Subject: 7.5) What are MyDOS, SpartaDOS, and other popular DOS versions?
Section includes contributions by Andreas Magenheimer (most DOS 2 clone
descriptions).
Atari DOS versions are very popular, but many 3rd-party DOS versions have also
been developed over the years. Of these, MyDOS and SpartaDOS seem to be the
most-used today.
MyDOS is modelled after Atari DOS 2.0S/2.5, but provides subdirectory and
hard-drive support, along with many other "high-end" features.
MyDOS 4.53/3 was released as freeware by David R. Eichel on 1/1/90.
Defaults to a 3 character file length/free sector count instead of MyDOS's
normal 4. Supports multiple AUTORUNs at boot up (*.AR0 through *.AR9).
Supports Axlon RAMdisks.
MyDOS 4.53/4 is the same as 4.53/3, but uses a minimum of four characters in
the sector count just like most versions of MyDOS.
MYDOS 4.51 was developed by Wordmark Systems (Charles Marslett). Source code
is available as "abandonware" at: http://www.wordmark.org/
MYDOS 4.50 was released on 11/28/88, developed by C. Marslett & R. Puff
http://www.nleaudio.com/css/files/MYDOS45M.ARC
Mathy van Nisselroy's MyDOS page:
http://www-users.rwth-aachen.de/mathy.van_nisselroy/mydos.htm
SpartaDOS is a completely different command-line DOS modelled after MS-DOS,
though it is perfectly capable of reading all Atari DOS and MyDOS disks.
There are many versions available. Hopefully this list will help keep them
all straight.
SpartaDOS X (SDX) cartridge
---------------------------
Greatly enhanced/expanded compared to disk- based SpartaDOS; completely
different source code. Several versions produced:
4.22 11-05-95 released by Fine Tooned Engineering (FTe)
4.21 7-10-89 released by ICD
4.20 2-06-89 released by ICD
4.19 1-16-89 released by ICD
4.18 10-29-88 released by ICD
4.17 ?-?-88 released by ICD
SpartaDOS Pro 3.3a, 3.3b, and 3.3c - 1994-
----------------------------------
The SpartaDOS Pro 3.3 versions were developed by Stephen J. Carden, based upon
a dissembled copy of the older (more stable?) 3.2c release from ICD.
-- SpartaDOS Pro Ver 3.3a 3-Nov-94 -- Added MUX support and MS-DOS Commands.
Highspeed SIO routines NOT included. Recommended for use in emulators
(especially Xformer) only.
-- SpartaDOS Pro Ver 3.3b 25-Dec-95 -- Has two different SIOV handlers, one
for the MUX and one for the MIO.
-- SpartaDOS Pro Ver 3.3c 1995 -- Looks at your system and by checking it
determines what CIO handler to load, and has MS-DOS command set. Black
Box, MUX, and MIO are fully supported, though none of these are required.
-- SpartaDOS Pro Ver 3.3c 19-Dec-97 -- the same 3.3c produced on a 16K ROM
cartridge by Video 61.
-- SpartaDOS Pro Ver 3.3d -- exists, but is not in general release
According to Lance Ringquist:
K-Products contracted FTe to develop SpartaDOS Pro 3.3 for exclusive use and
distribution with K-Products' BBS Express! Pro, to provide this BBS system
with the most stable platform possible. As Video 61 now owns the rights to
BBS Express! Pro, SpartaDOS Pro 3.3 is therefore now a product of Video 61.
According to Stephen Carden:
The SpartaDOS Pro 3.3 versions were never owned by K-Products, and are
technically shareware owned by FTe, although FTe had no connection with the
specific development of the 3.3 versions.
SpartaDOS 3.2g and 3.2gx - Dated 6/4/94.
------------------------
Last official disk-based versions, released as shareware by Fine Tooned
Engineering (FTe), who had purchased the rights from ICD. 3.2g is the primary
version; 3.2gx differs only in that it locates the disk buffers under the OS
to save RAM. 3.2gx is intended for use in systems that include a PBI device
(MIO, Black Box); it is not compatible with BASIC XE or any other programs
using RAM under the OS.
First shareware release from FTe: 3.2f.
Earlier major releases from the original developer, ICD: 3.2d, 3.2c, 2.3, 1.1
Only the SDX cartridges and the original version 1.1 are compatible with the
400/800 computer models; SpartaDOS 2.x, and 3.x require an XL/XE.
Many disk-based SpartaDOS versions are available for download here,
Thunderdome, kept by SysOp Fox-1:
http://www7.brinkster.com/atari/ataridl/sdsys.htm
One source of SpartaDOS documentation is Russ Gilbert's page at:
http://my.en.com/~russg/
The other DOS varieties mentioned below are all, like MyDOS, Atari DOS-2 clones and thus DOS-2 compatible; avaiable as PD or Freeware...
BW-DOS 1.30 and BW-DOS Update #2 - Released: 12/95 ("BeWe")
================================
Another popular, powerful DOS is BW-DOS, freeware by Jiri Bernasek. (it is
pronounced "Bay Vay Dos") which is SpartaDOS compatible. Does not use any
speeder internally, but comes with external XF551 speeder. Supports 4 drives
and Ramdisk, comes with Ramdisk driver for XE compatible Ramdisks up to
1Megabyte; supports 4 densities: a) Single (90k), b) Enhanced/Medium (130k),
c) Double (180k) and d) DSDD (360k); does not use any RAM under OS ROM; unlike
SpartaDOS most commands are external, thus the DOS is only 5kbytes short;
supports a PAL clock (made by ABBUC regional group "ARGS"); comes with many
great utilities (which can also be used with SpartaDOS); paper printed German
and disk printed English docs are avaiable; latest version 1.3 is avaiable as
Freeware...
TOP-DOS 1.5+
============
Carolyn Hoglin writes:
This superior DOS was written by R. K. Bennett of Eclipse Software in
Sunnyvale, CA. It was based on Atari DOS, but with many, many more features.
It fully supports my double-density, double-sided Astra drives, automatically
sensing the proper density and sidedness of both drives 1 and 2. (MYDOS only
seemed to do that on drive 1.) Also supported are large ramdisks for Axlon,
Mosaic, etc. The latest version was TOP-DOS 1.5+, which came with an excellent
manual explaining how to use its powerful capabilities.
SuperDOS 5.1
============
supports 4 formats SD/ED/DD/DSDD; supports 256k Xtra RAM/RD; supports 4
speeders: Happy+Speedy+XF551+US Doubler and its compatibles; has an AUX.SYS
file with option to use / not use RAM under OS ROM; has unfortunately a very
slow Ramdisk;
BiboDOS 5.4 and 6.4
===================
3 versions avaiable, one without speeder - 5.4NT, one with Happy/Speedy
support 5.4HS and one with XF support 6.4XF; supports 4 formats / up to 360k;
supports 256k Xtra Ram / RD; the DUP.SYS uses RAM under OS ROM, thus Turbo-
BASIC must load without DUP;
Turbo-DOS 2.1
=============
Master-Disk produces 4 different versions: 2.1NT without speeders, 2.1HS for
Happy/Speedy, 2.1XF for XF551 and 2.1EX for 3 speeders: Happy+Speedy+XF551;
supports 256k Xtra RAM / RD and supports use of batchfiles; has converter for
DOS 3 and DOS 4; supports 4 formats, up to 360k; does not use RAM under OS
ROM; DUP uses a Command Processor; all commands are avaiable via HELP key;
works with XL/XE computers only, does not load/boot on Atari 400/800 no clue
why;