- - SUPERDOS - - Instruction Manual v 1.0 for SUPERDOS v 5.0 - November 8, 1988 - - SUPERDOS Instruction Manual - Copyright 1988, Paul Nicholls Copyright 1988, Technical Support - - - SUPERDOS is a public domain program. It was written in Australia by - Paul Nicholls who retains sole ownership of it. It is marketed in the - United States by Technical Support. If you have not paid for the copy you - are using, please send $20 (plus $1 shipping) to: - - Technical Support - 205 Peoria Street - Daly City, Calif - 94014 USA - - (California residents add 6.5% sales tax.) - - A copy of the latest version will be sent to you and you will be - registered as a legal owner. This will entitle you to future upgrades at - low cost. It is important to pay for the software you use so that - programmers like Mr. Nicholls can continue to develop new products for - you. - - SUPERDOS is warranted to perform satisfactorily. If you are not satisfied - with SUPERDOS, your purchase price will be refunded. Submit a refund - request, in writing, to Technical Support. Please indicate the reason for - your dissatisfaction. Technical Support and Paul Nicholls disclaim all - liability for losses of any kind, beyond the cost of SUPERDOS, incurred - as a result of the use of SUPERDOS. - - SUPERDOS is designed for Atari owners who need a more powerful and - easy-to-use DOS. It is not intended for the user who needs hard disks, - more than four drives, subdirectories, or time-date stamping. For those - users we happily recommend Sparta DOS, MYDOS, or Top DOS. They are all - excellent programs. - - SUPERDOS v 5.0 is fully compatible with DOS 2.0 and 2.5. It even looks - and feels like Atari DOS, there's nothing new to learn. However, it's - much easier to use, and much more powerful. It supports most Atari - configurations, including Single, Enhanced (Dual), and Double density, - and 2 sided/Double density (XF551) disk drives, Axlon and XE RAMdisks, - and most memory expansions. We are convinced that SUPERDOS is the most - convenient Atari DOS ever created. If you use it for a week, you'll never - want to return to another DOS. - - SUPERDOS v 5.0 features: - - 1. SUPERDOS works with all Atari 400/800/600XL/800XL/1200XL/65XE/130XE - computers and the XE Game Machine. - 2. Supports Single, Enhanced (Dual), and Double density, and 2 sided/ - Double density (XF551). - 3. Automatically configures to the density of the disk in the drive. - 4. Density of each drive is displayed at the top of the screen. - 5. Copy files between different density disks with only one drive. - 6. Automatically finds and sets up largest RAMdisk possible. - 7. Supports 130XE compatible 128K, 256K, and 320K RAMdisks. - 8. Supports Axlon compatible 128K and 256K RAMdisks. - 9. Automatically copies files with .RAM extender to RAMdisk. - 10. Hold [Esc] while booting to reserve 130XE banks for programs. - 11. I/O defaults to RAMdisk if drive 1 is not available. - 12. SDUP.SYS available instantly, no MEM.SAV (even on 800s). - 13. Short DOS.SYS and SDUP.SYS files leave maximum space for you. - 14. RESTORE files which have been DELETEd or left OPEN. - 15. Directory can display DELETEd and OPEN files. - 16. Automatic TRACE and PATCH to recover damaged files. - 17. Single keystroke menu (no Returns). - 18. Clear English prompts. - 19. Concise double column display lists 40 files at once. - 20. Full screen scroll, won't wipe out filename you were about to use. - 21. Screen border color indicates type of operation. - 22. Use upper and lower case, inverse and numbers in filenames. - 23. Adjust the key delay and repeat rate for XL/XE (fast keyboard). - 24. Write with or without verify, toggle from menu. - 25. A Binary Save that even saves cartridges. - 26. High speed transfer with SUPERMAX, US Doubler, and XF551. - 27. Skewed sectors for even higher speed. - 28. Format disks in any density. - 29. Write DOS.SYS and SDUP.SYS or DOS.SYS only. - 30. Copy all .SYS files except DOS.SYS using wild cards. - 31. True sector copier copies boot disks, skips empty sectors. - 32. Option to format destination disk during disk copy. - 33. Copy sectors and display bad sector numbers. - 34. Copy to and from cassette (C:) using long or short IRG. - 35. Display the configuration block for Double density drives. - 36. Enter sector numbers and addresses in hexadecimal or decimal. - 37. Handle up to eight double density files open concurrently. - 38. Handle up to four double density drives plus a RAMdisk. - 39. Easy to change file buffers and drive buffers, no POKEs. - 40. Copy from DOS 3 files using one or two drives and wild cards. - 41. SUPERBIN - a compact boot program which displays menu of binary - files and runs them. - 42. SUPERBAS - a compact AUTORUN.SYS program which displays menu of - BASIC files and runs them. - - Note: SUPERMAX, an enhancement for the 1050 drive, with true Double - density and SUPERSPEED transfer. SUPERMAX is from SUPER Products, P.O. - Box 507, Beenleigh, Queensland 4207, Australia - - - This guide assumes the you are familiar with Atari DOS 2.0 or 2.5. If - you are not, you can get help from your local User Group. - - - WHAT IS SUPERDOS? - - SUPERDOS consists of seven files. The files are: - - DOS.SYS - SDUP.SYS - AUX.SYS - SBAS.SYS - DOC.SYS - AUTORUN.SYS - DOCv5.SYS - - DOS.SYS is the file management system, similar to Atari DOS 2.0 and - 2.5's DOS.SYS. It keeps track of files and lets other - programs manipulate them. - SDUP.SYS provides a menu so that you can manipulate files directly. - It also adds a couple of functions, like Copy. It is similar - to DOS 2.0 and 2.5's DUP.SYS. - AUX.SYS gives you access to some rarely used functions. - SBAS.SYS is a special program for running BASIC programs - automatically. - DOC.SYS is the instruction manual. You are reading it now. - AUTORUN.SYS is the routine which prints out this manual. Rename it - to PRINTDOC.SYS so that it will not pop up automatically - every time you boot this disk. After it has been renamed, it - can be run using the L BIN. LOAD command. - DOCv5.SYS is a short description of the changes and new features in - SUPERDOS v 5.0 and some hints on using SUPERDOS. - - - Using SUPERDOS with an XF551, a RAMdisk, or a 400/800. - - There are suggestions in the DOCv5.SYS file to help you use SUPERDOS. - Print the changes to SUPERDOS file to read them. - - - COPYING SUPERDOS - - Use the J COPY DISK command to make a backup of this disk. Put the - original away in a safe place and use the backup. This disk is - formatted in Single density so that it will work on all drives. To - make copies in other densities, use the I FORMAT command to format a - blank disk in the desired density. Use the H WRITE DOS command to - write DOS.SYS and SDUP.SYS to the new disk. Then use C COPY FILES to - copy the rest of the files to the new disk. - - page 3 -PW - - THE VARIOUS DENSITIES - - There are four common disk density formats used by Atari and - Atari-compatable disk drives. SUPERDOS supports them all, plus a - special oversize RAMdisk format: - - SINGLE - 720 sectors of 128 bytes. Atari 810 format. - ENHANCED - 1024 sectors of 128 bytes. Atari 1050 format (Atari - calls it Dual density). - DOUBLE - 720 sectors of 256 bytes. Used by Amdek, Astra, ATR-8000, - Happy, Indus, Percom, Rana, SUPERMAX, Trak, and US Doubler. - 2 SIDED/DOUBLE DENSITY - 1440 sectors of 256 bytes (XF551). - XTENDED - 1024 sectors of 256 bytes. 130XE compatible 320K RAMdisk. - - - LOADING SUPERDOS - - SUPERDOS boots in the normal way. Turn on your disk drive, insert the - SUPERDOS disk with the label up. Turn on your computer. SUPERDOS - loads in. The loading process differs from that of DOS 2.5. SUPERDOS - loads as follows: - - 1. After 5 sectors have loaded, a test is made for a SUPERMAX, US - Doubler, or XF551 drive. If one is found, the speed is - increased. - 2. If there is 64K (or more) of memory, or if SDUP is set to - "resident", SDUP.SYS is loaded. - 3. If RAMDISK ENABLE is set ON, the largest available RAMdisk is - initialized. If [Esc] is being held down, the four 130 XE memory - banks are reserved for your program to use and a smaller RAMdisk - is initialized. - 4. If a RAMdisk is present, all files on drive one with the extender - .RAM are copied to the RAMdisk. The progress of this operation is - reported on the screen, as are errors. You may abort this - operation by pressing [Break]. - 5. AUTORUN.SYS (if present) is loaded and run. - - ENTERING SUPERDOS FROM A PROGRAM - - The SUPERDOS menu can be called from a program. The most common - example of this is typing "DOS" while in BASIC. The following occurs: - - 1. A check is made to see if SDUP.SYS is intact under the OS or at - the bottom of memory. - 2. If it is found under the OS, it is swapped with the data at the - bottom of memory and the SDUP.SYS menu appears almost instantly. - 3. If it is found at the bottom of memory, the SDUP.SYS menu appears - instantly. - 4. If it is not found in RAM, DOS searches for it on drive one. If - found, it is loaded. This may destroy part of the program area. - 5. If it is not found, you are returned to the calling program. - - page 4 -PW - - GUIDE TO THE SDUP.SYS MENU - - At the top of the screen is the disk drive Status line. It shows the - numbers and densities of the available disk drives. 1 through 4 are - disk drives. 5+ is the RAMdisk. Any reference to D5: D6: D7: or D8: - is diverted to the RAMdisk. This provides compatability with a large - variety of programs. - - The densities are indicated by initials, Single, Enhanced, Double, 2 - sided/Double density, or Xtended density. If no density is indicated, - the drive is not available. Note that the densities reflect the - format of the disk, not the capability of the drive. The density - automatically changes as different disks are accessed. - - The screen border indicates the type of operation about to be - performed. Green means read, Red means write, purple means initialize - (format). - - Most operations can be aborted by pressing [Break]. - - SUPERDOS interprets the drive designator in filenames as follows: - - (no designator) = D1: - D: = D1: - D1: or 1: = D1: - D2: or 2: = D2: - D3: or 3: = D3: - D4: or 4: = D4: - D5: or 5: = RAMdisk - D6: or 6: = RAMdisk - D7: or 7: = RAMdisk - D8: or 8: = RAMdisk - - At the prompt SELECT ITEM OR RETURN, the following are legal - responses: - - [Return] Display the menu. - - [Space bar] List the directory of drive 1. - - 1, 2, 3, or 4 List the directory of drive 1, 2, 3, or 4. - - 5, 6, 7, or 8 List the directory of the RAMdisk. - - A. DIRECTORY List a directory. Prompts for which files to list - and where to list them. Also lists deleted and open - files: - -FILENAME.EXT deleted file. - ?FILENAME.EXT file opened but never closed. - Enhanced density or 2 sided/ - Double density file which use - sectors beyond 720, cannot be - accessed by smaller drives. - Use /N option to skip deleted and open files, i.e., - D:*.*/N - - page 5 -PW - - B. CARTRIDGE XL/XE owners have the option of enabling or - disabling the built-in BASIC. Just follow the - prompts. - - C. COPY FILE Combines the COPY and DUPLICATE functions of DOS 2.0 - and 2.5. - 1. You may enter one OR two filenames, separated by - a comma: - a. Use one filename for a one drive copy, e.g., - FILENAME. - b. Use two filenames for two drive copy, e.g., - FILENAME,2:FILENAME. - c. Always use two filenames for Append or copy - with Rename, e.g., FILENAME,FILENAME/A and - FILENAME,NEWNAME. - 2. SUPERDOS configures the drive to the density of - the disk automatically. You can copy between - disks of different densities using only one - drive. - 3. Wild cards may be used in both source and - destination filenames, e.g., *.*,2:*.*. - 4. Wild cards may be used to copy all .SYS files - except DOS.SYS. - 5. Wild card copies display this verification prompt - for each file TYPE "Y" TO COPY - D1:FILENAME.EXT. - Press "Y" to copy the file or any other key to - skip that file and go to the next one. - a. Use the /N option in the destination filename - to surpress all the verification prompts after - your first "Y" response, e.g., *.*,2:*.*/N. - b. Use the /N option in both filenames to - surpress ALL the verification prompts, e.g., - *.*/N,2:*.*/N. - 6. You can copy to and from the C: (cassette) - device. The default format is short IRG - (inter-record gap), the same as BASIC CLOAD and - CSAVE. Use the /L option to specify long IRG, the - same as BASIC SAVE C:, LOAD C:, LIST C:, and - ENTER C:, e.g., D:FILENAME.EXT,C:/L - - D. DELETE Same as DOS 2.0 and 2.5. - - E. RENAME 1. If more than one file has the same filename, - RENAME will only change the first one. - 2. You can rename using wild cards, e.g., - *.BAS,*.BXL renames the extender of all files - with a .BAS extender to .BXL. The first part of - the filenames do not change. - - F. LOCK FILE Same as DOS 2.0 and 2.5. - - G. UNLOCK Same as DOS 2.0 and 2.5. - - page 6 -PW - - H. WRITE DOS You can write either DOS.SYS only or both DOS.SYS - and SDUP.SYS. Just follow the prompts. - - I. FORMAT 1. You may select any density your drive will - support, Single, Enhanced, Double, Xtended, - or 2 sided/Double density. Just follow the - prompts. - 2. Skewed sectors are a special format for very fast - operation on SUPERMAX, US Doubler, and XF551 - drives. Skewed sectors are slower than normal on - most other drives. Skewed sectors are not - available in Enhanced density. - 3. Enhanced density format is compatible with DOS - 2.5, but has 1011 sectors, one more than DOS 2.5 - which does not use sector 720. - 4. You can format your RAMdisk, as you would a - floppy disk. It can be formatted to any density - its size will support. - 5. Xtended density is for RAMdisks on 130XE - computers equipped with 320K memory expansions. - 6. See NEW PROGRAMMING COMMANDS for information on - formatting from within a program. - - J. DUP DISK Copies disks or sectors. Unlike DOS 2.0 and 2.5, it - copies the boot sectors of a disk. All unprotected - disks can be copied successfully. - 1. If all the bytes of a sector are the same, the - sector is not copied. - 2. If you don't specify sector numbers, the whole - disk is copied and you have the option of - formatting the destination disk. It is formatted - to the same density as the source disk. - 3. If you specify sector numbers, only that range of - sectors is copied. Sector numbers can be entered - in hexadecimal or decimal (hexadecimal is - default, use # to specify decimal, e.g., #360). - 4. If a disk error is encountered, you'll get the - prompt BAD SECTOR -XXX "Y" TO RETRY. A "Y" will - retry the sector as many times as you want, any - other key will skip the sector and continue on to - the next one. - 5. You may copy disks or sectors to or from your - RAMdisk provided your RAMdisk matches the density - of the disk. - - K. BIN. SAVE Memory addresses can be entered in hexadecimal or - decimal (hexadecimal is default, use # to specify - decimal, e.g., #1536). SUPERDOS also can save - cartridges. - - L. BIN. LOAD Same as DOS 2.0 and DOS 2.5. - - page 7 -PW - - M. GO ADDRESS 1. Memory addresses can be entered in hexadecimal or - decimal (hexadecimal is default, use # to specify - decimal, e.g., #1536). - 2. If a binary file has been loaded with the L - command, you can just press Return at the M - prompt to run it. Note: the run address of file - is erased when the program area is destroyed. - - N. RESTORE Recovers DELETEd and OPEN files. - 1. DELETEd files are indicated by a - in the - directory obtained with the A DIRECTORY command. - OPEN files are indicated by a ?. - 2. Wild cards may be used in the filename. - 3. If you have written to the disk since deleting - the file, RESTORE may encounter errors. If so, - only the sectors before the error are restored. - If the error is in the first sector, the file - will remain DELETEd. (See PATCH in AUX.SYS). - - O. VERIFY= Toggles write verify on and off. Writes are faster - without the verify, but there is no guarantee that - they are accurate. - - page 8 -PW - - THE AUX.SYS MENU - - AUX.SYS contains commands which are generally used rarely. Load it - with the L BIN. LOAD command from the SUPERDOS menu. The AUX.SYS menu - is very similar to the SUPERDOS menu. - - [Return] Display the menu. - - [Space bar] List the directory of drive 1. - - #. LIST DIRECTORY Enter a number to list the directory of that - drive. - - P. INITIALIZE DOS After you have changed the number of file or - drive buffers or toggled the resident SDUP - option, you must INITIALIZE DOS. Note: this - destroys the program area. - - Q. COPY FROM DOS 3 Copies files from an Atari DOS 3 disk to a - SUPERDOS disk. Use like the C COPY FILE option. - - R WRITE SUPERBIN See WHAT IS SUPERBIN? - - S. CONFIG. BLOCK Displays the contents of the disk drive - configuration block. Note: Unmodified Atari 810 - and 1050 drives do not have configuration - blocks. - - T. TRACE AND PATCH Traces a file until it encounters a bad sector - and then looks for the next sector on the disk - belonging to that file. It then links the sector - before the bad sector to the next sector. You - lose the data in the bad sector, but recover the - rest of the file. You can use wild cards in the - file name. - - U. XL/XE KEY RATE= Alter the key delay and repeat rates for the XL - and XE computers. Speeds up or slows down the - keyboard. 1 is slow, 4 is fast. - 1. Each time you choose this option, the number