Question about upgrading TOS versions

[Gunstar]

I have a first run 1040STF. The TOS/GEM roms installed are 1.0. I want to upgrade to 2.06 or whatever the last standard ST TOS was. my question is about the roms; do they just load into ram, or act like a cartridge and not use internal ram? I'm wondering if I can just take out the rom chips, and boot TOS/GEM 2.x or whatever from disc and not lose anymore ram than the difference between the 192k roms and 256k(?) roms, assuming they do load into ram anyway. Or do I even need to bother removing the rom chips if I boot TOS/gem form disc? Will it just bypass teh roms then?

[krupkaj]

In my ST I have old TOS 1.2 and TOS 2.06. It is possible to change TOSes by switch in off state. Unfortunately I did not this mod by myself and I haven't scheme. Try this site http://atarihacks.cjb.net or http://hardware.atari.org

[Gunstar]

Yes, I know of these mods/hacks for upgrading/switching between versions of TOS. But, I'm looking for a simpler, easier way, that is, by loading TOS off of disk into the system, like Atari Themselves did with the very first ST's, before they switched to ROM chips. Is it possible to load newer version of TOS, like 2.06 from disk into the computer, and will it use up more ram than installing TOS on roms? That's what I want to know.

Thanks for your reply though...

[sonnenhexer]

My first ST was a 260 with TOS on disk.

When loading it from disk I have had about 260k free. A few weeks later i bought the TOS on ROMs, then I had over 450k free meme.

This should answer your question.

 

Use an eprom-burner to burn your TOS on ROMs and plug it in.

 

Michael

[Gunstar]

Thanks, unfortuantely, I don't have an Eprom burner, have never used one (but would love one and would like to learn), and can't afford one at this time. So, if I'm going to upgrade before I run into a bag of cash, I'll either have to use TOS on disk, or buy the roms, which may be too much for me as well. Unless some kind soul out there would care to "donate" TOS roms (2.06 please, or whatever is the most a standard ST can use)...hint, hint...

[sonnenhexer]

My newest TOS ist the rainbow-TOS. Sorry.

 

Michael

[Gunstar]

Actually, I think Rainbow (1.4?) is probably what I want to upgrade to anyway, I forgot about 2.06 being STE/TT TOS and is probably more work thatn I'm willing to mod for...(not that I couldn't do it, but I'm lazy). I read some of the upgrade texts and because of memory location incompatibility, I don't think it would be possible to boot newer TOS's from disk anyway. but I'll gladly take any extra roms anyone has that are above 1.0. ANY upgrade will probably better and have better software support. I've just come across quite a few programs, especially newer ones form the late 80's to early 90's that seem to crash or have other bugs, and I'm thinking it's because I have such an old TOS version. So if ANYONE has some extra TOS roms laying around collecting dust, that is above V1.0, I'd be extremely appreciative of a donation or cheap buy!

[sonnenhexer]

I know that some games won´t run on 1.4 (rainbow), they run better on Blitter or 1.0.

 

Michael

[Nick Harlow]

3.07 is TT, 4.04 is Falcon

 

The number signifies the machine .. tho you can put TOS2.06 etc in STFM's

 

 

Nick

[krupkaj]

3.07 is TT, 4.04 is Falcon

I think 3.06 is the newest for TT.

For STe there is 1.62 the latest one from 1.x line. And last usable for all ST(e) is 2.06.

IIRC in STe case it is possible to put 2.06 right into the ROM sockets.

 

And about EPROM burner, try some computer service, it is possible that there have EPROM burner which is used for BIOS upgrade.

[LinkoVitch]

GunStar:

 

The TOS on an ST runs from the ROMs, you could get a util that would copy it to RAM to speed up your OS a tad. As for removing the ROM's .. this would then remove the BIOS so the system would effectively have no instructions and do nothing more than give you a white screen (maybee some rubbish). You at least need the BIOS to boot from floppy.

 

But if you were refering to removing the old roms to give you more RAM to load the new TOS into, then you don't need to, as like I said, the OS/BIOS runs from teh ROMS.

 

hope thats of help

[Nick Harlow]

Sorry, definitley 3.07... it what I run in my TT....

[Gunstar]

Thanks for the tips guys, I think what I'm going to do eventually is leave 1.0 in there, hack in either 1.4 or 1.6 AND 2.06 (3 OS's, either/or with 1.4/6) and have them switchable for masimum speed&compatiblity with programs. I'll wait and do this mod along with a 4meg memory upgrade, blitter and video shifter upgrade, and stereo mod (althoughmaybe just the tweety board there, since it's 9.95 from B&C) all at the same time, so I don't have to re-open my ST a bunch of times and there is only one downtime, even if it's for days or weeks. I'll just have to save my money so I can afford all these mods/upgrades. Any other modifications/upgrades that anyone here suggests? other than disk/hard/cd drives?

[krupkaj]

Sorry,    definitley 3.07... it what I run in my TT....

hmm, It is interesting.What are differences to 3.06? I know that 3.06 support TT ram while 3.05 does not. Are there so important changes in 3.07?

[Nick Harlow]

dunno, but I will look into it

 

nick

[sonnenhexer]

The first STs had a small ROM with a boot-sequence for booting from floppy, a very small "bios".

The pic when you started the ST without a TOS-disk was like the Amiga.

 

If you can get these ROMs anywhere, you can boot you TOS from disk, but I dunno where to get them.

 

Michael

[LinkoVitch]

I noticed a massive speed increase with my HDD when I used TOS 2.06. I used to run a BBS off my ST and I tried running it on TOS 1.02 that was in the machine and was REALLY suprised how slow it became, I thought there was a problem with the BBS initially!