peelings-ii-v4n1-1983

DOS ENHANCERSOne of the complaints about the Apple II and its DiskOperating System (DOS) is that it is too slow. When the diskdrive was first introduced, it was a tremendous improvementover cassette reading and writing. But with all the various newcomputer systems available today, Apple DOS is, by comparison,indeed too slow. However, some enhancements can bemade to DOS to speed up certain operations. It appears thatmost of these enhancements were recently discovered becausesuddenly DOS speed up programs are popping up all·over. We will look at six (one is a preliminary evaluation) inthis issue and will review more in future issues.In evaluating these DOS enhancers two basic criteria wereused. The first is speed of operation, and the second is theease of use of the program to create a faster DOS disk. Mostof the programs reviewed here improve LOAD/BLOAD(RUN/BRUN) times only with no effect on SAVE/BSAVE ortext file operations. Other capabilities may be included such asfast booting, disk free space, or date stamping of files. Eachprogram will be briefly discussed and its features covered. Thereviewers have not tried to anticipate every application, sowhen considering one of the DOS enhancer programs for yourown use keep in mind that it is possible that the enhancedDOS may not work with your programs or in your application.For example, if DOS is placed into a RAM card, the PIEWRITER (or Apple PIE) word processor will not function correctly,or if you move an enhanced DOS into a RAM card, youmay find that your Apple hangs since some vectors may bechanged. Programs which directly access DOS routines maynot find these routines in an enhanced DOS so the programwill "bomb." If you attempt to enhance a modified DOS, youmay find that things don't work as expected. However, inmany applications, using an enhanced DOS will improve diskaccess times dramatically and increase your Apple's efficiency.Hyper-DOSby John BridgesSoftkey Publishing(Hardcore Computing)P.O. Box 44549Tacoma, WA 98444206-581-6038Machine Language48K, FP (see text)DOS 3.3UnlockedRating: B-Reviewed by Monty LeeHyperDOS is distributed by Softkey Publishing, who also publishthe HARDCORE magazine. The HyperDOS listing was included inVol. 1Issue3 to all HARDCORE subscribers. For those who do notsubscribe to HARDCORE, HyperDOS is available from Softkeydirectly. According to Softkey, the only difference between the twoproducts is that the $19.95 HyperDOS will work with Integer BASICfiles also, and the magazine one will not.The program itself occupies 256 bytes starting at $9COO in DOS.Since this is just below the normal DOS buffers, HyperDOS rewrites18the buffer start so as to protect HyperDOS from being overwritten.The author indicates that the routine can be placed so that it occupiesthe space now taken by the !NIT function, but this is left to theindividual to accomplish. The source code is provided for those whohave the magazine.The documentation with the magazine version is only one column.Softkey indicates the documentation for the retail version willnot be significantly different. Since the program is user transparent,just LOAD/RUN, and BLOAD/BRUN as before, the necessity formore extensive documentation is not needed.HyperDOS only enhances the loading of either BASIC programsor binary programs. It does not affect text files or SA VEing of programs.The advertisements claim that HyperDOS is 500% faster. Alook at the chart will indicate that this is not the case. Even thefigures in the Softkey ad do not support this claim. Finally, in somecases where the binary program loads exactly below DOS that normallystarts at $9DOO, HyperDOS will be overwritten and your DOSin memory will crash.HARDCORE indicated that they will be publishing a version thatlocates HyperDOS within the !NIT code area to bypass this problem.Overall, HyperDOS works without problem. It does not have theproblem of loading in more than just the program that some othershave. For HARDCORE, subscribers, the price is nice - FREE. Forothers, whether you think you can use it will depend upon yourneeds. If you just want to speed up program LOAD/RUN times withoutany other DOS enhancements, than this may fit your needs.DPeelings II