This section will provide an overview of all changes for all versions of XOSL, released since XOSL 1.1.0. It is basically the additional information sent to the XOSL support lists to announce new releases.
XOSL 1.1.5 (December 23, 2000)
- Fixes
-
- Data saving problem solved. For some systems (with a ABIT BE6 motherboard) all saved changes would be lost again after reboot.
- Invalid boot items, which are valid again are now automatically enabled. A boot item is invalid when, for instance, its partition is on a detached removable disk.
- Because drive swapping won't work for Windows 9x/Me, it is not checked by default anymore for partitions on the second, third, etc. hard disk.
- Enhancements:
-
- Integrated Smart Boot Manager to support IDE CD-ROM booting.
XOSL 1.1.4 (July 3, 2000)
- Fixes
-
- Initialization bug fixed, which could cause XOSL to crash under certain circumstances.
- "Auto boot last boot item" bug solved. It would fail when used together with drive swapping. That is, the OS on the drive that is swapped would never become the default OS.
- Timeout bug fixed, which prevented you to select a timout longer than 2:15 (if anyone actually wants to use that).
- Some more minor fixes.
- Enhancements:
-
- Animated controls. All controls are drawn flat (with less depth). When the mouse is moved over a control, more depth is added. This isn't perfect yet. Still a lot of unwanted behavior.
- An implementation of a combo box (drop down list) is added, and used to select the mouse type and keyboard layout. More to come...
XOSL 1.1.3 (June 1, 2000)
- Fixes
-
- On main dialog the scrollbar did not show when more than 7 boot items exist. Has been fixed
- Display driver greatly enhanced. It should now fully comply the VESA VBE standard
- Other minor fixes
- Enhancements:
-
- Linear frame buffer support is now part of the mode switching option (as it's supposed to be). So if you select to use LFB, you have to hit Test/Apply to make it take effect.
- It is again possible to display Auto boot progress on the main dialog. To select this, check No auto boot dialog at Preference/Misc. Note that the mouse is disabled during auto boot. However, the keyboard is fully enabled (also for the Auto boot dialog), so you can take full advantage of the hotkeys.
- XOSL bypass has been greatly enhanced. It'll now display a menu, where you can select to boot one of the primary partitions or a boot floppy. The partitions are displayed including file system name, and volume labels (when available/supported).
- XOSL bypass is now protected with the same password as XOSL Preference and Setup (Preference/Password). You can now fully protect your system against unwanted user, while you have XOSL installed.
- To switch to XOSL-bypass, depress 'Left-Shift' before XOSL is started (was left + right Ctrl + Alt).
- Double click the boot item list at Setup to toggle the 'Default' flag.
- The main (loader) dialog will automatically resize to the longest boot item name.
- New:
-
- Drive swapping
- Enhanced keyboard support, including multi-language layouts (currently only US and French) and enhanced key support (F11, F12, Alt-Tab, etc.).
- Removed:
-
- Boot on keypress (Preference/Misc). This is now always the default.
XOSL 1.1.2 (Apr 14, 2000)
- Fixes
-
- A20 line is now better supported by XOSL. Handling this address line has been improvement, and XOSL now also disables it. This solves the problem (mainly encountered with AMD CPUs) that Windows 98 (SE?) would take up to half an hour to boot.
- When all boot items were removed, XOSL would hang the first time you try to boot. This bug has been fixed.
- Install now aborts with an error when the disk install is executed from is full.
- Other minor fixes
- Enhancements:
-
- Setup has been completely re-designed. It is way better and easier to use now I think. It is not entirely finished yet, that is, mainly what to happen on specific key presses is yet to be defined. Feedback on this is greatly appreciated!
- On the preference dialog some options are moved to other tab pages.
- When the timeout feature is used to boot the default boot item (formerly known as Instant Boot), instead of the main dialog with the progress bar, now a separate dialog is shown. This makes 'Ignore mouse click' (Pref/Misc) obsolete.
- 'Instant boot' renamed to 'default'
- Partition lists now include FAT Volume labels.
- All partitions are automatically revealed when XOSL is started, and you can only hide partitions now. No more reveal, no more ignore. It's now easier to use and less confusing.
- The method to use additional keys has completely changed. Now you can just hit the key you want to store. For keys that have a special meaning (escape, backspace, tab & shift-tab) buttons can be used.
- New:
-
- Auto save changes
- MBR virus protection
- Ranish Partition Manager 2.38 Beta 1.9 can be installed together with XOSL. When installed, it can be started from XOSL, without first booting an operating system.
- XOSL now remembers up to 56 partitions. When you remove a partition, restart XOSL, then add the partition again, from XOSL it will seem as if the partition has never been removed. If a boot item was attached to the partition, you can enable it again, and when used for hiding (where ever), it will be restored.
- Removed:
-
- Reveal/Ignore & 'Reveal partitions on start-up'. Obsolete due to dramatic changes to the setup dialog.
- Ignore mouse click. This work-around has turned obsolete, because clicking a mouse button to disable booting the default boot item isn't used anymore.
XOSL 1.1.1 (Feb 16, 2000)
- Fixes and enhancements:
-
- Setup/Partition:
-
- Coexist with virtually any other boot manager: boot the original MBR as it was before XOSL got installed. The original MBR is displayed as the MBR of the first hard disk
- Preference/Misc:
-
- Clear screen before booting
- 'Set item as instant boot' renamed to 'Auto boot last boot item'
- Main window:
-
- Selected boot item is highlighted
- Install utility:
-
- Enhanced uninstall (restore original or default MBR; restore partition filesystem Id)
- Restore XOSL (enhanced version of mbrfix.com)
- 'Install on FAT partition' renamed to 'Install on DOS drive'
- Removed:
-
- Install utility:
-
- 'Upgrade' has been removed
- mbrfix.com:
-
- mbrfix.com has been integrated into the install utility
XOSL 1.1.0 (Jan 12, 2000)
- Fixes and enhancements:
-
XOSL 1.1.0 completely replaces XOSL 1.0.0, and contains many fixes and enhancements.
Extended Operating System Loader Copyright © 1999/2000, Geurt Vos
|