*=*=*=*¢¢ ---------------¢ SUPERDOS V5.0 ¢ ---------------¢ by Tom Curtner ¢ ¢ An optional DOS for the Eight¢ BIT users, brought to you by the¢ by THE OL' HACKERS, NY, USA, with¢ THANKS ** (Source unknown!)¢¢ ONE OF MANY FEATURES! **¢ One of the great features available¢ for the Atari is the many Disk¢ Operating Systems. Most of us know¢ how DOS 2.x functions with our¢ machine, and the limitations it¢ imposes upon us. DOS 2.x is friendly,¢ moderately fast, and dependable. ¢ However, is does lack some of the¢ refinements other DOSes offer. ¢ Though Atari did address some of¢ these options with DOS XE, they did¢ not bother to make it truly¢ compatible. This presents the regular¢ DOS 2.x user a problem: stay with¢ 2.x or go to another DOS.¢¢ HISTORY! **¢ In 1988 a new DOS was introduced¢ into the U.S. (SUPERDOS v4.x)¢ (Editor- today there is an upgrade¢ v5.0, see below) by Technical¢ Support, situated in Daly City,¢ California. The program being¢ marketed was SUPERDOS by Paul¢ Nicholls of Australia. Through BBS¢ message bases and the user group¢ grapevine, we heard good remarks for¢ this DOS.¢¢ COMPATABILITY! **¢ A major asset of SUPERDOS is the¢ ability to run on all Atari Eight-Bit¢ machines. And with 64K or more, you¢ have the SDUP.SYS menu load¢ automatically (and resident). If you¢ have less than 64K, you can set¢ SDUP.SYS to resident. The SUPERDOS¢ disk has seven files on it: ¢ DOS.SYS (77 S/D sectors)¢ SDUP.SYS (40)¢ AUX.SYS (38)¢ SBAS.SYS (03)¢ DOC.SYS (318)¢ AUTORUN.SYS (49)¢ DOCv5.SYS (47)¢¢ WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT **¢ DOCv5.SYS describes the latest¢ revisions of version 5.0. When you¢ boot SUPERDOS you have the option of¢ printing the documentation or going¢ directly to DOS. Your best option is¢ to print the docs, read, and then¢ experiment. Once you have the docs¢ printed, take the "D" option to DOS¢ and view the menu. At the top of¢ your screen you have the "Drive¢ Status Line". Drives are numbered¢ from 1 to 5+, with 5+ being the¢ RAMdisk. If you access 6,7, or 8,¢ DOS will refer to 5+, the RAMdisk. ¢ Since SUPERDOS is DOS sensitive, the¢ Drive Line will reflect the current¢ disk status, changing at each access¢ (single, double, etc.). In addition¢ to the Drive Line, your border will¢ reflect the type of operation which¢ you are performing. Red is for¢ WRITE, green for READ, and purple for¢ INITIALIZE/FORMAT.¢¢ MENU **¢ The SDUP.SYS menu for SUPERDOS reads¢ pretty much the same as DOS 2.x with¢ modifications. DIRECTORY is very¢ lenient (D1:1 or 1 is allowed).¢ DIRECTORY also gives note if there is¢ a DELETED or OPEN file (-FN.* =¢ DELETED, ?FN.* = OPEN). The spacebar¢ or no designated drive number will¢ show the directory for "D1:". When¢ calling up the directory in SUPERDOS¢ your listing is in double columns. ¢ The screen will scroll, so you will¢ be able to view all files listed. ¢ CARTRIDGE will enable/disable BASIC¢ for the XL/XE machines. The COPY¢ option has been enhanced and combines¢ the 2.x COPY/DUPLICATE functions.¢¢ HEY, LOOK AT ALL MY OPTIONS! **¢ Other options that you will enjoy:¢ Bypass the verify prompts before¢ proceeding (*.*/N or *.*/Y), and Copy¢ from cassette. DELETE is the same as¢ 2.x. RENAME will rename the first¢ file only if two of the same name¢ have been saved. LOCK and UNLOCK¢ same as 2.x. WRITE DOS allows you¢ write both DOS.SYS and SDUP.SYS or¢ just DOS.SYS (make sure you WRITE DOS¢ if you make any changes with the¢ AUX.SYS menu). FORMAT will do any¢ density (this includes the XF551¢ drive), plus skewed sectors. DUP¢ DISK will do disks or sectors, and¢ will copy the boot sectors. BIN SAVE¢ takes HEX or DEC. RESTORE recovers¢ DELETED/DAMAGED/OPEN FILES. And¢ finally, VERIFY toggles your¢ write/verify to on/off. The AUX.SYS¢ menu offers special options. The #¢ LIST DIRECTORY works like the¢ SDUP.SYS menu. INITIALIZE DOS will¢ activate any options you have chosen¢ for DOS (such as DRIVE BUFFERS or¢ FILE BUFFERS). COPY FROM DOS 3¢ copies from DOS 3 to SUPERDOS. WRITE¢ SUPERBIN enables you to have a binary¢ loader on your disk (note: while not¢ part of the AUX.SYS menu, the program¢ SUPERBAS will likewise make a BASIC¢ loader for your disk). CONFIG.BLOCK ¢ displays disk drive configuration.¢ TRACE AND PATCH will trace bad¢ sectors, linking the good sectors. ¢ XL/XE KEY RATE has the selection from¢ 1 (slow) to 4 (fast). This is done¢ in increments of one. FILE BUFFERS¢ allows you to set your file buffer¢ number. DRIVE BUFFERS lets you¢ designate the amount of drive¢ buffers. RESIDENT SDUP gives you the¢ option of having SDUP resident at the¢ bottom of memory, while non-resident¢ will reside on disk or under the¢ operating system, depending on your¢ machine. EXIT TO SDUP executes that¢ command. NOTE, with any change you¢ make in the AUX.SYS menu, you should¢ INITIALIZE DOS, and then WRITE DOS to¢ make your change permanent.¢¢ TESTING! **¢ I tested SUPERDOS under many¢ conditions. First I discovered that ¢ the copy I had was in double density.¢ So with my 1050 (with US Doubler), I¢ formatted a disk in single density on¢ the 810. Then using COPY, I¢ transferred the files from double ¢ density to single density-No problem!¢ SUPERDOS did the job nicely. Also and¢ in addition, my sector count remained¢ in sectors, unlike DOS XE with its¢ Kilobyte count. Copying on a single¢ drive from D/D to S/D and back to D/D¢ gave no problems either. When you¢ copy, you have the option of¢ initializing in D/D,S/D,E/D, and 2¢ sided D/D (XF551). I even tested the¢ duplication method by copying my¢ TextPro 3.2 initialized in SpartaDOS¢ in S/D. I may not have been able to¢ read the directory properly, but it¢ did copy the disk! More important,¢ all the files in 2.x and SpartaDOS I¢ copied during my test worked¢ properly. In addition to the regular¢ copy test, once again I subjected¢ COPY MATE 4.3 and MyCopyR to the task¢ of duplication. Here again everything¢ worked as desired. SINGLE/DOUBLE¢ DENSITY! ** SUPERDOS appears to¢ emulate 2.x quite well. I was able¢ to read the D/D SUPERDOS disk with¢ SpartaDOS without any problem. This,¢ unfortunately, DOS XE could not¢ address. So if you have SpartaDOS¢ and someone hands you a disk in¢ SUPERDOS, you're in luck. This may¢ not seem important to some, but with¢ the various DOS formats available,¢ it's good to know what is¢ compatable.¢¢ WORKS WITH MODIFIED XL/XE TOO! **¢ I don't have a modified XL so I¢ won't be able to tell you personally¢ much about the RAMdisk setup.¢ (EDITORS NOTE: I do have a modified¢ 800XL and 130XL, and I can report¢ that they all work without any¢ problems.) However, according to the¢ docs, SUPERDOS supports most¢ RAMdisks, and will set up the largest¢ RAMdisk possible. In addition,¢ SUPERDOS will copy all files with the¢ *.RAM extension automatically to the¢ RAMdisk. (EDITORS NOTE: A great way¢ to work off the RAMDISK and not use¢ your own drives!) There's even a way¢ in which you can protect your RAMdisk¢ from a coldstart.¢¢ SPEED **¢ The speed of SUPERDOS during¢ operations is very good. In working¢ from D/D to S/D, operations went¢ smoothly. The only lag is when¢ transferring from my 1050 (with US¢ Doubler) to the 810. Here, reads on¢ the 1050 were fast, but normal when¢ writing to the 810. I must state,¢ however, this is also true with¢ SpartaDOS. There is help for this by¢ toggling VERIFY to OFF. This gave a ¢ moderate increase in speed. The¢ menus in SUPERDOS function well,¢ giving you clear instructions of what¢ to do. By using the BREAK key, you¢ abort the current function. This is¢ an asset if you have made a blunder¢ (who, me?), or change your mind at¢ the last nanosecond and wish to¢ abort. If you load the AUX.SYS and¢ don't take any of the options¢ available, any other key response¢ will take you back to SDUP. Just¢ remember!--SAVE all changes in your¢ configuration.¢¢ EASE OF OPERATION! **¢ Working with SUPERDOS is easy. It's¢ fast, user friendly, and very full-¢ featured. If you have any¢ familiarity with DOS 2.x, you'll¢ speed through with ease. The¢ compatibility and enhancements of¢ SUPERDOS are worthwhile, and will¢ answer most needs. If you have the¢ XF551 Drive, this could be the DOS¢ for you.¢¢ A FINAL WORD! **¢ (EDITORS NOTE:¢ When I work from my HARD DRIVE, I¢ use SPARTA DOS 3.25, however when I¢ work with FLOPPIES and my disk drives¢ I try to almost always use SUPER¢ DOS....IT is in my opinion better by¢ far than DOS 2.0 or 2.5. I often¢ receive DOUBLE DENSITY disks, which I¢ copy into my FORMATTED single density¢ RAMDISK, and then from my RAMDISK, I¢ copy all programs to my FORMATTED¢ single density floppy. It works like¢ a charm. If you have any questions¢ please contact me, and I'll try to¢ help you. Alex Pignato, EDITOR of¢ OHAUG newsletter.)¢ *=*=*=* ¢¢
