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From: wrd@tekigm2.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit
Subject: Re: DOS 2.5 vs. DOS 3.0
Message-ID: <1555@tekigm2.TEK.COM>
Date: Fri, 13-Mar-87 11:59:03 EST
Article-I.D.: tekigm2.1555
Posted: Fri Mar 13 11:59:03 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 14-Mar-87 15:24:50 EST
References: <8703131002.AA18512@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or.
Lines: 58
Summary: Best Atari DOS

In article <8703131002.AA18512@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, Makey@LOGICON.ARPA (Jeff Makey) writes:
. I am getting ready to buy a 1050 disk drive for my 800XL.  One the
. mail-order ads in ANALOG Computing says that they include DOS 2.5 with
. the drive, another says they include DOS 3.0, and the rest are silent
. on the topic.  Some questions:
. 
. 1.  Does DOS always come with the 1050 or are those two firms actually
.     providing something special?
. 
. 2.  If I have a choice (and it seems that I do), which DOS should I get
.     and why?  (I know that newer does not necessarily mean "better".)
. 
. 3.  Are there any other versions of DOS that I might want to use?
. 
. 4.  If I buy the drive that comes with DOS 2.5 (because it's cheaper),
.     can I *legally* make a copy of someone else's DOS 3.0 and use it?
. 
. Thanks for the info.
. 
.                                :: Jeff Makey
.                                   Makey@LOGICON.ARPA

I would strongly recommend that you use DOS 2.5.  It is the latest and greatest
from Atari.  It is an improved version of DOS 2.0S.  DOS 3.0 is an aberration
and is non-compatible with DOS 2.0/2.5.  DOS 3.0 is more or less abandoned by
Atari and most users.  DOS 2.5 disks have a file on them that will translate
DOS 3.0 file to DOS 2.5/2.0S.  

There once was a DOS 2.5D for an 815 double density drive -- neither the drive
nor the software was ever available to the public.  [Yes, I know that some were
built and did get out, but Atari essentially yanked the plug before public
sales happened.]  However, several companies took DOS 2.0D and modified it for
commercial purposes.  I believe that this is the origin of both MYDOS and
SpartaDOS.  Both are available by themselves as well as with various upgrade
kits, etc.  Both allow for mulitiple disk drives (5.25 and 3.5) and hard disks.
I personally have only tried MYDOS -- it would not run ANTIC magazine' disks,
so I did not try to use it further and stuck with DOS 2.5.  However, if you
want a truly double density disk drive, you must use either MYDOS or SpartaDOS.
(As opposed to the so called double density of the 1050, which is really an
enhanced density, more like 1 1/2 density).  Personally I stick to straight
vanilla 1050 drives, they can be upgraded to true double density, however, with
the USDoubler (which also includes SpartaDOS, I think.)  And if you upgrade to
256k with a Newell upgrade, you get MYDOS free.  CDYoung Associates (CDY
anyway) sells various software and hardware updates.  J Sangster will probably
tell you about them.  To answer you last question, some form of Atari DOS comes
with every 1050, they are not including something extra.  1050 drives first
came with DOS 3.0, newer ones come with DOS 2.5.  (Very early ones may have
come with DOS 2.0S.)  Finally, between DOS 3.0 and DOS 2.5, another version was
created by the pre-Tramiel Atari Inc. (as opposed to Atari Corp.) which was
called DOS 4.0.  It is available from ANTIC magazine, I am not familar with it
except to know that it was being developed for several new Atari computers that
were stillborn (i.e. they died before being released, similar to the 815 dd).
I think that 4.0 was for the 1450XLD model.  Other models not released were the
1400XL and 1600XL, although the latter was not even ever announced to the best
of my knowledge.  Both the 1400XL and the 1450XLD were announced and
advertised, but still died.  

--Bill--