DOS XL
Encyclopedia
DOS XL was a Disk Operating System
(DOS) written by Paul Laughton, Mark Rose, Bill Wilkinson and Mike Peters and produced by Optimized Systems Software
(OSS) for Atari 8-bit microcomputer
s. It was designed to be compatible with Atari DOS
which came shipped with Atari
's disk-drives
.
drives. These included single and double density support, a command-line mode (called the command processor or CP), a menu
mode (an executable loaded in memory), batch file
support, and support for XL extended memory and OSS SuperCartridge banked memory. Later versions included Axlon RamDisk
support, Mosaic RamDisk support, BIT-3 support and BUG/65.
In addition to supporting auto-booting
).
. One side had the single-density version, the other had the double-density version. As more features and add-ons were included, these were placed on the double-density side only due to lack of disk space.
The manual for DOS XL was a subset of OS/A+. OSS considered the manual an "addendum" to OS/A+. Over 150+ pages, it was bound at the spine, not in loose-leaf form like the OS/A+ manual.
DOS XL came in two versions, 2.20 and 2.30 (2.20 users had to pay $20 to upgrade to 2.30). The last version was 2.30P. DOS XL originally sold for $30, but the price later increased to $39.
File writing verify was turned off in DOS XL. This was due to OSS's own experience that resulted in faster writes with virtually no risk of errors. The command file VERIFY.COM was included to reenable writes with verify. Atari DOS 2.0S by default verified file writes to disk.
Several Disk Drive
manufacturers shipped DOS XL with their drives, including Trak, Percom, Astra, Indus, Amdek and Rana.
D - Duplicate Disk Q - Quit to DOS XL
E - Erase Files R - Rename File
F - Files on Disk S - Save Binary
G - Go to Address T - To Cartridge
I - Initialize Disk U - Unprotect Files
L - Load Binary X - Xtended Command
CAR - Runs Cartridge
Dn: - Changes default drive
DIR - Directory
END - Tells DOS XL to stop batch execution (used in a batch file)
ERA - Erase file(s)
LOA - Load file(s) in memory
NOS - NO Screen. Turns off command echo to screen
PRO - Protect. Enables write-protect on file(s)
REM - REMark. Used for user remarks in batch files
REN - REName. Renames file(s)
RUN - Jumps to run address
SAV - Saves a portion of memory to disk
SCR - Enables commands to be echoed to screen (for batch files)
TYP - Displays ASCII or ATASCII text files to screen
UNP - Turns off write-protect on file(s)
CLRDSK DUPDSK NOVERIFY
CONFIG INIT RS232
COPY INITDBL RS232FIX
DO MAC65 SDCOPY
ENTER OPEN UNPROTECT (XIO 36)
GET POINT RENAME (XIO 32)
INPUT PRINT ERASE (XIO 33)
LIST PUT
LOAD SAVE
The patch for DOS XL 2.30 to make it a 2.30P:
10 XIO 36,#1,0,0,"D:DOS.SYS" : REM unprotect file
20 OPEN #1,12,0,"D:DOS.SYS"
30 READ CNT:IF CNT=0 THEN GOTO 300
40 READ START
50 FOR ADDR=START TO START+CNT-1
60 READ BYTE:POKE ADDR, BYTE
70 NEXT ADDR
80 GOTO 30
200 DATA 3,5481,32,1,21
210 DATA 27,5377,141,217,22,169,16
220 DATA 141,23,22,,169,23,141,24,22
230 DATA 169,49,141,30,22,169,64,133
240 DATA 12, 169,21,133,13,96
250 DATA 0
300 CLOSE #1
310 END
DOS XL, along with other OSS products, became part of ICD's catalog of Atari products in January 1988. However, DOS XL was dropped in favor of ICD's SpartaDOS.
Disk operating system
Disk Operating System and disk operating system , most often abbreviated as DOS, refers to an operating system software used in most computers that provides the abstraction and management of secondary storage devices and the information on them...
(DOS) written by Paul Laughton, Mark Rose, Bill Wilkinson and Mike Peters and produced by Optimized Systems Software
Optimized Systems Software
Optimized Systems Software was a small company producing operating systems and programming languages for the Atari 8-bit and Apple II computer families...
(OSS) for Atari 8-bit microcomputer
Microcomputer
A microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit. They are physically small compared to mainframe and minicomputers...
s. It was designed to be compatible with Atari DOS
Atari DOS
Atari DOS is the disk operating system used with the Atari 8-bit family of computers. Operating system extensions loaded into memory were required in order for an Atari computer to access a disk drive. These extensions to the operating system added the disk handler and other file management...
which came shipped with Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
's disk-drives
Disk storage
Disk storage or disc storage is a general category of storage mechanisms, in which data are digitally recorded by various electronic, magnetic, optical, or mechanical methods on a surface layer deposited of one or more planar, round and rotating disks...
.
Features
A direct descendant of OS/A+, DOS XL provided additional features to Atari's equipped with floppy diskFloppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
drives. These included single and double density support, a command-line mode (called the command processor or CP), a menu
Menu (computing)
In computing and telecommunications, a menu is a list of commands presented to an operator by a computer or communications system. A menu is used in contrast to a command-line interface, where instructions to the computer are given in the form of commands .Choices given from a menu may be selected...
mode (an executable loaded in memory), batch file
Batch file
In DOS, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows, batch file is the name given to a type of script file, a text file containing a series of commands to be executed by the command interpreter....
support, and support for XL extended memory and OSS SuperCartridge banked memory. Later versions included Axlon RamDisk
RAM disk
A RAM disk or RAM drive is a block of RAM that a computer's software is treating as if the memory were a disk drive...
support, Mosaic RamDisk support, BIT-3 support and BUG/65.
In addition to supporting auto-booting
AUTORUN.SYS files, DOS XLs batch features provided an auto-booting batch feature. Naming a batch file to STARTUP.EXC would have it execute batch commands on startup (same as OS/A+). Unfortunately, this feature wasn't compatible with some programs (e.g. AtariWriterAtariWriter
AtariWriter is a word processing application for the Atari 8-bit computers. It is a 16KB ROM cartridge that works with either a cassette or disk drive.-Details:...
).
Distribution
DOS XL was distributed on a flippy diskFlippy disk
A flippy disk is a double-sided 5¼" floppy disk, specially modified so that the two sides can be used independently in single-sided drives...
. One side had the single-density version, the other had the double-density version. As more features and add-ons were included, these were placed on the double-density side only due to lack of disk space.
The manual for DOS XL was a subset of OS/A+. OSS considered the manual an "addendum" to OS/A+. Over 150+ pages, it was bound at the spine, not in loose-leaf form like the OS/A+ manual.
DOS XL came in two versions, 2.20 and 2.30 (2.20 users had to pay $20 to upgrade to 2.30). The last version was 2.30P. DOS XL originally sold for $30, but the price later increased to $39.
File writing verify was turned off in DOS XL. This was due to OSS's own experience that resulted in faster writes with virtually no risk of errors. The command file VERIFY.COM was included to reenable writes with verify. Atari DOS 2.0S by default verified file writes to disk.
Several Disk Drive
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
manufacturers shipped DOS XL with their drives, including Trak, Percom, Astra, Indus, Amdek and Rana.
Menu Commands
C - Copy Files P - Protect FilesD - Duplicate Disk Q - Quit to DOS XL
E - Erase Files R - Rename File
F - Files on Disk S - Save Binary
G - Go to Address T - To Cartridge
I - Initialize Disk U - Unprotect Files
L - Load Binary X - Xtended Command
Intrinsic Commands
@ - Begins execution of a batch fileCAR - Runs Cartridge
Dn: - Changes default drive
DIR - Directory
END - Tells DOS XL to stop batch execution (used in a batch file)
ERA - Erase file(s)
LOA - Load file(s) in memory
NOS - NO Screen. Turns off command echo to screen
PRO - Protect. Enables write-protect on file(s)
REM - REMark. Used for user remarks in batch files
REN - REName. Renames file(s)
RUN - Jumps to run address
SAV - Saves a portion of memory to disk
SCR - Enables commands to be echoed to screen (for batch files)
TYP - Displays ASCII or ATASCII text files to screen
UNP - Turns off write-protect on file(s)
Extrinsic Commands
C65 DUPDBL MENU VERIFYCLRDSK DUPDSK NOVERIFY
CONFIG INIT RS232
COPY INITDBL RS232FIX
DO MAC65 SDCOPY
BASIC Extended Commands
CLOSE NOTE PROTECT (XIO 35)ENTER OPEN UNPROTECT (XIO 36)
GET POINT RENAME (XIO 32)
INPUT PRINT ERASE (XIO 33)
LIST PUT
LOAD SAVE
Patch
Version 2.30P was a newer version to 2.30 to fix two problems.- In previous versions of DOS XL, if you initialized a disk from the menu, the disk would not boot unless the file MENU.COM was on the disk. To alleviate this problem, type Q to quit the menu. Then type INIT or INITDBL from the command processor. Note: everything on the menu can be done manually from the command processor.
- If you have a multidrive system and you initialized a disk in a drive other than one, when booted, the disk will always come up with the number of the drive on which it was initialized. To prevent this problem, use D1: as the destination drive.
The patch for DOS XL 2.30 to make it a 2.30P:
10 XIO 36,#1,0,0,"D:DOS.SYS" : REM unprotect file
20 OPEN #1,12,0,"D:DOS.SYS"
30 READ CNT:IF CNT=0 THEN GOTO 300
40 READ START
50 FOR ADDR=START TO START+CNT-1
60 READ BYTE:POKE ADDR, BYTE
70 NEXT ADDR
80 GOTO 30
200 DATA 3,5481,32,1,21
210 DATA 27,5377,141,217,22,169,16
220 DATA 141,23,22,,169,23,141,24,22
230 DATA 169,49,141,30,22,169,64,133
240 DATA 12, 169,21,133,13,96
250 DATA 0
300 CLOSE #1
310 END
Aftermath
Plans for DOS XL 4 were scrapped due to low demand and competition. OSS reissued OS/A+ 4.1, mainly for double-sided support.DOS XL, along with other OSS products, became part of ICD's catalog of Atari products in January 1988. However, DOS XL was dropped in favor of ICD's SpartaDOS.
External links
- Antic Vol.4 No.3 Everything You Wanted To Know About Every DOS