Like in 2007 and 2014 it's again the 30th of august and the FINAL version of SymbOS 3 is ready for downloading and installing on your Amstrad CPC.
http://www.symbos.org/download.htm (http://www.symbos.org/download.htm)
[attachimg=1]
SymbOS 3 is the version with the largest changelog ever.
Don't miss the chance to have a look at its new extensive user manual (http://www.symbos.org/download/20170830-V30/symbos-manual.pdf).
Release 3.0 [30.08.2017]
Network enabled
- Network daemon: The new Network Daemon application enables SymbOS for full TCP/IP based network and internet access includung multiple connections for multiple applications at the same time. Both TCP and UDP protocols within the transportation layer are supported as well as services like DHCP and DNS. The Network Daemon runs as a background service and can be used by any application via its network API.
- Supported network hardware: SymbOS supports the DenYoNet (MSX), the GR8NET (MSX) and the M4Board (CPC) hardware expansions for internet access via ethernet or wifi.
- Local host: A special local host version of the Network Daemon makes it possible to run all network apps even on machines without additional network hardware.
- Tools and games: Standard tools like WGET, NSLOOKUP and NETSTAT have been developed as well as more complex applications like syMIRC and TELNET and even network games (see "new applications on the Symbos website").
Enterprise port
- 4th supported Z80 platform: SymbOS has been fully ported to the Enterprise 64/128 machines as well. After the Amstrad CPC, the MSX and the PCW Joyce it's the fourth supported Z80 platform now.
- FDC and SD card support: SymbOS EP contains a driver for the standard EXDOS WD1772 based floppy disc controller as well as for the "SD adapter premium" by Szergej Butov.
- Standard screen resolutions: SymbOS currently supports CPC-like screen resolutions of 320x200 (4 colours) and 640x200 (2 colours).
- Taskbar with own colours: Due to the capabilities of the Nick video chip the task bar can have its own separated 4 colours.
- EnterMice and BoxSoft mouse support: Beside via keyboard and joystick it is also possible to control the mouse pointer with the BoxSoft interface as well as with the new EnterMice hardware, which allows to connect a proportional PS/2 mouse to the Enterprise.
- 1MB support: SymbOS EP supports up to 1024KB of RAM. As a special feature of the EP version it also handles fragmented memory banks within the 4MB address space.
- Adapted sound apps: SymAmp (by Geco) and Speech (by Gflorez) have been ported to the Enterprise "Dave" music chip; it's not AY compatible but it is able to emulate it in a good way.
MSX 1 support
- MSX1 with V9990: SymbOS MSX is now running on MSX1 machines with an attached Graphics9000 or Powergraph graphic card (V9990), too. Of course enough RAM (128KB) and a mass storage device is required as usual.
Extended Desktop
- Desktop replacement: The extension module, which could already be optionally loaded since SymbOS 1.1 on machines with memory expansions, now includes the "Extended Desktop" which now behaves more or less like the desktop of Windows 98.
- Advanced icon handling: The Extended Desktop supports any amount of 4 and 16 colour desktop icons. Icons can be added (right click an empty area), renamed ("slow" double click an icon) and changed (right click the icon) directly inside the desktop via intuitive dialogues. Icons can be lined up, auto arranged, copied, pasted and deleted directly.
- Nested startmenu entries: There is no real limit for startmenu entries anymore, too. Nested submenus are possible as well as any name and path lengths. Beside inside the "program" menu you can also add new entries and submenus on top of the start menu. The new startmenu editor application is part of the control panel.
- Autostart menu: Beside the existing autostart option (control panel -> system -> autostart) you can also add as many entries as needed to the "Autostart" folder of the startmenu. All these entries will be automatically executed after booting.
- Desktop widgets: Widgets are little applications, which are integrated directly inside the desktop without having own forms. They are working like typical widgets known from existing desktop GUIs and smartphones (clock, weather, CPU meter etc.). They can be freely placed inside the desktop area and usually resized as well.
Operating system (general)
- Help browser: The new help browser allows displaying and browsing through HLP files, which will be included now in many applications. Documents may contain nested chapters, links and different font types. The search function returns a complete result list.
- Micro kernel: Process priorities can be changed during runtime; new slot/subslot switching function available for MSX hardware drivers.
- Browse dialogue: File extensions will be added automatically when typing in filenames without a dot at the end. E.g. if you save a new textfile in Notepad and you don't specify an extension, ".TXT" will be added.
- Keyboard presets: The control panel allows loading and saving of whole keyboard definitions (region and/or machine specific) in special "*.KYB" files.
Desktop Manager
- Colour schemes: For a uniform look of the GUI the user can define a colour scheme, so that all apps appear in the same coloured way.
- Full 16 colour support completed: All remaining GUI elements and form controls have been extended with 16 colour support, either directly of by using the user defined colour scheme.
- Systray icons: The systray area of the taskbar can now been used by applications for adding and removing their own clickable systray-icons.
- Context menus: This new feature introduces context menus, which can appear at any place within an application (e.g. on right-click).
- 16 colour icons: Apps may contain an additional 16 colour version of their icons, which will be used for the desktop links of the "Extended Desktop".
Additional supported hardware
- GR8NET SD card reader: With the network and SD card driver the important parts of one of the most powerful MSX hardware of the last time are supported in SymbOS.
- M4Board SD card reader: The M4 makes it possible: First time, that you can access FAT32 32GB SD cards on the CPC in SymbOS directly in "highspeed mode".
- HxC direct SD card access: SymbOS CPC supports the direct mode of the HxC floppy emulator as well. Using the internal FDC765 as a mass storage interface is slow, but you are still able to access very big files from a FAT32 32GB SD card - for the first time on a CPC.
- Albireo USB mouse: The Albireo interface makes it possible to connect real proportional USB mouses to the CPC - and yes, again for the first time! SymbOS supports up to 3 buttons and the wheel. Gaming mouses may not work due to their enhanced USB protocol.
- Rookie drive USB mouse: Nearly the same interface is available for the MSX: Beside other USB hardware the Rookie drive allows to connect real proportional mouses to the MSX in the same way.
- MultiPlay Amiga mouse: You can connect original Amiga mouses to the CPC with the MultiPlay interface and use them for SymbOS.
- Dobbertin Smart Watch: Beside the SYMBiFACE II RTC SymbOS now also supports the Dobbertin Smart Watch (real time clock) and its new clone. Together with the already mentioned new hardware it's now possible to replace the whole SYMBiFACE II hardware expansion - ops yes, for the first time - after 10 years :)
- SE-ONE radio: Now you can listen to any available FM radio station with SymbOS MSX, using the SE-ONE and the new Radio application.
SymShell 2.0
- TAB autocomplete: just type the first few letters of a filename or directory and SymShell will find the full name after pressing TAB multiple times; this is working for any nested subdirectory as well.
- advanced COPY command: supports filemasks and complex path statements, uses up to 64K copy buffer and is able to copy multiple files into one destination file.
- multiple file handling: for REN, MOVE and TYPE
- new DATE/TIME commands: for reading and setting the actual time and date.
- new ATTRIB command:: for editing all attributes of existing files.
- file attribution flags: New options for all multiple file commands (COPY, REN, MOVE, TYPE, ATTRIB)
- extended HELP command: SymShell includes a new help system based on a central "MAN" file. Type HELP for any details.
- Path function: SymShell apps can use a special path function for merging user-typed pathes with the actual one.
- System path: If not present in the actual folder the system will search for COM files in the system path as well and execute them there if found.
New applications
- UnZip: ZIP/GZ archive uncompressor; the first Unzip implementation for Amstrad CPC, PCW and Enterprise in history thanks to the Gunzip MSX project
- SymTel: Telnet client with ANSI, VT100 and VT52 terminal support
- syMIRC: IRC client with multiple channel support (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
- Wget: HTTP file download utility
- Symple Messenger: proprietary internet messenger (by Trebmint & EdoZ, using Quigs)
- Columns: Puzzle game (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
- Battleship: this classical battle ship implementation is the first SymbOS network game ever (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
- Snake: classic snake implementation; the first realtime multiplayer network game for SymbOS (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
- Picture-Slider: classical puzzle game (by Trebmint, using Quigs); the first Quigs game which has ever been started many years ago
- FM Radio: search for available FM radio stations and listen to them in SymbOS MSX (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
- Performance monitor: system performance measurement (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
- SymBUS: remote control utility (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
- DiMon: simple sector dump utility
- Ahead: batch utility for adding and removing AMSDOS binary fileheaders in multiple files
- Network tools: NsLookup, Netstat
- Desktop widgets: Clock, CPU Meter
- Little demos: Bubble and Flying SymbOS demo animations (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
Miscellaneous
- New professional SymbOS manual: The new SymbOS manual is designed and written by EdoZ and is available as a full-featured english PDF document. With a lot of pictures and screenshots this documentation makes it really easy to get started with SymbOS and its applications on any supported Z80 platform.
- Upgraded website: The website has been extended with a new application area. Beeing database generated it's now always up-to-date and more detailed. A new area about the supported platforms and supported hardware expansions have been added to the website as well.
- Files renamed: For an improved readability filenames of existing apps as well as of system files have been renamed, the old "app*.exe" and "cmd*.com" schematic isn't used anymore.
- Bug fixing: Bugs have been removed as usual, including some very very old ones (e.g. releasing clusters in the AMSDOS filesystem driver).
Link to downloads
SymbOS website for download installation packages and applications. (http://www.symbos.org)
Installation PDF (http://members.home.nl/evanzanten/msxorg/SymbOS%203%20install%20user%20and%20install%20guide.pdf)
Congratulations!
Thats indeed a hell of a changelog! :D
Can't wait to try it!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Damn there's so much to quote, mighty impressive!
Quote- Taskbar with own colours: Due to the capabilities of the Nick video chip the task bar can have its own separated 4 colours.
Is it about raster interrupt, or is it something else?
[edit] Oh, it's for the Enterprise :( I thought you managed it on the CPC.
Quote from: khaz on 22:05, 30 August 17Is it about raster interrupt, or is it something else?
The Nick chip can change the first 8 colours in each pixel line, there is a special table for this. On the CPC you would only have a funny flicker effect as soon as you access the floppy or other hardware, which require to lock the interrupts for a while.
.
Wow indeed. I am really looking forward to testing this one out.... Dobertim Smartwatch... Yippee but now I need a Mother8x
Sent from my Pinebook using Tapatalk
I am still fine with my Mother4X for all usefull SymbOS hardware stuff (X-MEM, M4Board, Dobbertin SmartWatch, Albireo), but I should add an NTP tool soon after finishing the weather desktop widget :)
I think I asked previously, but I'm not sure I got a definitive answer. Is it possible to keep the Boot disk in the internal drive and have SymbOS access its other applications from the external drive? I seem to remember the OS can read 720k MSDOS floppies, and that would be useful for people without mass storage (well, me).
Yes, thats possible due to the FAT12 support. I will write you tomorrow!
I'm trying to download the PCW version, but the link goes to a 'This page doesn't exist' page.
http://www.symbos.org/download/20170830-v30/symbos-pcw.zip
@Prodatron (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=13) , could you check it?
Amazing stuff Prodatron, thank you :D
Amazing and great stuff... need to test! :-)
Thanks,
/Ygdrazil
Quote from: Prodatron on 19:20, 30 August 17
Like in 2007 and 2014 it's again the 30th of august and the FINAL version of SymbOS 3 is ready for downloading and installing on your Amstrad CPC.
http://www.symbos.org/download.htm (http://www.symbos.org/download.htm)
[attachimg=1]
SymbOS 3 is the version with the largest changelog ever.
Don't miss the chance to have a look at its new extensive user manual (http://www.symbos.org/download/20170830-V30/symbos-manual.pdf).
Release 3.0 [30.08.2017]
Network enabled
- Network daemon: The new Network Daemon application enables SymbOS for full TCP/IP based network and internet access includung multiple connections for multiple applications at the same time. Both TCP and UDP protocols within the transportation layer are supported as well as services like DHCP and DNS. The Network Daemon runs as a background service and can be used by any application via its network API.
- Supported network hardware: SymbOS supports the DenYoNet (MSX), the GR8NET (MSX) and the M4Board (CPC) hardware expansions for internet access via ethernet or wifi.
- Local host: A special local host version of the Network Daemon makes it possible to run all network apps even on machines without additional network hardware.
- Tools and games: Standard tools like WGET, NSLOOKUP and NETSTAT have been developed as well as more complex applications like syMIRC and TELNET and even network games (see "new applications on the Symbos website").
Enterprise port
- 4th supported Z80 platform: SymbOS has been fully ported to the Enterprise 64/128 machines as well. After the Amstrad CPC, the MSX and the PCW Joyce it's the fourth supported Z80 platform now.
- FDC and SD card support: SymbOS EP contains a driver for the standard EXDOS WD1772 based floppy disc controller as well as for the "SD adapter premium" by Szergej Butov.
- Standard screen resolutions: SymbOS currently supports CPC-like screen resolutions of 320x200 (4 colours) and 640x200 (2 colours).
- Taskbar with own colours: Due to the capabilities of the Nick video chip the task bar can have its own separated 4 colours.
- EnterMice and BoxSoft mouse support: Beside via keyboard and joystick it is also possible to control the mouse pointer with the BoxSoft interface as well as with the new EnterMice hardware, which allows to connect a proportional PS/2 mouse to the Enterprise.
- 1MB support: SymbOS EP supports up to 1024KB of RAM. As a special feature of the EP version it also handles fragmented memory banks within the 4MB address space.
- Adapted sound apps: SymAmp (by Geco) and Speech (by Gflorez) have been ported to the Enterprise "Dave" music chip; it's not AY compatible but it is able to emulate it in a good way.
MSX 1 support
- MSX1 with V9990: SymbOS MSX is now running on MSX1 machines with an attached Graphics9000 or Powergraph graphic card (V9990), too. Of course enough RAM (128KB) and a mass storage device is required as usual.
Extended Desktop
- Desktop replacement: The extension module, which could already be optionally loaded since SymbOS 1.1 on machines with memory expansions, now includes the "Extended Desktop" which now behaves more or less like the desktop of Windows 98.
- Advanced icon handling: The Extended Desktop supports any amount of 4 and 16 colour desktop icons. Icons can be added (right click an empty area), renamed ("slow" double click an icon) and changed (right click the icon) directly inside the desktop via intuitive dialogues. Icons can be lined up, auto arranged, copied, pasted and deleted directly.
- Nested startmenu entries: There is no real limit for startmenu entries anymore, too. Nested submenus are possible as well as any name and path lengths. Beside inside the "program" menu you can also add new entries and submenus on top of the start menu. The new startmenu editor application is part of the control panel.
- Autostart menu: Beside the existing autostart option (control panel -> system -> autostart) you can also add as many entries as needed to the "Autostart" folder of the startmenu. All these entries will be automatically executed after booting.
- Desktop widgets: Widgets are little applications, which are integrated directly inside the desktop without having own forms. They are working like typical widgets known from existing desktop GUIs and smartphones (clock, weather, CPU meter etc.). They can be freely placed inside the desktop area and usually resized as well.
Operating system (general)
- Help browser: The new help browser allows displaying and browsing through HLP files, which will be included now in many applications. Documents may contain nested chapters, links and different font types. The search function returns a complete result list.
- Micro kernel: Process priorities can be changed during runtime; new slot/subslot switching function available for MSX hardware drivers.
- Browse dialogue: File extensions will be added automatically when typing in filenames without a dot at the end. E.g. if you save a new textfile in Notepad and you don't specify an extension, ".TXT" will be added.
- Keyboard presets: The control panel allows loading and saving of whole keyboard definitions (region and/or machine specific) in special "*.KYB" files.
Desktop Manager
- Colour schemes: For a uniform look of the GUI the user can define a colour scheme, so that all apps appear in the same coloured way.
- Full 16 colour support completed: All remaining GUI elements and form controls have been extended with 16 colour support, either directly of by using the user defined colour scheme.
- Systray icons: The systray area of the taskbar can now been used by applications for adding and removing their own clickable systray-icons.
- Context menus: This new feature introduces context menus, which can appear at any place within an application (e.g. on right-click).
- 16 colour icons: Apps may contain an additional 16 colour version of their icons, which will be used for the desktop links of the "Extended Desktop".
Additional supported hardware
- GR8NET SD card reader: With the network and SD card driver the important parts of one of the most powerful MSX hardware of the last time are supported in SymbOS.
- M4Board SD card reader: The M4 makes it possible: First time, that you can access FAT32 32GB SD cards on the CPC in SymbOS directly in "highspeed mode".
- HxC direct SD card access: SymbOS CPC supports the direct mode of the HxC floppy emulator as well. Using the internal FDC765 as a mass storage interface is slow, but you are still able to access very big files from a FAT32 32GB SD card - for the first time on a CPC.
- Albireo USB mouse: The Albireo interface makes it possible to connect real proportional USB mouses to the CPC - and yes, again for the first time! SymbOS supports up to 3 buttons and the wheel. Gaming mouses may not work due to their enhanced USB protocol.
- Rookie drive USB mouse: Nearly the same interface is available for the MSX: Beside other USB hardware the Rookie drive allows to connect real proportional mouses to the MSX in the same way.
- MultiPlay Amiga mouse: You can connect original Amiga mouses to the CPC with the MultiPlay interface and use them for SymbOS.
- Dobbertin Smart Watch: Beside the SYMBiFACE II RTC SymbOS now also supports the Dobbertin Smart Watch (real time clock) and its new clone. Together with the already mentioned new hardware it's now possible to replace the whole SYMBiFACE II hardware expansion - ops yes, for the first time - after 10 years :)
- SE-ONE radio: Now you can listen to any available FM radio station with SymbOS MSX, using the SE-ONE and the new Radio application.
SymShell 2.0
- TAB autocomplete: just type the first few letters of a filename or directory and SymShell will find the full name after pressing TAB multiple times; this is working for any nested subdirectory as well.
- advanced COPY command: supports filemasks and complex path statements, uses up to 64K copy buffer and is able to copy multiple files into one destination file.
- multiple file handling: for REN, MOVE and TYPE
- new DATE/TIME commands: for reading and setting the actual time and date.
- new ATTRIB command:: for editing all attributes of existing files.
- file attribution flags: New options for all multiple file commands (COPY, REN, MOVE, TYPE, ATTRIB)
- extended HELP command: SymShell includes a new help system based on a central "MAN" file. Type HELP for any details.
- Path function: SymShell apps can use a special path function for merging user-typed pathes with the actual one.
- System path: If not present in the actual folder the system will search for COM files in the system path as well and execute them there if found.
New applications
- UnZip: ZIP/GZ archive uncompressor; the first Unzip implementation for Amstrad CPC, PCW and Enterprise in history thanks to the Gunzip MSX project
- SymTel: Telnet client with ANSI, VT100 and VT52 terminal support
- syMIRC: IRC client with multiple channel support (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
- Wget: HTTP file download utility
- Symple Messenger: proprietary internet messenger (by Trebmint & EdoZ, using Quigs)
- Columns: Puzzle game (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
- Battleship: this classical battle ship implementation is the first SymbOS network game ever (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
- Snake: classic snake implementation; the first realtime multiplayer network game for SymbOS (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
- Picture-Slider: classical puzzle game (by Trebmint, using Quigs); the first Quigs game which has ever been started many years ago
- FM Radio: search for available FM radio stations and listen to them in SymbOS MSX (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
- Performance monitor: system performance measurement (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
- SymBUS: remote control utility (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
- DiMon: simple sector dump utility
- Ahead: batch utility for adding and removing AMSDOS binary fileheaders in multiple files
- Network tools: NsLookup, Netstat
- Desktop widgets: Clock, CPU Meter
- Little demos: Bubble and Flying SymbOS demo animations (by EdoZ, using Quigs)
Miscellaneous
- New professional SymbOS manual: The new SymbOS manual is designed and written by EdoZ and is available as a full-featured english PDF document. With a lot of pictures and screenshots this documentation makes it really easy to get started with SymbOS and its applications on any supported Z80 platform.
- Upgraded website: The website has been extended with a new application area. Beeing database generated it's now always up-to-date and more detailed. A new area about the supported platforms and supported hardware expansions have been added to the website as well.
- Files renamed: For an improved readability filenames of existing apps as well as of system files have been renamed, the old "app*.exe" and "cmd*.com" schematic isn't used anymore.
- Bug fixing: Bugs have been removed as usual, including some very very old ones (e.g. releasing clusters in the AMSDOS filesystem driver).
Link to downloads
SymbOS website for download installation packages and applications. (http://www.symbos.org)
Installation PDF (http://members.home.nl/evanzanten/msxorg/SymbOS%203%20install%20user%20and%20install%20guide.pdf)
Superb! :D :D
Quote from: robcfg on 09:05, 31 August 17
I'm trying to download the PCW version, but the link goes to a 'This page doesn't exist' page.
http://www.symbos.org/download/20170830-v30/symbos-pcw.zip (http://www.symbos.org/download/20170830-v30/symbos-pcw.zip)
@Prodatron (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=13) , could you check it?
Sorry, there was a problem yesterday evening, I just uploaded the PCW package today again.
Now I hope to have time soon for the IDE interface...
Are you sure the SYMBOS.INI included in the M4 installation package is the good one ? I can launch symbos, but i can't access any functionnality after that (not found) : t tries to look on the real floppy drive.
Quote from: remax on 15:50, 31 August 17
Are you sure the SYMBOS.INI included in the M4 installation package is the good one ? I can launch symbos, but i can't access any functionnality after that (not found) : t tries to look on the real floppy drive.
I copied it on an empty SD card right now and it boots fine with all stuff linked correctly.
Maybe it's an issue regarding the partition (some SD cards have an MBR, some are partitioned but start with the boot sector directly). I thought I solved this at the beginning of this year, but I will check this again...
At this very moment, I had my card partition just erased testing SYMBOS (i have all recovered since). That doesn't mean that it is responsible for it, but i would urge people testing it to make a backup of the SD card, just in case.
Hi @Prodatron (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=13)
What else can i say? about you and symbos?
thank you for existing? :P
Quote from: remax on 16:09, 31 August 17
At this very moment, I had my card partition just erased testing SYMBOS. That doesn't mean that it is responsible for it, but i would urge people testing it to make a backup of the SD card, just in case.
Yes, totally true (happened to me several times)
it depends of the symbos.ini you use, if you make a mistake, SD corruption!
DON'T DO this on the SD that you use every day on the M4 without testing first on an empty SD card!!
Quote from: Joseman on 16:24, 31 August 17
Yes, totally true (happened to me several times)
it depends of the symbos.ini you use, if you make a mistake, SD corruption!
DON'T DO this on the SD that you use every day on the M4 without testing first on an empty SD card!!
I am so sorry for this!
I think I fixed this problem in january. The M4Board SD card driver is now able to detect, if there is an MBR or not. But it will only do it, if you choosed "primary partition 1". Other settings won't take care.
But unfortunately I forgot to set this in the SYMBOS.INI in the release package for the M4Board, it was still set to "unpartitioned" (like my own SD card).
I uploaded the CPC package again with the correct SYMBOS.INI file for the M4Board.
It would be great of you could test it again!
Quote from: khaz on 23:49, 30 August 17
I think I asked previously, but I'm not sure I got a definitive answer. Is it possible to keep the Boot disk in the internal drive and have SymbOS access its other applications from the external drive? I seem to remember the OS can read 720k MSDOS floppies, and that would be useful for people without mass storage (well, me).
Do you have a usual 3,5" disc drive as B or an HxC?
- if it's a disc drive, yes, you can copy all stuff onto a FAT12 720K disc and access all files there directly after booting SymbOS (Start -> Run -> Browse -> select Drive B etc.)
- if you use a HxC you can even access the FAT32 filesystem of the SD card directly. It's nearly as slow as a floppy drive (as it's still using the FDC), but you have space for 32GB or more. You can choose this option in the control panel -> mass storage -> floppy disc -> dropdown: HxC SD card at B.
Quote from: Prodatron on 18:39, 31 August 17
I am so sorry for this!
At least i didn't panic. As it was only the header of the partition that was killed, any good recovery oftware allows
to recover all the files in 5 minutes.Quote from: Prodatron on 18:39, 31 August 17I think I fixed this problem in january. The M4Board SD card driver is now able to detect, if there is an MBR or not. But it will only do it, if you choosed "primary partition 1". Other settings won't take care.
But unfortunately I forgot to set this in the SYMBOS.INI in the release package for the M4Board, it was still set to "unpartitioned" (like my own SD card).
I uploaded the CPC package again with the correct SYMBOS.INI file for the M4Board.
It would be great of you could test it again!
Problem solved ;D
Quote from: remax on 20:04, 31 August 17
Problem solved ;D
Thanks, that's good to hear!!
Quote from: Prodatron on 19:07, 31 August 17
Do you have a usual 3,5" disc drive as B or an HxC?
- if it's a disc drive, yes, you can copy all stuff onto a FAT12 720K disc and access all files there directly after booting SymbOS (Start -> Run -> Browse -> select Drive B etc.)
- if you use a HxC you can even access the FAT32 filesystem of the SD card directly. It's nearly as slow as a floppy drive (as it's still using the FDC), but you have space for 32GB or more. You can choose this option in the control panel -> mass storage -> floppy disc -> dropdown: HxC SD card at B.
Right, Of course I asked before even trying.
In 2.1, you had two dsk, main and apps, and you had to swap between the two in order to access different OS tools. That was super annoying. But it seems 3.0 works differently in that regard? You boot with load.dsk and swap for AppsStandard.dsk once loading is done, and there is no need to swap any more? If so, that's super cool.
[edit] ok, I believe I was referring to SYSTEM PATH. Have you considered allowing more than one entry? the internal drive can only contain the core OS tools, and being able to automatically load a default application on the other drive would be nice.
Quote from: Prodatron on 19:07, 31 August 17
Do you have a usual 3,5" disc drive as B or an HxC?
- if it's a disc drive, yes, you can copy all stuff onto a FAT12 720K disc and access all files there directly after booting SymbOS (Start -> Run -> Browse -> select Drive B etc.)
- if you use a HxC you can even access the FAT32 filesystem of the SD card directly. It's nearly as slow as a floppy drive (as it's still using the FDC), but you have space for 32GB or more. You can choose this option in the control panel -> mass storage -> floppy disc -> dropdown: HxC SD card at B.
I'm trying with a real floppy drive and a 720K disk.
First thing, I have a problem accessing stuff on the internal drive, like SymCommander, with a floppy in drive B and if the motor isn't already spinning: it gives me an error code 26 (device is not ready). If I close the dialogue box and start again quickly enough so that the motors are still spinning, then the application loads. There is no error when trying to access stuff on drive B. Amsdos has no problem either way.
I've tried accessing a 720K, MSDOS-formatted floppy, but I couldn't. I get an error code 06 (error while sector read/write), and the size/file info in SymCommander isn't updated. This is not related to the motor error. nevermind that, the floppy was dead.
I have no problem using my HxC, both in floppy emulation mode and direct access mode.
Damn.... I mean, where to even start??!
Now, when's the c64 version coming? :D
(anyone worked with GeOS?)
Hi Prodatron,
I have a 6128 Plus with a 3.5 B drive and Parados on cartridge, the format used for the 3.5 discs is Romdos D20 - can Symbos read and write to this disc format?
I have more than 200 of these discs dating from 20 years ago and plan on using the M4 board and Symbos to retrieve most of the files that are still viable and then transfer them to a PC for permanent storage.
As this is not a hypothetical problem for me I am more than interested in any info you could offer.
Many Thanks,
Peter
Having played around with the SymbOS 3.0 I am absolutely impressed!!!! :P The level of detail and effort in doing version 3.0 is awesome! Must have a M4 soon....
A C64 version! I doubt that will ever happen, but I am still hoping to see a version for the Amstrad NC!
Regards,
/Ygdrazil
Quote from: Gryzor on 14:16, 01 September 17
Damn.... I mean, where to even start??!
Now, when's the c64 version coming? :D
(anyone worked with GeOS?)
Quote from: khaz on 23:50, 31 August 17
In 2.1, you had two dsk, main and apps, and you had to swap between the two in order to access different OS tools. That was super annoying. But it seems 3.0 works differently in that regard? You boot with load.dsk and swap for AppsStandard.dsk once loading is done, and there is no need to swap any more? If so, that's super cool.
Regarding this there is no difference between 2.1 and 3.0.
- The
boot disc contains everything you need to load during booting (well, that's obvious :) ). This includes the SymbOS core files (SYM., SYMBOS.BIN), the INI file, the SymbOS extension + ini, the screen saver, the background picture and the widgets (everything is optional of couse).
- after booting, you don't need the boot disc anymore and can replace it with any app disc or whatever. As long as you don't change the SymbOS configuration.
- in the past the
control panel was located on the boot disc as well. So you could do some changes directly after booting and saved it without the need to swap discs.
- since SymbOS 3 there isn't enough space on a 178K amsdos data disc anymore for storing all compontens needed for booting on expanded systems PLUS the control panel. So I decided to put the Control Panel application files on the "
standard application disc" as well. That's the only difference between 2.1 and 3.0.
But there is no need for disc swapping anyway as soon as you don't need to change the SymbOS config anymore. You can store all stuff you need after booting on another disc (and drive) and access it directly. It is not required, that the "system path" is the same like the boot drive. You can set it to drive B as well, if you boot SymbOS from drive A. And anyway the system path is just a shortcut (to keep links smaller). You can set the icon links freely to any location. When using the new Extended Desktop there are no limitations for links anymore.
In your case, I would keep the boot disc in drive A and put everything else on a FAT12 720K disc in drive B and modify the links of the desktop icons and startmenu entries. No need for disc swapping at all. Or even better, use the FAT32 SD card of your HxC as another drive directly and have unlimited space and the possibility to exchange files with a PC very easy! :)
Quote from: khaz on 13:52, 01 September 17First thing, I have a problem accessing stuff on the internal drive, like SymCommander, with a floppy in drive B and if the motor isn't already spinning: it gives me an error code 26 (device is not ready). If I close the dialogue box and start again quickly enough so that the motors are still spinning, then the application loads. There is no error when trying to access stuff on drive B. Amsdos has no problem either way.
Does this only happen, if you have a floppy in drive B and try to access the internal drive A? Never heard about this... If there is no floppy in drive B it doesn't happen?
Quote from: ComSoft6128 on 11:58, 03 September 17I have a 6128 Plus with a 3.5 B drive and Parados on cartridge, the format used for the 3.5 discs is Romdos D20 - can Symbos read and write to this disc format?
I have more than 200 of these discs dating from 20 years ago and plan on using the M4 board and Symbos to retrieve most of the files that are still viable and then transfer them to a PC for permanent storage.
Hi Peter,
there is currently only support for Amsdos DATA, SYSTEM and the PCW single side/single density format.
This weekend I had a look at the Romdos Dxx formats again. When developing the file manager part of SymbOS I was focusing on the original Amstrad formats to keep enough space for FAT12/16/32 support. Now I am wondering, if I could add these additional formats without exceeding the remaining free memory inside the core part of SymbOS. It's nice, that it is still possible to autodetect such discs by reading the sector IDs (e.g. #3x, #5x etc. for Romdos formats).
IIRC the biggest problem are the different cluster sizes, which would require to change some more parts of the code. But I have to check it... Would like to add this format, but I am not sure, if this still fits inside the remaining memory.
Quote from: Gryzor on 14:16, 01 September 17Now, when's the c64 version coming? :D
It has the wrong CPU ;D
But a nice friend and famouse Atari8bit developer from the UK is working on such a system for the 6502 (not sure, if it can ever be ported to the Commodore, as the C64 never had a real useful MMU at all):
http://atari8.co.uk/gui/
He got some inspirations for his system from SymbOS as well (just read the story there).
We were already thinking about using the same IDE for developing apps for both systems (ex SymStudio, now called Quigs).
Many Thanks Prodatron.
Cheers,
Peter
Hi There
It is good news the MSX1 got supported in SymbOS 3.0, the more in the SymbOS family the merrier! :D
Just out of curiosity, why has the MSX1 only support when equipped with aGFX9000. I was under the impression that the MSX1 has a VDP of its own!?
Regards,
Ygdrazil
Quote from: Ygdrazil on 12:03, 05 September 17It is good news the MSX1 got supported in SymbOS 3.0, the more in the SymbOS family the merrier! :D
Just out of curiosity, why has the MSX1 only support when equipped with aGFX9000. I was under the impression that the MSX1 has a VDP of its own!?
The MSX1 is using the VDP9918, while the MSX is equipped with the more powerful VDP9938.
The 9918 doesn't provide any real bitmap modes. It's still possible to write an MSX1 screen driver for SymbOS, but it will be limited to a resolution of 256x192 with 2 colours by using the attribute based screen mode 2 (ZX Spectrum like).
The VDP (and maybe the missing RTC) is the only "basic" difference between the MSX1 and MSX2. That made it quite easy to allow an MSX1 platform as well, when using the Graphics9000 version :)
Quote from: Prodatron on 21:41, 04 September 17
- after booting, you don't need the boot disc anymore and can replace it with any app disc or whatever. As long as you don't change the SymbOS configuration.
- in the past the control panel was located on the boot disc as well. So you could do some changes directly after booting and saved it without the need to swap discs.
- since SymbOS 3 there isn't enough space on a 178K amsdos data disc anymore for storing all components needed for booting on expanded systems PLUS the control panel. So I decided to put the Control Panel application files on the "standard application disc" as well. That's the only difference between 2.1 and 3.0.
That's probably what I was remembering. I haven't touched 2.1 in a while, but I must have had that experience of boot, swap, open an app, swap, change some config, swap, open another app, swap, change another config, swap, etc.
I tried the HxC in mass storage mode, and it works fine, though I just prefer to use floppies: I like having my software on floppies and swapping drives is something I try to avoid. I'll get dedicated mass storage at some point.
Quote from: Prodatron on 21:49, 04 September 17
Does this only happen, if you have a floppy in drive B and try to access the internal drive A? Never heard about this... If there is no floppy in drive B it doesn't happen?
It happens if I have a floppy in B and try to access A. The other way around, or if only one floppy is inserted, it works fine.
There are a few typos in the manual, but that one is by far my favourite:
QuoteA mouse is the perverted way to have control over your SymbOS home- computer,
:laugh:
Quote from: khaz on 23:35, 14 September 17
There are a few typos in the manual, but that one is by far my favourite:
:laugh:
Sounds like a hardware problem. Where exactly did you plug the mouse in? :D
Bryce.
On the SymbOS security dialog, there's this text:
"You are logged into SymbOS since 00 hours 20 min"
This seems to be a really common mistake made by native German speakers (at least from my direct experience) - you can't use "since" with a duration, it has to be a concrete point in time - like "since 1989" or "since 5 hours ago". Durations need "for" instead; eg "You have been logged into SymbOS for 00 hours 20 min."
Quote from: Bryce on 08:32, 15 September 17
Sounds like a hardware problem. Where exactly did you plug the mouse in? :D
Bryce.
Ops ;) I'm the creator of this manual ;) seems to be my fault :D :D Anyway, i leave it like this .. because it sounds funny :D :D
No comments about which port i used ;)
Quote from: pelrun on 08:49, 15 September 17This seems to be a really common mistake made by native German speakers (at least from my direct experience)
Yes, you are probably right, as we use our "since" ("seit") in such a case as well.
Quote from: pelrun on 08:49, 15 September 17Durations need "for" instead; eg "You have been logged into SymbOS for 00 hours 20 min."
Thank you very much, I will correct it!
Oops I think I have found a hardware software bug of sorts...
If I connect my Albireo (for the USB mouse) and Playcity at the same then the mouse buttons are unresponsive. I can move the pointer around with the mouse but neither button or scroll wheel works. Remove the playcity and it all works fine again.
Workaround.... Plug in a joystick and click on that lol.
Sent from my ONEPLUS 3t using Tapatalk
Oh.... And any chance of an app to set the time from the m4 ntp clock that can run at boot?
Sent from my ONEPLUS 3t using Tapatalk
Quote from: CraigsBar on 01:48, 02 November 17Oh.... And any chance of an app to set the time from the m4 ntp clock that can run at boot?
Thanks for the hint, I will try to put it into the boot loader!
Quote from: CraigsBar on 01:46, 02 November 17Oops I think I have found a hardware software bug of sorts...
If I connect my Albireo (for the USB mouse) and Playcity at the same then the mouse buttons are unresponsive. I can move the pointer around with the mouse but neither button or scroll wheel works. Remove the playcity and it all works fine again.
Workaround.... Plug in a joystick and click on that lol.
Interesting, never had both connected at the same time... Albireo is using #FE8x, Playcity #F[8/9]8x. Have to check it...
Hi Prodatron,
Any support for RomDos formats?
Cheers,
Peter
Oops I seem to have found another bug. When the Dxs rtc board is attached and symbos 3.0 is booted it seems to corrupt the date stored in the rtc.
After symbos is finished with the rtc cannot be used from basic until the date is reset with a ¦DATE.SET command
Sent from my ONEPLUS 3t using Tapatalk
Quote from: CraigsBar on 12:17, 05 November 17
Oops I seem to have found another bug. When the Dxs rtc board is attached and symbos 3.0 is booted it seems to corrupt the date stored in the rtc.
After symbos is finished with the rtc cannot be used from basic until the date is reset with a ¦DATE.SET command
Sent from my ONEPLUS 3t using Tapatalk
https://youtu.be/aK6uE3_8sig
Sent from my ONEPLUS 3t using Tapatalk
Oh, thanks for the hint, that's good to know! (I didn't test the RTC during the last monthes anymore)
I will attach it again and (try to) fix it! :)
I just noticed that SymbOS 3.0 does not support the CPC 664, am I right? Screen just goes black when loading and doesn't come back. SymbOS 2.1 does work fine.
Quote from: Poliander on 12:37, 17 December 17
I just noticed that SymbOS 3.0 does not support the CPC 664, am I right? Screen just goes black when loading and doesn't come back. SymbOS 2.1 does work fine.
664 as in "only a pathetic RAM of 64k" ?
You can't even launch a desktop background with that...
;D
Quote from: MacDeath on 23:51, 21 December 17
664 as in "only a pathetic RAM of 64k" ?
You can't even launch a desktop background with that...
;D
Except it has a X-MEM ;-) Again, SymbOS 2.1 does run on that machine with both X-MEM and X-MASS.
Quote from: MacDeath on 23:51, 21 December 17
664 as in "only a pathetic RAM of 64k" ?
You can't even launch a desktop background with that...
;D
To be fair, you can't really do much with SymbOS on 128k RAM either. You can load a desktop background...
... and that's it. ;)
(at least I couldn't :-[ )
I have an issue with SymbOS 3.0 final and the Z-MEM. Only 512kb is reported.
Wasn't 1024kb the limit with, for example, the 4mb expansion? Or the Z-MEM uses a different selection system?
Or I'm making something wrong :P
The final version of SymbOS 3.0 only supports 512kB. A "newer" 1MB version is still under development as far as I have read.
It would be better to support directly 4Mb :-X
I am happy to report that I got Symbos working with X-Mass! :D
All it took it was getting a Gotek drive flashed with FlashFloppy firmware, and getting AcmeDos ROM with which I was able to format X-Mass the way it worked with Symbos. Now I have Symbos 3.0 running on X-Mass.
Have to say that the Gotek makes the file transfer between the PC and CPC a lot easier. No need to write images to disk on one PC and wishing that it would work on the CPC drive.
And now it's not working again. I had to temporarily remove the mother X4 in order to utilize the tape and it lost the partition.
Acme formats the Xmass okay and I can initialize it in Symbos and even create folders but copying stuff on the Xmass crashes the whole system.
I'm really beginning to think that either the DoM or the XMass is somehow buggered. I probably should try to find another DoM from somewhere.
Maybe you need a stronger PSU??
It's an Iomega Zipdrive PSU. It should have enough oomph for a couple of cards. Anyhow, I changed the Xmass to a different slot and got things working again.
And now I found the reason. If I use the external PSU, the Xmass goes into an indetectable state. Without the external PSU and powered by the expansion bus it works just fine.
Quote from: protek on 16:40, 03 March 18
And now I found the reason. If I use the external PSU, the Xmass goes into an indetectable state. Without the external PSU and powered by the expansion bus it works just fine.
Oh, interesting! What happens if you use the same PSU for the CPC and the Mother-X4 board? Should it all be fine thein?
Have really no way of trying that as I would need to rebuild my power adapter for three outputs.
Can you not use a splitter cable? They're pretty cheap on eBay..
I guess, but does the X-mem and X-mass actually draw that much power that it would be putting a strain on the 5V line of the expansion bus?
It does work with the splitter from the same source if both CPC and X-mass are powered at the same time. If the MX4 receives power first then the X-mass won't be detected.
This probably should be discussed under the X-mass thread rather than here.
Cool! Problem solved!
Quote from: protek on 19:35, 07 March 18
It does work with the splitter from the same source if both CPC and X-mass are powered at the same time. If the MX4 receives power first then the X-mass won't be detected.
This probably should be discussed under the X-mass thread rather than here.
Or if somebody can design a Delayed (Voltage) output for the MX4 ( Or on the next design of the MX4 a small delay could be built in ?)
Thanks Ray
Quote from: GUNHED on 22:49, 07 March 18
Cool! Problem solved!
Not really, because it makes powering up the system pretty cumbersome. It's easier just power it from the expansion bus.
Hey can anyone help me out with how to setup Symbos on the M4 board. I've re-read the readme.txt and user manual etc and I must be missing something!
If I just copy the roms to slots on the m4, and don't copy any files at all to my sd card I can boot symbos but any apps I click on I get an error 26 about drive A:
If I go to "Run" on the start menu like the manual advises and "browse" there is just an option for drive a: and drive b: with no mention of drive C: or my sdcard...
So I thought, maybe I have to copy the m4 contents to my sd card from the symbos download m4 folder.
Tried that too and still get the same unbrowseable sd card and error 26 when I boot from rom.
If I type run"sym it boots fine from the sdcard bin files and the wallpaper shows up etc, again I still get error 26 though with any apps I click.
I even downloaded that old Preview zip file and tried renaming symbos1.ini to symbos.ini but that didn't help either.
I just have a stock m4 card with no extra ram upgrades or such. Should I need any files or symbos directory on my sd card at all? I didn't think I would need anything except maybe some kind of symbos.ini file (though not sure where to get the right one from)...
Sorry if I've missed something obvious. Any help is appreciated. Ideally I just wanted to run everything from the m4 rom slots and put the minimum files needed on the sd. My drive a: disc drive is on the blink at the moment anyway so I can't use it for now :)
Quote from: simulant on 15:09, 23 March 18
Any help is appreciated. Ideally I just wanted to run everything from the m4 rom slots and put the minimum files needed on the sd. My drive a: disc drive is on the blink at the moment anyway so I can't use it for now :)
The rom version is not for M4. What you need is this:
http://www.symbos.de/download.htm
SymbOS CPC core package
Inside the zip is another zip called SymbOS-CPC-M4BoardFull.zip
Unpack it to the root of your microSD
Insert to M4
run"sym
That's it.
Quote from: Duke on 15:32, 23 March 18
The rom version is not for M4. What you need is this:
http://www.symbos.de/download.htm (http://www.symbos.de/download.htm)
SymbOS CPC core package
Inside the zip is another zip called SymbOS-CPC-M4BoardFull.zip
Unpack it to the root of your microSD
Insert to M4
run"sym
That's it.
wow really, no wonder it doesn't work! That's a shame cos it does boot well enough from m4 so maybe a rom version could be released - maybe there is no advantage to that though?
A problem I have though when I boot the non-rom version on m4 is I get an "out of memory" error when I click on the system terminal SymShell shortcut on the desktop, or Control Panel... Do I need a ram upgrade to use most things on a stock 6128?
ps. M4 is absolutely awesome by the way!! :)
Quote from: simulant on 15:56, 23 March 18
wow really, no wonder it doesn't work! That's a shame cos it does boot well enough from m4 so maybe a rom version could be released - maybe there is no advantage to that though?
Yeah no advantage as far as I have understood. There is pratically no boot-time on M4 anyway.
Quote
A problem I have though when I boot the non-rom version on m4 is I get an "out of memory" error when I click on the system terminal SymShell shortcut on the desktop, or Control Panel... Do I need a ram upgrade to use most things on a stock 6128?
Yup, there's not much you can do with 128KB memory in SymbOS.
Quote from: Duke on 16:21, 23 March 18
Yeah no advantage as far as I have understood. There is pratically no boot-time on M4 anyway.Yup, there's not much you can do with 128KB memory in SymbOS.
What is my best option to add more RAM and still use the edge connector M4? Or am I best selling it and buying another with MX4 connector so I can use Z-Mem?
Quote from: simulant on 11:56, 17 April 18
What is my best option to add more RAM and still use the edge connector M4? Or am I best selling it and buying another with MX4 connector so I can use Z-Mem?
You could use my adapter and plug M4 into the end and put Z/X-MEM into the IDC connector. It's not a great solution as it will add a bit of weight to the expansion port, unless you add some support.
Also I think @Piotr (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1104) made a ram expansion with passthrough.
Quote from: Duke on 14:24, 17 April 18
You could use my adapter and plug M4 into the end and put Z/X-MEM into the IDC connector. It's not a great solution as it will add a bit of weight to the expansion port, unless you add some support.
Also I think @Piotr (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1104) made a ram expansion with passthrough.
Hi thanks Duke, how much is your expansion board or where is it available from? (or can you email me any details from my previous order if you'd prefer to keep it separate from the forum) :)