peter@sugar.uu.net (Peter da Silva) (01/12/89)
In article <6122@columbia.edu>, simon@copper.columbia.edu (Thor Simon) writes: > >>Unh,have you considered OS-9? I said "yes". > Actually, if you can dig up an old CBM Super-Pet (Try high-schools) > TPUG offers a version of OS-9 called Super OS-9. Wait a second. Doesn't the Pet use a 6502? Last I heard, OS/9 was only for the Motorola 6809 and 68000. -- Peter "Have you hugged your wolf today" da Silva `-_-' Hackercorp. ...texbell!sugar!peter, or peter@sugar.uu.net 'U`
mwm@eris.berkeley.edu (Mike (I'll think of something yet) Meyer) (01/12/89)
In article <3263@sugar.uu.net> peter@sugar.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes:
<> Actually, if you can dig up an old CBM Super-Pet (Try high-schools)
<> TPUG offers a version of OS-9 called Super OS-9.
<
<Wait a second. Doesn't the Pet use a 6502? Last I heard, OS/9 was only
<for the Motorola 6809 and 68000.
Right - the Pet had a 6502. The Super-Pet added a 6809 as an I/O
processor (which just tells you that some people should _not_ be
allowed to design hardware). The OS/9 ran on that.
And a CoCo running OS/9 is still my second-choice home computer, right
behind the Amiga 1000. All the good software features, and a better
Unix-alike at the syscall level. Just not as much hardware. But the
new versions let you use a 6829 to get 256K (or some such) in it.
<mike
--
How many times do you have to fall Mike Meyer
While people stand there gawking? mwm@berkeley.edu
How many times do you have to fall ucbvax!mwm
Before you end up walking? mwm@ucbjade.BITNETlphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) (01/12/89)
In <3263@sugar.uu.net>, peter@sugar.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes: >> Actually, if you can dig up an old CBM Super-Pet (Try high-schools) >> TPUG offers a version of OS-9 called Super OS-9. >Wait a second. Doesn't the Pet use a 6502? Last I heard, OS/9 was only >for the Motorola 6809 and 68000. Well, the Super-PET was a PET plus more. It did have a 6502, which acted just like a regular PET, but it also had a 6809, which acted like.. well, like a 6809. There were all sorts of neat languages available for it too. I never had one, but those that did were always raving about the machine. -larry -- Frisbeetarianism: The belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca or uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
mwjones@lotus.waterloo.edu (01/13/89)
The Commodore SuperPET does indeed use a 6502, but it also uses a 6809. The architecture of the SuperPET is really quite interesting (for the time it was built). If you set a switch on the side one way, you get a standard Commodore 8032. If you set the switch the other way, you get a 6809 machine with its own set of roms and an additional 64K of bank switched memory. The SuperPET comes with BASIC, Fortran, Pascal, Cobol, APL, and a 6809 assembler development system. If anyone is interested in picking up one of these, I've got an old one sitting around, complete with 2031 disk drive and all of the software. -- Morgan Jones mwjones@lotus.uwaterloo.ca "BMATH - 3 months and counting ..."
mwjones@lotus.waterloo.edu (01/13/89)
In article <18994@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> mwm@eris.berkeley.edu (Mike (I'll think of something yet) Meyer) writes: >Right - the Pet had a 6502. The Super-Pet added a 6809 as an I/O >processor (which just tells you that some people should _not_ be >allowed to design hardware). The OS/9 ran on that. > <mike And this just goes to show you that some people shouldn't be allowed to post articles to the net as they tend to talk about things that they know nothing about. The 6809 in the SuperPET is a real processor which comes complete with Motorola support chips and an additional 64K of ram. When the 6809 runs, the 6502 is held in the halted state (and visa versa). -- Morgan Jones mwjones@lotus.uwaterloo.ca "BMATH - 3 months and counting ..."
sjk@utastro.UUCP (Scot Kleinman) (01/13/89)
In article <3263@sugar.uu.net> peter@sugar.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes:
<> Actually, if you can dig up an old CBM Super-Pet (Try high-schools)
<> TPUG offers a version of OS-9 called Super OS-9.
Wait, I still have my SP-9000. I didn't know 0S-9 wa available. How
do I get a hold of it (or, how do I get a hold of TPUG?) Sorry for the
posting to the Amiga net, but hey, I have one of those, too and this is
where the article originated.
Scot
sjk@astro.as.utexas.edu
Yow! Am I having fun, yet? - Zippy andy@cbmvax.UUCP (Andy Finkel) (01/13/89)
In article <18994@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> mwm@eris.berkeley.edu (Mike (I'll think of something yet) Meyer) writes: >Right - the Pet had a 6502. The Super-Pet added a 6809 as an I/O >processor (which just tells you that some people should _not_ be >allowed to design hardware). The OS/9 ran on that. No, no...the 6502 was the I/O processor. The 6809 was used to run all those languages. (APL on a micro, using an ASCII keyboard is an interesting experience :-) ) It was designed by some University of Waterloo people, and had 96K of RAM, viewable through a 4K memory window. -- andy finkel {uunet|rutgers|amiga}!cbmvax!andy Commodore-Amiga, Inc. "Possibly this is a new usage of the word 'compatible' with which I was previously unfamiliar" Any expressed opinions are mine; but feel free to share. I disclaim all responsibilities, all shapes, all sizes, all colors.
toebes@sas.UUCP (John Toebes) (01/14/89)
In article <2141@van-bc.UUCP> lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) writes: >In <3263@sugar.uu.net>, peter@sugar.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes: >>> Actually, if you can dig up an old CBM Super-Pet (Try high-schools) >>Wait a second. Doesn't the Pet use a 6502? Last I heard, OS/9 was only >>for the Motorola 6809 and 68000. >Well, the Super-PET was a PET plus more. It did have a 6502, which acted just >like a regular PET, but it also had a 6809, which acted like.. well, like a >6809. There were all sorts of neat languages available for it too. >-larry Just to fill in the population, the SuperPet was basically run more from the 6809 side than the 6502 side. It came with APL, Pascal, Fortran, Cobol, Basic (structured), Assembler, and a reasonable editor that was integrated with all environments. It had 96K of ram - 32K plus 16 banks of 4K each. The machine had quite a bit of potential but wasn't really pushed as hard as it could have been. I did quite a bit of work on it before I moved to the Amiga. Dick Barnes who edits 'The Amigan Apprentice and Journeyman' used to edit 'The SuperPETA Gazette' which was really the only magazine that supported the machine. All in all, the machine was an excellent concept: Provide all the languages for free with a bit of hardware including a decent serial port that could run 19.2K as well as all that memory. It even had builtin floating point routines in the rom as well as somewhat of an operating system. The biggest problem with it all was that it was never improved or developed past the initial stages. Much of the code for the languages and rom was written by Waterloo with clear evidence of a quick development. Much of the early code in the roms was basically warmed over 6502 code - especially the floating point stuff. Just setting the story straight here. I still have mine in the closet with quite a bit of software for it. -- |_o_o|\\ John A. Toebes, VIII usenet:..mcnc!rti!sas!toebes |. o.| || | . | || Coordinator of ... | o | || The Software Distillery | . |// USnail: 235 Trillingham Ln, Cary NC 27513 ====== BBS: (919)-471-6436
simon@copper.columbia.edu (Thor Simon) (01/18/89)
To continue this discussion of OS-9 and the SuperPet, which should probably be held elsewhere, I was reading my old TPUG magazines and found that Super OS-9 Will _not_ run on 3-board superpets due to an inconsistiency between CBM's literature for the SP and the 3-Board design. (The originals were 2-board, and Super OS-9 was developed on one) Instructions to fix this are availiable from TPUG. I don't know their address offhand. A replacement board _may_ be availiable somewhere. Thor Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with the Toronto Pet User's Group, except as a former member. -The fancy signature isn't worth the time-
tim@mcrware.UUCP (Tim Harris) (01/18/89)
There is a comp.os.os9 group where this discussion could be continued, it covers all OS-9 systems whether they be 6809 or 680XX machines. Tim Harris
kgschlueter@violet.waterloo.edu (Kevin Schlueter) (01/20/89)
In article <764@sas.UUCP> toebes@sas.UUCP (John Toebes) writes: > >All in all, the machine was an excellent concept: Provide all >the languages for free with a bit of hardware including a decent serial >port that could run 19.2K as well as all that memory. It even had builtin >floating point routines in the rom as well as somewhat of an operating >system. Basically, all the languages were written in a C-like language called WSL (an acronym for Waterloo Systems Language). The ROM stuff was the WSL run time library. >The biggest problem with it all was that it was never improved >or developed past the initial stages. Much of the code for the languages >and rom was written by Waterloo with clear evidence of a quick development. I'm not sure quick is the right word. There was extensive testing (I was one of the testers), however I don't think many users ever got the maintenance release of the languages (version 1.1). I really don't know what happenned beyond 1.1, but I suspect that the IBM PC's increasing market presence had something to do with it. There was an honest effort to produce reliable interpreters. I think the machine suffered a bit because many of the educators weren't ready for the new languages (my highschool computer teacher at the time had enough trouble with BASIC) and tried to do bizarre things with them. The original plan was to release compilers for all the languages. This would have allowed you to debug on an interpreter and then compile for speed. I guess the SuperPet will join the likes of the Tandy 2000, and several early 68K unix boxes in the "it was a good idea, but it wasn't PC compatible" corner of the micro graveyard. It's interesting to note that many of the developers of the SuperPet languages had a hand in Watcom C (the up and coming C compiler for the MSDOS world).
mwjones@lotus.waterloo.edu (01/22/89)
In article <6127@columbia.edu> simon@copper.UUCP (Thor Simon) writes: >found that Super OS-9 Will _not_ run on 3-board superpets due to an >inconsistiency between CBM's literature for the SP and the 3-Board >design. (The originals were 2-board, and Super OS-9 was developed on >one) The three board design is the original (computers get smaller, not bigger). So which does it run on? The original three board or the newer two board? -- Morgan Jones mwjones@lotus.uwaterloo.ca "BMATH - 3 months and counting ..."