I would like to announce that FAMOS Version 1.10 is now available for download!

FAMOS11F.ZIP (bootable floppy disk version - requires RAWRITE or similar to create the disk, release notes included) is available at
http://w17.easy-share.com/1701069287.html

Please let me know if you have any trouble using easy-share.com. I just uploaded FAMOS11F.ZIP (about 730K) a few minutes ago.

FAMOS11C.ZIP (bootable CD version) will be available soon with more features but a (slightly) bigger download.

The following are in memory immediately upon bootup (FD or CD versions):
- FAMOS Executive + 14 utility applications
- 7 video effect programs including Multi-coloured Ribbons, Endless Frames, 3D Tunnel
- 12 games including Snake, Tetris, Space Invaders, Othello, Top Speed, Pitman
- 4 Text Art samples
- several items of text and information
- Watkin Audio Player/Recorder (with USB1.1 streaming audio support)
- USB Audio Stereo Test Sound
- and more!

Many more items are also available from the boot disk via the MOS "Media
Access" utility (as well as all pre-loaded items summarised above), including:
- more games, effects, demos and text items
- test images (16, 256 and 16 million colours)
- "Dial-up web-browser" (R18 restricted access due to expected adult content )

I would really appreciate any and all feedback on FAMOS .... created 100% with FASM!

Impressive though very few colours and USB stack isn't working yet? on my machine?

Otherwise, the text-editor is nicely done and seems complete. Good luck with it.

Many thanks for trying it out. "Few" colours = 16 (displayed on 256-colour screen) - to save space on the disk! OK, graphic design isn't my forte

The text editor ("FAST") is actually quite limited - only intended for use with text art and operates in "overtype" mode only, while the Tiny Text display utility ("FATT") is a viewer only. "FED" is on the way and will be a more complete editor in the next release.

USB should work unless you have no UHCI controllers - only OHCI and/or EHCI, although even EHCI should fall back to UHCI compatibility. To check, could you unplug all USB devices and run "FAMOS USB Device Information" which should then report some USB controller information as "HCI: xxx" followed by "No device". What number do you see after HCI?

Thanks again.

It actually hung there, but I will test a bit more on monday. I will have a vacation on this weekend with no computers

FAMOS11C.ZIP (748,648 bytes, bootable CD version of FAMOS 1.110, with optional Windows autorun) is now available at
http://w13.easy-share.com/1701082584.html

The CD version has a few more things in memory at boot-up compared with the FD version (50 items altogether), including the "Watkin Technology Media Editor" that I developed to help me write the ISO9660 code for FAMOS.

For more information, and CD burning recommendations, see the file FAMOS110.TXT included in the archive.


As always, all feedback about FAMOS will be greatly appreciated!

More differences between the CD and FD versions of FAMOS

CD version enables APM if available, and powers down all disk drives immediately after booting. Proves that a memory OS doesn't need disks...

CD version has a later version of FAME Memory Editor which is a little more user-friendly - supports cursor keys and PgUp/PgDn as alternative address navigation keys.


Madis731, if you ran any Limited Legacy Program (LLP) in FAMOS like one of the ex-DOS games, that might also have caused USB to crash. System services are only guaranteed BEFORE LLP's are run! See "About LLP's" in FAMOS.

After such a crash, you can always try pressing the PrtSc key in FAMOS, which in many cases will restart the GUI (but generally will not restore any broken system functions - this may be added later...)

FAMOS Bootable CD

oops.. the image file in the archive FAMOS11C.ZIP is named CP080802.IMG, not FAMOS11C.IMG as stated in the release notes FAMOS110.TXT

Corrected release notes:


FAMOS11C.ZIP contains:
- CP080802.IMG = 1,474,560 bytes
- FAMOS110.TXT = 8,064 bytes (this file)
- AUTORUN.BAT = 27 bytes.......) intended to be added to the CD
- AUTORUN.INF = 31 bytes........) before burning so if the CD is
- READTHIS.HTM = 3,046 bytes...) inserted in a PC running Windows,
- IMAGE1.GIF = 1,960 bytes.....) user is asked to reboot from the CD.


CP080802.IMG is intended to be used as the bootable image for a bootabe CD which should preferably be created using NERO version 6. Nero also requires the image to be written to a floppy disk first; however the floppy disk should not be booted directly. It is possible that other software such as IMGBURN can be used to successfully create the bootable CD but none has been tested other than Nero 6. Note that the bootable CD must use floppy disk emulation.

If you want your FAMOS bootable CD to tell the user to reboot if the CD is inserted in a PC running Windows, add the 4 extra files listed above to the root directory of the CD. You can add as much extra data to fill up the remaining 700Mb or so as you wish. FAMOS will be able to read the CD's contents, but in most cases will only be able to use Windows BMP format images and WAV format audio data.
Because of some limitations in FAMOS's ISO9660 directory support, it is recommended that all data is written to the root directory i.e. without folders (although in most cases folders should be handled successfully). When reading ISO9660 directories, FAMOS translates all information into its internal database format, and copies folder names into "Group" fields which can be used for database sorting purposes.
FAMOS supports the use of ISO9660 long filenames up to 32 characters.

Note: CD access is dependent on BIOS support. BIOS-independent CD access will be provided in a future release of FAMOS.

It not work with my 486 computer, it reboot. I test it at friend computer in Virtual Box and it don't run.

Thank you for trying FAMOS, and thank you very much for your feedback Shahada. I hope it will help me to make FAMOS better.

Sorry, but I've never tested FAMOS on a 486, or with any hardware emulators.

I assume you were booting from floppy disk? If yes, while it was booting did you see the message "sorry disks are so slow" being printed on the screen under the "FAMOS is booting..." message? If so, how far did this message get before it reboots? Also how much memory does the 486 have?

Thanks again.

Yes, I booting from floppy disk made after FAMOS11F disk image and I see the message short time then reboots. It does have 32MB memory. But I change seting in Virtual Box in my friend computer and now it works, I can testing FAMOS in Virtual Box

I test FAMOS in Virtual Box and I like it, great OS neville . I try to test in real computer to give feedback. Then maybe I want starting write program.

Hi. I have problems with download. Link points web page with uncompletely weared girls. Adress in profil contains only text.

Thanks Shahada, glad you like it. FAMOS should run on a 486 with 8MB RAM (!) so long as its a DX2/66 or above but not a 486SX (which is really a 386). Also it must have VESA-compatible graphics, but VBE2.0 (linear buffering) is not required except for a couple of the demo applications in FAMOS.

to macgub
Please don't be distracted by the girls. I guess it's how easy-share makes its money. You go towards the bottom left of the screen and wait until you see a security code graphic. Sometimes there's a "download timer" that counts down for a few seconds. Then you have to copy the text you see in the security graphic into the field provided, then click the download button which appears nearby and select Save, not Open. Have you got Rawrite or similar to create the bootable floppy when you get the image? If not you can get it here:
http://www.chrysocome.net/rawwrite

But in my 486 computer it not work . Others 386+ OS boot, but your OS can't boot. It stop again in Virtual Box when detect USB, you have some wrong code in twos case, it must show error message, not rebooting or stop.

Shahada, please understand that USB, especially USB audio, is very new in FAMOS and has not been extensively tested yet. I am not surprised if USB crashes because it is experimental and not yet complete. It supports UHCI hosts only. If you have OHCI it is likely to crash the system. Sometimes EHCI too.

So if USB crashes, just don't use USB, but please continue to try other parts of FAMOS with your hardware.

About your 486 - it has USB?? Very important: did you try my USBAUDIO DOS test program on the 486? If it doesn't work, then FAMOS USB won't work either! [I see there has been 65 downloads of USBAUDIO in the last 2 days and only 25 downloads over the previous 2 weeks - anybody know why?]

You need to tell me the last character that is printed from "sorry disks are so slow!" before your 486 crashes. Do you see the exclamation mark at the end?

Can you please try it on a Pentium PC? It will not harm any computer, and it can not write anything on the hard disk!

Thanks

My english is wrong and you not understand, but USB crashes in Virtual Box, in 486 I not have USB and I can not boot FAMOS. After "sorry disks are so slow!" then reboot like a flash and I can not read all message. I find better computer not mine to test FAMOS, Pentium III but with not USB audio device

730K is enough to post it on this board.
yur attachment limit is 5 Mbytes.

No problem Shahada. I made a special patch for you which might allow you to boot FAMOS on your 486.

You just boot DOS and run PATCHFD with your FAMOS boot disk in drive A: (write-enabled).

The patch will stop FAMOS from accessing the PCI and SM busses during boot-up which I think might fix your 486 rebooting problem. Also it doesn't attempt to access the Soundblaster card, and doesn't reset the DSP chip.

The changes on the boot disk are permanent, unless you rewrite the original image again with rawrite etc. So maybe try it on a second copy of the boot disk especially for your 486. Good luck, and I look forward to hearing how it goes.

Thanks neville! Now it boot in my 486. I give other details after I test more. I test later in Pentium III also.

Thats great Shahada

Now I wonder what the 486 didn't like before? PCI, or APM, or SB?

Does it have PCI slots (or maybe its a laptop?)

Attached is the FASM source for a little DOS program which will check for PCI BIOS and APM support. If you assemble it (232 bytes!) and run it on your 486 it will tell us if there are any problems with the BIOS. Of course it should not reboot or freeze. For each one it should just report either "Found", "not found", or "bad reply" if the BIOS gives an unexpected response.