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EBOS (Exatron BASIC Operating System)

Correction. This is officially known as ESOS (Exatron Stringy Operating System) (even though the manual title say "Exatron BASIC Operating System")

Tez
 
Thanks for keeping the Stringy Floppy alive, Tez! There are not too many of this interesting TRS-80 accessory left out there. It filled a need at the time...relatively affordable storage above and beyond what cassettes could offer, especially on the Model I.

I hope to start imaging some of my wafers and get the images into your archive soon.

This is the only reference I have to ESOS. It's from the Exatron catalog.

Exatron_ESOS_2.4.png
 
Tibs said:
I thought there was a ROM too?
Click to expand...

Yes, the standard stringy floppy OS was in ROM. But, that was only 2K so they also released an enhanced OS on wafer with more features that wouldn't fit in the ROM.
 
Yes, it was interesting how the ESF tapped into that "unused" section at the top of Level II ROM reserved space to provide functionality. Came with a keyboard debounce routine if need and could co-exist with a disk system.

Tez
 
tezza said:
Yes, it was interesting how the ESF tapped into that "unused" section at the top of Level II ROM reserved space to provide functionality. Came with a keyboard debounce routine if need and could co-exist with a disk system.
Click to expand...

A nice feature which was lost on the Model III version since the MIII used that "unused" section of the memory map. The MIII version had a cassette connection and required a special boot wafer for the stringy OS. Much more convoluted to use. Although by that time, the stringy floppy's days were over as the mini floppy disk drives were becoming more affordable and powerful ie. the DD drives available on the Model III.
 
pski said:
I hope to start imaging some of my wafers and get the images into your archive soon..
Click to expand...

Reading them in the original drive seems to be a bit problematic due to breakage. As a thought experiment I've been imagining other ways of recovering the data that put less stress on the tape.

How are you planning on reading your tapes?
P.S. I believe I read that it is a linear format so even if you get a breakage it would not necessarily kill all the files on the tape (if you could repair the break).
 
exidyboy said:
Reading them in the original drive seems to be a bit problematic due to breakage. As a thought experiment I've been imagining other ways of recovering the data that put less stress on the tape.

How are you planning on reading your tapes?
P.S. I believe I read that it is a linear format so even if you get a breakage it would not necessarily kill all the files on the tape (if you could repair the break).
Click to expand...

I plan on using my existing stringy floppy drive to read the wafers. I tested it a few years ago with some of my wafers and it worked well. These wafers were apparently stored in ideal conditions.
 
pski said:
Yes, the standard stringy floppy OS was in ROM.
Click to expand...

I can get access to an Exidy Sorcerer that has the custom monitor ROM for the Exatron/ASP Microcomputers Stringy Floppy and intend to dump that ROM.
The drive itself has a further 2K 'controller' ROM which I would like to read as well - is there also one when used on a Tandy?
If you're interested and they haven't already been dumped perhaps you could read the equivalent ROM's in your machine and drive?
These could then be presented to the MAME project to try and inspire a developer to take on the task of emulating it as a peripheral that could be run against a number of the vintage machines in that project with which it was compatible.

pski said:
But, that was only 2K so they also released an enhanced OS on wafer with more features that wouldn't fit in the ROM.
Click to expand...
From a preservation point of view this sounds like a rather precious wafer then.
 
Matthew Reed has the ESF running on his TRS-80 emulator.
I was hoping he would manage to get the Aculab Floppy Tape (the UK's enhanced version of the SF) running too, but I think he's just too busy.
I'll try and devote a few pages, from the day, relating to the AFT in the March edition of TRS8BIT
 
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