diff --git a/_posts/2017-07-21-retroreview-speedup.md b/_posts/2017-07-21-retroreview-speedup.md index fe18fc510..4c00d0a09 100644 --- a/_posts/2017-07-21-retroreview-speedup.md +++ b/_posts/2017-07-21-retroreview-speedup.md @@ -208,9 +208,23 @@ head settling times are rarely simulated. As I suggested in my [last blog post] degree of authenticity that all emulators should strive for, and PCjs emulators are no exception to that rule -- I just haven't gotten around to it yet. +### "IBM Updates DOS to 1.10" + +In the very next issue of PC Magazine (August 1982), there's an article titled +"[IBM Updates DOS to 1.10](https://books.google.com/books?id=WYnHD9WSWdAC&lpg=PA110&ots=QlUklzAI8s&dq=pc%20magazine%20%22IBM%20Updates%20DOS%20To%201.10%22&pg=PA111#v=onepage&q&f=false)" +which includes a section on disk I/O performance and the fate of `SPEEDUP`: + +> The speed of the disk I/O has been increased. Although IBM has not published any specific figures, +improvement in disk access appears to be 100 percent. Using the format command as a baseline, DOS version 1.0 +formatted a single-sided diskette in 34 seconds, while DOS 1.10 formatted a single-sided diskette in 19 seconds, +including the time necessary to provide improved specification printout upon completion of the format process. + +> SPEEDUP.COM, a patch to DOS 1.0 that performed the same function, is no longer needed in DOS 1.10, and any +attempt to use it in the new DOS will result in program errors or unpredictable results. + ### Epilogue -There were some nice side benefits to debugging the problems introduced by `SPEEDUP`. +There were some nice side benefits to debugging the problems uncovered by `SPEEDUP`. First, when attempting to `LIST` a BASIC program to a serial port, I discovered that BASIC depends on the port generating a "Transmitter Holding Register Empty" interrupt after outputting each byte, and that I had never actually