XPrompt Commands

This is not a complete list but rather enough at least to include all the examples on the website.

Commands shown in bold items in {} to be replaced by a value.

Explanations follow on next line then examples.

SECTION 1 HARDWARE COMMANDS


X>8TRK {track number}

If vTAPE device is in 8 Track mode then it can only be connected to one CPU at a time and this command determines which of the
eight 32KB virtual tape tracks it will start searching from when commands such as CLOAD are typed in BASIC.
Saved items may not cross a 32K track boundary however a load command will continue to seek data in the next track if not found in
the specified track.

X>HRDMAN

In Dual-CoCo mode places system in H prompt.
In Tri-CoCo mode returns the message Tri-CoCo mode CPU#1 not available for hardware management.

X>HRDMAN vTAPE STATUS

In Tri-CoCo mode returns the message 8TRK owned by CoCo Blue.
In Dual-CoCo returns the message CPU #n controls 8TRK  vTAPE. where n is 1,2 or 3 if the vTAPE is in eight track mode,
otherwise the message  vTAPE owners are #n,x,y,z
where n,x,y,z is 1 if the tape currently unassigned 2  or 3 if tape assigned to CPU #2 or CPU #3 respectively.
For example if HRDMAN vTAPE STATUS resulted in the message  vTAPE owners are #2,2,1,3 then in the vTAPE RAM
the first two 64K blocks are assigned to CPU#2, the next 64K block is unassigned and the last 64K block is assigned to CPU#3.

X>HRDMAN vTAPE FREE {track or tracks}

Free up the listed tracks for reassignment.

X>HRDMAN vTAPE ASSIGN {track or tracks} TO #{CPU}

Hardware Manager command to assign a track or set of tracks in to a specific CPU.
This command will not overwrite track assignments so if for example we use the command
HRDMAN vTAPE ASSIGN 2,3 TO #3 the command will only change track #3 to CPU #3
and the message TRACK 2 NOT FREE - UNCHANGED TRACK 3 ASSIGNED #3 SUCESS. is displayed.
What you should have done is proceeded the "vTAPE ASSIGN" command with the "vTAPE FREE" command
in this case HRDMAN vTAPE FREE 2  then the command HRDMAN vTAPE ASSIGN 2,3 TO #3 would
assign both tracks 2 and 3 to CPU #3 and the message SUCESS ! would be displayed.

X>HRDMAN #{CPU} NEXTRACK

Hardware Manager command to set as current the next track of vTAPE for a specific CPU.
The command is ignored if the specified CPU has no vTAPE tracks assigned to it otherwise
a message similar to  CoCo RED will use vTAPE track number 4 for next access. will
appear unless the current tape is locked by a program in which case you will get the message
CoCo RED locked on track 3 Wait or Cancel ? if you then type C nothing happens but if
you type W you get the message
CoCoRED will change access source when current tape file closed you will be notified.
you will later get the message as a system popup with bell.
Note another situation is that you were loading or saving a file to vTAPE in that case the
message CoCo RED will use vTAPE track number 4 after current load completes. 
the loading from track 3 or saving to track 3 continues until finished but the next load will be from track 4.

Some sample setups:

Example 1 = CPU#2 has only track 1 CPU #3 has tracks 2 3 and 4 the command 
#3 NEXTRACK cycles though 2-->3-->4-->2-->3-->4 ect
#2 NEXTRACK cycles though 1-->1-->1 ect.
note in all cases the tape access pointer is set to the start of the new track.

Example 2 = CPU#2 has tracks 1 and 2 CPU #3 has tracks  3 and 4 the command 
#3 NEXTRACK cycles though 3-->4-->3-->4 ect
#2 NEXTRACK cycles though 1-->2-->1-->2 ect.

X>HRDMAN GUI

This command calls up a full-screen GUI for hardware allocation on the VGA monitor if it is attached or otherwise on the Composite monitor.
If you have both monitors attached the VGA monitor will be used unless the command HRDMAN GUI CMP is used in which case the Composite monitor will be used even though a VGA monitor is available.
For more details about the Hardware Assignment Manager GUI click here.

X>HRDMAN MIX

For more details about the mixer control click here.

X>RESET {cpu(s)}

Do a Soft Reset of the cpu's listed for example X>RESET 1  would do a soft reset of CoCoBlue the same as taping the reset button while CPU #1 is in FOCUS when in TriCoCo mode.

Another example X>RESET 123  would do a soft reset of all of CoCoBlue, CoCoGREEN and CoCoRED when in TriCoCo mode.

IF you are in DualCoCo Mode then  X>RESET 123  would result in the error Wrong Mode.
While X>RESET 23 or X>RESET 32 would do a soft reset of  CoCoGREEN and CoCoRED.

Other variations of the RESET command.

Some points to remember about RESETs.

  1. All resets preserve the full 1736KB of uDisk and vTape contents execept for "RESET FULL POWER CYCLE"
  2. All resets and Power Cycles preserve the 256KB NVR RAM which includes Settings Memory, U9: and U0:.
  3. The 256KB NVR RAM will retain its contents as long as the CoCo5 remains plugged in.
  4. The 256KB NVR RAM will retain its contentsfor up to a week with the CoCo5  unplugged.
  5. The contents of 256K System ROM and 128K User ROM are completely safe even if the system is not used for years.
  6. The contents of 256K System ROM and 128K User ROM are user uneatable through a USB connection to a PC.
  7. A small actual  BOOTSTRAP ROM has hard-coded unchangeable setup for a basic 256K System ROM refresh.
  8. The BOOTSTRAP ROM will be run automatically if RESET is held down during POWER ON.

X>RESET AS {cpu mode} {{CoCoGREEN mode}}  
    Where  {cpu mode} is either DC or TC and
     Where  {CoCoGREEN mode} is either 2 or 3 if it is present otherwise NVRSettings is checked for that data.

Some examples of how this works.



SECTION 2: SCREEN GROUP COMMANDS

X>SCREEN

By itself  SCREEN puts you in the Sprompt for Screen Commands which saves you from typing SCREEN at the start of each command the command X puts you back at the X prompt.


X>SCREEN SHOW GROUPS

       Examples of how it works are on the page that discusses the GIMMEx32.

On screen replace background by color blocks to show which screen group owns that section of the monitor.
This is a chart of the color codes.
A
 Coco Green
C
 Cyan
D
   Dark Green
E
 Evergreen
F
 Fusha
G
 Gold
H
 Hot Pink
J
 Jade
K
 Kite Sky Blue
L
 Lavender
M
 Mauve
N
 Noir
O
 Orange
P
 Purple
Q
 White
R
 Red
S
 S Silver
T
 Tan


The Background is denoted with a dark Blue

as above.

X>SCREEN ASSIGN {screen group code} {system device}

Where the {screen group code} of the form. MsgC

where

Sysclip format:

SysClips are a graphic in a special format held in  set of 32 bit strings stored in HiDef Video Memory.

Sysclips may be loaded by a virtual CoCo into a tempory memory buffer and then through an XAPI transfered to  HiDef Video Memory by the GIMMEx32 the originating  virtual CoCo then no longer has any connection with the Sysclip which is then managed completely by CPU#1 and the GIMMEx32.

The Format for a static SysClip is described here.


X>SCREEN LAYOUT
This command will popup a screen layout in the monitor it was typed in.
So supposing it was typed on the VGA screen which happens to be 960x720 mode.
We might get this.

If we happened to be on the Composite Screen at the time the command X>SCREEN LAYOUT VGA could be used instead to start a screen layout window on the VGA Monitor.

If however you were on the VGA monitor and wanted to work on the  Composite Monitors layout you could type X>SCREEN LAYOUT CMP
the following window would popup on the Composite Monitor.

Based on further details you can read  on the GIMMEx32  page of this site you can see that we could reconfigure the VGA screen in several ways.
Let's first see how we could close all screen groups on the VGA screen.

X>SCREEN VGA S
short form for SCREEN VGA SAVE see above.

SECTION 3 FULL SCREEN MODE COMMANDS

Aside from dividing up the screen into screen groups there are commands to temporary give full screen access to the screen.
To exit full screen use the hot key combo [[Right-SHIFT][ESC}[CLEAR]].
[[Right-SHIFT][ESC}[CLEAR]] means (hold down the right shift key and then while keeping it held down hold down the escape key and while continuing to hold these down press CLEAR) .

X>SCREEN COMPOSITE {Screen Group Code}

    Shows that screen group in full screen on the Composite Monitor.
     The original screen group may come from either the composite or VGA monitor.

X>SCREEN COMPOSITE ASSIGN ALL TO FOCUS

    Shows the virtual CoCo in FOCUS in full screen on the Composite Monitor.

X>SCREEN VGA ASSIGN ALL TO FOCUS

    Shows the virtual CoCo in FOCUS in full screen on the VGA Monitor.

X>SCREEN {monitor} {cpu}

    Shows the main screen of virtual CoCo controled by {cpu} on  {monitor}
    {monitor} may be one of V C or A that is V for VGA, C for Composite or A for Adapter.

X>SCREEN {monitor 1} MIRROR {monitor 2}

Sets {monitor 2} to mirror the contents of {monitor 1} if {monitor 2} is capable of reseting to the required resolution and
if not does nothing but place the error message "Maximum Resolution Supported is {res}" at the S prompt.


SECTION 4: SETTINGS MANAGEMENT COMMANDS
These are commands to manipulate the 56K settings NVR memory.

X>NVSAVE MODE {cpu mode} {{CoCoGREEN mode}}

   Where  {cpu mode} is either DUAL or TRI and
   Where  {CoCoGREEN mode} is either 2 or 3

       Stores the startup mode info in NVR Settings for use on the next X>RESET FULL POWER CYCLE command or actual power cycle.



SECTION 5: KEYBOARD MANAGEMENT COMMANDS

X>START KEYMACGUI

Start the full screen keyboard macro program.
ddd

SECTION 5: UPDATE and BACKUP MANAGEMENT COMMANDS

X>U
Go to the Update Prompt

X>#{cpu} HALT
Halt CPU #{cpu}     #{cpu}=1 to 3
When halted the FOCUS key will skip over that CPU when pressed and go to the next.

X>#{cpu} GO
Resume CPU #{cpu}     #{cpu}=1 to 3

X>BACKUP CoCo{color}
Requires USB update cable attached and relevant CPU (RED=3 GREEN=2 Blue=1) halted.
The PC creates a backup in the {PROXY ROOT}/SNAPSHOTS/CoCo{color}/{date-time}/ directory of the server.
In this directory are  the following files:
  • CoCo{color}.mem       - Containing what was in the memory assigned to CoCo{color} when it was halted for a snapshot.
  • 6309.reg                      - Containing the registers to be restored to the virtual CPU.
  • Directorys  U1 .... U7   - Containing the disk images of all uDisk files assigned to that virtual CPU.
                                           in files named {disk label}.dsk if OS9 or MS-DOS or DRIVE#{the drive number that the virtual CPU see's this disk as}
  • Files vt{n}.cas             - Containing the image of the virtual cassette {n} owned by the virtual CPU.

examples: v



SECTION 6: MISCELLANEOUS COMMANDS

X>MOUSEON {ADDAPTOR | VGA | COMPOSITE}
is the command that tells you which monitor to switch the system mouse to.
If you put a screen group on the VGA screen with a SYSCLIP linked  MOUSEON C then clicking on that sysgroup picture will transfer the sys mouse to the Composite Monitor. 

X>STATUS {{state}}

Where {{state}} is either SHOW or OFF.
If you type status by itself it toggles the state of status ONLY on the screen it was typed in whereas X>STATUS SHOW or X>STATUS OFF sets the state of the status on both screens.
X>STATUS SHOW Turns on the status line on the eXecutive Supervisory Command line.
X>STATUS OFF      Turns off the status line on the eXecutive Supervisory Command line.

        X>ROM BOOT ENABLE  Turns on booting from u9: "OS9 ROM DISK" ...

End for now.