Msg: 5788 *Conference*
04-29-95 23:48:53
From: DONALD KYLLO
To : RICHARD HANSON
Subj: TS-DOS
Hi Rick, In November, 1993, I sent you the following two messages and never got any answers from you so I will resubmit them. I have changed them slightly because I have had time to experiment with the ROM. (message 1) I have had the TS-DOS chip in my 102 for 1 1/2 years and I have a few questions about some of the functions in it. 1) "File tagging" isn't mentioned in the book but I found that "T" works. 2) On the disk menu, F6 is labeled "LOG". I guess it reloads the menu from the disk so you can swap disks and see the new menu. It isn't in the book eather. In the book on page 2-9, F6 is a PAGE key to see the second set of file names if there are more than 20 files on the disk. I found that <SHIFT><DOWN-ARROW> performs this function. 4) There is no "Sall" or "Lall" function (P2-6,2-9). F7 on the ram menu is blank and F7 on the disk menu is labeled "BANK" to switch disk banks. 5) On page 2-11, It says to use: what works: <CTRL>P to Print a file P <CTRL>L to List a file L <CTRL>D to print Directory D <CTRL>P, <CTRL>L and <CTRL>D don't do anything. 6) The update policy says to fill out a registration card but there isn't one in the book. How do I get one? Would it do any good now? 7) Your 1992 catalog on page 6 says "ROM version includes RAM file compression." Is it in there? How do I use it? Again, no mention in the book. 8) Someone wrote inside the cover, "Note: Use save all functions to save "CA" file created by TS-DOS." Was this written to me or did the book belong to someone else? I haven't seen a "CA" file created by TS-DOS. What is it? What is it for? Other than these questions/concerns, the ROM performs well. This is a wonderful ROM. I wish the book would match it. Perhaps there are several versions of the book and I have the wrong one??? (message 2. You did answer this a little but it is still a pain to get around. It would be nice to be able to use TS-DOS on all files on the disk!) I found a bug in TS-DOS. If you have 40 files in a disk bank, you can only see and load the first 39 files. When displaying the first 20 files, I pressed <shift><down-arrow> to see the next 20 files but the last file name from the previous screen showed up as the first file in the second screen. When I pressed <shift><down-arrow> again I got a blank screen (20 "-.-"). FLOPPY doesn't have this problem because it just lists the directory. TS-DOS would save 40 files but not display them. I discovered this problem when I tried to load ZBGASM.CO from disk and didn't see it on the menu. I almost panicked thinking I had killed it by accident (yes, I do have backups) so I went into FLOPPY and saw that it was on the disk so I used FLOPPY to load it. I couldn't see it with TS-DOS so I couldn't load it. If I have 40 files on disk, I would like to be able to load any of them as needed. Please check into this and let me know if this bug has been noticed before and fixed. Thanks for any help you can give. Don (end of messages. I called Traveling Software about these problems but they wouldn't even allow me to ask any questions, much less try to answer them. They were rather rude. I'll log on in a couple of weeks to see if there is a reply. By the way, is there any way to access bank #2 from BASIC?) (Unrelated question) Is there a good word processor for the 102? If it is in ROM, how do I use it and TS-DOS without having to open the bottom of the computer to swap roms? (Bad for both the rom and the computer.) How much is library access these days? Thanks for your help. Don