VBRANDT@DBNUAMA1.BITNET (03/30/89)
In Info-Atari16 Digest Vol. 89, #118, portal!atari!kbad@uunet.uu.net (Ken Badertscher) writes: > The TOS 1.4 Desktop will copy arbitrary format disks. As long as you >feed it a destination disk with the same format as the source, no problem. Good work Atari!! Now, if one were able to specify some format parameters in the desktop format routine (my favourite: 10 sec 82 tr. 'twisted'), this would eliminate the need to use any other formatting program. I know the room in the ROMs is there .... > The German TOS release is exactly the same as what is being made for >France, Switzerland, USA, Canada, UK, etc. etc. This is very much >the most bug-free TOS version yet. > > If we knew of any serious (or even small!) bugs, it would not have >been released! That was the point of the "Fatal TOS 1.4 bug" message. >That, and correcting the incorrect TOS version date from ST Report. Well, Ken, a hacker friend of mine called Atari GmbH at Raunheim, Germany. He asked them if they knew about the various bugs that still lurk in the 22-Feb-89 version of 1.4 (yes, there are some). They said that they know and are so unhappy with these bugs, they won't release that version in Germany. What do you think about that ?? > This feature is, in fact, on the slate for the next revision >of the Desktop! In the mean time ... While I'm at it, what will the TOS future be? TOS 1.6 , or TOS 030 ?? Many people (like myself) would *love* to see a 68020/68881-proof TOS !! The changes are not that extensive, we could do it on our own. The main problem is that such a 'home-brew TOS' is not compatible to the 'real thing' any more. >... a host of other enhancements that Atari just didn't have room for in >192K worth of ROM space. While the 1.4 version is much better, I guess that 10-12 KB could easily be squeezed out ouf the ROMs. How? Optimising, cleaning out C compiler garbage, etc. (BTW: This is *not* a flame, I'm glad there is something like 1.4 !!) > Hopefully someday I'll get to release the auto/accessory environment >setting utility that I've written; I think people will like being able >to stick their resources all in one folder... YES PLEASE !!!! (With source, I'd even *pay* for it !! :-) > Since I'm taking over the mantle (or is it a yoke? <yuk yuk>) of >maintaining GEMDOS ... I think you're doing a good job, and I'd like to see your efforts continue. > - GEMDOS enhancements are coming that will require a robust means of > passing lots of information between parent and child processes Could you expand a little on these 'enhancements', please ? ;-) >&...a And to those of you who >have been bemoaning the lack of "strong Atari involvement" in matters >like &the xArg discussiona, I have but one thing to say: > Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it! That is the least of my concerns !! :-) A final word: Thank you, Ken, for getting down and providing *hard facts* on this net. This is what I like to see (not eternal flame wars :-). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bitnet: VBRANDT@DBNUAMA1 Volker A. Brandt UUCP: ...!unido!DBNUAMA1.bitnet!vbrandt Angewandte Mathematik ARPAnet: VBRANDT%DBNUAMA1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Bonn, West Germany)