System Update Interface
The CoCo5 system would
probably need to go through several revisions initially and also the
system has been specified to have a "User E.E.P.R.O.M." of 128K for
"DRIVERS" and "GAMES". So a easy update method not involving EEPROM
burners seemed like a good idea.
The solution is a special
USB 1.1 transfer cable allowing the CoCo5 to be updated by a PC.
The USB 1.1 Port is
underneath the CoCo5 where the RGB Out would be on a Color Computer 3 and
is normally used for the "System Mouse".
The easiest way to update
is to update is to turn off the CoCo5 run the transfer cable from the
bottom of the PC, start the Update Service running on the PC and then turn
on the CoCo5 the power on sequence detects the attached USB transfer
cable and starts the update.
The update menu comes up
full screen and looks like this.
===========================
CoCo5 UPDATE
MENU
Last
Update 01/29/2025
New
Updates Available
===========================
UPDATES
UPDATES<--REWIND
BACKUPS
Keyboard
PROXY
ACCESS
RESTORE
TEST
SYSTEM
uDOWNLOAD
U>
VTerm
===========================
|
How do we get to here.
RUNNING FROM STARTUP
Note if CoCo5 turns on
with USB transfer cable attached and the PROXY software running on the PC
then the system.
- CHECKS CoCo5 SYSTEM INTEGRITY
- AUTO CHECKS FOR UPDATE INFO
- CHECKS KEYBORD FOR [ESC] [P] or [R]
Ok power down your CoCo
and start up your PC
Type cc5uprox from DOS or
LINUX prompt.
If this is the first run
of the software you will be asked to set
- A Name for a Root Directory for proxie operations.
This may be a Directory created under
C:\Users\{YourName}\Documents in Windows
/home/{YourName}/Documents
in Linux
The Default name is COCO5CONNECT
but you can replace it with any name you wish.
PROXIE DIRECTORY NAME >COCO5CONNECT
- You will then be asked for the
Default control screen CoCo
or PC ?
- Finally you will then be asked
for the timeout.
Welcome screen timeout 5 seconds minimum ___
- You then get a summary of your settings for example.
/home/coconut/Documents/mycoco
Control from
CoCo
After 10 seconds.
Accept Settings Y/N ?
Then you will go to the
startup screen.
Startup screen tells you
to
PRESS C KEY
to control update from the CoCo
PRESS P KEY
to control update from the
P.C.
PRESS S KEY
to setup
cc5uprox
|
At this point you can
press C or c to control the rest of the process from the CoCo or
press P or p to put the interface on screen on the PC.
If you are setting up a Bluetooth keyboard for the coco you will
want to type "P" for PC.
In either case the next
step is to go over to the CoCo and plug in the USB data transfer cable
and turn on the power.
The following screen will
come up on your selected control device.
===========================
CoCo5 UPDATE
MENU
Last
Update 01/29/2025
New
Updates Available
===========================
UPDATES
UPDATES<--REWIND
PROXY
ACCESS
RESTORE
TEST
SYSTEM
EXit
===========================
|
Lets look at each option
in this menu --
We will assume that we are
connected to a linux system and that
our "proxie directory is"
~/Documents/mycoco/
U
The first item selected by
pressing the U or u key for updates finds the most
recent update file in
~/Documents/mycoco/updates
you get these messages
FOUND
cc5up-02142025.ar
MD5SUM .... ok
EXTRACTING to ./TEMP
- IMAGING cc5up-02142025.rom TO CoCo5 SYSTEM
ROM
CONFIRMING cc5up-02142025.rom
NEW default u0:
INCLUDED
KEEP ON
SERVER FOR INSPECTION or
OVERWRITE u0:
on CoCo5
K/O ?
if you type K here for
keep here you get the message
SAVING ud0-02142025.dsk
to ~/Documents/mycoco/inbox
UPDATE DOCUMENT WILL
OPEN NOW USE THE HOT KEYS
N = Next Page P
= Previous Page Q = quit saving copy in inbox or X = to
exit and discard.
you read the notes and
then Quit
the program returns to
the update procedure and asks ...
DO YOU WISH TO PATCH
OR OVERWRITE NVR SETTINGS (P/O)?
at this point if
you type P for patch you might get
CHECKING u0:
INSUFFICIENT space
for NVRPATCH.BIN
CHECKING u8:
INSUFFICIENT space
for NVRPATCH.BIN
CHECKING u1:
COPYING NVRPATCH.BIN
to u1:
WARNING u1: IS
AN OS9 PARTITION USE Uprompt TO INSTALL.
The origional NVRSettings will be
stored at ~/Documents/mycoco/backups
under the name NVRsetPrePatch-02142025.bin
if you had typed O for overwriting
you would get
Backing up settings to ~/Documents/mycoco/sys
please provide filename
_____________________________
OVERWRITEING NVRSETTINGS MEMORY
In any case the next
screen would be
SHUTDOWN OR REBOOT(S/R)?
<--
The second item selected
by typing the sequence <-- or pressing the back
arrow key searches ~/Documents/mycoco/updates
and shows the up to 9
most resent old updates you choose by typing 1 to 9
example: suppose you
have eight releases this program will list all the older ones
REWIND UPDATE TO
- cc5up-01292025.ar
- cc5up-10312024.ar
- cc5up-09082024.ar
- cc5up-general-beta-2-08182024
- cc5up-general-beta-1-07302024
- cc5up-developer-beta-2-07102024
- cc5up-developer-beta-1-06092024
INSTALL #?
After you pick a release to install the
rest of the process follows the same interface as described for a
update.
B
The third item is
selected by by pressing B or b to run the backup tool.
~/Documents/mycoco/backups
BACKUP TOOL
The Backup Tool
consists of two windows the top window presents a memory map and the
lower window displays a U prompt.
Some examples Below.
So you see that in the U prompt there
are five backup commands.
The command Status #3 will come back
with OFF if virtual CPU #3 is
halted or otherwise with ON.
The command CoCo{color} in the U
prompt shows the status of that virtual CoCo and starts the backup
Example:
U backup>CoCoRED
CoCoRED CPU #3 OFF
NO HIGH DEF VIDEO LINKED U4:0 & U5:1 INCLUDED
ESC to ABORT or ANY KEY PRESSED TWICE TO START BACKUP.
The command SB{code} in the U prompt
shows the status of that Super-Block and starts the
backup
Example:
U backup>SB V
Super-Block 1280K Reserved 9 SCREENS
CPU's 0,1,2
ESC to ABORT or ANY KEY PRESSED TWICE TO START
BACKUP.
The command uDisk {number} in the
U prompt shows the status of that uDisk and
starts the backup
Examples:
U backup>uDisk 0
u0: 160K RS-DOS
ESC to ABORT or ANY
KEY PRESSED TWICE TO START BACKUP.
Creating u0-04012025-0954.dsk
on server.
u1: 360K OS9 "My NitrOS boot disk"
ESC to ABORT or ANY
KEY PRESSED TWICE TO START BACKUP to MyNitrosBootDisk.dsk.
File with same name
found renaming MyNitrosBootDisk-04012025-0954.dsk
Note: how the disk label is used to name the disk spaces extracted and
all letters forced to lowercase except that all first letters of each
word in the label are forced to
upper case note also a date/time stamp is added to the name of the
file if that name is also in use.
Note: If no disk label is found the disk
will be named u1-os9-04012025-0954.dsk you will
The command vTAPE {number} in the U
prompt shows the status of that vTAPE and starts
the backup
Examples:
U backup>vTAPE
0
vT0: 64K First File: UFO 6 Files Found
ESC to ABORT or ANY KEY PRESSED TWICE TO
START BACKUP
Default name: UFOplus5.cas
Backup Complete Rename(Y/N)?Y
_______________________________________
MyFavoriteTapeGamesVol#1.cas will be saved on the server.
Note: If you say yes to renaming
you can type in a name for the file up to 32 characters long you
just start typing and when you type a . or press enter or try to
type the 33 rd character whatever you typed before gets a .cas
addrd to the end of it and is saved on the server in the
directory {Proxy Home}/backups/tar/0
K
This menu is
for setting up a Bluetooth Keyboard for use by the CoCo5 you
must first have the Bluetooth paired to the P.C. or have a
previously created mykeyboardsetup.bkb setup file saved on
your P.C.. If you have a .kbk file you will be asked to save
it to NVRSettings othewise you must have the Bluetooth
Keyboard you plan to use with your coco hooked up to your
PC then you get walked through choosing the Bluetooth
channel #1 or #2 and a passkey for pairing with the coco
and then key identification section where you click a key on a
image map of a coco keyboard on screen and then press the same
key on your Bluetooth keyboard the info gets saved to the
CoCo5's NVRSettings and to a file on the PC with a name you
provide and the extension .bkb Also finally the process
finishes by eliminating the link between the Bluetooth
Keyboard and PC and exiting.
The Proxy access has
seven sub-menu's these are described below.
The menu is chosen
with a two character code.
One of CH FI SF SS DO TE or TX.
===========================
PROXY ACCESS
MENU
ROOT
= ~/Documents/mycoco
- HOST CHAT
- HOST FILE COMMANDER
- HOST SFTP CLIENT
- HOST SSH CLIENT
- HOST DOCUMENTATION
- HOST TERMINAL
- HOST TEXT EDITOR
===========================
|
Lets look at each option
HOST CHAT is an
internet chat client
HOST FILE COMMANDER
is a Midnight Commander style file explorer but only for the sub
directorys of your "PROXY DIRECTORY"
F1 HELP
F2 CREATE/UNPACK archives
supports coco style AR and LZH archives as well as ZIP's
Ideally just like Midnight Commander
pressing [ENTER] lets you explore an archive.
Even better would be for pressing [ENTER]
on a .dsk file let you explore and update it.
F3 Lets you View a Text File
F4 Lets you Edit a Text
file with a local editor such as Notepad or nano and automatically
adjust's the line ends to preserve the original type.
F5 Lets you copy a file to
the other pane note pane's may show
ALL FILES UNDER THE PROXIE
DIRECTORY INCLUDING SUB-DIRECTORIES
CONTENTS OF ANY AR, LZH
or ZIP
CONTENTS OF ANY uDISK
PROVIDED THAT DISK IS IN EITHER RS-DOS MS-DOS or OS9 FORMAT
F6 Lets you rename a file.
F7 Lets you create a
directory
F8 Lets you delete a file
F9 Lets you search for a
file by it's name or contents.
F0 Exit
HOST SFTP CLIENT
A SFTP client for the
internet with download directory set to {PROXY ROOT}/
in this case ~/Documents/mycoco
HOST SSH CLIENT
An SSH client for the
internet.
HOST DOCUMENTATION
A reader for documention
in {PROXY ROOT}/Documents
in this case ~/Documents/mycoco/Documents
HOST TERMINAL
A secure terminal
connection between the proxy host and the internet controlled through the
clear text connection across the USB cable to the CoCo5.
HOST TEXT
EDITOR
A text editor for files in
{PROXY ROOT}/Documents and it's sub-directory's and text files on uDisk's
0 --> 8
Restore data works more or less like backup
execpt in reverse.
Test Mode
Download a uDisk as a disk image.
Syntax: GET u{number}: URL
V
Starts a VT terminal on your CoCo Screen.
You are asked if you want to use the VGA or
Composite screen if you choose VGA you get a 60x132 grey scale screen on
the VGA monitor if you chose Composite you get a 30x80 color screen this
connection is to a links or lynx browser running on the PC and downloads
are made to the {PROXY ROOT}/Downloads directory.
X
The Proxy program asks if you wish to do
a CoCo startup before it exits or shutdown the CoCo.
Exit Requested
Do you want:
Shutdown CoCo
Reboot CoCo
Proxy Shutdown
|