please don't forget to read the first two sections of the release notes right now!
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For downloading the available applications, please visit the related application section.
SYMBOS RELEASE 4.0: Important notes
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Please read this before you boot SymbOS 4.0 for the first time!
Booting SymbOS on the CPC
- Because of the huge size it is necessary to place the operating system and all components, which are required during the booting process (extended desktop, widgets, screensaver, background picture etc.), on an own 178K boot disc. All other apps including the system programs (control panel etc.) have to be placed on a seperate floppy disc.
- If you boot SymbOS from ROM (type |SYM) you just have to insert a disc with your screensaver, the extended desktop module ("SYMBOSXT.EXE"), desktop widgets and your background picture. It makes most sense to use the ROM version for a system based on an IDE mass storage system (SYMBiFACE 3, M4Board, SYMBiFACE II, X-MASS).
- If you boot SymbOS from disc (type RUN"SYM"), you first need to insert the OS disc, boot SymbOS, remove the OS disc and insert any other disc with applications or games. This is not necessary if you place the applications on a second disc drive or a hard disc, CF or SD card.
- If you modify the system configuration and want to save the changes, you always need to insert the boot disc again. You also may need to copy your desktop background picture, the extended desktop module ("SYMBOSXT.EXE"), the widgets and the screen saver on the boot disc, as SymbOS requires these files during the booting process.
- We recommend to use SymbOS on an Amstrad CPC system with more than 128KB ram and a mass storage device like the SYMBiFACE 3, M4Board or a SYMBiFACE II compatible IDE hardware (X-MASS).
- For more information how to install and use SymbOS please download and read the user manual.
- You can install and boot SymbOS in MSX-DOS 1.x or 2.x. If you have an external memory mapper you should use MSX-DOS 2, so that the additional memory is preselected.
- Please install SymbOS with the SYMSETUP.COM utility.
- You have to boot SymbOS from EXOS by typing RUN"SYM" (normal version) or RUN"SYMG9K" (Graphic 9000 version).
- You can boot SymbOS from floppy disc (DSK image included) as well as from the Enterprise SD card premium interface.
- For the latter, simply copy the contents of the mass storage ZIP package to the root directory of your SD card.
- Simply copy the contents of the mass storage ZIP package to the root directory of your SD card and execute "SYMBOS.NEX" with the Next browser.
- Copy the SRAM image onto an 1MB PCMCIA card, insert it into the NC and turn-on the machine. Press Function+X in the main menu, and SymbOS will boot.
Complete your installation with the full Mass Storage Completion package
- After copying and installing your platform specific SymbOS version to your mass storage device (USB, IDE, SD etc.) you can complete the setup with the Mass Storage Completion package (see downloads). It contains many of the available applications as well as a selection of data files like graphics and music songs.
Important information for platforms with ONLY 128K ram (CPC, MSX, EP)
- Please note, that on a 128K system there is only about 31KB (CPC, Enterprise) or 47KB (MSX) memory available for applications, as the operating system already requires about 81K (+16K video ram). 31KB/47KB is enough to run small and medium-sized applications, but the desktop background graphic, the screen saver and the extended desktop including any desktop widgets are deactivated automatically, as these require additional memory and would shrink the free memory down a lot.
- Please note, that in any case you will have much more fun with SymbOS, if your computer has a memory expansion. Just 128KB additional memory has a great
effect, and a full expanded 1024MB system feels like having unlimited memory space!
Some existing applications and more complex ones, which will be released in the future, do require more than 128KB as the minimum.
Bug reporting - PLEASE HELP!
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- Please report all recognized bugs directly to me
- First check the "known bugs" section below
- If the bug you found is not mentioned there, please report it to me via email
- My email is PRODATRON [at] PRODATRON [dot] NET
- Very important: if possible please describe how to reproduce the bug
- I will be happy about every bug report, so please help me and contribute to the SymbOS project!
- Currently SymbOS doesn't support 3,5" drives without ready-signal (on the CPC).
- The scrolling of the window content doesn't work correctly, when a part of the window is outside the visible area.
- Playing Soundtrakker 128 modules on a MSX TurboR with SymAmp does not always work.
- The AMX mouse support doesn't work on a real Amstrad PCW but only in the "Joyce" emulator.
- The Sunrise IDE is not autodetected, if Nextor is installed. You will have to add the IDE driver manually.
- The "Starfield" screen saver will crash on an MSX1.
- MSX TurboR machines will sometimes generate glitches when plotting bitmaps.
- Enterprise FDC support is still having read/write issues probably during wrong timings.
- Writing files on a FAT device starts to become more and more slow, as bigger the file is.
- Left/right scrolling on an MSX is not optimized.
- There is no fullscreen mode in SymShell for the MSX1 and the PCW.
- There are several missing mass storage device drivers for the MSX. Any help here is very very welcome! :)