Please read this before you boot SymbOS Release 2.0 the first time!
Booting SymbOS on the CPC
Because of the huge size it is necessary to place the operating system and the full application package on two sepparated discs.
If you boot SymbOS from ROM (type |SYM) you just have to insert the application disc and copy your screensaver, the SymbOS extensions module ("SYMEXTEN.EXE") and your background picture on this disc.
If you boot SymbOS from disc (type RUN"SYM" or RUN"SYM1MB"), you first need to insert the OS disc, boot SymbOS, remove the OS disc and insert the application disc. Then you can start to work with SymbOS. Of course this is not necessary if you place the applications on a second disc drive or a hard disc / CF card.
If you modify the system configuration and want to save the changes, you always need to insert the OS disc again. You also may need to copy your desktop background picture, the SymbOS extensions module and the screen saver on the OS disc, as SymbOS requires these files during the booting process.
For more information how to install and use SymbOS please download and read the user manual.
Booting SymbOS on the MSX
You can boot SymbOS from 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.
Drivers for floppy disc controllers and mass storage devices are already included. Please see the included "#README.TXT" for more information about the boot loader options!
If your floppy disc controller (like this one of the PANASONIC TURBO-R!) is currently not supported, you have to boot SymbOS at least with the "F0" option to prevent a system crash!
While in MSX-DOS the mass storage device drives are coming first ("A", "B", "C"...), in SymbOS usually the one or two disc drives are coming first as drives "A" and "B" and are followed by the mass storage drives "C", "D" etc., like it is in Windows and other modern operating systems.
Please note, that some MSX FDISK software name partitions not in the logical order. The first MSX partition may be the logical partition 4, the second may be 3 etc. Because of this SymbOS uses partition 4 (usually drive "A" in MSX-DOS) as the default drive "C" (boot) partition, if no other partition is specified.
Booting SymbOS on the PCW (Joyce)
This is quite simple and similiar to the disc version of SymbOS CPC, so you should check the information there, too.
You have to boot SymbOS from CP/M by typing "SYMBOS". If you don't want to change the actual configuration, you can insert the application disc and continue.
Please note, that SymbOS doesn't support the 720KB CP/M format of the PCW, but if you connected a 3,5" drive as B you should be able to access FAT12 discs (MS-DOS).
Important information for CPCs and MSXs with ONLY 128K ram!
Please note, that on a 128K system there is only about 37KB (CPC)/48KB (MSX) memory available for applications, as the operating system
already requires about 75K (+16K video ram). 37KB/48KB is enough to run most existing application, but you will need to deactivate the desktop
background graphic, as it requires additional 16K/27K/54K and would shrink the free memory down a lot.
So after booting please click on the desktop area with the right mouse button. The display settings of the control panel will
be loaded. Please choose an unique background colour instead of the desktop pictures. Press "OK" and then save the settings with
"Start menu -> Settings -> Save".
You also may delete the "SYMBOS.INI" file before booting SymbOS, which will have the same effect.
Please note, that in any case you will have much more fun with SymbOS, if your computer has a memory expansion. Just 64KB additional
memory has a great effect, and a full expanded 576KB or 1024MB system feels like having unlimited memory space!
More complex applications, which will be released in the future, may require more than 128KB as the minimum.
Bug reporting - PLEASE HELP!
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!
Known bugs:
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.
Known problems:
Writing files on a FAT device starts to become more and more slow, as bigger the file is.
Left/right scrolling on a MSX is not optimized.
There are several missing mass storage device drivers for the MSX. Especially the Panasonic MSX TurboR FDC (Toshiba) is not supported yet.
