Update to Rainbow TOS 1.04 or stay TOS 1.02?

[AtariSociety]

Acquired a couple extra Mega 2 computers and one of them has TOS 1.04. Wondering if I should update my real clean more minty Mega 2ST that is 1.02 to the 1.04 via the chip swap? My guess is all I do is swap the 1.04 chips into my clean machine? As long as it is 6 chips that is. That is what the machine I opened has.

 

Is 1.04 worth the update? Saw some web page that says it fixed many bugs but some older apps may not run.

 

Just curious if I should do the deed while I have one of them open.

 

And while I am in there, how do I tell if any of the 2 new used Mega 2's I acquired have extra or more memory than my minty one? Is there some card I will see or? I could get both new used Mega 2s to boot but was unsure how to tell how much memory is in each. I did the get info window and that only shows TOS and dates. When I saw the rainbow Atari logo and a 1989 date I knew one had the newer TOS that I will snag but how do I tell memory in them?

 

tj

Edited December 9, 2010 by macsociety

[AtariSociety]

Thought I would post two pictures of the motherboards of the 2 used Mega 2s I have to choose from. One is a Rev B and the other is a Rev 5. What I find interesting is theRev B board has some small little component on top of the 68000 CPU. Maybe it supposed to be there? Anyway, do either boards, other than the TOS 1.04 I already mentioned, have anything else on them of value to move over to the clean Mega 2ST I have or better yet, maybe the motherboard as a whole if a Rev B or Rev 5 is better than what I have. I know I need to open up my clean Mega 2 so I can see what it has but it supposed to be bare stock.

 

tj

[+Guitarman]

From the Atari Forum Wiki....

 

TOS 1.4

Most common version of TOS; last version to run on pre-STe machines; most compatible with games. More bug fixes (e.g. archive attribute works); improved hard-disk handling and performance. Faster disk copy; file move function; copy preserves date/time stamps; folder renaming; auto-run of GEM apps at startup; larger screen support; file "fastload" flag for faster startup; improved file selector; DOS-compatible disk format; keyboard reset. AKA "Rainbow TOS" because of animated colour Atari "Fuji" logo in desktop "About" dialog box.

[AtariSociety]

Hmmm... I have a problem. Removed the TOS 1.4 6 chips from the used motherboard and inserted them in the minty Mega 2ST, same Rev 5, and all I get is bombs. Put the old TOS 1.2 chips back in, worked fine. TOS 1.04 from loaner board works in that machine fine. Placed in same exact slots on my board. No go. Bombs.

 

Is there some actual differences between Rev 5 boards that would prevent the TOS 1.04 from working on one board and not the other? Odd. All chips seated fine and in correct slots.

 

tj

[AtariSociety]

For now I said heck with it and swapped bottom trays with the guts and placed the nicer top on the one that already had the 1.04 ROMS. For whatever reason the 1.04 ROMS do not like my REV 5 PCB and neither does the other PCB like my 1.02 ROMS. Must have something on the boards that needed to be done to allow the roms. So, at least I am running 1.04 TOS now and the bottom ends on both were decent so no biggee. I just liked the cleaner top I had on my minty one so just swapped.

 

Anyway, on to next project.

 

If anyone knows why one Rev 5 board has no issues with the 1.04 while the other does not would be nice.

 

tj

[wongck]

Keep the tos 1.02 as it is more compatible with more games.

There is a software version of tos 1.04.

You can soft load tos 1.04 from your HDD when needed.

especially if you are working on the HDD as it is faster & more reliable.

[+poobah]

There are 3 jumpers near the front left of the board that you have to change when you switch between 2 chip and 6 chip TOS sets.

[+wood_jl]

There are 3 jumpers near the front left of the board that you have to change when you switch between 2 chip and 6 chip TOS sets.

 

But he can't be switching 2 and 6 chip TOS sets between these machines??? The rev B board doesn't even have sockets for the rest????

 

Also, why would the revision 5 have 6-chips and the revision B have 2? I would have thought moving to less chips is an advancement???

 

So far, all the 520STm/520STfm/1040STfm I have come across are 6-chip. Obviously, the 520STm is an old machine. But did they ever move to 2-chip TOS in the 520STfm/1040STf/1040STfm? I haven't seen inside many ST, but this Mega is the first one I've even seen (even thought it's a picture!) to have 2-chip TOS. So is 2-chip TOS a Mega ST thing, or which of the (obviously pre-STe) machines had the 2-chip TOS?

 

Thanks.

[simonsunnyboy]

There are 3 jumpers near the front left of the board that you have to change when you switch between 2 chip and 6 chip TOS sets.

 

But he can't be switching 2 and 6 chip TOS sets between these machines??? The rev B board doesn't even have sockets for the rest????

 

Also, why would the revision 5 have 6-chips and the revision B have 2? I would have thought moving to less chips is an advancement???

 

So far, all the 520STm/520STfm/1040STfm I have come across are 6-chip. Obviously, the 520STm is an old machine. But did they ever move to 2-chip TOS in the 520STfm/1040STf/1040STfm? I haven't seen inside many ST, but this Mega is the first one I've even seen (even thought it's a picture!) to have 2-chip TOS. So is 2-chip TOS a Mega ST thing, or which of the (obviously pre-STe) machines had the 2-chip TOS?

 

Thanks.

 

I think late model STFMs came with 2 chip TOSes aswell. Never forget that the STFM remained in production after the STE came on the market!

[wongck]

Yes, my STFM from 1987 uses 2 chips TOS.

[+poobah]

There are 3 jumpers near the front left of the board that you have to change when you switch between 2 chip and 6 chip TOS sets.

 

But he can't be switching 2 and 6 chip TOS sets between these machines??? The rev B board doesn't even have sockets for the rest????

 

Also, why would the revision 5 have 6-chips and the revision B have 2? I would have thought moving to less chips is an advancement???

 

So far, all the 520STm/520STfm/1040STfm I have come across are 6-chip. Obviously, the 520STm is an old machine. But did they ever move to 2-chip TOS in the 520STfm/1040STf/1040STfm? I haven't seen inside many ST, but this Mega is the first one I've even seen (even thought it's a picture!) to have 2-chip TOS. So is 2-chip TOS a Mega ST thing, or which of the (obviously pre-STe) machines had the 2-chip TOS?

 

Thanks.

 

The boards were built to handle both and Atari just popped in whatever was cheapest or that they had in stock at the time the machine was assembled.

 

It is trivial to switch back and forth.

[Junosix]

Tell you what is weird - I got my STFM in 1990 and it definitely had TOS 1.2. TOS 1.4 had been out for about a year before I got my ST so is there any good reason that it came with the older TOS? Got it in March 1990 from Currys in the UK and it was the Power Pack bundle.

[jens]

About the number of chips all I can say is:

When exchanging the TOS chips the guy who did it for some of my Ataris over the years just did not find two-chip-sets, so he used six-chip-sets.

[OldAtarian]

From the Atari Forum Wiki....

 

TOS 1.4

Most common version of TOS; last version to run on pre-STe machines; most compatible with games. More bug fixes (e.g. archive attribute works); improved hard-disk handling and performance. Faster disk copy; file move function; copy preserves date/time stamps; folder renaming; auto-run of GEM apps at startup; larger screen support; file "fastload" flag for faster startup; improved file selector; DOS-compatible disk format; keyboard reset. AKA "Rainbow TOS" because of animated colour Atari "Fuji" logo in desktop "About" dialog box.

 

I'm pretty sure that's incorrect. I know for a fact that I can run TOS 3.06 on my 1040STf, at least from floppy, and can't you use the TOS 2.06 chips in any ST prior to the Falcon and TT?

[The_Laird]

I think you find that means it was the last version of TOS to be put in any pre STe machines by Atari

[wongck]

Tell you what is weird - I got my STFM in 1990 and it definitely had TOS 1.2. TOS 1.4 had been out for about a year before I got my ST so is there any good reason that it came with the older TOS? Got it in March 1990 from Currys in the UK and it was the Power Pack bundle.

 

Sure... Tramiels are saving money using the old stocks.

[wongck]

I know for a fact that I can run TOS 3.06 on my 1040STf, at least from floppy,

 

What's the improvement?

I am sure it can't do TT rez.

Edited December 18, 2010 by wongck

[+DarkLord]

I know for a fact that I can run TOS 3.06 on my 1040STf, at least from floppy,

 

What's the improvement?

I am sure it can't do TT rez.

 

I don't think it would help with screen resolutions at all, on stock ST's,

but then you would get NewDesk and all its advantages...