Home Atari TOS PowerOn Reset Artifex TOS Karte
 

9.10 TOS Card 2.06


TOS 2.06 im Atari ST/STe/MegaST



Ehemals von Hard & Soft Herberg vertrieben gab es die sog. TOS Card. Diese Karte ermöglicht es Computer der ST-Serie 260/520, den 1040ST und den MEGA ST mit dem neueren TOS 2.06 aufzurüsten.

Ältere TOS Releases (TOS 1.4) hat einen Umfang von 192Kb im ROM. TOS 2.06 benötigt zwei ROMs/Eproms vom Typ 27C256. Ebenso hat dieses neue TOS eine andere Adresslage als ältere Ausgaben, es kann also nicht ohne weiteres in den Computer eingesteckt werden.

Bei TOS 1.0 - 1.4 befindet sich im Bereich: $FC0000 bis $FEFFF
TOS 2.06 liegt hingegen im Bereich von: $E00000 bis $E3FFFF

Es ist eine kleine Hardware nötig um die Adresslage anzupassen. Ohne Anpassung erzeugt der GLUE sofort einen Adresserror

Daher befinden sich die Sockel für TOS 2.06 auf einer Platine die idR auf die eingebaute 68000 CPU aufgesteckt wurde. Hierzu kann man einen passenden Sockel auf diese CPU löten, oder die CPU gleich ganz aus dem Rechner entfernen um dort einen Sockel für beides Einzulöten.

Gelötet werde muß daher in allen Fällen

Lediglich bei MEGA ST bestand die Möglichkeit die Card ohne löten einzubauen. Hierzu wäre allerdings noch die sog. 'Speed-Brigde' nötig die in den internen MEGA ST Port gesteckt wird um die TOS Card aufzunehmen

Wenn Sie den 64 poligen DIL-Sockel auf die CPU auflöten wollen sollten Sie darauf achten das die Kerbe im Sockel mit der gleichen Markierung der CPU übereinstimmt, das hilft bei der Orientierung später ungemein. Verlöten Sie zuerst die Pin an den vier Ecken der 68000 CPU. Kurze Lötzeiten beachten!



Für den MegaST Bus

Für den "Mega-Bus" gab es auch TOS 2.06 Karten die dort eingesteckt wurden. Ein mir nicht bekannter Hesteller hatte die kleine, unten gezeigte Platine mit Aufdruck ADS und dem Atari-Fuji. Die Karte besitzt einen Stecker für den Mega-Bus. Darauf befindet sich ansonsten nur ein Gal, eine quadratischer TOS-Chip und ein Kondensator.


--------------------------------------------
|   (nach unten Mega-Bus-Stecker)          |
--------------------------------------------
|         -------                          |
|         | TOS |    ------------      --o |
| o--|--| |     |    | GAL      |      --o |
|    | C| |     |    ------------      --o |
| f-+|--| -------                          |
--------------------------------------------


wobei -o größere verzinnte Lötaugen sind und -f eine verzinnte Lötfläche (+ des C's) darstellen. Diese Erweiterung arbeitet nicht in dem man sie einfach in den MegaST Bus steckt. Es muß auf das auf der Hauptplatine befindliche TOS ausgeschaltet werden. Dazu gibt es die freien Lötaugen auf dieser Platine.

Wenn jemand die Verkablung bekannt ist sollte er mir diese senden damit ich sie hier nachliefern kann.



Die Anschlüsse der TOS Card

Die TOS Card wird 1:1 auf den CPU-Sockel gesteckt und gleichmässig leicht in den Sockel gedrückt bis Widerstand spürbar ist. Achten Sie darauf das sich alle Pin der TOS Card im entsprechenden 'Loch' des CPU-Sockels befindet!

Weiterhin sind noch eine Drahtverbindungen herzustellen
Lokalisieren Sie dazu die 6 ROM-Bausteine in ihrem Computer
Sie benötigen die beiden ROMs HI-0 und LO-0, hier wird jeweils der Pin 20 (CE) so gebogen das er bei einem erneuten Einstecken des ROMs nicht mehr im Sockel steckt.

Befindet sich das TOS in nur zwei ROMs, verfahren Sie mit beiden ROMs so

Verbinden Sie nun Pin 'IN' der TOS Card mit Pin 20 (CE) an einem der Sockel
Verbinden Sie 'OUT' der TOS Card mit den hochgebogenen Pin 20 beider ROMs an. Das sieht nicht schön aus, geht aber nicht Einfacher zu machen. Verbinden Sie beide Kontakte 'SEL' mit dem einfachen Ein- Aus-Schalter

SEL ---------------
                   \ Schalter
SEL ---------------

Mit dem Schalter wechseln Sie später von TOS 2.06 auf ihre alte TOS Release oder eben umgekehrt. Beachten Sie bitte das die Umschaltun nicht im Betrieb erfolgen kann. Der Rechner stürzt dabei ganz sicher immer ab!

Verbinden Sie +5 der TOS Card mit einer beliebigen +5 Stelle im Computer. GND verbinden Sie mit GND des Rechners. Benutzen Sie dazu ein Voltmeter!
Vertauschen Sie diese Anschlüsse niemals!




Abbildung 1 - TOS 2.06 Card



Z.B ist +5 Volt an Pin 14 der 68000 CPU vorhanden. GND finden Sie an Pin 16 oder Pin 53. Der Einbau ist ansonsten eigentlich Unkritisch und kann von jedem vorgenommen werden der sich ein wenig auskennt.

Eine Bezugsquelle für diese nette Karte ist mir leider nicht bekannt. Eventuell noch bei Hard & Soft Herberg in Castrop Rauxel.

Nach dem Einschalten sollte sich ein umgebauter Atari wie gewohnt melden, entweder mit dem neuen Atari-Logo und einem beginnenden RAM-Test, oder wie gehabt, mit dem alten TOS welches vorher vorhanden war. Das ist von der Schalterstellung abhänging.



Artifex TOS Karte

"Artifex" war ein anderer Hersteller einer "TOS-Karte". Der Einbau selbiger weicht nur wenig von der Hard & Soft Karte ab. Die Artifex Karten gab es in mehreren Ausführungen für die unterschiedlichen Atari Computer.

Bei der Artifex-Karte müssen die beiden TOS-ROMs, als Beispiel des Einbaus in einen MegaST, aus den Sockeln U10 und U9 entfernt werden. Danach wird das Flachbandkabel mit dem EPROM-Sockel in U9 (es steht auch HI-0 neben dem Sockel) gesteckt, und zwar so, daß das Kabel zur CPU zeigt. Der Rest des Kabels wird in den Megabus gesteckt. Das war alles. Die Karte sollte so in Betrieb genommen werden können. Nach dem Einschalten muß sich der MegaST mit dem TOS 2.06 melden.



Fehlersuche

Bildschirm schwarz
Rechner bootet nicht, vermutlich ein Kurzschluß
Sofort auschalten und alle Verbindungen kontrollieren
Es sollten sich auch nirgends Lötzinreste befinden!!
+5 Volt und GND richtig Angeschlossen?

 
Bildschirm weiß
Kein Logo, bootet nicht?
Die Stellung und den Anschluß des Schalters kontrollieren!
Leitungen eingeklemmt oder abgerissen?
Alle Verbindungen der Karte zum Mainboard, TOS ROMs kontrollieren
IN mit OUT der TOS Card vertauscht?

 


Sollte sich herausstellen das eine TOS Karte falsch herrum auf der CPU steckt brauchen Sie nicht weiter zu probieren. Die neuen ROMs und die Logik der TOS Card sind sehr warscheinlich irreparabel beschädigt.

Wenn an ihrem Atari ein HD-Diskettenlaufwerk angeschlossen ist benötigen Sie HD_SET.PRG im Autoorder um die neuen Features nutzen zu können. Die Steprate dieser Laufwerke sollte auf 6mS eingestellt werden.



TEC Card

I just purchased a TOS Extension Card from Germany so the manual is in German (of course). Ive looked on google for some help but nothing has ever been posted about the single wire that comes the chip on the card. Can some one please tell me where this wire goes? It has a gold pin on the end. Also is there anything else that needs to be done to the mega motherboard for the installation of this unit?

Its actually a TOS CPUcard by artifex GmbH

If so, where does the rest of the board go? Can you tell by your instructions where to fit the board so the 68000 can see it?

I got something similar in my Mega ST (Wizztronics Compatability II), and it works like so:
Take out the origional CPU solder in the board and plug the CPU back on top (it's basically a set of extension rails and a PCB with the TOS chips on the underside.). It can also be installed by soldering it onto the 68000 piggy back.

The part that sounds similar to your board, is the one lead wire. In the case of the compatability 2 board, this wire goes to pin 22 on the U9 ROM socket (The front most ROM socket on the right side).

There's a couple of ways you can do this.

1. You can pull the old TOS ROMS out all together, and just have TOS 2.06 onboard.

2. You can bend up some pins on the front two rainbow tos roms in the mother board, fit a few wire jumpers and a switch, and have a machine switchable between whatever ROMS are in your mother board and whatever is fitted in the Compatability Plus board. If your TOS board has extra pads to wire in a switch, then it's bound to work something like this:

Remove the Rainbow TOS chips U9 and U10 (remember where they were). Bend up pins 20 and 22 on both chips. Reseat them in their sockets, taking care that pin 22 on U9 doesn't make any sort of contact with your mystery wire. Next connect the two bent up leads for pin 20 together with wire. Also connect pins 22 of the two chips together. Now run a wire from pin 22 of either ROM to a convienent ground. Finally, if your TOS board supports a switch, you'll run a wire pin 20 of either ROM to the TOS Expansion board. Finally, you'd wire the switch to where ever it goes on the TOS expansion board.

Another thing it might be...
If not all Megas, I know REV 5 at least, has some sort of patch soldered on the side of the M68000 with a wire that runs close to the left side of the expansion slot. It could be that your TOS board has the patch built in to replace the old one. In my case, I did have to reinstall the CPU patch to the CPU as it was before. The 'mystery wire', I believe is either a power source, or a ROM enable/disable signal, and had nothing to do with the Mega CPU patch.

It's a very good chance that your mystery wire goes to pin 22 of U9. If you have not bent out any ROM pins and jumpered them together, etc....then you'll need to REMOVE the old ROMS to try this hook up.

Hope this helps, Brian Roland <BJRoland@bellsouth.net>

Der Autor des nun folgenden DOITYOURSELF Umbau auf TOS 2.06 ist mit leider unbekannt!
Es gibt dazu auch anscheinend nur den folgenden Text:


TOS 2.06 im Eigenbau

Wichtig bei diesem Umbau: Es geht nicht ohne die GALs! Die Listings finden Sie im Order /Programm/Tos206/. Es kann keine Funktionsgarantie gegeben werden da mir der Autor dieser Geschichte unbekannt ist und ich diesen somit auch nicht Fragen kann. Die GALs müssen für diese Erweiterungen mittels einem entsprechenden GAL-Programmiergerät erstellt werden.


GAL16V8-25: am einfachsten mit Billigsockel auf CPU löten, wie in
den vier Bildern unten zu sehen ist.

Pin    10     GND
Pin  1 9      geht nach A17   CPU Pin 45
Pin  2 8      geht nach A18   CPU Pin 46
Pin  3 7      geht nach A19   CPU Pin 47
Pin  4 6      geht nach A20   CPU Pin 48
Pin  5 5      nicht benutzt
Pin  6 4      geht an   A21   CPU Pin 50
Pin  7 3      geht an   A22   CPU Pin 51
Pin  8 2      geht an   A23   CPU Pin 52
Pin  9 1      geht an   Masse CPU Pin 53
Pin 10        geht an   Masse CPU Pin 53
Pin    20
Pin 11 19     geht an   /AS   CPU Pin 6
Pin 12 18     geht an   DTACK CPU Pin 10
Pin 13 17     geht an   RD/W  CPU Pin 9
Pin 14 16     geht an   ROM2A:  W4 unten bei Mega ST oder GLUE Pin 19
Pin 15 15     geht bei 512K Eproms an /CE (Pin 20) von ROM0 LOW (U7)
              oder an /CE (Pin 20) von ROM0 HIGH (U4)
              oder an W4 oben(Verbindung zu PIN 20 an L0 oder H0)
Pin 16 14     geht bei 512K Eproms an /CE (Pin 20) von ROM1 LOW oder
              ROM1 HIGH oder an ROM 1 (Pin 20 der Glue). Hier ist keine
              Unterbrechung erforderlich
Pin 17 13     ist nur intern benutzt
Pin 18 12     ist frei
Pin 19 11     ist frei
Pin 20        geht an +5V

Bei Verwendung von 4 Stück 512K Eproms:

Bei Mega STs die Jumper W2 nach links, W3 nach rechts und W4 offen und den 74LS11 bei Pin 12 unterbrechen.

Ein wichtiger Hinweis zum Schluß:

Wer 16 MHz Beschleuniger nutzt sollte nur Eproms nehmen, die schneller als 150 ns sind!

Verdrahtung für TOS 2.06:

GAL16V8-25: am einfachsten mit Billigsockel auf CPU löten, wie in den Bildern zu sehen ist

Pin  1       geht nach A17   CPU Pin 45 und bei Mega ROMs Pin 2!
Pin  2       geht nach A18   CPU Pin 46
Pin  3       geht nach A19   CPU Pin 47
Pin  4       geht nach A20   CPU Pin 48
Pin  5       nicht benutzt
Pin  6       geht an   A21   CPU Pin 50
Pin  7       geht an   A22   CPU Pin 51
Pin  8       geht an   A23   CPU Pin 52
Pin  9       geht an   Masse CPU Pin 53
Pin 10       geht an   Masse CPU Pin 53
Pin 11       geht an   /AS   CPU Pin 6
Pin 12       geht an   DTACK CPU Pin 10
Pin 13       geht an   RD/W  CPU Pin 9
Pin 14       geht an   ROM2A:  W4 unten bei Mega ST oder GLUE Pin 19
             oder CE oberhalb der MMU im 1040, der Punkt, der mit Pin 19
             der Glue Verbindung hat.(durchmessen!)
Pin 15       geht bei 512K Eproms an /CE (Pin 20) von ROM0 LOW (U7)
             und an /CE von ROM0 HIGH (U4)
             oder bei Mega STs an W4 oben(Verbindung zu PIN 20 an L0
             oder H0)
             oder bei 1040 an CE oberhalb der MMU an den Punkt, der mit
             Pin 20(CE) von H0 und L0 verbunden ist.
Pin 16       geht bei 512K Eproms an /CE (Pin 20) von ROM1 LOW und
             ROM1 HIGH oder an ROM 1 (Pin 20 der Glue). Hier ist keine
             Unterbrechung erforderlich
Pin 17       ist nur intern benutzt
Pin 18       wird wie PIN 15 verdrahtet bei Verwendung von 1MB Eproms.
             Geht an /CE (Pin 22 der Megaeproms oder PIN 20 des alten
             Sockels) von LOW 0 und HIGH 0
             oder bei Mega STs an W4 oben(siehe PIN 15)
Pin 19       ist frei
Pin 20       geht an +5V

Bei Verwendung von 2 Stück 1MB Eproms:

Zusätzlich bei Mega STs die Jumper W2 nach links und W3 nach rechts und W4 offen und Pin 12 vom 7411 unterbrechen. Zusätzlich bei 1040 STs die Lötbrücken A16 auf 1MB, A17 auf 256K und CE offen.
Wichtig für 260ST und 520ST und alte 1040ST mit 6 Eproms:

Neuere Rechner mit Lötpunkten wie 1040ST einbauen. Ältere Rechner: Pin 3 der Eproms verbinden und an A16 an CPU Pin 44 anschließen. Die Eproms dürfen mit Pin 3 nicht in der Fassung stecken!

Bei Verwendung von 4 Stück 512K Eproms:

Bei Mega STs die Jumper W2 nach links, W3 nach rechts und W4 offen und den 74LS11 bei Pin 12 unterbrechen. Bei 1040 STs die Lötbrücken A16 auf 1MB, A17 auf 256K und CE offen und den 74LS11 Pin 12 unterbrechen.

Wichtig für 260ST und 520ST und alte 1040 ST mit 6 Eproms:
Neuere Rechner mit Lötpunkten für Epromwahl wie 1040ST einbauen.

Ältere Rechner: Pin 1 der Eproms verbinden und an A16 an CPU Pin 44 anschließen. Die Eproms dürfen mit Pin 1 nicht in der Fassung stecken!

Ein wichtiger Hinweis zum Schluß:

Wer 16 MHz Beschleuniger nutzt sollte nur Eproms nehmen, die schneller als 150 ns sind!














Das Copyright der Schaltungen liegt beim Autor der sie erstellt hat. Leider ist dieser mir unbekannt.




TOS 2.06 for Atari Computers

From: philipt@dial.pipex.com Philip Taylor 1999
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st

Introduction
In the early 90's Atari introduced TOS 2.06 for the Mega STE. At 256k it is double the size of the preceding versions which were 128k. It turned out that TOS 2.06 was highly compatible with the ordinary ST computer, and Atari-licensed dealers began to sell the ROM chips in kit form. For most STE computers the chips can simply be fitted in place of the older ones, however some soldering of the motherboard is needed to change jumpers. For the ST, a small daughterboard is required.

There are two main incompatibilities between TOS 2.06 and the ST(E):
The Mega STE has a high-density (1.44mb) floppy disk drive with a different step rate from the double-density drives in ST(E) computers. Fortunately a small patch program in the auto folder corrects this problem.
In TOS 2.06 there is an error in the floppy disk routine for drive B. (This is of no account on the Mega STE which does not have a B drive). When you try to read a write-protected diskette in the B drive, it fails. Unfortunately the patch for this error requires a modification to the ROMs.

Soon after the release of TOS 2.06, bug reports started appearing in the German literature. One of the most serious was the 'arrow' problem viz. when you click on a window arrow or slider bar in order to move the visible part of the window, TOS redraws the window not once but twice. This is especially irksome with a DTP program like Pagestream where window re-draws are frequent and take considerable time. Patches for this bug also require modification of the ROMs. So Atari programmers began blowing their own EPROMS with all and sundry patches applied. A suite of programs called TOSPATCH can be found in many Atari FTP sites. It lists many corrections and improvements, and provides the facility to read ROMs, apply whatever patches you want, and generate image files or Motorola S-format files suitable for driving an Eprommer.

The German patches which have absolute addresses are not all in the right position for the UK version of TOS 2.06. Philip Taylor and Darryl Piper therefore devised patch files specifically for UK ROMs. These patch files (.FIL) work with the standard TOSPATCH suite of programs.

Gemulator
Gemulator 96 works well with TOS 2.06. Patching the TOS image with TOSPATCH then testing on a PC computer is fast and easy. No more blasting eproms! Some additional changes to TOS are beneficial to running on a PC under Gemulator viz. boot directly from C: ignoring floppy drives; bypass ROM-CRC check; bypass hard disk waiting period.


The following describes features of TOS new to version 2.06 - note however that some features were present in Rainbow TOS 1.06. A thorough familiarity with the fundamentals of TOS as described in the Atari "Owner's Manual" is assumed.

Boot
A memory test is conducted. This test may be aborted by pressing any key. If booting from hard disk, a shrinking black bar next counts down for one minute, waiting for the drive to get up to speed. This delay can also be aborted by pressing any key.

Drag and Drop
A datafile may be dragged and dropped onto its parent application program, whereupon the application will start up and load the datafile. For example, drag and drop a document onto its word processor: this is equivalent to starting the word processor program, then opening the document.

Copy...Date Stamp
When you copy a file by dragging it, a dialog box pops up asking for confirmation (provided Confirmation=Yes for File Copy in Menu Options-Set Preferences...). This box has additional buttons for either Preserving Time/Date or giving the new file the current time/date.

Move
Press the Control key while dragging a file in order to move rather than copy it.

Rename a file
Show Information from the File menu, then enter new name.

Copy and Rename
Press the Alternate key while dragging.

Move and Rename
Press the Alternate and Control keys while dragging.

Open Folder into a New Window
Press the Alternate key while opening it. Preserves the parent window: useful for copying/moving files up to the parent folder.

Open a Window on Drive ?
Press and hold Alternate, then the drive letter. Equivalent to double clicking a drive's icon. In conjunction with a keyboard shortcut for closing a window (see below), this method enables fast navigating among the partitions of a hard disk.

Scroll window contents
Press any cursor key. Amplify the movement by adding Shift.

Help
Press the Help key for a summary of these keyboard commands.

Undo
Stops any file operations.

Warm boot
Press simultaneously Control, Alternate and Delete.

Cold boot
Add right Shift key to the preceding. Equivalent to the reset button at rear of computer.

Deselect all Items
Press Return. Converse of Select All, which is in the File menu.

Print a text directory listing of the top window
Press > (right angle bracket) key.

Enter any ASCII Code
While holding Alternate down, press 1-3 keys on the numeric keypad. For example, to enter the letter A, press 6 followed by 5. Useful for entering special characters in the range 128-255 into word processors and DTP programs, and for entering codes 0-31 into file editors.(!nl)

The Menus

Keyboard Shortcuts
A single-letter keyboard shortcut can be assigned by Desktop Configuration to any item in the menus. In the following descriptions, the author's choice of assignments is shown as an example.

File Menu

Open [O]
The usual open command. Equivalent to a double left click.

Show Information...[S]
Works for disks, folders and files. For folders, enables change of name. For files, also enables change of read/write status.

Search...[L]ocate
Firstly select the disk(s) or folder you want to search. (Else Search will operate on the active window, if any). Then invoke Search and enter a filename into the dialog box. Wildcards (*) are allowed. PT*.* will find all files beginning with PT, *.TXT will find all text files.

Delete Item...[Delete]
Deletes all selected files or folders. Some users prefer not to have a keyboard shortcut for this command owing to the danger of inadvertent use. But for the author convenience outweighs the risk. My choice of the Delete key is a natural one, but you need to enter its ASCII code 127 with Alternate Ä see above.

Create Folder [F]
Note that a folder's name may have a 1-3 character extension.

Close Directory [B]ack
Closes the top level of the active window: back up to the previous level of the directory tree.

Close top window [C]
Close the active window back to and including the root directory.

Bottom to Top [W]
Swaps the bottom and top windows.

Select All Items [A]
Highlights all folders and files in the active window, including those revealed by scrolling.

Set File Mask...[M]
Restrict the display of files in the active window by entering a filename specification with wildcards. For example, *.DOC will show only documents, SETTER.* shows files with the name SETTER and any extension. The file mask is cleared as soon as you close the active window.

Format Floppy Disk...
TOS 2.06 formats diskettes which can be read by PCs and compatibles. The dialog box also offers a diskette Copy operation from A: to A: or from A: to B:

View Menu

Show as Icons [I]
Show as Text [T]
It is very convenient to use the keyboard shortcuts to toggle between these alternate views. When Text is displayed, a small rectangle to the left of a filename indicates a read-only file.

Sort by Name [N], Date [D], Size [Z], Type [Y], or No sort The first two of these sorts are used the most and it is very convenient to toggle between them with the keyboard shortcuts.

Size to Fit
When selected, this causes icons to be displayed in horizontal rows not wider than the window. This dispenses with horizontal scrolling: vertical scrolling may be necessary if the window is not large enough to show all icons simultaneously.

Set Colour & Style
Choose colours and fill patterns for your desktop and windows.

Options Menu

Install Icon...
Customise your Desktop icons for Drives, the Trash can, and the Printer; and Window icons for Folders and Files. These icons are found in the resource file DESKICON.RSC, which may be edited with a program such as WERCS from HiSoft. Desktop icons have reserved Icon Identifiers for floppy disks A & B, c for the cartridge slot, and C-P for logical drives (hard disk partitions). File icons can be assigned to a single file, or to a type of file as determined by extension.

Install Application...
Firstly highlight the application, then click on the menu option which opens a dialog box where you can: Link an application to data files having a specific extension. When you open (double click) such data files, they invoke the associated application, in the same way as drag & drop. Assign any of twenty function keys F1-F10 and F11-F20 (with Shift) to an application. Make an application Autoboot so that it starts automatically at boot time. Choose either the application's directory or the top (active) window as the default directory when the application runs. Choose either Full Path or File Name for parameter. Most applications use the former but where data files are stored in a fixed location assumed by the program, select File Name.

Install Devices
Installs desktop icons for all hard disk partitions, floppy drives and cartridge if fitted.

Read .INF File...
At boot time TOS reads the default desktop information file NEWDESK.INF from the root directory of the C (or A) drive. Subsequently you can change to a different desktop environment by reading another .INF file, previously saved with the Save Desktop command and then renamed.

Desktop Configuration...
Opens a dialog box where you can:
Set the Default Directory and Input Parameter for applications in general. An application which is installed using Install Application (q.v.) has its own settings. Scroll through function keys to see what applications are assigned to them. Define keyboard shortcuts for menu items - see above. See amount of available RAM.

Save Desktop
Saves settings made under the View and Option menus, Control Panel including Printer and RS232 configuration, arrangement of icons on the desktop, open window(s) if any.

Print Screen
Equivalent to Alternate-Help. TOS 2.06 still expects a dot-matrix printer to be 9-pin Epson compatible. The print routine sends escape codes which fail on most 24-pin dor matrix and ink jet printers. To circumvent this problem, install a screen-dump program such as SCRDMP24 from Gribnif.

Organising programs
Commonly used programs may either be placed on the desktop or assigned function keys. Put on the desktop programs which take an input file viz. a text editor, a file editor, a file viewer, word processor and so on. Then use drag and drop from any open window to start and open. Another way to use desktop icons is to temporarily place an icon for a document you are currently working with on the desktop adjacent to the icon for your word processor. Then use drag and drop.

Assign function keys to programs which do not require an input file, e.g. a disk checker/defragmenter, floppy initialise, screen dump etc.

The Atari mouse and double clicking
The Atari mouse was horrible. Atari steadfastly refused to change it from the original ST right up to the Falcon. Several vendors brought out light and responsive replacement mice, among them the "Truemouse" from Evesham Micros.
Since TOS did not utilise the right mouse button, the obvious use for it is to simulate a left double click. I have always used DC-RT-DC from Double Click Software to achieve this.

Replacement ST mice are harder to get nowadays, but a good alternative if you have a free serial port is to use a standard PC serial mouse and a program called GENMOUSE. This program allows you to configure the right button to simulate a double left click.



Shortcut

In addition to the obvious keyboard shortcuts which are listed when you press the <HELP> key in TOS 2.06 I'm looking for other useful shortcuts. So far I've written the following for my TOS 2.06 user-guide:


Starting up
*When the computer is booting (starting up) for the first timeor has been restarted after a "cold reboot" you will see the Atari logo in the upper left hand corner of the screen followed by a memory test.

* Depending on how much memory your computer has, the memory test can take more than a minute to complete. Press any key to bypass the memory test.

* If you have a hard disk you may want to wait a few seconds before bypassing the memory test as it'll give the drive the time needed to get ready.(!nl)

* Hold <CONTROL> while booting to boot without any AUTO programs, ACCessories or the TOS 2.06 setup file ("NEWDESK.INF").

This will load the hard-disk driver (if you have a hard disk) making it available from the desktop, but nothing else and is useful for situations where you've messed up one or several setup files, or have problems with certain AUTO programs/ACCessories. After booting this way you can disable/remove them and reboot again the usual way. After entering the desktop, go to the "Options" menu and select "Install Devices" which will give you access to all the hard disk partitions).

I've also noticed that if you press (and keep holding) the <ALT> key while booting the machine will completely bypass the hard disk (not even loading the hard disk driver). I'm wondering if this is a feature of TOS 2.06 or a keyboard-shortcut of the harddisk driver (I'm using "HDdriver")?



Moving on to more keyboard shortcuts...


Keyboard Shortcuts
TOS 2.06 allows for several keyboard shortcuts. There are shortcuts for most of the window menu functions (go to the "File", "View" or "Options" menus and you'll see a letter on the right hand side of any of those drop-down menus, indicating the shortcut letter, which can be changed if you wish).

Some of the non-menu specific shortcuts are shown by pressing the <HELP> key while others are undocumented elsewhere, but explained here. In the examples below i.e. <ALTERNATE> and D means "press and keep holding the ALTERNATE key while pressing D....

* <ALTERNATE> and 1: set display to low resolution (if available).

* <ALTERNATE> and 2: set display to medium resolution (if available).

* <ALTERNATE> and 3: set display to high resolution (if available).

* <ALTERNATE> and drive letter: opens a new window with the contents of that drive

(i.e. <ALTERNATE> and D opens up a new window with the contents of drive D).

* <CONTROL> and drive letter: replaces the currently active window with the contents of that drive (i.e. <CONTROL> and F replaces the window with the contents of drive F). If there are no open windows on the desktop this shortcut will open a new window with the contents of the drive letter you've entered.

* <ALTERNATE> and double-click a folder: will open a new window with the folder's contents.

* Hold down the <ALTERNATE> and double-click on a folder: the contents of the folder will open into a new window.

* Hold down (and keep holding) <SHIFT> while single-clicking files/folder to select several items at once (i.e. copying/moving/deleting several files and/or folders at once). You can also use the mouse to scroll up/down the window if necessary, without loosing the selected files as long as you keep holding the <SHIFT> key.

* Hold down <CONTROL> while copying files: the files will be moved (the originals will be deleted.)

* Hold down <ALTERNATE> while copying files: you can rename the new copies of the files.

* Hold down <ALTERNATE> and <CONTROL> while copying files: this both moves the files and lets you rename the new files.

* Press <ESC>: refresh (update) the current active window. Useful if you've got a window open showing the contents of a floppy disk which you've exchanged with another disk in the meantime. Pressing <ESC> will show the contents of that new disk.

* Most windows with choices have a default option which is highlighted in bold as shown here (the "OK" button):

If you press <RETURN> (or <ENTER> in most cases) this option will be selected. The default option is usually also the "safe" choice, which is good to know if you're in doubt and afraid of messing things up).

* Don't have a mouse? Not a permanent solution, but...

* <ALTERNATE> and arrow keys to navigate (keeping the keys depressed repeats the movements, the speed according the keyboard repeat rate set in the "general" CPX control panel module).

* <ALTERNATE>, arrow keys and SHIFT to navigate more accurately.

* <ALTERNATE> and Insert to select a file/icon/program (single-mouseclick).

* <ALTERNATE> and Insert (twice) to open a file/icon/program (double-mouseclick).

* <ALTERNATE> and (keep holding) Insert while using arrow keys to drag file/folder/program.

* <ALTERNATE> and (stop holding) Insert while using arrow keys to drop file/folder/program.

* <ALTERNATE> and numeric keypad: get access to ANY character available in the Atari character set, regardless of which language keyboard your computer has (i.e. hold <ALTERNATE> while typing 142 on the numeric keypad, then release the <ALTERNATE> key which presents you with the letter Ä). Look up the Atari ASCII character set table for the decimal equivelants of each character.

Shortcuts from Hallvard
Atari Launchpad : <http://launchpad.atari.org>



Whitch kind of Eprom?

In TOS 2.06 user guide is that TOS 2.06 can come in a variety of EPROM types, so there's no definitive single setting of the jumpers, but rather "look up the table (which I'm supplying in the guide) to see where the jumpers for your TOS 2.06 chips go?

Definitely. *I* have only seen 2.06 in 27C010 (or pin-compatible) EPROMs, but Atari definitely used the ROMs with a different pin-outs in STE machines.

Come to think of it (it's strange that I missed something so obvious), but there were TOS chips before version 2.06, and the STe was equipped with 1.62 (I believe some of them were also equipped with the bugged 1.06, or 1.6 as many like to call it), and these were 28 pin ROMs.

The jumper settings for the different types of EPROM/ROM chips used in the STe: I got the numbers and the jumper settings from the STe schematics.

OK, moving on to the actual list.There are 3 ROM jumpers on the STe motherboard, found close to the ROM sockets of course (some ROMs weren't socketed as far as I know, and the existing ROMs had to be desoldered first). The jumpers are marked "W-102", "W-103" and "W-104" and have 3 pins each. Here are the different jumper settings:

----------------------------------------------
W-102: 1-2
W-103: 2-3
W-104: 1-2

27010     128Kx8 (1 Mbyte) EPROM 32 pins
27C1001   128Kx8 (1 Mbyte) EPROM 32 pins
571000    128Kx8 (1 Mbyte)   ROM 32 pins *
         * swapped pins "A16" (pin 24) and "_OE" (pin 2)
           compared to the preceeding two EPROMs
--------------------------------------------------
W-102: 2-3
W-103: 2-3
W-104: 2-3

571001    128Kx8 (1 Mbyte)    ROM 32 pins
27C1000   128Kx8 (1 Mbyte)  EPROM 32 pins
531000    128Kx1 (128 Kbytes) ROM 28 pins  (NOTE: 28 pins!)
-------------------------------------------------
W-102: any setting
W-103: 1-2
W-104: none (remove jumper)

27256      32Kx8 (256 Kbytes) EPROM 28 pins
-------------------------------------------------
W-102: 2-3
W-103: 2-3
W-104: none (remove jumper)

27512      64Kx8 (512 Kbytes) EPROM 28 pins
-------------------------------------------------
and for those curious.....
here are the settings for the TOS 1.62 (1.06?) chips that came with the
STe in the first place:

W-102: 2-3
W-103: 2-3
W-104: 2-3

and as far as I remember these were 28 pin ROMs.






Copyright © Robert Schaffner (doit@doitarchive.de)
Letzte Aktualisierung am 23. Mai 2004
Home Atari TOS PowerOn Reset Artifex TOS Karte