Nascom News­let­ter

2. Improved error messages

3. File locking

4. File identification by terminal number when using the NAS-NET networking system.

5. Formatting removed from the operating system to make way for other improvements, and also to eliminate the possibility of faulty assembler programs managing to re-format the disc!

6. New and improved utility programs on disc, now including a disc formatting program. This disc will be supplied with NAS-DOS in future, rather than at registration time, since alhtough the existing utilities are not essential to use of the system, disc formatting is!

7. New and expanded manual.

A special version of NAS-DOS for use with the Winchester disc is also available. This supports the Winchester as the main disc drive, and uses utility programs to read files from floppy disc where this facility is required (eg for program loading and transfer).

Nas-Net Networking System

NAS-NET is a networking system which allows several Nascom computers to be linked together to share the resources of a central disc and printer. All the satellite computer (1 to 31 are allowed) appears to have a normal NAS-DOS disc operating system, but automatically accesses the disc of the master computer when disc access is required. The system has been proved in customer sites for over 12 months, and has proved extremely popular, technically and from the point of view of its low price and genuine availability. Schools and other educational establishments in particular have been major customers.

Rev 2.1 of NAS-NET has now been released. Again it is fully compatible with the previous releases, and upgrading to the latest issue is not necessary for existing users. There are a number of internal improvements, but the most immediately obvious to the user is that files stored of disc are now given a terminal number, and are accessible only by that terminal number and the master computer. The terminal number is specified by the user on joining the network, and is not a function of a particular piece of computer hardware. Some changes have also been made to the way that access is gained to the central printer via ‘spool’ files on the disc. These too are now automatically identified by terminal number, and printing of these can be initiated from the satellite computer.

Most NAS-DOS applications software is now available for use with NAS-NET. In practice the difference from the standard versions of the software is limited to the printer access – in the network version this will automatically make use of the printer on the central computer. Software now available in this form includes the NAS-PEN and SPEX word processors, the NAS-CALC spread sheet program and the MANOR database manager.