How many versions of Omnimon and Omniview are there?

[+Larry]

We have danced around this in a number of topics, but I don't think it has been very well defined.

 

For the 800 series there was originally 4K Omnimon.

I think that later there was a version with Omnimon and Omniview both in them -- so-called "8K Omnimon?"

Were there any others?

 

For the XL/XE, there were several:

I'm only aware of 1 version of Omnimon (sold as Omnimon XL). Were there multiple versions?

Omniview -- there was the Original Omniview XL, Onmiview XE (ramdisk), Omniview 256 for 256K XL's. Was there another version for the 320K XE's?

 

OSNXL I'm really unclear on this. I always believed that OSNXL and Omnimon were two different products. The big selling point of OSNXL, I thought was that it included FastChip. Then I learned that OSNXL contains the Omnimon monitor. In fact, I saw one advert. that showed that Omniview also contained FastChip + "OSN" which I read as Operating System Newell. (?)

 

But I'm quite sure that Omniview (all) and Omnimon have different OS's -- based on the fact that quite a few things will run on Omniview but won't run on Omnimon.

 

Can someone add some clarity?

 

-Larry

 

 

 

 

 

[Dropcheck]

Hi Larry,

 

Here's some info:

 

http://www.atarimax.com/freenet/freenet_material/12.AtariLibrary/3.TimeCapsule/showarticle.php?335

 

http://archive.org/stream/Atari_Omnimon_XL_users_guide/Atari_Omnimon_XL_users_guide_djvu.txt

 

I think Omniview really only added an 80 column feature to the original Atari OS. As you said there were different versions over the years as Atari came out with different 8bit models.

 

So two Omnimon is another modification of the Atari OS. It was usually sold with the Ramrod XL board which allowed you to have the huge number (at the time) of 3 different OS's to switch between. Per Newell's ads it included a ML monitor and the FASTCHIP floating point routines. I don't think they were ever sold separately. Now I know someone is going to prove me wrong but I haven't seen any other original documentation that says it was.

[BillC]

According to this archive at Atarimax Newell Industries was selling the RAMROD XL2 without OS for $19.95 in 1993.

http://www.atarimax.com/freenet/freenet_material/12.AtariLibrary/3.TimeCapsule/showarticle.php?335

[fibrewire]

I have a Supermon! rom in one of my Newell RAMROD OS boards.

 

A more complete list is here - http://www.faqs.org/faqs/atari-8-bit/faq/section-61.html#b

[Dropcheck]

According to this archive at Atarimax Newell Industries was selling the RAMROD XL2 without OS for $19.95 in 1993.

http://www.atarimax.com/freenet/freenet_material/12.AtariLibrary/3.TimeCapsule/showarticle.php?335

 

See I told you so!

[+Larry]

The RamRod XL board is a separate issue -- this is about the OS's. But along the same line, there was a RamRod for the 800 which allowed MyDos "RomDos" to be in high memory.

 

The FAQ's are interesting, especially about the various Omniview's, but I see no mention of OSNXL. It does show an "Omnimon XL" and an "Omnimon XE" that do have different CRC values. But I never saw the XE model advertised. I suspect a minor "fix." On the 800 model there was a big difference between 4K Omnimon and 8K Omnimon, and looking at some ads that I have there was also an 8K Omnimon + Omniview for the 800.

 

AHL's Benchmark should tell us which OS's have the FastChip in them. I'll do some of those.

 

"Keep those cards and letters coming in," but I'm also going to try to get in contact with Wes Newell. I haven't heard from in in 4 or 5 years.

 

-Larry

[BillC]

It was this review by Tom Hudson in ANALOG that leads me to believe that FASTCHIP XL and OMNIMONXL are components of the OSNXL OS. I believe most users just took to calling it OMNIMONXL, especially since the 80 column OS was called OMNIVIEWXL. Below is from the review:

 

 

With OSNXL selected, you have the new OS functions. FASTCHIP XL and OMNIMONXL, available for your use. Interestingly, OSNXL was designed to set the default blue of the screen to a slightly darker shade. This was done so that you could easily determine which operating system has been selected.

 

 

[FULS]

I have a Supermon! rom in one of my Newell RAMROD OS boards.

 

A more complete list is here - http://www.faqs.org/faqs/atari-8-bit/faq/section-61.html#b

 

Happy Thanksgiving,

Here are the OS Roms listed in the link.

Atari OS.zip

[ryanr256]

The RamRod XL board is a separate issue -- this is about the OS's. But along the same line, there was a RamRod for the 800 which allowed MyDos "RomDos" to be in high memory.

 

The FAQ's are interesting, especially about the various Omniview's, but I see no mention of OSNXL. It does show an "Omnimon XL" and an "Omnimon XE" that do have different CRC values. But I never saw the XE model advertised. I suspect a minor "fix." On the 800 model there was a big difference between 4K Omnimon and 8K Omnimon, and looking at some ads that I have there was also an 8K Omnimon + Omniview for the 800.

 

AHL's Benchmark should tell us which OS's have the FastChip in them. I'll do some of those.

 

"Keep those cards and letters coming in," but I'm also going to try to get in contact with Wes Newell. I haven't heard from in in 4 or 5 years.

 

-Larry

 

There's a picture of an 800 8K Omnimon board (with a couple of ROMs) in this thread:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/205851-should-i-be-disappointed

 

-Bob

[+mytek]

Is there a version of OMNIVIEW that will work with an Ultimate 1 Meg installation? Specifically the 80 column feature.

 

- Michael

[Defender II]

I have a Supermon! rom in one of my Newell RAMROD OS boards.

 

A more complete list is here - http://www.faqs.org/faqs/atari-8-bit/faq/section-61.html#b

Do you still have the RAMROD with Supermon!, if you ever decide to sell it please let me know. Have you dumped it?

[Mclaneinc]

I'd love to play with a newer version of OmnimonXL than the one I purchased back in the day (yes I did actuallyown a real one, doc archives have my docs's that I OCR'ed loads of years ago), that's if one exists..

 

As for stuff that does not work with Omnimon, well lets not forget it was protected against in some cases

 

Watching thread with interest...

 

Paul...