Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!occrsh!uokmax!unmvax!aplcen!haven!purdue!bu-cs!snorkelwacker!mintaka!oliveb!pyramid!decwrl!wuarchive!udel!udccvax1!gdtltr
From: gdtltr@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (Gary D Duzan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit
Subject: Re: Dos's
Message-ID: <4693@udccvax1.acs.udel.EDU>
Date: 19 Oct 89 00:01:36 GMT
References: <17345@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
Reply-To: gdtltr@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (Gary D Duzan)
Distribution: na
Organization: Galadrim (really a disorganization)
Lines: 50

In article <17345@watdragon.waterloo.edu> rrwood@lotus.waterloo.edu (Roy Wood) writes:
=>I know there are a number of different Dos's around for the 8-bit Ataris.
=>What are their relative advantages/disadvantages? 
=>
=>I'm presently using Atari's Dos 2.5 an my 130XE with a single 1050 drive.
=>If anyone were to recommend a "better" choice, I'd be happy to listen.
=>
=>-Roy Wood (rrwood@lotus.waterloo.edu)

   First of all, if you are comfortable with the DOS you are using, there is
little reason to switch. For the system you have, 2.5 has many advantages
which include the price (free) and compatability with most software. One of
the features most more advanced DOS's have is subdirectory support. Since you
are limited to an enhanced density disk, there is little need to split up your
files into directories.
   If, however, you decide you want something else, the two most common (from
my experience) are MyDOS and SpartaDOS. MyDOS retains the look and feel of
the Atari DOS 2.X line while adding subdirectories, larger disk sizes, and
most any size of RAMdisk. One problem I have had with MyDOS is the slightly
modified sector count field in the directory listing; it uses 4 characters
instead of 3. This throws off a few programs, but it isn't a major problem.
SpartaDOS replaces the DUP.SYS idea with a resident command line interface,
resembling somewhat the MS-DOS interface. SpartaDOS also supports
subdirectories, larger disk sizes, and RAMdisks. It also adds a number of
other features which include a real time clock, keyboard buffer, time/date
stamping of files, and all sorts of other stuff. SpartaDOS formatted disks
are incompatable with Atari DOS 2.X disks due to a new, more efficient format
scheme. However, the later versions of SpartaDOS (the earlier versions are
rarely used) have no problem reading and writing DOS 2.0 disks. They will
read 2.5 disks, but can't write to the extended sectors.
   Personally, I use SpartaDOS X, the DOS on a cartridge. It has even more
advanced features like ARC resident (sort of) all the time. In general,
SpartaDOS is more powerful than MyDOS. However, MyDOS is now free, while
SpartaDOS costs money. Any decision should depend on how much power you need
and whether you are willing to pay for it. There are other DOS's, but I have
not used them.


                                        Gary Duzan
                                        Time  Lord
                                    Third Regeneration
                                 Atari Enthusiast Extreme




-- 
      _o_                                                            _o_
    [|o o|]        "Two hearts are better than one." -- Yes        [|o o|]
     |_O_|      "Don't listen to me; I never do." -- Doctor Who     |_O_|