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Other examples:
CMD"Sname/cmd will start a binary file name/cmd from any disk
CMD"Limage/bin:3 will load image/bin from disk 3
As you see, you can omit the blank between cmd"s and the filename.
To ease things you could also enable my DOS lookalike frontend ;) It's contained in newe000.rom (2,772 bytes; CRC 953491a7) but not enabled by default. If you enable it you can type HELP (hehe ;) and DIR and simply give a name to execute a binary file.
The optional newe000.rom is loaded if the corresponding "dip switch" is set from within the driver itself. There is no need to specify this ROM on the command line.
== Controls ==
The Colour Genie had two Joystick, each one features a 12-keys keypad below the stick. The keypad layout is the following
* 0 #
7 8 9
4 5 6
1 2 3
== Keyboard ==
This system requires full keyboard emulation to work correctly. At startup, full keyboard emulation mode is enabled by default. Whilst in full keyboard emulation mode, some key associated functionality may be disabled (like the ESC key for EXIT). The keyboard emulation mode is toggled using the "Scroll Lock" key (by default).
== Miscellaneous ==
Under the "Options" menu, accessible by hitting TAB, there are three settings:
"Floppy Disc Drives" - enable or disable floppy disc controller.
"DOS ROM C000-DFFF" - enable 8K DOS ROM or make it RAM.
"EXT ROM E000-EFFF" - enable 4K Extension ROM or make it RAM.
=== RAM options ===
Different RAM configurations are possible for the cgenie in MESS. You can switch between them, changing the -ramsize parameter. At command line
mess cgenie -ramsize ram_value
where ram_value can assume one of the following values
16k (default)
32k
===== Known issues =====
Startup with CAS or CMD images does not always work. Use the BASIC SYSTEM or CLOAD commands to read cassette image files, or use the Colour Genie DOS ROM with floppy disc images to run programs. The driver does not yet emulate the printer port mode for AY-3-8910. Right now it always uses the AY-3-8910 ports for joystick emulation.
Requires full keyboard emulation. At startup, full keyboard emulation mode is enabled by default. Whilst in full keyboard emulation mode, some key associated functionality may be disabled (like the ESC key for EXIT). The keyboard emulation mode is toggled using the
scroll_lock key.
The Colour Genie driver should run most of the known programs out there. It supports the Motorola 6845 CRT controller with text and graphics modes (LGR and FGR), the AY-3-8910 sound chip with three audio channels and noise and the WD 179x floppy disc controller with up to four virtual floppy disc drives contained in image files.
The keyboard is relatively close to the original layout; see "Keys (This Machine)" in the TAB/Options menu.
Emulation of dual Colour Genie joysticks with keypads is also supported.
===== History and Trivia =====
The Colour Genie was the successor of the Genie 1, Genie 2 and Genie 3. It was intended to compete with the Tandy Color Computer although it was not at all compatible with its model (Z80 microprocessor instead of a Motorola 6809 in the CoCo)
The graphic resolution wasn't as good as the CoCo, furthermore it was not possible to mix characters and graphics.
However, the machine was reliable and solidly built. It featured a good mechanical keyboard and even a little level display located above the keyboard, which allowed to set the recording level of the tape recorder to improve reliability when writing onto a tape.
//(info from old-computers.com)//
===== Links =====
* Colour Genie at old-computers.com -- http://old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=128
===== Other Emulators =====
* Colour Emu -- http://people.a2000.nl/rwesseli/ColourGenie.html (dead link)
* EG 2000 -- http://pullmoll.de/cgenie/ (dead link)