARE 630 SECTORS!!! AND 10 OF THOSE
WILL BE TAKEN FOR THE ROOT DIRECTORY SO YOU WILL SEE
620 FREE FOR USE<<<<
AND IF YOU DECIDE TO GET RID OF THE ASM COMMAND YOU MAY
ALSO DEDIR THE /D0/DEFS DIRECTORY...I WAS IN ERROR WHEN
I SAID IT WAS THE /D0/OS9DEFS DIRECTORY...
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