Conference 7.286::atarist

    Note: "Rainbow" comes from the Atari logo when you click on the
    ABOUT box from the Desktop.  If you are in low or med. rez. you
    will see the colors changing in the Atari logo.  They must be using
    the "Spectrum 512" technique because they are displaying more than 4 colors
    on the screen at one time in med. rez. mode.
    
    							-Dave

    Hi,
    
    That list of changes to TOS is a masterpiece of marketing. They have
    not mentioned any of the known bugs they have fixed. (40 folder,
    DSR/CTS handshake, underscore, file select coming up 0 intermit., etc
    etc etc etc.)
    
    Is this to prevent any attempt by a user to sue Atari for unfit
    product, i.e. if Atari admitted any bugs, they could be liable to fix
    them at no charge, or be liable to damages for loss ??
    
    I am not certain of the law on this. In the UK there is the sale of
    goods act. This states that anything you buy from a shop has to be "fit
    for the purpose it was sold for". There is redress from the shop you
    bought the goods from, not the manufacturer. (its a sort of "lemon"
    law). Unfortunately there are all sorts of stupid caveats on it. For
    instance if you bought a thing, and gave it to your son as a present,
    and he found it didnt work, he has no rights to get it fixed or
    replaced, only the original purchaser has the right to the sale of
    goods act!
    
    I tried again recently to get ATARI UK to give me a date when we can
    expect TOS 1.4 in the UK. They are COMPLETELY indifferent to the UK
    existing user base.
    
    I am writing to the UK ATARI managing director, pointing out
    that if they dont come across in a reasonable time frame, with a
    published timescale and a definate replacement program, I shall be
    writing to all the U.K computer journals' letters colomns  pointing out
    the lack of user base support, and that I could not reccommend the 
    purchase of a new ATARI computer, it might affect the future sales of the
    STE and TT in the UK.
    
    There is already a ground swell of discontent in the user base. A large 
    petition to Atari Uk was collected from attendees at the last "ATARI" 
    show, (at which there was NO Atari presence).
    
    Perhaps it might get them off their executive backsides, and actually
    do something for the half million or so ST users!
    
    
    TTFN
    
    PAt K.

     So has anyone in MA/NH area who is not a developer gotten a hold of 
 the fabled TOS 1.4 yet?  if so, where did you find it, and how much were
 you charged?

  Bill Powers

    Hello all, I want a display of boot sector for the TOS 1.4 diskette
    because mine is now bad and its impossible to boot it. 
    
    		Thanks for your help,  Michel

    I'm not sure, but I think the fine shareware utility, "DC Formatter",
    by Double Click Software has an option to write a boot sector that
    will load the TOS image from disk.
    
    --Ron

    This solution does not work correctly, I think that my diskette
    is scratched .
    Another question, what is exactly the contents of  TOS 1.4 files,
    when i edit the TOS.IMG i see that it tell 2 file  COMMAND.PRG and
    GEM.PRG  It's exact ? On my disk i have only TOS.IMG and COMMAND
    only. I think that it's anormal.
    
    	-- Michel --

    RE: 602.4

    Pat,

       I doubt very much that white mountain will have any, it appears that
    they did not order them, cause they did not want to have to do the upgrade.
    I tried reasoning with them that some systems don't need hardware mods.
    But I got the attitude from them that "We're the professionals we know
    what we're doing, and your just a simple user".  I told them that people
    from atari had verified that not all systems need mods, but they proclaimed
    that they had called atari and they said that all systems need at least
    some modifications.  I guess I lost my cool and stomped out the door in
    disgust over the whole tos 1.4 thing.

       When I got back to my appartment, I called a store in the Albany New
    York area (where I'm from originally), and they said as far as they know
    Atari hasen't released them yet, They said they have not recieved any
    information on part numbers to order, etc. from atari.

    Bill Powers

L & Y Electronics is reported to have TOS 1.4 ROM sets for $89.95. They
advertise in "Current Notes".  perhaps someone has the number?  I don't
have it with me.  They are in the Washington DC area.

    Please, please could some kindperson look up their phone number and
    post it here?
    
    I am getting very paranoid about TOS 1.4 I need to overcome the 40
    folder limit when I do a disk restore. I have folder XX in set to 200
    folders, but I still blow away half way through the restore. I then have
    to continue the restore manually, and its a lengthy pain in the butt,
    sorting out the folders in the backup savset floppies.
    
    What I have noticed in the UK, are several messages from ATARI,
    published in magazines, which IMPLY that TOS 1.4 is only concerned with
    cosmetic enhancements, and its really not worth the effort and cost of
    implementing, this really p's me off. I know there are a number of BUGS
    that we all love, which are fixed in TOS 1.4. From one of the previous
    notes I see that one of the bugs that kill me, the serial handshake
    bug, CTS/RTS, is NOT fixed in 1.4, but Atari have provided a patch!!,
    still if I can get the 40 folder fix, plus the fat speed ups, plus the
    file selector, I would be happy. I have tried the TOS 1.4 in ram code,
    with my C'T interface hard disk driver, and it works really well. The
    only trouble is loosing 192K or whatever of RAM space!!
    
    Keeping an eye on this space!
    
    Pat K.

Do you have FOLDRXXX.PRG?  It DOES work.

L&Y Electronics is (703) 494-3444.

I just spoke with the owner of White Mountain to clarify the issue. Seems
things have changed since I spoke with him last. Specifically, he called
Atari to clarify the installation procedure of the TOS 1.4 ROMs. Atari said
there are often many other hardware modifications that have to be made when
installing the ROMs.  White Mountain hadn't been prepared for this (thinking
the installation was as simple as plugging them in, period), and after some
thought, backed out entirely. So, don't go to them for TOS 1.4.

However, there is is another Atari repair center in the area called
RF Microtech, in North Billerica, Mass, that will do the upgrade. I just
spoke to the owner, Bob Fitzpatrick, within the past hour to get the details.
Bob says that Megas need a hardware modification. So do some 1040s. In
addition, some 1040s have the sockets in "backwards", making it easy to
install the ROMs backwards and making it appear the ROMs don't work. Realizing
the potential problems, but not wanting to appear to overcharge the user,
Bob says the TOS 1.4 upgrade is $99.95, installation FREE. If you insist
on doing the upgrade yourself, he will sell you the ROMs for $99.95 (but
think twice about coming back and complaining that the ROMs don't work!).

Actually, when Bob questioned Atari, the ROMs are REALLY PROMS, and the
true ROMs won't be available for several months. And, finally, one last
catch - Bob hasn't received the ROMs/PROMs from Atari yet, but they are
on order, and he expects them "soon".

Although Bob runs his shop out of his home, he is reputable, as I had my
1 meg upgrade done by him and bought my 50 meg hard disk from him. He
has also attended and has spoken at our NASTUS and ABACUS (now NaVAUS)
Atari clubs. Reach him at:

    Bob Fitzpatrick   (508)667-8900
    4 Carmel Drive
    North Billerica, Mass

    Thanks a lot Jeff!
    
    Yes I use FOLDEXXX all the time. It DOES work well, except when I run
    BACKUP, in the restore mode. I have 11 floppies worth of partition C,
    and always after the 5th floppy, I get a hard disk write errror alert
    box, out of BAckup, and I cant continue. I then have to restore the
    remang 6 flopies manually. This is a real pain because BACKUP writes
    the contents of a folder over several disks, so you have to start with
    the first disk, open a folder restore the files go to the next flop
    look for the same folder etc etc etc. It takes hours and hours!
    
    Pat K.
    
    Sorry for the typos, I am in GAlway this week and the line to Reading
    is slooooow so I am typing ahead three lines worth!

    
    Hi,
    
    Once again I have made the call to Atari, When will we get TOS 1.4 in
    the UK, DUNNO they say. !!!!!
    
    Please could some kind person tell me what the current status is for
    the purchase of a six ROM set, from the anywhere in the New England
    area at this time.
    
    I have a friend coming over to the US shortly on the Phase V FT
    training and he has kindly offered to get me a set if they are
    available!
    
    regards
    
    Pat Keane.

Pat,

One source is RF Microtech, in North Billerica, Mass. Bob Fitzpatrick, the
owner, was selling them, and I believe is still selling them. Installation
is free. I think the cost was about $100. I assume your friend is coming
to the area north of Boston for his Decnet training, and that's the same
area that RF Microtech is located. Bob's phone number and address are
posted elsewhere in this notes file (I don't have them handy at the moment),
but I can look them up and append them here if you are interested.

Oh, I talked to Atari yesterday, and asked about the unavailability of 1.4
over in the UK. Charles Cherry said something about the UK ROMS being
different than those of the USA. So if you get your TOS 1.4 here, there
may be a few minor differences from the final UK version.

       Don

    
    Hi Don, Many thanks I have that number of RF Microtech, I will give
    them a bell,
    
    You have me worried about the US verus UK version of the ROm, If it is
    just a matter of pound sign and dollar echanged then its no prob, if
    its a large number of keys tranposed then it could be embarrasing.
    AND if it involves any changes to the default setups of the shifter
    etc, i.e. 60 HZ scan instead of 50HZ, NTSC instead of PAL. I would not
    have thought that was the case, but I am not sure now.  THINK THINK,
    
    (The last word I got from an engieer at ATARI, was that the only way I
    am going to get a set of TOS roms is to buy them from a repairer, when
    they are available as a repair spare).
    
    I will get the numbers for som repairers and see when they expect to
    get some spare ROMS.