Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!cbatt!osu-eddie!osupyr!akw From: akw@osupyr.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit Subject: Re: DOS 2.5 vs. DOS 3.0 Message-ID: <102@osupyr.UUCP> Date: Sat, 14-Mar-87 17:31:47 EST Article-I.D.: osupyr.102 Posted: Sat Mar 14 17:31:47 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 15-Mar-87 08:05:59 EST References: <8703131800.AA27415@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Reply-To: akw@osupyr.UUCP (FarOff MicroDesigns) Distribution: world Lines: 51 In article <8703131800.AA27415@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Makey@LOGICON.ARPA (Jeff Makey) writes: >1. Does DOS always come with the 1050 or are those two firms actually > providing something special? > DOS always comes (well, it should) with all units coming from Atari, and the version should be 2.5. >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".) Get DOS 2.5. You do *NOT* (I repeat _not_) want version 3.0. Even though the old Atari had good intentions when it wrote this poor program, it is now quite a huge pain-in-the-booty. It is _not_ compatible with the older versions of DOS and not compatible with other third-party DOSs as well. >3. Are there any other versions of DOS that I might want to use? I would strongly recommend SpartaDOS from ICD. You might also want to purchase the US Doubler chip from ICD as well, which jumps your standard drive speed by a factor of 3 (300% faster) However, SpartaDOS will work with an unmodified 1050 drive. (The US Doubler itself is a chip enhancement which is installed in your 1050) >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? > Well, I am not sure if DOS 3.0 is PD or not, but I really do not think Atari Corp. will care if you do, considering there is _no_ com- mercial software that supports or comes with 3.0. A good reason to avoid 3.0 is this: all other versions of DOS written by Atari format the disk in 128 byte sectors. 3.0 uses a 1024 byte sector routine. So, if you were to, say, write a file that is 1025 bytes long, 3.0 will force the use of two sectors, resulting in the loss of 1023 bytes on your disk (which would be trivial on other systems but since 3.0 can only put ~90,000 bytes on a disk, this eats room FAST. Good to be talking about the 8bits again even though I have been concentrating on my ST since I bought it last October. > > :: Jeff Makey > Makey@LOGICON.ARPA | Andy Weaver --+-- akw@osupyr.UUCP | The Ohio State University | Proverbs 25.25 1774 College Rd Cols, OH 43210 |