I am proud to present the first public release of CadOS, an operating
system to work behind AGA demo-programming.
WHAT?
-----
If you look at most demo sources today, you will find they have a operating
system of the coder's invention behind them, at minimum they will have a
little "startup code". There exist some demos that break this rule, but they
don't work on anything other than A500s :-)
CadOS is one such demo OS, and a quite advanced one at that. It is a
responsible OS, taking over the OS gracefully, and leaving it pretty much
in the same state it got it.
It comes with lots of high level routines, that all coders appreciate.
For example, you can generate an entire copperlist with one call! Another
call can load and unpack a file for you, another can generate a screen
from an IFF file and even unpack the IFF into the bitmap for you.
But - unlike most demoOSes - it has DOCUMENTATION!
Over 100k of docs, each function described exactly with AmigaGuide manpages,
also the system itself is described and its features and errorrequesters
are listed.
Finally, most importantly, programs that use CadOS are more user-friendly!
WHY?
----
CadOS is my OS. I have developed it for over a year, more than many other
coders have put to their OS. During this time, I have uncovered many
problems with compatibility when one stops the AmigaOS from being the master
of the Amiga, and taking the crown for yourself. The philosophy of CadOS
is to make demos much safer to the user and the user's Amiga, while not
giving up very much of what the coder likes to do. And, to improve the
safety-factor of demos at large, I am allowing anyone to use it, read it's
source, and take it apart to please themselves with. Now any demo coder can
add to or improve his own OS. May the user never need a 'scratch partition'
to run demos.
WHERE?
------
CadOS has a homepage,
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~u13sac/kyzer/cados.html
you can download it from there, CadOS will also be made available for ftp
from aminet. And you can also expect all good coding sites and BBSes to
carry it.
WHAT NOW?
---------
In the future, I propose to add:
- CIA chip saving (lacking currently!)
- MMU protection.
- much more support sources (I have a backlog to convert!)
I would appreciate if people downloaded CadOS and gave it a look, and
tested the executable programs on their Amigas, especially if they have
a 68030 or better, the snazzier the config the better.
In particular, I would like feedback:
- Does it assemble with your assembler? (tested with PhxAss 4.33)
- Do the binaries work? (tested A1200.020.14.2MbC8MbF.v39.330MbHD and
A1200.020.14.2MbC0MbF.v39.0MbHD)
- Can you get it to work with one of your sources?
- Do you like it?
Enjoy! -Kyzer/CSG
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