www.atarimania.com Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 Here's another very special one unearthed by John Hardie again! Introducing a prototype / work-in-progress of the UK-released Graphic Arts Department which, surprisingly, was made in the US by Looking Glass Software (note how Databyte credited the coders but removed any mention of the developer!): Graphic Arts Department (Looking Glass Software) Graphic Arts Department (Databyte) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DjayBee Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 9 hours ago, craigmaloney said: Brainstorm (Aim Software) Turtle Tracks (Scholastic) Big Math Attack (T.H.E.S.I.S.) Do you also have some photos of the tapes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+craigmaloney Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 1 minute ago, DjayBee said: Do you also have some photos of the tapes? I'll need to take better photos of them. I'll try to get to them this weekend. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+craigmaloney Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 4 hours ago, www.atarimania.com said: Thank you very much for your help, I found your message from a few years back and am happy that you didn't forget about these tapes. Much appreciated Thank you. I try to keep my commitments, but sometimes I'm a little slow in the turn-around. I think I have some disks that haven't been dumped as of yet (I was an Oasis BBS Sysop, and I think I have a registered copy of Omnicom). is there a preferred method for dumping these? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 1 hour ago, craigmaloney said: I think I have some disks that haven't been dumped as of yet (I was an Oasis BBS Sysop, and I think I have a registered copy of Omnicom). is there a preferred method for dumping these? For unprotected / cracked copies, .atr files would be perfect. Do you have originals as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+craigmaloney Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 27 minutes ago, www.atarimania.com said: For unprotected / cracked copies, .atr files would be perfect. Do you have originals as well? Yes, I have originals. I also picked up a Kryoflux so will be figuring that out to see if that will work (I have a bunch of floppies that I got from other folks that I can test on to see if things are working before I try this on the originals). More as I know it. Thanks! 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DjayBee Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 6 hours ago, www.atarimania.com said: Graphic Arts Department (Databyte) AFAIK was this dumped from an original disk (vs. "Missing original disk image!" on your page). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 18 minutes ago, DjayBee said: AFAIK was this dumped from an original disk (vs. "Missing original disk image!" on your page). I don't believe they are referring to a DUMP, but a photo/scan, of the floppy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 1 hour ago, BillC said: I don't believe they are referring to a DUMP, but a photo/scan, of the floppy. No, we're referring to the dump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 1 hour ago, DjayBee said: AFAIK was this dumped from an original disk (vs. "Missing original disk image!" on your page). The dump is the one from the ASPI torrent, dumped by @Atarigrub as noted on our page. "Missing original disk image!" is a bit misleading but it means a second copy is needed to mark the program as fully verified. If you consider that your fix makes the disk 100% identical to an original, I'll remove that line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 5 hours ago, www.atarimania.com said: The dump is the one from the ASPI torrent, dumped by @Atarigrub as noted on our page. "Missing original disk image!" is a bit misleading but it means a second copy is needed to mark the program as fully verified. If you consider that your fix makes the disk 100% identical to an original, I'll remove that line. I think it would be better if it said "Image unverified" or something similar, I thought it was like what has been done at a8preservation.com At a8preservation.com some disk entries have a thumbnail image of the floppy, others have the message "There is no image available for this release." where the thumbnail would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 I've tested Eidolon Contruction Set, one of the latest cool updates. Which The Eidolon ATR should I use? I always get "Error Program Aborted". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted March 5, 2023 Author Share Posted March 5, 2023 1 hour ago, Philsan said: I've tested Eidolon Contruction Set, one of the latest cool updates. Which The Eidolon ATR should I use? I always get "Error Program Aborted". I had the same problem. If memory serves, the first thing you need to do is "update" the game by choosing option "2" from the first menu. Follow the instructions, you should be fine and be able to load the editor. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 6 hours ago, Philsan said: I've tested Eidolon Contruction Set, one of the latest cool updates. Which The Eidolon ATR should I use? I always get "Error Program Aborted". I was able to make it work using a dcm image of Eidolon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 5 hours ago, www.atarimania.com said: I had the same problem. If memory serves, the first thing you need to do is "update" the game by choosing option "2" from the first menu. Follow the instructions, you should be fine and be able to load the editor. It worked, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted March 5, 2023 Author Share Posted March 5, 2023 35 minutes ago, Philsan said: It worked, thanks! Now all you need to do is create The Eidolon II 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted March 11, 2023 Author Share Posted March 11, 2023 Just wanted to check something with people more familiar with DOS versions than I am... Has this revision been documented before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted March 11, 2023 Share Posted March 11, 2023 Wow - that's one I have not seen before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted March 11, 2023 Author Share Posted March 11, 2023 Yeah, seems to be a preliminary version of DOS 2.0 before it took that name. It appears on several apps by CompuMax released in 1980 so it may have been available in some form to outside developers. Weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted March 11, 2023 Share Posted March 11, 2023 (edited) DOS, DOS II, DOS3, DOS 2.5, DOS 4 are the versions. It gets difficult because revision numbers get confused with version numbers, the only way this all gets sorted out is if a forensic look at them takes place. This is DOS 2. Some people think oh we'll just go by date, but in house many little sub revisions and parallel versions with their revisions were going on. revision 2.4 is a couple months before this so it looks to be in line with development timelines. It wasn't out of the norm for developers to have some of the interim revisions, as sometimes the revision answers a request or problem discovered by a developer. Sometimes outside parties would employ their own changes and made up their own numbers and dates to identify their work as well. These normally conflict with Atari created timelines. Since the numbers follow the date, version, and revision time lines consistent within Atari, I'd say it's been done by Atari or one of it's contractors to lower it's location. Edited March 11, 2023 by _The Doctor__ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DjayBee Posted March 11, 2023 Share Posted March 11, 2023 They are nearly identical. It seems that DOS.SYS has some real but very minor code changes like the one visisble here: From a first glance it seems that DUP.SYS is identical with two small exceptions: - DOS 2.8's main menu is 8 bytes longer than the one from DOS 2.0 - DOS 2.8 was assembled to a different location memory ($1EDV instead of $1F0C) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted March 11, 2023 Author Share Posted March 11, 2023 Thanks for looking. The interesting part is that the program is a clear departure from DOS 1.0 but still has the 1979 copyright. The high revision number means the authors had been working on something different for a while but hadn't settled on using DOS 2.0 / DOS II as the official name yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted March 14, 2023 Author Share Posted March 14, 2023 Added a second prototype of Looking Glass Software's Graphic Arts Department, this time from 1985! 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted March 15, 2023 Author Share Posted March 15, 2023 Giving some well-deserved visibility to the ill-fated GOE from Total Control Systems with this demo: http://www.atarimania.com/utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-goe_41156.html Quite a shame this didn't make it... 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted March 15, 2023 Share Posted March 15, 2023 26 minutes ago, www.atarimania.com said: Giving some well-deserved visibility to the ill-fated GOE from Total Control Systems with this demo: http://www.atarimania.com/utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-goe_41156.html Quite a shame this didn't make it... Thanks! Doing researches, I found the guy who wrote this article has three versions of the program: https://atari-owner.com/club/articles/gui-graphic-operating-systems-on-the-atari-8-bit-home-computers.47/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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