Towns' Little Guide to TOS Revisions

version 1.0, March 1991, Written by John Townsend, Atari Corporation

@atari

Published in

atari

· 30 Jan 2022

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 involvement with this little Document. Thanks again!

Comments are welcome..

-- John Townsend
Atari Corp.

ROM TOS (TOS 1.0)

The 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

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, many other improvements.

MEGA TOS (TOS 1.02)

This 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

Utilities: FOLDRXXX.PRG

FOLDRXXX.PRG is explained above.

Notes: See notes for TOS 1.0.. GET TOS 1.04 TODAY!

Rainbow TOS (TOS 1.04)

TOS 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 (available as Upgrade!)

Machines: Stacy

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 TOS14FIX.PRG 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!

STE TOS, Rev 1 (TOS 1.06)

TOS 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

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.