From: uhclemLOSE.jul06@nemesis.lonestar.org   
      
   Chris Young  wrote:   
   : I know 1.3 is pretty limited, but I can seem to get some of those old   
   : programs like "trek78" to run with anything else. Not even TRSDOS 6.2.1.   
   : Is there a way to convert those old programs over to something like LDOS or   
   : the other better OS's?   
      
   For starters, if you have a program that runs under TRSDOS 1.x, it won't   
   run under a Model 4 mode operating system like TRSDOS 6/LS-DOS 6 without   
   major surgery.  Use a Model III mode operating system, like LDOS 5, which   
   has a very compatible OS at the system call level.   
      
   You will need to use CONV to copy the programs from TRSDOS 1.x format   
   to the LDOS 5/TRSDOS 6/LS-DOS 6 disk format, but after that, most   
   Model III programs that run under TRSDOS 1.3 work fine under LDOS 5.   
   CONV is on LDOS and can read TRSDOS 1.3 media.  To move files the other   
   direction back to TRSDOS 1.x is a different and more complex process.   
      
   NEWDOS and some of the other Model III mode OSes may also work with   
   the typical TRSDOS 1.x program, but LDOS was rigorously tested for being   
   compatible with TRSDOS 1.x when it came to all documented (and quite a few   
   undocumented) calls into the OS, plus the catalog of Tandy-sold   
   applications (from any vendor).  I can't say the same level of effort   
   for testing for compatibility was put into the others.  LDOS 5 documentation   
   was also expanded in the Radio Shack releases by Radio Shack disclosing   
   a number of previously undocumented system calls and system variable   
   locations.   LDOS 5 eventually came out far superior in its ability to   
   handle bad input data to system calls, and it was already a lot faster   
   and more flexible than TRSDOS 1.3, so it was a big winner.   
      
   This was done very late in the Model III life (summer 1982) when   
   production had nearly ceased and hard disk support was being offered   
   to existing customers, mainly to get them to stop whining about it.   
   Hard disk support for Model I was provided at the same time, although no   
   one really expected many of those to be sold.   
      
   The OS for Model III and I hard disk support was LDOS 5.1.3/R - "R" not   
   being for "Radio Shack" as is commonly thought, but really revision R,   
   with LSI having submitted 12 or so revisions of the long-available   
   LDOS 5.1.3 to Tandy before one was accepted for sale via Radio   
   Shack.  Myself and the other testers (sometimes up to six) that worked   
   on this project really beat LSI up during the summer of 1982.   
      
   The work on LDOS 5 for Radio Shack happened so late in the life of the   
   Model I/III family, NEWDOS, Multidos the other OS makers didn't really   
   get the opportunity to take advantage of these official OS interface   
   disclosures and make compatibility adjustments in their OSes, assuming   
   they wanted to be compatible.  They probably also did not care.   
      
   The Model 4 came out about six months later and the market for Model III   
   stuff really died then.   
      
      
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   	http://nemesis.lonestar.org      |"LETNi! LETNi! LETNi!" - 1983   
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