goertzel@DCA-EMS.ARPA (Herbert Goertzel) (08/21/87)
I downloaded the following from a local ST Bulletin board. It was attributed
to Neil Harris and was supposedly downloaded from Compuserve. I cannot
vouch for its authenticity, but it looks reasonable to me.
Herb Goertzel
TOS ROMS -- BLITTER VERSION
The 1987 revision of TOS is scheduled for release in conjunction with
the new "blitter" chip. The new TOS has been upgradd to include support
for the hardware blit as well as retaining the software blit functions for
full compatility with older software which relies on hardware timing (a
definite no-no).
Changes in the new ROMs are:
RS232: The RS232 handler has been completely rewritten. RTS/CTS
handshaking now works. Baud rates 50 and 75 now work.
CLOCK: Support is now included for the Mega ST's built-in, battery-
backer-up realtime clock. The realtime clock is automatically
used by the XBIOS gettime and settime functions for the IKBD. The
GEMDOS clock is reset from the realti clock at the termination
of every program.
STARTUP: Memory clear at system startup is much faster, improving
performance on multi-megabyte systems.
DESKTOP: The desktop now includes a control for deactivating/activating the
blitter chip. Also, e Save Desktop and Print Screen selections
will request confirmation. Spurious characters are no longer
written to the DESKTOP.INF file.Doing a PRINT or SHOW from the
desktop will now display characters with ASCII codes above 127.
SHOW and PRINT use a larger buffer now. Single drive copies now
require fewer disk swaps.
CART: Cartridge handling has been revides, eliminating the need for
"CARTSTART" code and allowing .TOS and .TTP programs. Lower case
letters will now be accepted and passed to an application fm the
"Open Application ... Parameter" box.
AES: The AES will now send repeat clicks if the mse button is held
down on the arrow or page controls of a window, which lets a
window smth scroll. The AES underscore bug is now fixed.
APPL_TPLAY and APPL_TRECORD now work. The limit of 30 characters
on a line in an alert box inow rigidly enforced.
MOUSE: The mouse redraw can now be set to XOR mode. The system will
return after a single click if this is what was requested.
DMA: The DMA bus can now have more than one device attached at powerup
time, without any special software.
FLOPPY: The floppy read/write code checks for more errors now. In prior
versions, theystem would not report a CRC error under certain
circumstances; now it will. This hurts some copy protection
schemes. The format of the floy disk has been skewed from track
to track to improve disk speed; the XBIOS supports this by using -
1 for the skew value and placing a pointer to a one word per
sector skew table in the previously unused longword.
VDI: The VDI will now draw arcs with small angles.
BIOS: Character out routines are much faster.
BLITTER: Automatic bler chip support is included in line-A and VDI
calls. The extended inquire will report a larger performance
factor than before, allowing applications to check for the
presence of the blitter. A new XBIOS call has been added to check
for the blitter and to activate or deactivate it. The blit is t
reentrant -- line-A and VDI should not be called from within an
interrupt.
REGISTER:he registers D0, D1, D2, A0, A1, A2 have always been forfeit when
a trap call was made. Now the demise of these occurs under more
conditions than befor
MEMORY: Slightly more RAM is used by the system. Programs that were close
to the edge on a 520ST ma no longer fit.
VARIABLE: Most undocumented system variables have been moved. You were
warned!
NTES AND WARNINGS:
1. Some programs depend on the OS always being at $FC0000. This is *not*
cast in stone and will probably change soon. To find the OS header, use
the pointer "sysbase" as documented.
2. Thegabyte ST puts the screen near the end of accessible RAM. Sloppy
programs that have been writing past the end of the screen will give bus
errors ifhey do so on the 4 meg ST.braner@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (braner) (08/22/87)
From the posted rumors about the new ROMs: ! 2. The ST puts the screen near the end of accessible RAM. Sloppy ! programs that have been writing past the end of the screen will give bus ! errors if they do so on the 4 meg ST. - this sounds very strange: Is any access above the current video RAM now a no-no? then how can one have multiple screens in RAM, writing to one while displaying another? Or does this simply mean that writing beyond 4 Megs gives a Bus Error - then that's nothing new: same for the old STs! - Moshe Braner PS: where will us mortals get documentation about the new XBIOS call, etc?
K538915@CZHRZU1A.BITNET (08/25/87)
More interesting are the things NOT fixed in the blitter ROM's,
including 40 folder feature and the critical error handler crashing
the file selector (I haven't found out yet if MAlloc and the other
numerous GEMDOS bugs have been fixed).
Simon Poole
K538915@CZHRZU1A.BITNET
PS: be careful, UniTerm 1.8 is coming.......................curt@unisoft.uucp (Curt Mayer) (08/25/87)
In article <8708210113.AA20730@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> goertzel@DCA-EMS.ARPA (Herbert Goertzel) writes: >I downloaded the following from a local ST Bulletin board. It was attributed >to Neil Harris and was supposedly downloaded from Compuserve. >TOS ROMS -- BLITTER VERSION > > The 1987 revision of TOS is scheduled for release in conjunction with >the new "blitter" chip. The new TOS has been upgradd to include support >for the hardware blit as well as retaining the software blit functions for >full compatility with older software which relies on hardware timing (a >definite no-no). > > Changes in the new ROMs are: > >RS232, CLOCK, STARTUP, DESKTOP, CART, AES, MOUSE, DMA, FLOPPY, VDI, >BIOS, BLITTER, REGISTER, MEMORY, VARIABLE and alot of detail. but it does not mention one of the ugliest things in the current TOS roms: FIX THE DAMN TRAP HANDLING SO I CAN USE A 68020! come on guys, we are looking at a few lines of code that will give my ST a much longer effective lifetime. curt
neil@atari.UUCP (09/01/87)
In article <2091@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>, braner@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (braner) writes: > From the posted rumors about the new ROMs: > >>2. The ST puts the screen near the end of accessible RAM. Sloppy >> programs that have been writing past the end of the screen will give bus >> errors if they do so on the 4 meg ST. > > - this sounds very strange: Is any access above the current video RAM now > a no-no? then how can one have multiple screens in RAM, writing to one > while displaying another? Or does this simply mean that writing beyond > 4 Megs gives a Bus Error - then that's nothing new: same for the old STs! Just that writing beyond 4 megs causes the problem. Nothing new, except that very few ST's have 4 megs. -- --->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