HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR ATARI XF-551 DISK DRIVE.¢¢¢¢Several Disk Operating Systems (DOS)are in existance for the XF551 including ATARI's own DOS-XE,MYDOS 4.5,DOS4.0,Superdosv5.0 and SPARTADOSa v3.2. All work reasonably well with this new drive.¢¢¢ However I recommend any serious user to invest in the cartridge based SPARTADOS X .This is a cartridge based ROM (Random Operating Memory) providing 64kilobytes of bank switched memory , which holds all the code for this DOS.¢¢ Immediate advantages include very fast access sped,disk space saving,Date stamping of files, individual Disk volume names and Subdirectories.¢¢¢¢ The cartridge comes in a piggyback form and can accept additional cartridges slotted in it.¢¢ This is a Command driven Dos using commands similar to IBM PC Dos (MS-DOS, Ed.).IT WILL NOT RUN IBM-PC PROGRAMMES¢¢ Using SPARTADOS X with XF551 gives the following choices:¢¢ single sided disks of 90k single density.¢ " " " of 127k enhanced density.¢ " " " of 180k double density.¢ Double sided disks of 360k double density.¢¢as well as the usual Ramdisks,Hard disks and up to 9 drives.¢¢ Single,enhanced and double density are automatically recognised in both SPARTADOS + ATARIDOS modes.¢¢¢ Spartados X uses individual disk volume labels and provides support for subdirectories (like ST Folders)nested to any level with up to 1432 entries in each.¢¢ Commands are available to create and delete subdirectories as well as setting the directory path.¢Time/Date stamping of files can be effected manually or by an additional clock cartridge ICD's RUNTIME 8 which performs this task automatically and which slots into SPARTADOS X.¢¢¢ A menu command permits fast, easy copying, renaming, erasing, locking and unlocking of files singly or in batches. Also files can be viewed and printed from Menu.¢¢ A comprehensive Format command is also provided.¢¢ ARCHIVING is also built in and is compatible with the IBM-PC system.¢¢¢ SPARTADOS X contains many commands which are similar to ATARIDOS.¢¢¢ SPARTADOS X is instantly available at powerup and is not contained in files on the disk which have to be manually accessed.¢¢ An exceptionally comprehensive handbook is provided.¢¢(This article has been submitted by Jim Cutler)¢
