MACREAD V 2.0õ by B.BALETKAõõMacPaint & MacIntosh are registered trademarks of the Apple Corp.õõõThis program is NOT finished. I am only posting an incomplete version to showõthat this can be done successfully on the Atari 8-bit computers. I am not aõwiz-bang computer programmer, and this program is compiled BASIC, so it's a bitõslow.õõWARNING!!!! You can only use MAC pictures that have not been compressed withõ.PIT or .SIT (you would see these as extensions on the filename). You can tellõwhether a program uses .PIT or .SIT if you see "PITPIT" or "SITSIT" in the fileõheader. The files you -can- display are the ones that have "PNTGMPNT" in theõheader (in case you take a look at the file)).õõõWhen you load the program, it will display the main menu. This will present youõwith several options:õõ1) Read & Display MacPaint Pictureõ If you have not selected a file to view, or if the program cannot open thatõfile, you will jump to the filename selection option.õ For best results, you may wish to reduce the color level on your TV orõmonitor, due to the red/green shades (artifacting) which may appear duringõdisplay. For best viewing, it is suggested that you stand a few feet back fromõthe screen.õ During or after the picture display, hitting [START] will return you to theõmenu. Hitting <BREAK> may give you a strange error message; if so, just hitõ<Return>.õõ2) Filename:õ Select this option to specify the filename, which then will be displayed onõthis line.õõ3) Vertical Ratio:õ MacPaint pictures do not scale correctly when shown on an Atari screen.õHowever, some Mac pictures scale at one ratio, and some at another. This optionõwill allow you to select the ratio which displays the picture in the mostõaccurate manner. I have not been able to determine whether there is a byte inõthe file header which would make this step unnecessary; if I can find one, thisõstep may be deleted from future versions of this program.õõ4) Distance from Top of Picture:õ This option will allow you to input an offset from the top of the MacPaintõpicture.õõ5) Distance from Left of Picture:õ This option will allow you to input an offset from the left side of theõMacPaint picture.õõ6) ZOOM:õ This is the main improvement from version 1.0 of this program. This optionõwill allow you to see almost all of the MacPaint picture at one time, usingõAtari's Graphics 9 mode. The resolution is somewhat reduced, but you should beõable to get a good idea of how the picture looks.õ When using this option, the "Distance from left of picture" option isõdisabled, because you are displaying the complete picture from left to right.õThe "Distance from top of picture" still works, however, since some pictures areõa bit "long."õõ7) Re-Display Current Picture:õ This option will only appear after you have displayed at least a part of aõpicture.õõ8) Exit to DOS:õ Self-explanatory.õõ9) Directory of files:õ Self-explanatory.õõõNOTES:õ Later versions should have such features as screen-save, and dumping to aõprinter. The printer support would be quite nice, since although the 8-bitõAtari cannot display a complete MacPaint picture directly, it -can- dump aõcomplete display to a printer. (I have written a program which will do this,õbut it is -very- slow, and not Epson-compatible.)õõWell, that's about it for now. I can be found on GEnie under the name ofõB.BALETKA, if you have questions, suggestions, or comments to share...õ
