PRESS RELEASE  -  September 1, 1992  -  Havre, MT.
DragonWare Software Releases PowerDOS as Freeware.

DragonWare Software is proud to announce the freeware release of Chris 
Latham's PowerDOS - a powerful multitasking operating system that runs on 
the TOS series of computers from Atari Corp.

PowerDOS represents over four years of intense study and development 
efforts to create a powerful, fast, and yet a compatible multitasking 
replacement of Atari's GEMDOS level system software. PowerDOS redefines 
what your Atari ST, Mega ST, Stacy, STe, Mega STe, TT and Falcon computer 
can do.

WHAT POWERDOS DOES

PowerDOS handles every application call made to GEMDOS (GEMDOS is the 
high-level part of TOS that deals with disk input/output; parallel, serial
and MIDI communication; program execution; memory allocation) with 
routines written in 100% assembly language. Call-for-call, PowerDOS is 
many times faster than GEMDOS in reading and writing data to devices.

If faster device i/o were all that PowerDOS offered, PowerDOS would
represent a significant breakthrough in system software - but PowerDOS 
means more....

A SINGLE-MINDED GEMDOS

Because TOS was not originally written with true multitasking in mind, 
GEMDOS cannot task-switch. That is, GEMDOS can only run _one_ program at a
time. An application must terminate (quit) before another application can
be launched (ran). While tasks running under GEMDOS may launch other tasks
(as in the case of a telecommunications program launching a file transfer
program, or a programming shell launching a compiler), the launching task
stops running, waiting for the launched task to terminate.

Imagine though, the possibilities of running more than one task at the same
time! Suddenly, the concept of your computer being limited to handling a 
step-by-step linear series of tasks is shattered.

PowerDOS provides the ability to switch between tasks hundreds of times 
per second. Up to 256 tasks can run at once. PowerDOS manages the 
distribution of time via priority levels for individual tasks that can be
set and changed so that more important tasks get a bigger slice of the 
pie.

WHAT POWERDOS ISN'T

PowerDOS isn't a magical multiple-GEM window multitasker. Why? PowerDOS 
places compatibility over bells-and-whistles.

To maintain the fullest possible compatibility with the existing base of 
TOS platform applications, PowerDOS adheres strongly to the GEMDOS set of 
rules. What that means is that programs that aren't written to take 
advantage of PowerDOS multitasking (or interprocess communication or 
memory management) won't multitask easily. These programs aren't aware of 
the advantages of PowerDOS - but if made aware, they can easily 
multitask, and significantly increase user productivity.

All legal TOS programs _will_run_ under PowerDOS - and will enjoy
PowerDOS's lightning fast device I/O - but unless programs are written
with PowerDOS's extensions in mind, the ability to multitask will be
limited.

PowerDOS was designed with the future of TOS based machines in mind - 
while ensuring that the previous generation of TOS software will continue 
to work.

MAKING POWERDOS WORK FOR YOU

PROGRAMMERS: PowerDOS adds dozens of system calls to the GEMDOS series. 
These calls allow programmers to _easily_ set up interprocess
communication (Subscribe-and-Publish!), to restrict and manage memory 
use, to monitor the status of any task running under PowerDOS, to spawn
off child processes, and most importantly to add new device drivers and
commands to PowerDOS - making PowerDOS infinitely expandable.

To make your programs work with PowerDOS, contact Christopher Roberts at 
DragonWare Software, and ask for a PowerDOS Developers Kit.

NON-PROGRAMMERS: The real beauty of PowerDOS is that it is totally 
transparent to the user. A user simply installs PowerDOS in the AUTO 
folder and realizes a tremendous increase in device I/O speed. Life is 
better.

More advanced users can take advantage of setting up alias drives, adding 
pipes, naming serial ports, and using any of the number of PowerDOS 
utilities now available and those still under development.

POWERDOS - A BASE TO BUILD ON

Currently, DragonWare Software has two series of applications under 
development which rely on the Power of PowerDOS. The first series, 
Powernet, is a Local Area Network for the Atari TOS series of computers. 
Powernet has been shipping for several months, and is an unqualified hit 
among users! (Powernet is the LAN of choice in Sunnyvale!)

AtariTalk-2 is a still-under-development series of drivers for Powernet 
that will allow Atari TOS computers to communicate with AppleTalk and 
Ethernet LANs.

WHY IS POWERDOS FREEWARE?

With the advent of Atari's new Falcon computer, the market for TOS based 
hardware and software is ready to grow. We at DragonWare are ready to 
help supply TOS users with the tools to properly utilize their machines, 
and we can think of no other tool that could revolutionize the way that 
owners use their machines than PowerDOS. Hence, we have decided to make 
PowerDOS a freeware product. While all copyrights to PowerDOS are 
retained by PowerPoint Software, PowerDOS itself may be freely 
distributed.

There are plans for more PowerDOS goodies to be released in the near 
future - stand by for some exciting announcements.

DragonWare Software welcomes any inquiry, and stands ready to 
support any developer or user who wishes to take advantage of the Power 
of PowerDOS.

For inquiries:    DragonWare Software
                  P.O. Box 1719
                  Havre, MT 59501-1719
                  (408) 265-9609
                  GEnie: DRAGONWARE

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DragonWare Software is a member of the IAAD - the Independent Association 
of Atari Developers - and fully supports development of hardware and
software to unleash the full power of the entire series of TOS based
computers from Atari.

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PowerDOS and Powernet are copyright  1992, PowerPoint Software, 
manufactured and distributed under license by DragonWare Software Inc.

AtariTalk-2 is copyright  1992, DragonWare Software Inc.

Atari, TOS, GEMDOS, ST, Mega ST, Stacy, STe, Mega STe, TT and Falcon are 
all copyrights of Atari Corporation.

All other products mentioned are copyright and/or trademark of their 
respective holders.
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