Would like to bundle all SymbOS activities now in this new thread. SymbOS 3.0 is still on its way, and during the last weeks there was a lot of activity especially regarding new CPC hardware support.
The actual preview package can be downloaded here:
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/applications/symbos-cpc-updates-and-infos/msg137192/#msg137192
Thanks to Dukes M4 Wifi/SD/Rom Board I got a lot of new motivations for SymbOS CPC since august, and Pulkomandys Albireo USB/SD/Serial board completed this in a great way as well.
[ Invalid Attachment ]
So here is a w.i.p. preview package of SymbOS 3.0:
http://www.symbos.org/download/preview-cpc161010.zipThis version is not really 100% stable or designated as an R.C., but it's at least something you could try to see some progress and new hardware support. Especially when you want to try network on the Amstrad CPC in a multitasking environment, which is really a cool experience.
i will just paste the #readme.txt into this post as well, as you should carefully read it before installing and trying it on your CPC:
SYMBOS 3.0 CPC - PREVIEW 16/10/10 (WORK IN PROGRESS)
===============================================================================
This package contains another preview of SymbOS 3.0 - CPC edition.
It includes:
- M4Board SD card driver
- Network daemon with M4Board driver (w.i.p.)
- Albireo mouse driver (w.i.p.)
- advanced desktop (w.i.p., major 3.0 feature beside network and more)
- software package including UNZIP etc.
You will find two versions of SymbOS:
- M4BOARD version with SD card driver. If you have a Spinpoint.org M4Board
(created by Duke) connected to your CPC you can just copy the whole package
into the root directory of your SD drive and start SymbOS by typing
RUN"SYM
Your SD card should be unpartitioned. If you have a partitioned SD card
please rename SYMBOS1.INI into SYMBOS.INI first (overwrite the existing one).
Even SD cards with only one partition maybe partitioned (include an MBR),
this depends on the format tool.
- IDE version (for SYMBiFACE II, X-MASS [http://www.centpourcent.net] and
compatible). If you want to use the version with IDE driver please copy the
content of the #IDE directory first into the root (overwrite the existing
SYM*.* files). Regarding the SYMBOS.INI please read the previous section.
System requirements:
- The prepared package requires a system with 256K RAM or more.
If you have a standard 128K system you should first delete the SYMBOS.INI
so that SymbOS boots with minimal requirements. Then you can start the
control panel (copy it from /SYMBOS/CP.EXE) from floppy disc and complete
your configuration.
M4Board Wifi based Network daemon:
- the Network Daemon with M4Board driver is included in the package and will be
autostarted during booting. If you don't have an M4Board you can remove it
from the autostart menu. M4Board users currently have to configure the
network settings in CPC-OS using the RSX command |NETSET (see M4Board
documentation). I will add M4Board network configuration later to the network
daemon.
- there are seveeral network tools and applications available. First there are
several SymShell (command line) based available in the /SYMBOS/CMD directory.
Second you will find GUI apps in the Startmenu -> Programs -> Network. The
most important one currently is probably the IRC clinet called "syMIRC" by
EdoZ developed in Quigs by Trebmint.
- currently there are stability issues. E.g. when you use WGET for downloading
large files from websites you may get corrupt data or even filesystem errors.
Usually this happend for files > 1MB but it can happen at any time as well.
Please make a backup of your SD card before trying to do larger network
tests. Duke and I are still working on finding and fixing the last issues.
Please update your M4Board with the last firmware anyway, as regarding low
leve access it runs much more stable now compared to the previouse versions.
Albireo USB mouse support:
- this is still beta. Mouse movement and wheel should work. But you will
probably need a simple mouse. Usually the buttons are only working, if the
mouse is moving. So it's a little bit tricky to use the mouse currently.
PulkoMandy is helping me a lot to fix this issues. Additional bug reports are
welcome of course!
Advanced Desktop:
- it includes nearly unlimited startmenu entries and desktop icons and it's
very similiar to Windows 98 now. Just check the startmenu or do a right click
on the desktop or on an icon. You can even add Desktop Widgets (have a look
at the /SYMBOS/WIDGETS/ folder - w.i.p
), but this is currently not stable
as well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any bug reports etc. are very welcome. But please note, that especially the M4Board wifi and the Albireo USB mouse support is not 100% finished/stable yet, so in this case you will see issues in any case. Anyway I hope someone of you will enjoy this update.
