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		BETA RELEASE OF NEW TOS AND HD UTILITIES FOR ST/MEGA

THIS IS *NOT* A SOLICITATION FOR BETA TEST SITES! IT IS THE FULFILMENT OF
AN EARLIER PROMISE TO PUBLISH THE STATUS OF THE NEW PRODUCTS.

The Beta shipments of the new ST/Mega TOS went out to Atari subsidiaries
this week. Some have even arrived already. Beta versions of the new Hard 
Disk utilities and a disk "cache" program were included. The entire kit
consisted of the following:

	TOS ROM set, configured for local keyboard and American text.
	Diskette (D/S) containing:
		RAM loadable image of TOS, same configuration as ROM
		Disk cache program "CACHExxx"
		HDX Hard Disk utility, HINSTALL and associated programs
		Product Tracking System front-end program "SPRgen"
	Release Notes for:
		TOS
		CACHExxx
		HDX, HINSTALL etc (modified to 30/60MB hard disks)
	Draft User Manual for HDX, HINSTALL etc.
	User guide for Product Tracking System
	Various programs, files and tools to assist in translation

Each subsidiary has been invited to select a small set of Beta sites, and
has been requested to ensure that each such site accepts, in writing, 
certain terms and conditions, including:
	no copies to be made
	products and documentation are prerelease and without warranty
	all communications are to be made solely to the Atari subsidiary,
		and not through public channels
	all copies and documentation to be returned to Atari subsidiary
		on demand
	weekly report indicating name(s) of tester(s), tests performed,
		observations to be filed with Atari subsidiary each Friday
	any bug reports to be first verified against the currently released
		hardware/firmware, to ensure problem is with new TOS

We want to know what works as well as what doesn't work. A report of
"no problems" is worthless if it is not accompanied by an explanation
of what testing has been performed. If a program fails, it is critical
that it be tested with other RELEASED configurations, so that it is very
clear whether or not the failure is attributable solely to the new TOS.

In our testing we have found MANY ill-behaved programs which fail because
they appear to access beyond the Mega 4's 4MB RAM limit. I believe they
are accessing "just beyond" where they are supposed to, and it's only on the
Mega 4 where they run out of physical address space rather than physical
memory. Almost all programs which fail this way have been retested on
the current TOS and fail in a similar way.

This beta release is not the final one. Programs should not be modified to
look for the date encoded in this version.

PLEASE DO *NOT* CONTACT ANYONE IN ATARI R&D TO SUPPORT THIS BETA TEST. ALL
ENQUIRIES SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO THE TECHNICAL MANAGER OF THE APPROPRIATE
ATARI SUBSIDIARY, OR TO JOE FERRARI (408-745-2010) IN THE USA. The R&D
group must now address the port of TOS to revised and new hardware platforms,
and so I would appreciate your NOT disrupting the development activity. We
have support groups in place, and they MUST be your first line of support
if development of new products is to continue at optimum speed.

A summary of the major improvements to TOS follows:

Floppy formatting is "more compatible" with IBM-PC format
A file may be moved (i.e. copy/delete) in one operation
File Copy/Delete/Move can be interrupted with "undo"
GEM programs can be autobooted from disk
If a name conflict occurs during a file copy, Copy/Skip/Quit are allowed
A folder may be renamed via "Show Info"
The static file allocation limit of 400 is removed; limited now by free memory
"Show/Print File" are completely rewritten
File copying on a single floppy system uses all available memory for buffers
"wind_update(FALSE)" is set when recovering from an application crash
All date separators are now "/"
File Selector has had major rework:
	16 drive buttons
	Application can send a "title" string to FSEL
	FSEL now takes first <RETURN> on pathname edit as end-of-edit
	FSEL remembers where it was in a file list
	Static file allocation of 100 files is removed
	Long pathnames and "ABORT/CONTINUE" now handled correctly
	Preserves current DTA buffer addresses, clip rectangles and
		default directories
	New bindings available
"appl_init" returns version 0130 in global(0)
Editable fields may now be followed by non-editable characters in dialog boxes
"wind_get()" with field parameter WF_SCREEN returns address/length of AES
	menu/alert buffer
"Ptsin" (VDI) allows 512 vertices (true since 4/22/87)
"vqt_extent": Pixel errors on some 270 degree rotations are fixed
"vq_mouse" reliability enhanced
40-folder bug alleviated to the point of improbability. A folder only takes
	up space when "active". Limited now by depth of folders and the
	accumulated depth of open files. FOLDRxxx still available.
"Malloc" restriction of 20 blocks/process lifted.
FAT searching code for floppy and hard-disk is MUCH faster
Sector buffering greatly improved, and "CACHExxx" allows expansion
"Frename" can now rename a folder
Archive bit (0x20) fully supported
Time stamps for "." and ".." are now correct
"Fsettime/Fsetdate" match BIOS and GEMDOS values
"Fdatime" input value byteswap fixed
Major improvements to "Ccon*" and redirection in general
OS Pool reduced to same size as 11/20/85 ROMs (pre Mega). This may allow
	some programs which fail on Mega ROMs to work again.
Soft Reset available from Keyboard if using standard keyboard handler.
	Soft reset by CTRL/ALT/DEL
	Cold Boot clears all available memory (CTRL/ALT/right SHFT/DEL)
"Rsconf(-2,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1) returns last baud rate value set by Rsconf
Structure of the reserved part of DTA has changed, and remains reserved
Improvements made to detection of media change


THE ABOVE IS A SUBSET OF THE ENHANCEMENTS MADE. THERE ARE MANY MORE, FULLY
DOCUMENTED IN THE RELEASE NOTES SENT TO EACH SUBSIDIARY.

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Roy J. Good
Product Development, Atari Corporation
Views expressed are my own. Atari may agree or disagree; they have the right.
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