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.
- To accomplish the same starting with CPU#1- CoCoBlue in
focus you would have to:
- Tap Reset button on the back of the CoCo5
- Tap Reset button on the back of the CoCo5
- Tap Reset button on the back of the CoCo5
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.
- X>RESET {cpu(s)} HARD does a HARD
reset of the cpu's listed like [CTRL][ALT][RESET] for each.
- X>RESET {cpu(s)} OFF
does an equivalent of a power down of the virtual CoCo's listed by
there CPU#.
- X>RESET ALL OFF
does an equivalent of a power down of
all cpu's includeing the eXecutive processor.
- X>RESET H
only resets the Hardware Manager.
- X>RESET FULL POWER CYCLE the equivalent of shutting
down the power and then power up again.
Some points to remember about RESETs.
- All resets preserve the full 1736KB of uDisk and vTape
contents execept for "RESET FULL POWER CYCLE"
- All resets and Power Cycles preserve the 256KB NVR RAM which
includes Settings Memory, U9: and U0:.
- The 256KB NVR RAM will retain its contents as long as the
CoCo5 remains plugged in.
- The 256KB NVR RAM will retain its contentsfor up to a week
with the CoCo5 unplugged.
- The contents of 256K System ROM and 128K User ROM are
completely safe even if the system is not used for years.
- The contents of 256K System ROM and 128K User ROM are
user uneatable through a USB connection to a PC.
- A small actual BOOTSTRAP ROM has hard-coded
unchangeable setup for a basic 256K System ROM refresh.
- 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.
- Assuming that you are in TriCoCo mode.
- X>RESET AS DC would be used to reset the CoCo5 to
DualCoCo mode this does X>RESET ALL OFF returning in
DualCoCo mode.
- X>RESET AS TC 3 would be reset the CoCoGreen (X>RESET
2 HARD) to CoCo3 mode no need to reset any other CPU's..
.
- Assuming that you are in DualCoCo mode.
- X>RESET AS DC is a request to reset the system to the
values stored in Settings if uDisk settings are out of sync with the
in memory
settings you will get a warning "uDisks not in Sync with
settings do a backup then press C for continue or X to cancel" at
that point you could use the [FOCUS] key to switch to a virtual coco
that has access to both the uDisk that will be clobbered and access
to a floppy, hard disk or a coco net or drivewire network drive and
coppy the data to a safe place, then use the [FOCUS] key to switch
back to the X prompt and press C to continue resetting or otherwise
X to exit without resetting.
- X>RESET AS TC would be reset the CoCo5 to TriCoCo mode:
- if udisks 0 --> 8 are all 160K then this does
a X>RESET ALL OFF
- if udisks 0 --> 8 are all 160K then a X>RESET
FULL POWER CYCLE is done so the contents of uDisk's 1
--> 8 are lost
as well as any part of u0: not in the /NVR directory.
In Tri CoCo mode the CoCo5 acts like three CoCo's CPU#1
acts as CoCoBlue while CPU's #2 and #3 act as CoCoGREEN &
CoCo RED respectively.
Advanced hardware allocation is unavailable and the hardware is
allocated as in the table here..
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
- M is the Monitor Code either V for VGA or C
for Composite.
- sgC is the name of the screen group where C=
one of:
- B for system background.
- A or C D E F G H J K L M N O P Q R S or T
for a standard screen group.
- For example CsgC or VsgA are valid
identifiers but for example AsgV, VsgI
or DsgD are not valid.
- Every Screen Group makes available three layers which may be used.
- The system devices available are
- CPU
- CPU designations are #1, #2 and #3 in TriCoCo mode.
- CPU designations are #2 and #3 in DualCoCo mode.
- Every CPU device has a Base layer BL and a Mid
layer ML and Top layer TL stacked over
the base layer.
- The Top layer also known as the interaction layer is the
CoCo's natural screen and input layer
ie. where you would interact with a program written for a
CoCo2 or CoCo 3.
- The Top layer is Visible by default but transparency
settings may let layers underneath show through.
- The Top layer is designated #n or #n.0
- The Mid layer is designated #n.1
- The Base layer is designated #n.2
- Only the One Parent Screen Group can be created for RS-DOS
however NitrOS9 can bypass that limitation.
- A Top layer of the Screen Group is interactive if is
designated #n or #n.0 such a group responds to the
[CLEAR] key in OS9 by changing the content displayed.
- However one can create #n./Wn which is locked to a specific
OS9 Window and will not respond to the [CLEAR] key.
These are called Oh9Windows,
- It is also possible to stack Oh9Windows in a Screen Group for
example SCREEN ASSIGN VsgD #3/W2,#3.1/W3,#3,/W4
would stack the NitrOS9 window /W2 on top of /W3 on top of
/W4 as long as each of these windows has it's own separate
screen.
- To be clear /w2 /w3 or /W4 could be sharing it's
screen with another window as long as that window was
not /W2 /w3 or /W4.
- Some Examples: <AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
- FOCUS
- FOCUS is a Child Screen Group it contains the Screen
that currently has Screen Focus.
The Screen Focus is not quite the same as the keyboard
focus here is an example to show how they differ.
- Example #1 -- TriCoCo mode
Starting out with:
- CPU#2 in FOCUS press the [FOCUS] key and
three seconds later CPU#3 will have screen focus
unless you have pressed another key or the mouse.
- If you Pressed the [FOCUS] key
again then CPU #0 ie the eXecutive
Supervisory Interface will have immediate keyboard
focus but the screen focus will stay on CPU#2.
- If you pressed any other key or before three seconds
then CPU#3 will get screen focus immediately.
- If you press no key for three seconds then CPU#3 will
get screen focus after 3 seconds.
- So One quick presses of the [FOCUS]
key would get you CPU#3 in keyboard focus but
CPU#2 in screen focus
until the 3 second timeout expires and then CPU#3 would
take over screen focus.
- Two quick presses of the [FOCUS]
key would get you CPU#0 in keyboard focus but
CPU#2 in screen focus,
screen focus would continue to stay with CPU#2 while CPU#0
has keyboard focus .
- Three quick presses of the [FOCUS]
key would get you the keyboard focus on CPU#1
but CPU#2 in screen focus until the 3 second
timeout expires or a key other then [FOCUS] is pressed and
then CPU#1 would take over screen focus.
- Four quick presses of the [FOCUS]
key would get you CPU#2 in keyboard focus and
CPU#2 would stay in screen focus.
- Example #2 -- DualCoCo mode
Starting out with:
- CPU#2 in FOCUS ( All the same principles
apply note the difference in )
One quick presses of the [FOCUS] key
would get you CPU#3 in keyboard focus but CPU#2 in
screen focus
until the 3 second timeout expires and then CPU#3 would
take over screen focus.
- Two quick presses of the [FOCUS]
key would get you CPU#0 in keyboard focus but
CPU#2 in screen focus,
screen focus would continue to stay with CPU#2 while CPU#0
has keyboard focus .
- Three quick presses of the [FOCUS]
key would get you the keyboard focus on CPU#1
but CPU#2 in screen focus focus. *
- Four quick presses of the [FOCUS]
key would get you CPU#2 in keyboard focus and
CPU#2 would stay in screen focus.
- * Note ( In
Example #2 in step three CPU#2 stays in focus even after
pressing a key or waiting three seconds this is because only
a Virtual CoCo can have "Screen Focus" and in Dual-CoCo
mode CPU#1 does not correspond to a Virtual CoCo but
rather the Hardware Allocation Interface. )
- Only Two Focus Windows can be created One for the VGA Monitor
and One for the Composite Monitor.
- OVERFLOW
- OVERFLOW is a Child Screen Group it contains a Screen
that displays the content of a screen that cannot be displayed
on another screen where it has been declared like for example if
there is a 320x226 screen trying to display 640x225 output. Or a
320x113 screen trying to display an OS9 window larger then
320x113.
- There is No limit on the number of overflow screens you can
declare but an overflow screen must consist of at least two
blocks providing at least 640x113.
- The larger an overflow screen the better.
- Content is assigned to overflow screens on a most recent
creation or focus basis and droped on a most stale basis when
demand exceeds supply.
- SYSCLIP
- A SYSCLIP is kind of like a post-it note.
- Set up by CPU#0 from data loaded by another CPU or
created as a Scaled Snapshot of the Background.
- Unlike other screen group content SYSCLIP's are fully
opaque.
- Unlike other screen group content SYSCLIP's can use the Red
Set or Green Set Virtual Screen Set
- Unlike other screen group content is not Palette
Based but uses the full 10 bit's of the background screen set.
- A SYSCLIP can have a linked X> prompt command so that
clicking on that SYSCLIP executes that command.
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.
- With the Screen layout Editor
- Click in the upper left hand corner then we type BB
- Click the leftmost cell on the second row type BB
- Click the leftmost cell on the third row type BB
- Now we have this.

- Now type ↓Y←
The key ↓ says go down one block. The key Y says Yank
the current window and the key ← says the direction to yank
it is to the left.
After that key sequence the result is as shown below.

- I think by now you can guess how to get rid of the second screen
group but there was a X Prompt command line to this whole procedure
you could have just typed X>SCREEN VGA="BBB, BBB,BBB,BBB,BBB,BBB"
to get a all blank screen.
You however in this case have always had a pair that started with a
capitol B noting that the capitalized entry repersents the value
stored in the NVR Settings memory and the lowercase entry repersents
what is currently being used we could have instead used the command
X>SCREEN VGA RESTORE to restore the default screen groups
stored in NVR Settings which in this case would close all
screen groups on the VGA monitor.
- Suppose instead that you liked the original so much you wanted to
make it the default then you would use X>SCREEN VGA
SAVE to save the settings turning
This

to This
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.