spl@mgweed.UUCP (Steve Lorenz) (09/25/84)
TRSDOS 6.2 is now at your local Radio Shack Computer Center! I picked up my copy today (9-18-84), cost = $39.95 and includes a complete updated manual. New features include; Commands = CAT displays the directory just like DIR CLS clears the screen from DOS level HELP displays info about TRSDOS keywords. LOG allows you to change from one system disk to another. TOF advances printer to top of next page before printing. FLOPPY/DCT lets you define a logical drive as a floppy. Parameters have been added to the DIR, FORMAT, SYSTEM, SETCOM, and the CLICK/FLT. With TRSDOS 6.2 you can create an Immediate Execution Program. Once you create and IEP, you can load and run it at the TRSDOS READY prompt by pressing * (ENTER). The cursor has been changed from a double underline to a single underline. The default step rate has been changed to 6ms. Pressing (CTRL) (R) at the TRSDOS prompt repeats the previous TRSDOS command. Also the problems with COMM have been fixed. Like I said I just picked up my copy today and haven't had much time to check it out, but it doesn't seem like much for $39.95. The main reason I got it was for the error free COMM which they should have provided at no charge!!!! Steve Lorenz AT&T Consumer Products Montgomery Works
uhclem@trsvax.UUCP (09/27/84)
#R:mgweed:-1239700:trsvax:70700023:37777777600:9509 trsvax!uhclem Sep 27 13:46:00 1984 <I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll be promoted. - Old management saying> As noted in the base note, TRSDOS 6.2 has reached the market. Good, now I can talk about it. (Everything stated below can be found in the TRSDOS 6 (6.2) package (26-0316).) There are a lot of changes in 6.2 which should make programming/using it an easier task. The average user will notice these things: 1. 20% to 25% percent improvement in disk speed. You will get some just by using the new DOS, but to get all of the improvement, you have to duplicate your existing data disks using FORMAT & BACKUP. This will place the new sector interleave on the disks, which throws in 15% or so by itself. Remember not to use disks that were formatted under a earlier version for the backups, as that won't help any. 2. The DATE and TIME prompts on boot will now accept characters other than '/' and ':'. It allows a space and ! " # $ % & ' ) * + , - . / :. This is also true for the DATE and TIME commands. 3. A DIR command now displays as though you had given the parameter (ALL=YES/ON). This gives the detailed directory information. 4. A new command called CAT works the same as the DIR command, except that the default is (ALL=NO/OFF). This will cause a display identical to what you got with the DIR command in earlier versions. 5. The DIR/CAT commands allow a range of drives to be specified. If no drive is specified, all enabled drives are scanned. :d Looks at a particular drive -d Scans drives 0 thru d :d- Scans drives d thru 7 :b-e Scans drives b thru e 6. The CLICK filter has a new parameter that will ring the bell when a particular character passes through. It is meant to be used on the screen or printer device. To ring the bell on a ^G going to the screen, you would say: SET *BL CLICK (CHAR=7) FILTER *DO *BL 7. The DOS says "SYSGEN" when a configuration is being done from a CONFIG/SYS file. 8. 50 hertz users can switch the system to 50 hertz by typing: SYSTEM (HERTZ5) for 50 hertz SYSTEM (HERTZ6) for 60 hertz operation (You still have to get the hardware modified.) 9. The FORMAT utility now allows you to pick the location of the directory. The new parameter is (DIR=cylinder). 10. The DEVICE command now shows more information, including CPU speed (fast and slow) as well as the status of "Smooth" and "Forms". 11. The default cursor was changed to an underscore, because it is a character that is always available. When reverse video is on, the block graphics characters are not available from the hardware, and you used to see a reverse video 0 instead of the double underline. You can always change it back via the SYSTEM command. 12. A new help utility is on the system disk. The file DOS/HLP comes with the system, which contains the syntax of all library commands in the DOS. Some application packages are using this utility for their help files too. The program for building the /HLP files is available from L.S.I. 13. Pressing <*><Enter> will run the file called SYS13/SYS. This is one of two ways the SYS13 file can be used. This method is mainly for those who run one program more than any other, so they only have to press 2 keys to start the program. 14. A new command controls priority of keyboard vs floppy operation. Since the keyboard must be polled, the system looks at it several times a second. When floppy read operations are done, the setting of SYSTEM (SMOOTH) will decide if checking the keyboard should take precedence over reading a sector. If SYSTEM (SMOOTH=YES) is set, then the floppy driver can disable interrupts while it is reading and I/O bound operations will see a performance gain. Users that typeahead a lot may lost keystrokes during floppy reads. If you want the keyboard to run as much as possible, set SYSTEM (SMOOTH=OFF). This is the way the system was set in 6.1.x. 15. The SETCOM command has a cleaned up display and a few new options. It no longer scrolls off the screen with all of its parameters. They are displayed on a couple of lines. Parity ODD, EVEN or OFF can now be set. 16.** This is a biggie. The spooler now works while BASIC is running. Any program that had the stack above x'7ffe' could not use the spooler in earlier versions. (Even if the program did not print anything, despooling activity would stop while the stack was above x'7ffe'.) 17. The typeahead buffer size has been expanded. It is now around 80 characters. Previously, it was around 60. Programmers, here are some internal improvements and new features. When you get 6.2, it comes with replacement pages for the Technical Reference manual that explain how to use these new items. 1. You can now inhibit the @CKDRV operation that the system makes before operations like @OPEN and @INIT. Bit 7 of DCT+4 indicates that @CKDRV need not run on this logical drive. This is useful for packages that run on the hard disk that only need to test for the drive once. 2. SVC positions 124 thru 127 are available to the programmer. If the service routines are placed above HIGH$, they can even be SYSGENed and reloaded on boot. 3. Bit 5 of CFLAG$ will disallow a SYSGEN from taking place. Programs that get the system into a non-sysgenable state can set this bit to disable the SYSGEN command. 4. A new flag called RFLAG$ allows you to set the number of retries that the floppy drivers will perform in the event of an error. (Lost Data errors are retried forever.) 5. @CLS (SVC 105) clears the screen. 6. When the MEMORY (HIGH= command is used, it now places a proper header on the memory area, so that @GTMOD will work properly. 7. AFLAG$ has been added. It may be changed to select where on a disk allocation will start. The default is 1, so allocation starts at cylinder 1. By changing it and writing a file to a disk, you can place files at particular locations on the disk. 8. NFLAG$ has been added. Bit 0 controls the marking of files "open" in the directory. In 6.2, this bit is off and files are not marked "open". If running a network enviroment where files could be open by more than one user, turning this bit on grants all capability to the first @OPEN and read-only capability to all later opens. If you want the system to act like it did in 6.1.x, turn this bit on. Bit 6 indicates the task processor is running. This is for synchronizing network events. Do not alter this bit. All other bits are reserved for future versions. 9. UFLAG$ is added. It doesn't do anything. It is available to the programmer. You can put any value in this location, and it will be SYSGENed 10. The MEMORY command has a new feature that allows you to examine and modify the system FLAG$ bytes. If you want to look at the RFLAG$, you would type: MEMORY (A="R") To modify that flag, you would add a B= field. 11. The @CLOSE SVC behaves differently if the file that is being closed is on a drive that is not ready. The DOS will prompt you to retry or abort the @CLOSE svc. 12. EFLAG$ has been added. This goes with the other use for SYS13/SYS. If you do not like the existing command interpreter (TRSDOS Ready), you can write your own. You simply write it as a program, and by setting certain bits in EFLAG$, the system will run your command interpreter instead of the normal one. You can build a menu or mouse driven command system if you like. The @CMNDI and @CMNDR calls still call the old interpreter. There is a sample interpreter in the replacement pages. 13. The long error mode of the @ERROR svc now works all of the time, and provides much more detail on the error. It will tell you what the last SVC was, where in the program that SVC returned, It will also provide information on the DCB or FCB if one was involved. 14. TFLAG has been added. It contains the machine type. For Model 4, it has a 4. For Model 4P, it has a 5. (Model II/12 versions of LS-DOS show 2 and 12 respectively.) 15. A new function has been added to @VDCTL. Function 9 allows you to read a line of text from the screen to a buffer or write a line to the screen from a buffer. The read/write character functions have been fixed to not interfere with the cursor anymore. 16. A new SVC has been added to ease the detection of <Break>. @CKBRKC (SVC 106) returns Z when <Break> has not been pressed and NZ when it has. It also clears the system break flag and makes sure the user has released the <Break> key before proceeding. 17. A new block of data has been added to the GAT sector. It contains a copy of the last 7 bytes of the DCT for that logical drive when the media was formatted. This allows a hard disk structure to be reconstructed if the start up disk is lost. 18. Files are added to the directory in a specific order. Previously, they were placed almost at random. Now if you remove a file and add one, the new file will replace the deleted file, assuming there are no other free positions below the location of the newly- deleted file. There are many more minor changes and new features, but these are some of the significant ones. <This information is provided by an individual and is not nor should be construed as being provided by Radio Shack or Tandy Corp. Radio Shack/Tandy Corp has no obligation to support the information provided in any way. What am I saying? The manual has a better disclaimer.> "Thank you, Uh Clem." Frank Durda IV @ <trsvax!uhclem>