Alright... The last time I told you about TS-DOS 4.20 and SARDOS 1.80 for the NEC PC-8201A, and the decades-old TS-DOS bugs they finally fix.
If you're a TS-DOS user, you know exactly what DOS-ON gives you: LFILES, and the "0:" device on LOAD, SAVE and OPEN. We've had this since the 1980s. But...there's just one more thing... *TS-DOS 4.20 DOS-ON+* Jump into the TS-DOS 4.20 UI and turn DOS-ON, and now the BASIC prompt now understands folders! No more requirement to always use TS-DOS menus for navigation. You can just type it right in BASIC: *LS *list contents of the current folder *CD folder *go into a folder *CD .. *go up one folder *CD / (or CD \) *go to the top *PWD *show the name of the folder you're in, i.e. (p)rint (w)orking (d)irectory *MKDIR name *make a folder *RMDIR name *remove a folder (only if it's empty) *RM name.?? *delete a file - They're evaluated as BASIC statements, so they work in your programs, too. - Errors are just ordinary BASIC errors: ?FF (not there), ?FC (already there, or folder not empty), ?NM (bad name), ?IO (TPDD comm problem). Now, you're probably thinking: "Gary, that's great... for the NEC." Well. TS-DOS 4.20 is now available for the Model 100 too. Same commands, same folder navigation. Both M100 and NEC editions come in a regular and a wireless-purposed delay edition: TSDOS-M100-v4.20.BIN TSDOS-M100-v4.20-D.BIN TSDOS-NEC-v4.20.BIN TSDOS-NEC-v4.20-D.BIN SARDOS 1.80 SARDOS has TS-DOS built right in. So everything you just saw, SARDOS 1.80 has all of it, plus Sardine and T-Word. And what about the Model 100? Glad you asked. SARDOS 1.80 is also available for the Model 100 and with every one of the new DOS-ON keywords. ...and one more thing. CIRCLE. The Model 100 has always had LINE. Now it can draw circles. And so can the NEC: CIRCLE (X,Y),R[,C] Leave C off, or make it odd, to draw. Make it even to erase. Anything off the edge of the screen is simply clipped. Try this: *10 CLS20 FOR R=2 TO 30 STEP 430 CIRCLE (120,32),R40 NEXT* CIRCLE works the moment SARDOS has been initialized. No DOS-ON needed. And if the worst happens and a cold start wipes your files? Both SARDOS editions can gather the text still sitting in memory back into a file, RECOVR.DO. On the NEC it's POKE 63911,146:EXEC 62394, and on the Model 100, CALL 63012,0,146. Do it right after the cold start, before anything else. For NEC owners, SARDOS brings some other goodies: - LINE(), automatically installed on regular SARDOS init, and runs straight from the ROM. - BACKUP: clone one RAM bank onto another - XFER: pull files over from another bank - CHR100: the Model 100 graphics characters, on your NEC Again, both M100 and NEC editions come in a regular and a wireless-purposed delay edition: SARDOS-M100-v1.80.BIN SARDOS-M100-v1.80D.BIN SARDOS-NEC-v1.80.BIN SARDOS-NEC-v1.80D.BIN Each has a feature summary and a manual (SARDOS-M100-v1.80.TXT, SARDOS-NEC-v1.80.TXT). Two ROMs. Two machines. Folders at the Ok prompt. Circles on the screen. The fine print: - Folders need a TPDD server that supports them (for example LaddieAlpha, mComm, Backpack, NADSBox, etc). PWD shows the current folder's name, not the full path. A server that doesn't answer the folder-name request gives ?IO. - NEC: in a program that uses ON ERROR GOTO, write the CMD form (CMD CD .., CMD PWD, and so on), or disable ON ERROR GOTO when using the new keywords. (On the NEC I have to use the ?SN Error handler to trap the new commands, but ON ERROR GOTO would trap them before my code in ROM can.) You can download them in the Web8201 Download Area <https://www.web8201.net/default.asp?content=/Files/body.asp%3Fname=SARDOS/TS-DOS%20(NEC/M100)%26url=SARDOS_TSDOS> . Enjoy, -- Gary Weber [email protected]
