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AST RESEARCH, INC.         SOFTWARE BULLETIN #0085D                  03-20-92

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                       PREMIUM UTILITIES RELEASE 2.00



Production Release 2.00        Available January, 1992

Part Number:  910415-004       5.25 inch, 1.2MB diskette 1 of 1

              910415-034       3.50 inch, 1.44MB diskette 1 of 1

Includes enhancements and problem fixes of previous versions plus the
following:

    ENHANCEMENTS:

    - Supports DOS 5.0.

    - Superspl has longer strobe pulse.

    - Third floppy support for low speeds.

    - HDFORMAT supports WD 1007V controller.

    PROBLEMS RESOLVED:

    - Problem when using parallel address of 278h fixed.

    - Problem of using Serial port test if 2f8 is chosen.

    - Problem fixed where system would hang when no on-board parallel port
      was enabled.

Production Release 1.09        Available August, 1991

Part Number:  910415-003       5.25 inch, 1.2MB diskette 1 of 1

              910415-033       3.50 inch, 1.44MB diskette 1 of 1

    ENHANCEMENTS:

    The following items have been changed or added to this release:

    CUPIDTST.EXE v1.07

    - Modified to support 486/25

    - Co-processor message changes from "Internal" to "Present".

    ASTMENU3.EXE v1.72

    - Problem with ASTEMM.SYS sensing error has been resolved

Production Release 1.08        Available January, 1991

Part Number:  910415-002       5.25 inch, 1.2MB diskette 1 of 1

              910415-032       3.50 inch, 1.44MB diskette 1 of 1

    PROBLEMS RESOLVED:

    CUPIDTST.EXE v1.07

    - Now compatible with Extended BIOS Interface (EBI) function calls.

    HDFORMAT.EXE v3.01

    - Now supports Western Digital model WD-1007V disk controller.

    SPEED.EXE v3.01

    - Now supports EBI function calls and is compatible with OS/2.

    ASTMENU.MEN v1.84

    - Allows Expanded Memory configuration up to 32MB.

    ASTMENU3.EXE v1.70

    - Fixed problem where unrealistic values of memory size were displayed
      for ASTEMM.SYS (expanded memory manager).

Production Release 1.07 Rev A  Available November, 1990

Part Number:  910415-001       5.25 inch diskette

              910415-031       3.50 inch diskette

    DESCRIPTION:

    - This is an updated production release of the Premium Utilities at a new
      base part number.  910415-001 (5.25" diskette format) replaces all
      previous releases of 910379-001, 910379-002, 910379-003 and 910379-004.
      910415-031 (3.50" diskette format) replaces all previous releases of
      910379-031, 910379-032, 910379-033 and 910379-034.

    ENHANCEMENTS:

    The following items have been changed or added to this release:

    CUPIDTST.EXE  v1.05.05

    - Resolved problem causing the reporting of erroneous printer port
      failures.

    - Added support to test the Premium 386C with or without cache enabled or
      present.

    - Resolved problem that caused the reporting of spurious link error
      messages.

    - Resolved problem in the interrupt uniqueness test that caused system
      lock-up during math co-processor test.

    ANOMALIES:

    The following anomalies and outstanding issues will be resolved in a
    future revision of this software.

    - In ASTMENU, when saving the configuration after installing the memory
      manager, the "Used to Emulate" line displays erroneous values.

    - The SPEED program is not OS/2 compatible.

    - When using the WD1007V controller, HDFORMAT will not support the low-
      level formatting of a 320MB ESDI hard drive as drive type "1" (611
      cylinders, 63 sectors).

Production Release 1.06 Rev A      Available September, 1990

Part Number:  910379-004

    DESCRIPTION:

    - The Premium utilities diskette release 1.06 part number 910379-004
      replaces release 1.05 part number 910379-003.  Release 1.06 is an
      updated version of the Premium utilities (part number 910379-003, Rel
      1.06) and is shipped with AST Premium 386C systems with 3.01 BIOS CUPID
      Premium Desktop series computers and Premium Tower Series computers.

    ENHANCEMENTS:

    The following items have been changed or added to this release:

    HDFORMAT.EXE v3.00

    - Program will now erase permanently all data (including high-level
      format) from hard drive without destroying low-level format.

Production Release 1.05 Rev A      Available June, 1990

Part Number:  910379-003

    DESCRIPTION:

    - The Premium utilities diskette release 1.05 part number 910379-003
      replaces release 1.03 part number 910379-002.  Release 1.05 is an
      updated version of the Premium utilities (part number 910379-002, Rel
      1.03) and will ship with AST Premium 386C systems with 3.01 BIOS, CUPID
      Premium Desktop Series computers and Premium Tower Series computers.

      NOTE:  These utilities also replace Premium utilities release 5.00 part
             number 910340-001 shipped with Premium 386C systems using BIOS
             versions earlier than 3.01.

    ENHANCEMENTS:

    The following items have been changed or added to this release:

    CUPIDTST.EXE v1.05.01

    - Resolved math co-processor testing problem.

    ASTMENU1.EXE v1.53.01

    - Resolved problem in sensing fixed disk drive when no fixed disk drives
      are present.

    ASTMENU.MEN v1.83.01

    - Fixed disk drive sensing has been modified to allow the AST MENU system
      to work with SCSI fixed disk drives.

Production Release 1.03 Rev A      Available May, 1990

Part Number:  910379-002

    DESCRIPTION:

    - This is the initial production release of the Premium utilities shipped
      with AST Tower systems starting with the Premium 486/25T.  This is an
      updated version of the Premium utilities (part number 910379-001, rel
      1.01, rev C) used for all CUPID systems housed in the Premium Desktop
      chassis.

    ENHANCEMENTS:

    The following items have been changed or added to this release:

    README:

    - Information added regarding the removal of AUTO-Slowdown from some
      systems.

    - Modified to reflect new part numbers and release numbers.

    CUPIDTST.EXE v1.03.02

    - Auto-sense now reports presence of math co-processor on all systems.

This is the initial release of the Premium Utilities software.