ingoldsby@calgary.UUCP (04/05/87)
I recently complained of having problems with the CC3Disk driver in OS9
Level 2 for the Coco III. Now that I've had more time to experiment it
seems the problem is with the double sided feature supposedly now in the
driver. It doesn't matter whether I use double sided disks created using
OS9 Level I and (Dave Lewis') Newdisk driver or disks freshly formatted
with OS9 Level II and CC3Disk. I get a few reads (or writes) without
problem and then just #244 - Read Error. Has anyone got Level II to work
with double sided (preferably 80 track) drives? I am very familiar with
the Newdisk source code but not with Level II. What do I have to do to
make Newdisk work with Level II?
Until this problem is resolved I'm stuck with Level I (a computer without
external storage is useless). Can anyone explain to me why Tandy always
provides such excellent operating systems with such LOUSY device drivers?
Terry Ingoldsby
...!ihnp4!alberta!calgary!ingoldsbyjapplega@csm9a.UUCP (04/06/87)
>Until this problem is resolved I'm stuck with Level I (a computer without >external storage is useless). Can anyone explain to me why Tandy always >provides such excellent operating systems with such LOUSY device drivers? > > Terry Ingoldsby > ...!ihnp4!alberta!calgary!ingoldsby > Tandy provides only drivers that will work with their inferior peripherals! If they were to provide the same level of driver support as other manufac- tuers, then their customers might be tempted to buy less expensive, more standard, and generally more powerful peripherals! Their current marketing plan is create systems so locked into Tandy peripherals that only "hackers" would dare to try and interface non-Tandy components. If you think it's bad on the Coco, you should look closely at the 1000! Though advertised as an IBM Compatible (at least it was when I bought mine) it has a non standard printer cable (even their cable has to have pin 14 covered to work with an industry standard printer!), built in non standard graphics that can't be replaced, a non standard joystick port, a non standard bracket for add in cards, a non standard Hard disk interrupt that requires a Tandy Hard disk (at 4 times the price of an IBM Hard disk!), and a very non standard keyboard that interferes with many of the programs I want to run and can't be replaced! I drooled over the Coco 3 when it first came out but resisted the purchase till I saw if there really was an OS9 level II for it... now it appears that Ed Juge and clowns are up to the same old deceptive marketing techniques! As much as I like the promise of OS9 level II, I think I will hold to my original promise that I made after buying the 1000.... "I will never buy another computer from a leather craft company!".... Tandy, like most major corporations, is "In business for OUR business" Joe Applegate - Colorado School of Mines Computing Center {seismo, hplabs}!hao!isis!csm9a!japplega *** UNIX is a philosophy, not an operating system ***
pete@wlbreng1.UUCP (Pete Lyall) (04/08/87)
In article <430@csm9a.UUCP> japplega@csm9a.UUCP (Joe Applegate) writes: > >Tandy provides only drivers that will work with their inferior peripherals! >If they were to provide the same level of driver support as other manufac- >tuers, then their customers might be tempted to buy less expensive, more >standard, and generally more powerful peripherals! Well, actually level II drivers *do* support SS/DS DD 35/40/80 support. I understand it's a little fuzzy yet as to whether or not it's a bug free implementation of this, but nonetheless, they *did* make the effort. I prefer to reserve the 'Tandy bashing' for the *real* screwups... a) CM-8 has lower resolution than required for extended 80 column text work w/o eyestrain.. b) The system seems to be extremely heat sensitive, especially with 512K onboard. c) Both the coco3 and the Level II OS9 were OBSCENELY late... d) Emabarrassingly buggy ROM hacks and patches... (not that anyone would use other than OS9 .. (:^}) ) e) The Tandy 512k expansion was designed with downward facing chips - EZ-Bake oven II (or III?) .. I could go on... My general feeling is that was a nice idea, no.. a GREAT idea (coco3 + OS9 Level II), but they overmarketed and underengineered it... Too late with too damned little... again. -- Pete Lyall Usenet: {trwrb, scgvaxd, ihnp4, voder, vortex}!wlbr!pete !wlbreng1!pete !wlpx!pwl Compuserve: 76703,4230 (OS9 SIG Sysop) OS9 (home): (805)-985-0632 (24hr./1200 baud) Phone: (818)-706-5693 (work 9-5 PST) ----------------------------------------------------------------------
knudsen@ihwpt.UUCP (04/08/87)
> >external storage is useless). Can anyone explain to me why Tandy always > >provides such excellent operating systems with such LOUSY device drivers? > > Terry Ingoldsby > > Tandy provides only drivers that will work with their inferior peripherals! > If they were to provide the same level of driver support as other manufac- > tuers, then their customers might be tempted to buy less expensive, more > standard, and generally more powerful peripherals! Their current marketing > plan is create systems so locked into Tandy peripherals that only "hackers" > would dare to try and interface non-Tandy components. If you think it's > As much as I like the promise of OS9 level II, I think I will hold to my > original promise that I made after buying the 1000.... "I will never buy > another computer from a leather craft company!".... > > Joe Applegate - Colorado School of Mines Computing Center Lots of musicians buy synthesizers from a motorcycle company. Seriously, what you say was quite true. Until OS9 Level II. The CONFIG file has descriptors for 40 and 80 double-sided disks, and the manual even states "check with your supplier if uncertain about your disk drive size." YOUR SUPPLIER, as in non-Tandy! Did this just sneak past the Vatican censors in Ft Worth? No, I think it signals a change in Tandy's philosophy. Level II shows that The Shack is trying to break out of the proprietary peripherals prison that you justly accuse them of maintaining in the past. Tho I sympathize with you over your Model 1000 PC-non-clone, I think we should publicly give Tandy credit for this. Maybe it will encourage them to do more of it! BTW, the folks reporting CHD and other disk problems must have got defective or outdated copies of Level II. I haven't had any such problems, and can CHD to write-protected disks all day. People on the Delphi COCO SIG have traced some problems to a bad batch of Tandy disk controllers made back in 1982. Now if you want to discuss Tandy's quality control.. well, there's always comp.sys.commodore.64 or whatever ;-) --mike knudsen Delph:RAGTIMER CIS:who can remember? -- Mike J Knudsen ...ihnp4!ihwpt!knudsen Bell Labs(AT&T) >>>DRUGS are for WIMPS who can't handle SCIENCE FICTION<<<