============================================================================= AST RESEARCH, INC. SOFTWARE BULLETIN #0032D 09-13-89 ============================================================================= PREMIUM/286 UTILITIES Production Release 5.0 Available September, 1989 Part Number: 910339-001 Rev A Includes all enhancements and problem fixes of previous versions plus the following: PRODUCT OVERVIEW: This is the production release of the Premium/286 Utilities diskette that is shipped with Premium/286 Computers and the Premium/286 BIOS Upgrade Kit which is shipped with AST BIOS v2.0 It replaces Premium/286 Utilities P/N 910242-001, release 4.10. The Release 5.0 diskette uses the AST Boot Loader program to boot the system and run diagnostic tests. Access to the ASTMENU program is accomplished only after booting MS-DOS and then executing the ASTMENU.EXE file at the DOS command prompt. ENHANCEMENTS: - 286TEST, release 2.41, has been updated to provide testing on systems using AST 2.0 BIOS. - If an AT embedded hard drive is installed, HDFORMAT release 2.01 now displays a message to the user that AST does not recommend low-level formatting of embedded hard drives. - ASTCACHE, release 2.41 added DOS 4.01 support. - Addition of the README sub directory that contains updated product information not included in the user documentation. This information can be displayed on the screen or sent to a printer using the README.BAT or PRINTME.BAT files. PROBLEMS RESOLVED: - The /H parameter has been removed from ASTCACHE.COM and ASTCACHE.SYS, release 2.41, to eliminate hard disk speed writing errors. - REMM.SYS, release 4.41, has been modified to correctly recognize the expanded memory on an AST Rampage 286 and Rampage/Plus 286 when used in Premium/286 systems. PROGRAM FILES: The files and programs included with this release: FILES VERSION 86TEST.EXE 2.41 ASTCACHE.COM 2.41 ASTCACHE.SYS 2.41 ASTDSK.DRV 1.11 ASTMENU.MEN 1.81 ASTMENU.EXE 1.40 ASTMENU1.EXE 1.50 ASTMENU2.EXE 1.40 ASTMENU3.EXE 1.63 ASTSETUP.EXE 2.01 FASTDISK.SYS 1.61 HDFORMAT.EXE 2.01 SPEED.EXE 1.19 SUPERSPL.COM 1.71 REMM.SYS 4.41 REX.SYS 1.13 PARK.COM 1.01 PRINTME.BAT N/A README.BAT N/A Production Release 4.10 Available June, 1988 Part Number: 910242-001 Rev B PRODUCT OVERVIEW: PREMIUM/286 UTILITIES Rel 4.10 Rev B reflects an upgrade of the DOS system files to MS-DOS 3.30A Rel 1.20. It replaces PREMIUM/286 UTILITIES Rel 4.00 Rev A, P/N 910242-001. The user files reside on the same diskette in the root directory and the \ASTUTIL subdirectory. These files include the utility programs and the 286TEST file. ENHANCEMENTS: - Upgrade of system boot files and DOS command files to AST MS-DOS 3.30A Rel 1.20. - ASTMENU now offers support and installation of the third floppy device drivers. - ASTCACHE Ver 2.19 provides: 8 sector floppy support, support for hard disks greater than 1024 cylinders and display if memory is greater than 1 MB. - REMM.SYS has been updated to version 4.2. - HDFORMAT has been updated to version 1.60. - README.DOC has been updated to clarify that ASTMENU loads only the ASTCACHE.COM for Bernoulli box users who must install the ASTCACHE.SYS manually. Also, instructions for PARK.COM have been included. PROBLEMS RESOLVED: - The third floppy device driver, ASTDSK.DRV has been updated to version 1.04 to resolve the "drive door open" problem. - HDFORMAT now correctly handles EC command for the 1003 and 1006 hard drive controllers. Also, the interleave problem has been corrected. PROGRAM FILES: The files and programs included with this release can be found in the root directory and the subdirectory ASTUTIL. The following lists the files in each directory. Volume in drive A is 286UTIL410 Directory of A:\ ASTUTIL 5-20-88 11:50a AUTOEXEC BAT 65 3-16-88 2:52p COMMAND COM 25308 2-02-88 12:00a CONFIG SYS 23 10-21-87 12:01p COUNTRY SYS 11254 2-02-88 12:00a FDISK COM 48983 2-02-88 12:00a FORMAT COM 11671 2-02-88 12:00a KEYBOARD SYS 19783 3-09-88 2:50p MODE COM 15440 2-02-88 12:00a README DOC 7979 5-16-88 2:44p SELECT COM 4132 2-02-88 12:00a XCOPY EXE 11216 2-09-88 12:00a 12 File(s) 725504 bytes free Volume in drive A is 286UTIL410 Directory of A:\ASTUTIL . 5-20-88 11:50a .. 5-20-88 11:50a 286TEST EXE 72668 3-17-88 1:38p ASTCACHE COM 31235 3-16-88 12:00p ASTCACHE SYS 302 3-16-88 12:00p ASTDSK DRV 4086 4-28-88 3:31p ASTMENU EXE 22246 3-16-88 2:31p ASTMS EXE 26712 3-16-88 2:34p ASTSETUP EXE 3745 4-07-88 8:06p AUTO MEN 25694 3-17-88 11:44a CUTOFF 28 7-23-87 12:00a FASTDISK SYS 6020 10-02-87 3:03p HDFORMAT EXE 38974 4-19-88 5:48p PARK COM 977 5-06-88 1:04p REMM SYS 16358 5-04-88 4:17p REX SYS 2150 5-15-87 3:20a SPEED EXE 9690 1-19-88 4:10p SUPERSPL COM 11111 5-15-87 3:20a 18 File(s) 725504 bytes free Production Release 4.00 Available June, 1988 Part Number: 910242-001 Rev A PRODUCT OVERVIEW: PREMIUM/286 UTILITIES Rel 4.0 Rev A replaces P/N 910130-005 Rel 3.30 Rev H. This new release combines the utility programs and diagnostic tests onto one diskette that provides easy access to each function through the AST's Common User Interface. ENHANCEMENTS: - 286TEST.EXE file has been added to provide a system confidence level test program. - Common User Interface files allow easy access to all utility files and programs. - REMM.SYS has been updated to version 4.0. - SPEED.COM has been added and replaces 6, 8, and 10.COM used to change the system processing speed. - ASTSETUP has been added to provide support for AST BIOS setup functions. This file replaces INSTALL2 used for Phoenix BIOS setup. - PARK.COM is provided to manually park the heads on 20 MB hard drives. This utility is supplied for use on the AST PREMIUM/286 Model 120's 20 MB hard disk. - The ASTDSK.DRV file has been added to provide support for a third floppy device. PROGRAM FILES: The files and programs included with this release can be found in the root directory and the subdirectory ASTUTIL. The following list the files in each directory. Volume in drive A is 286UT_400 Directory of A:\ ASTUTIL 3-18-88 2:00p AUTOEXEC BAT 65 3-16-88 2:52p COMMAND COM 25308 2-02-88 12:00a CONFIG SYS 23 10-21-87 12:01p COUNTRY SYS 11254 2-02-88 12:00a FDISK COM 48983 2-02-88 12:00a FORMAT COM 11671 2-02-88 12:00a KEYBOARD SYS 19735 2-09-88 12:00a MODE COM 15440 2-02-88 12:00a README DOC 5998 3-17-88 6:20p SELECT COM 4132 2-02-88 12:00a XCOPY EXE 11216 2-09-88 12:00a 12 File(s) 732160 bytes free Volume in drive A is 286UT_400 Directory of A:\ASTUTIL . 3-18-88 2:00p .. 3-18-88 2:00p 286TEST EXE 72668 3-17-88 1:38p ASTCACHE COM 27643 12-02-87 12:00p ASTCACHE SYS 302 12-02-87 12:00p ASTDSK DRV 4062 3-16-88 3:53p ASTMENU EXE 22246 3-16-88 2:31p ASTMS EXE 26712 3-16-88 2:34p ASTSETUP EXE 3745 2-01-88 11:06a AUTO MEN 25694 3-17-88 11:44a CUTOFF 28 7-23-87 12:00a FASTDISK SYS 6020 10-02-87 3:03p HDFORMAT EXE 39022 3-02-88 10:33a REMM SYS 16701 2-29-88 10:46a REX SYS 2150 5-15-87 3:20a SPEED EXE 9690 1-19-88 4:10p SUPERSPL COM 11111 5-15-87 3:20a 17 File(s) 732160 bytes free Production Release 3.30 Available July, 1988 Part Number 910130-005 Rev H DESCRIPTION: The Premium Utilities diskette is for Premium 286 systems using the Phoenix Bios and is not for use with systems using the AST BIOS. This update represents a sustaining effort for existing AST customers and corrects a problem with parity errors when starting INSTALL2. ENHANCEMENTS: - The file INSTALL2.EXE v1.04 has been updated to INSTALL2.EXE v1.05 and corrects a problem with parity errors when starting INSTALL2. - The most recent version of AST cache has been included. PROGRAM FILES: The Premium Utilities diskette contains the following programs and files: FILES VERSION INSTALL2.EXE 1.05 REMM.SYS 3.50 REX.SYS 1.11 10.COM 1.00 6.COM 1.00 8.COM 1.00 ASTCACHE.COM 2.11 ASTCACHE.SYS 2.11 CONFIG.MEM N/A CONFIG.SYS N/A FASTDISK.SYS 1.40 SUPERSPL.COM 1.40 COMMAND.COM 3.30 AUTOEXEC.BAT N/A Production Release 3.0 Available December, 1987 ENHANCEMENTS: - The addition of AST cache has been included. This utility increases the speed of the fixed disk sub-system. - REMM.SYS has been updated to support the caching capability and Microsoft Windows, version 2.0. Production Release 2.0 Available July, 1987 ENHANCEMENTS: - Upgrade of the Operating System "Boot" files for compatibility with MS-DOS 3.2. PROBLEMS RESOLVED: - The 6, 8, 10.COM files have been upgraded to operate correctly with the keyboard speed selection keys; keys. - INSTALL2.EXE file has been upgraded to allow correct operation with all FASTRAM boards. Previously, the system would hang if the FASTRAM board was only partially populated with memory chips. Production Release 1.01 Available November, 1986 NOTES: - This was the first production release of the Premium/286 Utilities software. It provided the necessary software to automatically configure the system for expanded memory use, including the AST FASTDISK program (Equivalent to DOS VDISK), and SUPERSPL, AST's printer spooling program. - Includes the 6, 8, 10.COM programs to allow software switching of computer speed from 6 MHZ, 8 MHZ or 10 MHZ.