peelings-ii-v4n1-1983

During this preliminary evaluation only two problem areas werediscovered: 1) the POSITION command had been accidently disabledand 2) the slot search routine turned on my MicroModem II andaffected my Videoterm 80 column card. Both problems will be repairedin the final version. Except for the lack of the !NIT commandDavid-DOS provides many extremely useful features in a well implementedDOS.DSUMMARYFor a comparison of access times for the seven programs reviewedhere see the attached chart. These timings should be used asa guide to the degree of speed-up available with each program. In advertisementsyou will see statements such as "a 500% improvementin disk access times" but almost none of our timings approached thatfigure. Percentages are not provided, since they are meaningless,whereas the actual wait on the disk to complete its task is where interestreally lies. We have provided timings for load/saving a large (59sector) Applesoft BASIC program, a large binary game (114 sectors),a 34 sector HIRES picture file, read/writing a large (58 sector)sequential text file (of programs reviewed only Diversi-DOS improvestext file times), and BRUNning the commonly used FID programfrom the DOS 3.3. System Master disk.Not all the programs reviewed can be used with every programwritten for the Apple. Most protected software cannot be used withDOS speed up programs since it will overwrite the changes inmemory when the game or whatever is booted. Obviously to makethe necessary changes directly on the protected disk is asking fortrouble. Some unprotected software will not work properly with allDOS enhancements. Some of the fast loaders may destroy the DOSbuffers if an Integer BASIC program is loaded. Keep these limitationsin mind when choosing your DOS enhancer and when reading our recommendationswhich follow.Of the seven programs reviewed so far, both reviewers agree thatUltra Fast Loader is unacceptable as a fast loader when compared tothe other fast loaders. Even though the !NIT command is left intact,the potential for overwriting memory seriously hampers its safe use.Its fast boot capabilities can be useful, however, in some instanceswhere a tremendously fast booting disk is required and no otherfeatures are required. Of the other fast loaders only (Turbochargerand Hyper-DOS), Turbocharger is more useful (and safest) eventhough the !NIT command is disabled. If you need a fast savingcapability in addition to fast loading then you must choose betweenTOE and Diversi-DOS. TOE has the better documentation and a freespace routine but it also has a higher price tag. If you do a lot of workwith text files then your only choice is Diversi-DOS. David-DOS,while a fast loader (and a minor fast saver), has so many otherfeatures that it is more comparable to TOE than the other fastloaders. It will definitely receive a more thorough evaluation when theproduct is finally released. At half the price of TOE its features maymake it the best choice of all.DDOS ENHANCERS COMPARISON CHARTLOCKED FAST BOOT INIT FREE FP BASIC PROGRAM BINARY PROGRAM HIRES PICTURE SEQUENTIAL TEXT FILE FID(all times RAM CARD? DISABLED SPACE (59 SECTORS) (114 SECTORS) (34 SECTORS) (58 SECTORS)in seconds) NORMAL/LOAD LOAD / SAVE BLOAD / BSAVE BLOAD / BSA VE READ / WRITE BRUN----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Normal DOS No No No3.3 3.5 I 17.3Ultra Fast No Yes NoLoader 3.8 / 4.4$29.95Rating: B-Turbocharger No No Yes$29.95 3.5 I 17.3Rating: B+The DOS Yes/No Yes NoEnhancer 3.4 / 6.5$69.95Rating: AAHyper DOS No No Selectable$19.95Rating: B-Diversi-DOS No No No$30.00Rating: A-David-DOS No No Yes$39.95Rating: RAAANo 15.5 I 22.0 29.3 I 41.0 9.5 I 14.9 49.0 I 51.0 6.6Yes but 4.7 I ---- 8.8 I·--- 4.1 I---- ----/---- 3.5wrongYes 4.8 /---- 6.8 / ---- 3.5 I--·· ··-· / --·- 3.0Yes 4.5 / 8.9 7.2 / 14.2 3.6 I 5.6 ·--- / ---- 2.6No 4.5 / ···- 70 1---- 4.0 / ---- ----/---- 3.5No 3.5 / 5.0 6.0 / 8.0 3.0 / 4.0 15.0 / 19.0 2.0Optional 4.7 I 20.8 7.1 I 39.4 4.1 / 13.0 5.3 / ---- 4.0Note 1 Speed for the TLOAD commandTimings were done with a digital stopwatch.Blank entries indicate no change from standard Apple DOS.TDE's master program is locked, utilities diskette is not.24Peelings II