[NTLK] [ANN] ATA Support 1.0b5

From: Paul Guyot (pguyot_at_kallisys.net)
Date: Mon Sep 17 2001 - 05:08:45 EDT


Hi all,

I'm pleased to announce ATA Support 1.0b5. I hope that I compiled all
that properly as I'm currently sick but the beta 4 will expire in
less than 3 hours in New Zealand.

This beta expires on Monday, September, 24th, 2001, 23:59.

What is ATA Support?
--------------------

ATA Support is a software that lets you use ATA cards more or less
like linear cards. It has been tested and seems to work with ATA
PC-Cards, CompactFlash cards and Sony Memory Sticks.

Hey, I still can't use more than 4 MB, why?
-------------------------------------------

Because I'm stupid enough to not sell a software which has known bugs in it.

When will I be able to buy ATA Support?
---------------------------------------

I can't tell exactly yet, but I hope that the full version will be
released before the end of the month.

Where can I find this package?
------------------------------

As usual, you can download this new release on my website:
http://www.kallisys.com/newton/ata/

How can I help the developer?
-----------------------------

If you experience any bug which isn't listed in the list of known
bugs (the list is updated on my website as I get reports), please
report it. The best is to provide as much as information as you can.
To do so, try the Log version of the package. This version is slower
than the regular version but saves log data about exceptions and
errors which can occur here and there and be symptoms of bugs. This
log can be retrieved by tapping the package in the Extras Drawer.
Also please provide a BugTrap log if BugTrap generates anything (the
BugTrap's log will be more useful with the Log version as well).

If you have a card which doesn't work, please report it with a log
generated by the log package. Without the log, I won't be able to
find out why your card doesn't work. Please don't report any problem
with Iomega Clik! drives or don't ask me if they work, they don't.
You can also report cards which do work, but there are so many of
them that I'm no longer sure that I'll maintain a full list of them.

What's new?
-----------

* Fixed a bug in transaction abortion (which corrupted data). *Therefore
  it's highly recommanded to re-initialize any store that was used with a
  previous version*.
* Fixed a timing problem in the order the various modules are loaded. This
  leaded to a -10059 when rebooting with a card inserted.
* Implemented a workaround for Avi's Backdrop card icon to work as expected
  even with ATA cards.

Bugs? What do you mean?
-----------------------

* When there are some packages (such as NetHopper) on an ATA store, bad
  things happen when the Newton goes to sleep and this causes the system to
  restart.
* There seem to be some incompatibility with the driver of the ethernet card
  3C589.
* Aesthetic bug: the names of partitions seems to be eaten (y becomes v).

What's left before the final version?
-------------------------------------

* Fix the sleep & 3Com incompatibility bugs if I can reproduce them.
* Various NewtonScript interface improvements.
* Implement the software protection.
* Write the documentation.

Paul

-- 
Home page: http://www.kallisys.com/
Newton-powered WebServer: http://newt.dyndns.org:8080/

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