CPCWiki - THE Amstrad CPC encyclopedia! - User contributions [en]

Talk:FutureOS

2006-08-10T23:28:15Z

84.151.237.128: /* Looks good now */

==Questions...==

Hmm.. are there any applications for Future OS?
And can i really add any device and it will be recommended by the system without any device driver?
Unbelievable!! and much better than SymbOS then, isn't it?

:Who are you? What is your name? Fear to sign? You seem not to be serious. But I try to answer serious.
:First you can't compare SymbOS and FutureOS. They're too different and therefore I use them both.
:Software for FutureOS is availabe in the Yahoo-Group, where you can download it.
:And yes, I try to support nearly all hardware for the CPC. Ok, some is still missing, but this will change soon I hope.
:About features: Ok, I haven't finished the new documentation in english. But if I look at other projects, I have to believe, so believe me too.
:That would only be fair.
:I have no time to explain the 126th time where some support function ist. RTFM, but the new version coming soon.

:Greets to all honest CPC sceners,
:TFM

:: Please try to keep your tone down. I'm letting this here as an example of what NOT to say. RTFM is NOT part of the language that will be tolerated here, if we want to keep a flame war out of our wiki; so please keep this in mind. And please don't jump to conclusions - several users still do not know about signing their entries! It seems to me the original poster was more positive than negative, so you could try and calmly answer to his questions, otherwise there's no reason in replying at all. This is NOT a debate room, and fights will NOT ('''NOT!''') be welcome here. You do not need to be apologetic (as you are in a couple of points) about anything that FutureOS may be lacking, since it's a wonderful system anyhow, but also taking it to the other extreme doesn't exactly help things either.

::Best regards,
::[[User:Gryzor|Gryzor]] 16:02, 10 August 2006 (CEST)

RTFM means Read The Futureos Manual, so where is the problem? That guy (without name) is allowed to vandalish my text? Why don't you stop him?

Anyhow, and why don't talk about something other very unfair. At the left side, below "the present" there is a line for SymbOS, why not FutueOS. I would like to please you to insert that line.

::Greets
::TFM

:That's something, which came to my mind very often! We should change the "SymbOS" link in the left menu to "Operating Systems". Then we can have a list of OSs for the CPC there. It would be a better entry point! --[[User:Octoate|Octoate]] 20:40, 10 August 2006 (CEST)

::Hm, I don't know. In this case you have to place all categories from the "serious software" articel in the sidebar. -- [[User:Prodatron|Prodatron]] 21:00, 10 August 2006 (CEST)

:::Argh... ;) --[[User:Octoate|Octoate]] 21:24, 10 August 2006 (CEST)

== What's about respecting some rules? ==

As this is not Wikipedia but our own scene CPCWiki, I wouldn't like to force the articles to follow strict rules, but at least the following two rules should be respected by everyone:
* no advertisment-like phrases
* no false information

The following parts in this article should be removed and replaced in a section like "possible plans for the future":
* IDE support (mentioned several times, and first I mixed v8 with v9, but as it should only be a possible part of v9 [and now even v8 isn't released], it will not be implemented before 2007 or later, right?)
* CPC Booster support (you can't call an entry in the port monitor "support")
* Multi tasking (I couldn't find any references)
If I am wrong, and these features are already implemented in FutureOS and ready for download, please provide us a link.

Some other parts should also be removed:
* One-drive restriction of other OSs (nearly every OS can do this, even Amsdos allows drive letters in a path)
* Advertisment-like phrases (e.g. "FutureOS is for programmers who want to use the CPC at its limits" and other ones; these should be better placed on a homepage but not in a Wiki)
-- [[User:Prodatron|Prodatron]] 00:05, 9 August 2006 (CEST)

:I sense a scene fight coming on, I'm afraid... I do not wish to take any part in it, especially since I do not know anything about the common history of projects, but I hope it stays off the wiki!
::Well, in general it is quite easy to follow some necessary rules, so I am not afraid about fights. -- [[User:Prodatron|Prodatron]] 10:24, 9 August 2006 (CEST)

:I'll have to agree with some of Prodatron's remarks. The article needs heavy editing (I have altered several points myself, more is needed) so as to not appear as a commercial for FutureOS but more like an objective article. Also, at points it becomes more of a manual than an article on the OS itself.

:That said, even in Symbiface there was the phrase: ''It provides nearly everything you need to change your CPC into a powerful work station!'' which is more of the same :)
::Yes, that's right. I think someone just copied & pasted this from the homepage ;) -- [[User:Prodatron|Prodatron]] 10:24, 9 August 2006 (CEST)

:To get back to Prodatron's remarks, if his points are valid the article should be corrected. If ''system .9'', as it is called in the article, indeed refers to FutureOS v9 then I also think that it should be re-written, especially since not even v8 has been released (really looking forward to it!).

:In general, I would urge '''ALL''' contributors who are also developers, to try and keep their usual enthusiasm (read: ego ;) ) at a low, since we are trying to do an objective work and not promote one or the other product... Thanks! [[User:Gryzor|Gryzor]] 09:47, 9 August 2006 (CEST)

I have cleaned up the whole artice, removed advertisment-like phrases, re-wrote sentences that sounded too much like advertising and thigthened the language. Articles should contain no false or biased statements in any form. Keep it clear, true, neutral and objective. This is what I tried to accomplish when editing this article.
- 2006-08-09; Gwildor -
:Thanks for your effort Gwildor! The article looks a bit more polished now. --[[User:Octoate|Octoate]] 14:07, 9 August 2006 (CEST)

I think the maximum file size currently is 512KB (19bit). I couldn't find any possibilities to load data from files, which are bigger than 512KB. Why is 16MB/24bit mentioned in the article? Also a planned feature for the future? -- [[User:Prodatron|Prodatron]] 17:02, 9 August 2006 (CEST)

== Looks good now ==

Thanx to everybodys' effort the article looks a lot better now. I wouldn't call "CPC Booster support" like this, but who cares. What's about summarising some very small sections and maybe removing some user-manual-like sentences? -- [[User:Prodatron|Prodatron]] 17:44, 10 August 2006 (CEST)
:Sumarised all sections which contained only 1 or 2 sentences and removed the FioLib text in its own article. -- [[User:Prodatron|Prodatron]] 19:16, 10 August 2006 (CEST)

Thank you for your excellent help. TFM

Links

2006-08-10T23:23:47Z

84.151.237.128:

==== Software-related ====
*[http://www.cpczone.net CPC Zone]
*[http://tacgr.emuunlim.com/ The Amstrad Computer Game Resource]
*[http://amstrad-esp.com/ Amstrad ESP (ES)]
*[http://www.cpcgamereviews.com/ CPC Game Reviews] - CPC Game Reviews is a website which, as its name suggests, contains reviews of games for the Amstrad CPC computer - hundreds of them, in fact. It also contains a collection of advertisements which have been scanned from Amstrad CPC magazines.
*[http://computeremuzone.com/amstrad/ Amstrad Zone]
*[http://www.prodatron.net/ Prodatron's page]
*[http://bestofcpc.webcindario.com/ Best of CPC] (ES)
*[http://arkos.cpcscene.com/ Arkos Demogroup] - The page of [[Arkos]], with some great demos, diskmags, games and tools.
*[http://www.cpc-hardware.com/ CPC Hardware] - (F) Forum, nice downloads, hardware projects; also an online store for hardware stuff like RS232 interfaces etc.
*[http://www.FutureOS.de/ FutureOS homepage]

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==== Hardware-related ====
*[http://www.prodatron.net/ Prodatron's page]
*[http://www.pagina.de/amstrad Various Amstrad stuff] - Including instructions on how to fit or connect a 3.5" drive, hot to connect your CPC to your PC and how to transfer files, among others.
*[http://www.cpc-hardware.com/ CPC Hardware] - (F) Forum, nice downloads, hardware projects; also an online store for hardware stuff like RS232 interfaces etc.

----

==== Document resources ====

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==== FTP sites ====

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*[ftp://ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/cpc/ NVG]
*[ftp://ftp.cmo.de/pub/Computer/Amstrad_CPC CMO.de] - Games, Meeting pictures, manuals, etc.
*[ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/cpm/ CPM] - related Amstrad things

==== Commercial sites ====
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==== User Groups ====
*[news://comp.sys.amstrad.8bit CSA8]
*[http://www.cpczone.net/boards CPC Zone Forum]
*[http://www.wacci.org.uk/ WACCI] (Worldwide Amstrad Computer Club Incorporated) - WACCI was a UK based user group that supported the Amstrad CPC computer. It was a subscription-only, printed English magazine published bi-monthly and available throughout the world. The current issues of the magazine are now reproduced on this website.
----

==== Emulators ====
* [http://www.arnoldemu.freeserve.co.uk/ Arnold] (WIN | MAC | LINUX)
* [http://www.classicgaming.com/caprice/ Caprice] (WIN)
* [http://copacabana.emuunlim.com/ CoPaCabana] (WIN | PALM)
* [http://www.trans-it.de/cordes/amstrad/cpcemu.html CPCEmu]
* [http://www.amstrad-cpc.de CPC4X]
* [http://cpce.emuunlim.com CPCE]
* [http://icerive.free.fr/cpc Ice Rive]
* [http://jemu.emuunlim.com JEMU] (Multi-System Java)
* [http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr PC-CPC] by Ludovic Deplanque(Demoniak)
* [http://www.winape.net WinApe]

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==== Others ====
*[http://genesis8.free.fr/index.php Genesis 8] - Genesis 8 is a spartan, but often-updated Amstrad-related news site.
*[http://www.cpcscene.com/ CPC Scene] - Various stuff. Of much interest: The [http://radio.cpcscene.com/ CPC online radio station]!
*[http://cpcrulez.free.fr/ CPC Rules] ([http://cpcrulez.2ya.com/ Alternative Link]) (FR) A great french site, updated frequently, with software reviews, utilities, games, demos, hardware info. A treasure and a must-visit if you speak french (though not necessarily so).
*[http://www.cpc-forever.com/ CPC forever] Community site in german with news, forum and so on.
*[http://www.frappr.com/cpcscene/ CPC scene map]

FutureOS

2006-08-10T23:18:02Z

84.151.237.128: /* Introduction */

[[Image:Future-os.jpg|400px|thumb|FutureOS main screen]]

== Introduction ==
'''FutureOS''' is new written operating system for the Amstrad CPC6128 and 6128plus developed by [[TFM]]. Its development continues from 1990 up to now. The applications of FutureOS can be up to 512 KB in one piece. Files can be as long as the corresponding drive or hard disc partition. FutureOS has a memory management system, which divides RAM into 16 KB blocks. FutureOS provides standard utilities in ROM. Further applications are delivered for disc or hard-disc. FutureOS is written in assembler like most serious 8 bit software.

== Requirements ==
The core of the OS needs 64 KB ROM. Compatible products are EPROM-cards, the ROM-RAM-BOX, [[SYMBiFACE II]], RAMcard or similar products. If you don't own such a card, you can take a look at FutureOS by using a compatible CPC Emulator (WinCPC, Caprice, WinApe).

The core of the OS itself is executed directly in ROM or EPROM where it is divided in four 16 KB blocks. It jumps between the ROMs with the help of a little common area. The free RAM can be used for applications and DIRectory buffering. Furthermore it contains memory management and file-handling. From AmsDOS/Basic you can start FutureOS with the RSX commands |OS or |FDESK. If you use |FDESK you can leave FutureOS and get back to BASIC where you have stopped before - the first 48 KB (not the screen) have been preserved.

FutureOS only runs well on a CPC6128 or 6128plus, because they support the RAM configuration &C3 (which is essential for the mouse arrow of the GUI).

== GUI ==
The Desktop of FutureOS is divided in two sections. First an icon-section, where you can choose your functions. Second there is a section below, where you can browse through directories of discs and hard-disc partitions.

The Desktop can be controlled using a joystick, mouse, trackball or light-pen. There is no command line. The user interface is graphical, you click on icons and files to select them for subsequent actions.

Applications can call the GUI as a subroutine. The icons are fixed, so you will always work with the same desktop.

== File system ==
FutureOS is compatible with the CPCs native data-, file- and format structures (f. e. File-header, Disc-formats). It is not compatible with native [[Amsdos]] or [[CP/M]] programs. FutureOS and compatible applications can be downloaded at: [http://www.FutureOS.de www.FutureOS.de].

Filenames can use all 256 different characters and user numbers from 0 to 254 (except for &E5, which marks a deleted file). Different to Amsdos, a file that is erased under FutureOS will not be shifted to user &E5, but it will be physically removed from the directory. Files can be viewed on-screen (scroll up and down) or printed. You can also view the file-header. When typing a text-file it is possible to set the number of columns and lines of the window the text is displayed in. File-headers are displayed as AmsDOS file or the icon-like file-header of a FutureOS program. An AmsDOS file-header has 128 bytes of which some bytes are unused. FutureOS makes use of those unused bytes so that files have a length definition of 24bit and can have a physical RAM select. Therefore a file can be defined to be loaded everywhere in the external RAM. Also a FutureOS file-header can contain a graphical icon, a textual icon or a short description of the file.

== Hardware ==
The OS supports many of the hardware available for the CPC, including the Vortex disc drives, several mice and the Dobbertin HD20. Also newer hardware expansions like the CPC-Booster and the Symbiface are supported in system .8 beta.

One idea of FutureOS was to support any hardware available. For example there are 3.5" B-drives, Vortex F1-D-drives, hard-discs, real-time-clocks, serial interfaces etc.
Hardware expansion usually need drivers, which can be flexible added to an OS. In contrast to this one of the future goals of FutureOS is to provide a monolithik architecture, where all drivers are implemented in a hardcoded way, because the CPC only has few hardware expansions compared to a PC.

* ''Disc drives and hard discs:'' FutureOS supports up to eight drives and up to four hard-disc partitions. It buffers the directories read from any mass storage device in the expansion RAM.

* ''Plug and Play:'' If you connect a hardware expansion to a CPC, FutureOS will automatically detect that expansion, initialise it and make it accessible. The architecture of the OS allows you to add and remove hardware on purpose. An example: You add a trackball, you use it, then you connect and use a joystick and then you use a proportional mouse for example. You can turn external hardware in the configuration-bytes on or off (use ConfigOS utility).

== Utilities ==
Tools like copy, format, verify or refresh a disc exist. You can copy files from different discs and partitions to other discs and partitions at once.

From the Desktop you can call a little machine monitor. This monitor provides features like editing of CPU registers and I/O ports, display and edit memory or the content of the ASIC of the 6128plus. Memory blocks can be copied or initialised. It is possible to call a routine with defined CPU registers and memory.

== Developing for FutureOS ==
You can developp very freely, even the RST vectors are free usable. Also the second register set of the Z80 is freely usable.

* ''Z80 Assembler:'' You can use an assembler for AmsDOS or for CP/M. Switching between AmsDOS and FutureOS is fast and using |FDESK allows to come back to AmsDOS with the first 48 KB or RAM remaining untouched.

* ''Programming in C for FutureOS:'' With [[FIOLIB]] it also possible to use C as a programming language.

== Applications ==
* [[CBM]] (pull down menu library)
* [[FilmeMacher]] (movie player)
* [[FuturePlayer]] (MP3 and WAV player)
* [[FutureView]] (disc mag)
* [[GMSK]] (sprite converter)

== Conclusion ==
FutureOS was designed as an OS with fast routines. It has specialised file-handling and memory-management that support programs up to 512 KB. The idea is that development of games, graphic tools, word processors, sound (especially MP3), management of big amounts of data, and programming languages should be possible in this environment. Today you can hear MP3 sounds, work with graphic, use C programs, watch movies & demos. But the project FutureOS is still and will ever be under further development.

== Web links ==
* [http://www.FutureOS.de FutureOS homepage]
* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FutureOS/ FutureOS mailing list]