Prodatron just released the final version of SymbOS 2.1, his multitasking and multiplatform operating system for the Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW and MSX. Again, the changelist is long, so be sure to download the latest version and check the new features by yourself. You can download it from the SymbOS download page. You can discuss the new version on the CPCWiki forums as well.

Changes:

• New multiline textinput control: The most complex control of the desktop manager has the functionality of a small text editor and is an exact copy of modern textedit-boxes. It supports features like auto-word-wrapping, support of any proportional fonts and colours, unlimited line length, text marking, copy & paste etc.
• Improved singleline textinput control: This control has been optimized a lot and is now based on the new code of the multiline control. Editing is faster and doesn’t flicker anymore.
• Interbank calls: The same application can now place code in multiple 64K banks and use the new interbank calls of the kernel to switch between the code areas in an easy and transparent way.
• 64K cluster support: While the official specification of the FAT filesystem doesn’t allow clusters with sizes larger 32KB, SymbOS is now also able to handle FAT16 and FAT32 partitions with 64K clusters.
• Settings autosave: Changes of the system settings will now be autosaved on shut down or when closing the control panel. This is optional.
• Preselected system path: The file dialogue will preselect the system path, if no drive and path is specified
• Direct low level sector access: The file manager now provides direct access to its low level sector read and write functions for the applications.
• Optimized memory allocation: When an application is loaded the system now tries different ways of memory allocation. This minimizes the wasting of fragmented memory areas and makes it possible still to load programs even if the memory is nearly full.
• Improved SymShell: The textoutput in fullscreen mode is again 20% faster. The TYPE command has been debugged.
• and last but not least: a new nice looking system font

New applications (you can get them on the download page):

• Notepad: With the availability of the new multiline textinput control a Notepad clone is now reality in SymbOS as well. It provides nearly the whole functionality of its Windows counterpart including search and replace, different formatting options and multiple font selection.
• Conways Game Of Life: This application was mainly developed to demonstrate the multi threading ability in the multitasking environment of SymbOS. It also contains a library with hundrets of objects and supports all combinations of alternative cell rules.
• 4-In-A-Row: The first official released SymStudio application has been developed by Edoz. It is the well known game “4-in-a-row”, which is developed 100% in SymBasic and is now available for SymbOS.
• Tetris 2014: Tetris is another example that developing SymBasic-based applications and games with SymStudio is truly possible and easy to do. This second more advanced game by Edoz brings this classic to SymbOS.