SOFPJF@UOGUELPH.BITNET (Peter Jaspers-Fayer) (11/19/87)
I went to the Canadian Computer Show earlier this week (a sort of
mini-COMDEX), and asked about the availability (to the general public!)
of the BLIT and the new ROMs as a retrofit to the 1040/520. No one at
the Atari booth knew anything at all. All I could get was "Only the
boys in California know for sure". Some version of the BLIT was out at
least a year ago (I saw one at the same show LAST year).
So how about it, Mr.s Harris, Pratt, et. al? Are the BLIT and the
new ROMs going to be available for us non-developers, and if so, when?
Also (speaking of upgrades), why do the non-solder memory upgrade
boards come from everyone else BUT Atari? I know, they want us to buy
Megas, but gee, even IBM sells you extra memory for their mainframes,
if that's what you want to do (instead up upgrading the CPU).
/PJneil@atari.UUCP (Neil Harris) (11/24/87)
In article <8711191403.AA20847@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, SOFPJF@UOGUELPH.BITNET (Peter Jaspers-Fayer) writes: > So how about it, Mr.s Harris, Pratt, et. al? Are the BLIT and the > new ROMs going to be available for us non-developers, and if so, when? Sometime after the first of the year. We're rather short on blitters at the moment. When the supply is better, we'll get them to you. -- --->Neil Harris, Director of Marketing Communications, Atari Corporation UUCP: ...{hoptoad, lll-lcc, pyramid, imagen, sun}!atari!neil GEnie: NHARRIS/ WELL: neil / BIX: neilharris / Delphi: NEILHARRIS CIS: 70007,1135 / Atari BBS 408-745-5308 / Usually the OFFICIAL Atari opinion
Flash@UMass.BITNET (Rick Flashman) (05/29/88)
Just got this from GENIE:
BETA RELEASE OF NEW TOS AND HD UTILITIES FOR ST/MEGA
THIS IS *NOT* A SOLICITATION FOR BETA TEST SITES! IT IS THE
FULFILMENT OF AN EARLIER PROMISE TO PUBLISH THE STATUS OF THE NEW
PRODUCTS.
The Beta shipments of the new ST/Mega TOS went out to Atari
subsidiaries this week. Some have even arrived already. Beta versions
of the new Hard Disk utilities and a disk "cache" program were
included. The entire kit consisted of the following:
TOS ROM set, configured for local keyboard and American text.
Diskette (D/S) containing:
RAM loadable image of TOS, same configuration as ROM
Disk cache program "CACHExxx"
HDX Hard Disk utility, HINSTALL and associated programs
Product Tracking System front-end program "SPRgen"
Release Notes for:
TOS
CACHExxx
HDX, HINSTALL etc (modified to 30/60MB hard disks)
Draft User Manual for HDX, HINSTALL etc.
User guide for Product Tracking System
Various programs, files and tools to assist in translation
Each subsidiary has been invited to select a small set of Beta
sites, and has been requested to ensure that each such site accepts, in
writing, certain terms and conditions, including:
no copies to be made
products and documentation are prerelease and without
warranty
all communications are to be made solely to the Atari
subsidiary, and not through public channels
all copies and documentation to be returned to Atari
subsidiary on demand
weekly report indicating name(s) of tester(s), tests
performed, observations to be filed with Atari subsidiary
each Friday
any bug reports to be first verified against the currently
released hardware/firmware, to ensure problem is with new
TOS
We want to know what works as well as what doesn't work. A report of
"no problems" is worthless if it is not accompanied by an explanation
of what testing has been performed. If a program fails, it is critical
that it be tested with other RELEASED configurations, so that it is
very clear whether or not the failure is attributable solely to the new
TOS.
In our testing we have found MANY ill-behaved programs which fail
because they appear to access beyond the Mega 4's 4MB RAM limit. I
believe they are accessing "just beyond" where they are supposed to,
and it's only on the Mega 4 where they run out of physical address
space rather than physical memory. Almost all programs which fail this
way have been retested on the current TOS and fail in a similar way.
This beta release is not the final one. Programs should not be
modified to look for the date encoded in this version.
PLEASE DO *NOT* CONTACT ANYONE IN ATARI R&D TO SUPPORT THIS BETA
TEST. ALL ENQUIRIES SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO THE TECHNICAL MANAGER OF THE
APPROPRIATE ATARI SUBSIDIARY, OR TO JOE FERRARI (408-745-2010) IN THE
USA. The R&D group must now address the port of TOS to revised and new
hardware platforms, and so I would appreciate your NOT disrupting the
development activity. We have support groups in place, and they MUST be
your first line of support if development of new products is to
continue at optimum speed.
A summary of the major improvements to TOS follows:
- Floppy formatting is "more compatible" with IBM-PC format
- A file may be moved (i.e. copy/delete) in one operation
- File Copy/Delete/Move can be interrupted with "undo"
- GEM programs can be autobooted from disk
- If a name conflict occurs during a file copy, Copy/Skip/Quit are
allowed
- A folder may be renamed via "Show Info"
- The static file allocation limit of 400 is removed; limited now by
free memory
- "Show/Print File" are completely rewritten
- File copying on a single floppy system uses all available memory
for buffers
- "wind_update(FALSE)" is set when recovering from an application
crash
- All date separators are now "/"
- File Selector has had major rework:
16 drive buttons
Application can send a "title" string to FSEL
FSEL now takes first <RETURN> on pathname edit as end-of-edit
FSEL remembers where it was in a file list
Static file allocation of 100 files is removed
Long pathnames and "ABORT/CONTINUE" now handled correctly
Preserves current DTA buffer addresses, clip rectangles and
default directories
New bindings available
- "appl_init" returns version 0130 in global(0)
- Editable fields may now be followed by non-editable characters in
dialog boxes
- "wind_get()" with field parameter WF_SCREEN returns address/length
of AES menu/alert buffer
- "Ptsin" (VDI) allows 512 vertices (true since 4/22/87)
- "vqt_extent": Pixel errors on some 270 degree rotations are fixed
- "vq_mouse" reliability enhanced
- 40-folder bug alleviated to the point of improbability. A folder
only takes up space when "active". Limited now by depth of folders
and the accumulated depth of open files. FOLDRxxx still
available.
- "Malloc" restriction of 20 blocks/process lifted.
- FAT searching code for floppy and hard-disk is MUCH faster
- Sector buffering greatly improved, and "CACHExxx" allows expansion
- "Frename" can now rename a folder
- Archive bit (0x20) fully supported
- Time stamps for "." and ".." are now correct
- "Fsettime/Fsetdate" match BIOS and GEMDOS values
- "Fdatime" input value byteswap fixed
- Major improvements to "Ccon*" and redirection in general
- OS Pool reduced to same size as 11/20/85 ROMs (pre Mega). This may
allow some programs which fail on Mega ROMs to work again.
- Soft Reset available from Keyboard if using standard keyboard
handler:
Soft reset by CTRL/ALT/DEL
Cold Boot clears all available memory (CTRL/ALT/right SHFT/DEL)
- "Rsconf(-2,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1) returns last baud rate value set by
Rsconf
- Structure of the reserved part of DTA has changed, and remains
reserved
- Improvements made to detection of media change
THE ABOVE IS A SUBSET OF THE ENHANCEMENTS MADE. THERE ARE MANY MORE,
FULLY DOCUMENTED IN THE RELEASE NOTES SENT TO EACH SUBSIDIARY.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Roy J. Good
Product Development, Atari Corporation
Views expressed are my own. Atari may agree or disagree; they have
the right.