CoCo disk commands?

[Brian Hilchie]

I have an emulator and disk images, but I don't know the commands to
get a directory and load and run a program. Can someone please help?
Thanks!

[Ralph Fox]

Hi Brian,

For starters, the floppy disk drives are called 0 and 1
(rather than A and B like in MS-DOS or MS-Windows).

(a) To get a directory listing of disk 0

DIR 0

(b) To get a directory listing of disk 1

DIR 1

(c) To run a BASIC program "XXXX.BAS" in drive 0

RUN "0:XXXX.BAS"

Don't forget the quote marks around the file.

(d) To load a BASIC program "YYYY.BAS" in drive 1,
without running it at the same time

LOAD "1:YYYY.BAS"

(e) To run a machine language program "ZZZZ.BIN" on drive 2
(if you use 3 floppy disk drives, the third one is drive 2)

LOADM "2:ZZZZ.BIN" : EXEC

Cheers,
Ralph.
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[Richard VanHouten]

Ralph Fox wrote:
>
> On Sat, 15 Apr 2000 20:54:39 GMT, in article
> <38f8d4f5...@news.cyberus.ca>, Brian Hilchie wrote:
>
> > I have an emulator and disk images, but I don't know the commands to
> > get a directory and load and run a program. Can someone please help?
> > Thanks!
>
> Hi Brian,
>
> For starters, the floppy disk drives are called 0 and 1
> (rather than A and B like in MS-DOS or MS-Windows).

The complete filespec is FILENAME/EXT:D for the various Tandy DOSes,
including Color Disk BASIC, where D is the drivespec (0 through 3
can be installed.)

>
> (a) To get a directory listing of disk 0
>
> DIR 0
>
> (b) To get a directory listing of disk 1
>
> DIR 1
>
> (c) To run a BASIC program "XXXX.BAS" in drive 0
>
> RUN "0:XXXX.BAS"

RUN "XXXX/BAS:0"

> Don't forget the quote marks around the file.
>
> (d) To load a BASIC program "YYYY.BAS" in drive 1,
> without running it at the same time
>
> LOAD "1:YYYY.BAS"

LOAD "YYYY/BAS:1"

>
> (e) To run a machine language program "ZZZZ.BIN" on drive 2
> (if you use 3 floppy disk drives, the third one is drive 2)
>
> LOADM "2:ZZZZ.BIN" : EXEC

LOADM "ZZZZ/BAS:2":EXEC

[Ralph Fox]

On Sun, 16 Apr 2000 18:28:50 -0400, in article
<38FA3EA2...@warwick.net>, Richard VanHouten wrote:

> The complete filespec is

The CoCo will accept _ANY_ of the following file specifications...

"0:FILE.EXT" -- similar to MS-DOS
"0:FILE/EXT"
"FILE.EXT:0"
"FILE/EXT:0" -- like Z80-based TRS-DOS

> > RUN "0:XXXX.BAS"
>
> RUN "XXXX/BAS:0"

_BOTH_ will work on the CoCo.

It makes sense when you remember that CoCo Disk BASIC was written
by Microsoft. As a result, ...

1. The disk system supports file specifications similar to MS-DOS,
as well as the Z80-based TRS-DOS style.

2. The CoCo disk format uses a FAT (File Allocation Table) more
similar to MS-DOS than to the Z80-based TRS-DOSes.

[jo...@halfnibble.com]

Is there any way to page through the DIR results? Some kind of pagination? I've got too many programs on the disk to see the full listing.

[os9dude]

> Is there any way to page through the DIR results? Some kind of pagination?
> I've got too many programs on the disk to see the full listing.

On stock RSDOS you can just pause the DIR listing with the SHIFT @ combination, you have to be fast to avoid the first entries from scrolling away, then hit any other key (except BREAK) to have the list continue and then SHIT @ again to stop - again this is a thing of practice to get good at it.

If you have a printer attached to the CoCo do a POKE 111,254:DIR sequence and as soon as you hit ENTER the CoCo will read the DIR and because of the POKE the output would be directed to the printer instead of the screen for the duration of the DIR reaad, once it prints all the redirection ceases and goes back to the screen.

The other way to go would be for a BASIC program that reads the directory entries and paginates the display. Such routine would rely heavily on the DSKI$ command to read the directory area and print out a formatted output.

-- RP