                    What's New from Echelon?
                        17 September 1986

We  have updates to ZRDOS, DSD, B/Printer, and TERM III, as  well 
as a few rumors.

NEW ZRDOS RELEASED

ZRDOS  1.7 has successfully passed it's beta testing and  is  now 
available  to  the general public.  ZRDOS 1.7  includes  all  the 
previous version's features, such as PUBLIC directories, no  need 
to  ^C when changing floppies, complete compatibility  with  CP/M 
2.2  application  software,  etc.,  and  adds  an  important  new 
feature.

The  new feature is best described as being a "fast  warm  boot".  
Under CP/M and earlier versions of ZRDOS, a disk reset  operation 
(performed  on  warm  boots) can take up to  ten  seconds.   This 
problem isn't normally noticed on floppy disks, but when you  are 
using  hard disks, it can be annoying to type ^C and  wait  until 
the disk reset operation is complete.

ZRDOS  1.7 handles disk reset operations in a different way  that 
permits an enormous speed-up.  You can type ^C and get the system 
prompt  back almost immediately.  Like other Z features  such  as 
the ZCPR3 PATH function, it is a feature that is unimpressive  on 
the  surface,  but  one  you rapidly  become  accustomed  to  and 
eventually wonder how you ever lived without it!

The  ZRDOS 1.7 release also includes several  additional  utility 
programs.   There  is LOGGED, which gives you  information  about 
which  drives  are currently active, and their  status;  DISKRST, 
which permits users to override ZRDOS' fast warm boot function as 
needed  after  an UNERASE or DU3 session; DOSVER,  which  reports 
what version of ZRDOS is presently in use on your system; SRO and 
SRW,  respectively  Set  Read Only and Set  Read/Write  for  disk 
status, and DRO Displays Read/Only drives.

Of course, a list of all the ZRDOS utilities includes AC,  VTYPE, 
DIR, DFA, SFA, DUMP, MOVE, PUBLIC, and VIEW.

ZRDOS 1.7 is available at the same low price of $59.50;  previous 
Echelon customers who purchased ZRDOS (whether by itself, or with 
Z-Com or the Bootable Kaypro Disks) may upgrade for $20.

MAJOR DSD UPGRADE

DSD  is  Echelon's professional full-screen  debugger.   The  new 
version  (version  DE)  handles  Hitachi  HD64180  mnemonics  and 
opcodes.   In  addition,  the  manual  has  been  rewritten   and 
reformatted for easier usage.

Now,  users of HD64180 processors can enjoy the benefits  of  the 
world's  best  debugger.  It cannot fail to  impress,  with  it's 
full-screen/multiple-window display, extensive command set  (more 
than  60  commands), simulation mode, back-trace,  and  extensive 
customization  features.  Although available from other  sources, 
Echelon's version of DSD is the only version that uses the  ZCPR3 
TCAP  for  terminal configuration information,  so  virtually  no 
installation is required.

DSD  is  available for $129.95; previous  Echelon  customers  may 
upgrade for $30, which includes the new manual.

B/PRINTER ADDS "VERBATIM" OPTION

B/Printer v1.1 adds a new mode of operation useful for situations 
where  complex ESCape character sequences are contained in  files 
to  be  "background"  printed.  This can occur  when  using  (for 
example)  Echelon's I/O Recorder to capture NewWord  or  WordStar 
output to sophisticated proportional spacing printers.

The "verbatim" option makes B/Printer transparent so that it will 
pass through all characters to the printer without  modification.  
Or,  you can use the "normal" mode so that B/Printer  can  expand 
tab characters as required for assembler PRN files, etc.

B/Printer  is  available for $39.95, and requires  ZRDOS  1.1  or 
later  to operate.  Upgrades for previous Echelon  customers  are 
$20.

TERM III UPDATED

An update to TERM III has been recently released which fixes  all 
reported minor problems with the system.  A complete list of  the 
problems is contained on the update disk.

TERM  III is available for $99.  Previous Echelon  customers  may 
recieve the upgrade for $20.

RUMORS

The  development  of  Echelon's "C"  compiler  for  the  HD64180, 
capable  of using memory beyond 64k-bytes, is progressing.   With 
any luck, it should be available by the end of the calendar year.

The  spreadsheet, word processor, and database manager  discussed 
in  Z-NEWS  506 for the HD64180, also all capable of  using  more 
than 64k-bytes memory, is also progressing.  A significant recent 
development was an agreement by all parties on how to design  the 
programs  to  be portable to any HD64180 environment,  no  matter 
what  configuration of RAM is used by the hardware and  operating 
system.
