TOWN'S LITTLE GUIDE TO TOS REVISIONS (UPDATED)
Written by John Townsend of Atari Corporation
This is a small document that explains in very terse terms the differences between the TOS revisions available for ST/MEGA/STE/Mega STE/TT machines, what patches are needed for what revisions, the formats they are available in, and any notes I can think of.I hope this will clear up some of the confusion with the different TOS versions. If you have any questions on this document, please let me know here on GEnie. My GEnie Address is: TOWNS.
Special thanks to Leonard Tramiel, Allan Pratt, and Doug Wheeler for their involement with this little Document. Thanks again!
Comments are welcome...
John TownsendThis document was updated significantly by Richard Davey of The Little Green Desktop to incorporate new TOS revisions, inaccuracies, file downloads and additional information. If you've got any extra information or can fill some of the gaps then please contact me with it.
Atari Corp.
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TOS 1.0 - ROM TOSThe original ROM TOS, this version shipped in 520ST and 1040ST machines. It is no longer shipping in any machines. |
| Formats: | 2 chip ROMs, 6 chip ROMs |
| Machines: | 520ST, 1040ST |
| ROM Date: | 20th November 1985 |
| Utilities: | FOLDRXXX.PRG FOLDRXXX.PRG will add more entries into your OS Pool. In TOS 1.0 and TOS 1.02, the limit for the number of directories that you can enter is around 40. With this program you can extend that limit much higher. If you are using a hard drive, this program is recommended highly. It will work with all TOS versions and will improve the performance of your system. |
| Notes: | GET TOS 1.04 TODAY! TOS 1.04 is the latest version of TOS for 520/1040/MEGA owners. It is MUCH faster, has faster, better disk I/O and many other improvements. |
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TOS 1.02 - MEGA TOSThis is commonly referred to as MEGA TOS. This version of TOS fixes some minor problems in TOS 1.0 and has support for the BLiTTER chip and Real-Time Clock chip. |
| Formats: | 2 chip ROMs, 6 chip ROMs |
| Machines: | 520ST, 1040ST, Mega 2, Mega 4 |
| ROM Date: | 22nd April 1987 |
| Utilities: | FOLDRXXX.PRG Explained above. |
| Notes: | See notes for TOS 1.0.. GET TOS 1.04 TODAY! |
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TOS 1.04 - Rainbow TOSTOS 1.04 or Rainbow TOS, as it is commonly known is the latest version of TOS available for 520/1040/MEGA owners. It has been available as a dealer upgrade for awhile now. It has much more robust Disk I/O, Autorunning of GEM programs at boot up, a fix for the 40 folder limit, and much more. Most of all is it much faster than previous versions of the Operating System. |
| Formats: | 2 chip ROMs, 6 chip ROMs |
| Machines: | 520ST, 1040ST, Mega 2, Mega 4, Stacy |
| ROM Date: | 6th April 1989 |
| Utilities: |
TOS14FIX.PRG, POOLFIX3.PRG, CACHEXXX.PRG, FOLDRXXX.PRG TOS14FIX.PRG solves some small problems in the AES (for additional information, please see the documentation that accompanies the program). POOLFIX3.PRG fixes a bug in GEMDOS. Documentation that accompanies the POOLFIX3.PRG program explains (in detail) the problem that it fixes. CACHEXXX.PRG is a new program that adds GEMDOS buffers to your system. The caching of data and disk directories by GEMDOS (when this program is used) will result in your system running much faster! This program is highly recommended and requires TOS 1.04 or higher for full benefits! FOLDRXXX.PRG is explained above. |
| Notes: | Please use the utilities available and if you haven't upgraded to this version of TOS yet.. please consider doing so. It's a very worthwhile upgrade. There are some disk-based versions of early developer only releases of TOS 1.04 floating around on BBS systems here in the United States and abroad. Please don't use them! They are bad news! They have some very nasty bugs and have been known to corrupt data! |
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TOS 1.06 - STE TOS, Revision 1TOS 1.06 is the TOS version that is shipped with the 1040STE and 520STE machines. It is essentially TOS 1.04 with support for the new hardware that the STE has. |
| Formats: | 2 chip ROMs |
| Machines: | 520STE, 1040STE |
| ROM Date: | Unknown |
| Utilities: |
STE_FIX.PRG, POOLFIX3.PRG, CACHEXXX.PRG, FOLDRXXX.PRG STE_FIX fixes the infamous Desktop Medium/Low resolution bug. The problem is that there is a bug in the desktop code in this version of TOS that prevents the user from booting into Medium Resolution. The patch program STE_FIX will solve the problem. Once it is executed in the AUTO folder, the problem no longer exists. FOLDRXXX.PRG, CACHEXXX.PRG, and POOLFIX3.PRG are explained above. |
| Notes: | This version is only available in 1040STE and 520STE machines. It isn't available for upgrading. It won't work in older machines. |
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TOS 1.62 - STE TOS, Revision 2This is a slightly revised revision of TOS 1.6. It fixes the POOLFIX problem in GEMDOS and the problem in the Desktop that was present in TOS 1.06. |
| Formats: | 2 chip ROMs |
| Machines: | 520STE, 1040STE |
| ROM Date: | 1st January 1990 |
| Utilities: | CACHEXXX.PRG, FOLDRXXX.PRG CACHEXXX.PRG and FOLDRXXX.PRG are explained above. |
| Notes: | This version is only available in 1040ST and 520STE machines. It isn't available for upgrading. |
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TOS 2.05 - Mega STE TOSTOS 2.05 is the version of TOS currently shipping in the Mega STE. |
| Formats: | 2 chip ROMs |
| Machines: | Mega STE |
| ROM Date: | Unknown |
| Utilities: | CACHEXXX.PRG, FOLDRXXX.PRG CACHEXXX.PRG and FOLDRXXX.PRG are explained above. |
| Notes: | This version is only available in the Mega STE. It doesn't work with WinSTon 0.5 or Steem v2 |
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TOS 2.06 - ST/STE TOSTOS 2.06 was the last version of TOS available for the ST/STE range of computers and provides much needed upgrades to the desktop. |
| Formats: | 2 chip ROMs |
| Machines: | 520ST, 1040ST, 520STE, 1040STE |
| ROM Date: | 14th November 1991 |
| Utilities: | Unknown |
| Notes: | Extensive system update addressing many of the issues of previous versions and fixing limitations and bugs. |
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TOS 3.01 - TT TOSTOS 3.01 is the version of TOS that originally shipped in the TT030. |
| Formats: | 4 chip ROMs |
| Machines: | TT030 |
| ROM Date: | Unknown |
| Utilities: |
CACHEXXX.PRG, FOLDRXXX.PRG CACHEXXX.PRG and FOLDRXXX.PRG are explained above. |
| Notes: | This version is only avaible in the TT030. It isn't available for upgrading. |
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TOS 3.05 - TT TOSTOS 3.05 is the latest version of TOS currently shipping in the TT030. |
| Formats: | 4 chip ROMs |
| Machines: | TT030 |
| ROM Date: | Unknown |
| Utilities: |
CACHEXXX.PRG, FOLDRXXX.PRG, SERPTCH1.PRG
CACHEXXX.PRG and FOLDRXXX.PRG are explained above. SERPTCH1.PRG is a serial port patch, full documentation included in the archive. |
| Notes: | This version is only avaible in the TT030. It isn't available for upgrading. |
