MEGGIN@vm.epas.utoronto.CA (David Megginson) (09/09/89)
I agree with Atari that program developers should KEEP THEIR HANDS OFF
anything to do with a ROM disassembly! With very little work, it
is possible to write a program which will run on any screen size,
resolution or future TOS. Why hack around? I'm sorry, but except for
the case of OS patches (FATSpeed, etc.) I have little respect for
programmers who fool around with undocumented calls, because they are
cheating both themselves and their users.
All said, I would still like to see a disassembly of the ROMs, so that
some brilliant company could rewrite it and market a cheap, multi-
tasking TOS (for those who want it, of course). If you're not willing
to do it at Atari, let someone else have a go at it!
David Megginson <MEGGIN@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) (09/10/89)
In article <8909091247.AA16274@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, MEGGIN@vm.epas.utoronto.CA (David Megginson) writes: > I agree with Atari that program developers should KEEP THEIR HANDS OFF > anything to do with a ROM disassembly! With very little work, it > > All said, I would still like to see a disassembly of the ROMs, so that Not that this is remotely a democracy (Whatever else may be true or good, it is certain that Atari OWNS the code in their ROMS), but I'm informally noting what people think on this issue. So--would you like it more if Atari did or didn't publish the ROM code? Steve J.
dnewton@carroll1.UUCP (Dave Newton) (09/11/89)
I think they definately should. If I want to write code for myself, completely ignoring others, then I should have access to my own machine. Plus the learning value of seeing how this beast is put together would be very high.
achowe@tiger.waterloo.edu (anthony howe) (09/11/89)
I'm all for fully commented offical TOS listings. It garrantees machine
survival by an extra 8 years. My first computer was an
<< Exidy Sorcerer >>. Remember those? Exidy published commented Monitor
listings and if they had not the machine would not have survived as long
as it did after they stop production of the line. I lived in Australia
at the time and we had a strong CP/M following. We created new ROMS that
maintained routine positions for those who did little nasty monitor
calls. We had plotters, ingraving machines, HAM radio devices, improved
third party BASICS, disk BIOSes, and more which I can't remember, all
working off 64k Z80 machine. They had published schmatics too and every
who owned one learned more about programming and hardware than is
possible today with 'modern micros'. Every on at the club would say that
because they could hold of these docs at any dealer that is was the best
machine for development. In a way I sometime regret every selling it.
If I remember correctly, the old Apple II also had ROM listings and
schmatics too and look how well that machine has servived.
I understand Atari reluctence about improper use but the I believe that
the learning benifits and ideas that come from view such material out
weigh the carelessness of some developers. Also what are the odds that
Atari will provide us with a TOS 2.0 that has all the bell and whistles
people want before people switch to a new machine. I don't for see Atari
every producing another TOS release with all their other projects on the
go like the TT. Producing ROM listings now will prolong the existence of
the ST and with third party add-ons and replacements, might even push up
sales even more everywhere.
- Ant
achowe@tiger.waterloo.edu | "Life is not fair. Anyone who tells
_ -|-|_ _ | you different is trying to sell you
(_\ |\| | | | (_) |\| \/ | something." - The Princess Bride
___/ | disclaimer...daved@cscnj.csc.COM (Dave Douglass) (09/12/89)
If I paid for and own a computer, I want to know EVERYTHING about it: hardware specs, schematics, ROM disassembly, etc. I would resent any attempts by the maker to keep this information from me. Granted, I would probably have to pay for this information, but I would still want it to be available. Only a bozo would intentionally use the ROM disassembly to write a piece of code that 'broke the rules' and then expect to distribute it. If you bought the software, then I guess you're a bozo too. But there is no sense in making the rest of us suffer just to keep a few bozos from clowning around...... :-) I want an official, commented disassembly of TOS 1.4 from Atari. Who knows, maybe I'll want to build an Atari DMA -> chimpanzee brain interface that will be require me to write some custom patches to the ROM. I want to be able to do this on MY computer. --------- Dave Douglass Computer Sciences Corp Piscataway, NJ 08854 ...!rutgers.rutgers.edu!cscnj!daved "if my company only knew the things I was posting to USENET...." ;-)