Chip 2007 January, February, March & April/Chip-Cover-CD-2007-01.zip/01/Pakiet mobilny/Emulator Atari/readme.txt

Text File | 2002-05-13 | 13KB | 236 lines

POCKET ATARI  Version 2002/2/10 (experimental release)
Copyright (C) 2001,2002 by Vasyl Tsvirkunov

Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------

   Have you played MULE years ago? Archon? Rescue at Fractalus? Chances are,
your first computer was Atari 800. Sometimes you want to replay these old games.
But the problem is -- you don't have that Atari anymore. You've heard about
those wonderful "emulators," that can run 1.72 MHz Atari on your state-of-the-
art 1.7 GHz P4. But you cannot do it in your office (even if your boss is
playing games all day long) and you don't have that much time at home. Wait a
second! Why can't you play while commuting(*) or on long trips. You don't want
to take laptop everywhere? Fine, you don't need it. Your PDA can do it, if it is
Pocket PC. Enter Pocket Atari.
(*) Don't do this while driving!

Hardware requirements ----------------------------------------------------------

   To use Pocket Atari you need Windows CE 3.0 based Pocket PC rsing 240x320
portrait mode screen. All three available CPUs are supported, both PocketPC 2000
and Pocket PC 2002 are supported, and all existing video modes are supported.
   The only thoroughly tested build at the time of writing is StrongARM (iPAQ).
Most StrongARM devices run at 206 MHz which seems to be sufficient for most
games.
   Sound should work properly but digitized speech (Berzerk) is not intelligible
(it was not very clean on the original hardware). Memory requirements are
very modest as the emulator itself takes less than 200K and consumes about that
much in runtime. You will need extra space to store ROMs and games. Emulator
can run from CF card.
   MIPS and SH CPUs running at 150MHz should be sufficient. If it is too slow
for you try editing ATARI800.CFG, entry SCREEN_REFRESH_RATIO. Emulator
may become to choppy with higher refresh ratios, also, sprite collision may
not work properly.

Version Status -----------------------------------------------------------------

   This is "experimental" release based on current Atari800 source code. It is
more or less identical in core features to Atari800 1.2.2 released about three
months ago. However, port-specific features has been improved since then.
   The major improvement in this particular version is that it is much faster
than before. It is so fast that in most cases you should be able to get 100%
speed with SCREEN_REFRESH_RATIO of 1 and full sound. Enabling linear filtering
does not hurt performance that much anymore either.

Installation -------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Create a folder somewhere on Pocket PC (yes, it can be on CF card) and copy
   included PocketAtari.exe and Atari800.cfg there.
2. You will need a few extra things to run Pocket Atari on your PocketPC. The
   first one is GAPI 1.2 (http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/developer/downloads/
   gapi.asp). Copy proper DX.DLL to Windows folder on your Pocket PC.
3. The second thing is Atari 800 system ROMs. These are freely available as part
   of another Atari800 emulator -- PC XFormer. Download it from Downloads
   section at Emulators, Inc (www.emulators.com). The file you need is
   PCXF380.ZIP. Extract files ATARIOSB.ROM, ATARIXL.ROM and ATARIBAS.ROM and
   place them in Pocket Atari folder on your Pocket PC.
4. The last thing you need is... Atari software. Pocket Atari supports most
   common Atari image formats: ATR, XFD, various cartridges, binaries. You can
   put disk images and other binaries anywhere you want. Subfolder of Pocket
   Atari folder is probably the best idea -- you will not waste your time
   hunting for files all over the place.

Controls -----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Now that you have all you need, start Pocket Atari. If you've done everything
right you should see Atari 800 XL self-test screen and tiny keyboard below it.
Now, you are in business.
   You need to learn how to use keyboard and joystick first. Different Pocket
PCs have slightly different layouts. My explanations are targeted for iPAQ 36x0.
Same should apply to other units however some may have slightly different button
layouts.
   Pocket Atari has two modes of operation: emulation and UI. If you ever had
experience with other Atari800 ports you may be already familiar with UI. Don't
expect anything as fancy as Atari800Win, that one has completely different
implementation.
   So, iPAQ has four-directional "joystick" at the bottom with Start button
hidden underneath it (just press it at the center). Two buttons on the right are
buttons A and B. Button on the left side, near the top, is button C. Buttons on
the left of joystick always perform the same operation in this version, I will
refer to them as button D.
   While you are in emulator mode iPAQ joystick functions as... joystick. Both
A and B buttons work as joystick trigger. There is "virtual joystick" available
in UI in Pocket Atari Settings. With virtual joystick you can use stylus to
control the game. Tap on left side of the screen to "move joystick to the left,"
etc. If you tap closer to the center of the screen, the trigger will be pressed
as well. It is not very playable right now, I am just playing with the concept.
   In UI mode four-directional joystick works as arrow keys, moving current
selection. Start performs the same function as Escape, button A is Space key,
button B is Enter.
   Most of UI options are kind of self-explanatory if you had experience with
another Atari800 emulator or the real thing. I will give brief overview a little
further.
   On screen keyboard is essentially complete Atari 800 keyboard. The only key
missing is Reset -- it's function is available through UI. There are four
extra keys on the right side of the spacebar. The first key, tiny diskette, is
UI key. Click on it to switch to UI. The next one cycles through three rotation
modes: portrait, left-handed landscape and right-handed landscape. Don't panic,
there is no keyboard in landscape modes by default. Tap in the right bottom
corner of the screen and you will get the same keyboard overlaying emulator
image. The last two keys are most useful in landscape modes. Black and white
rectangle switches between white and black keyboard overlay image. Pick the one
that reads better. The last button simply hides keyboard in landscape mode, does
nothing in portrait mode. If you want to move keyboard overlay to different
corner in landscape mode, just tap there. Note that you cannot use tap to
trigger the joystick while keyboard overlay is visible.
   Two last notes on controls. Emulator always switches to portrait mode for UI.
There is alternative keyboard in Atari 5200 mode (about that -- later).

UI -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Standard UI is somewhat simplistic but functional.

* Disk Management
That's were you insert and remove Atari "diskettes." Pocket Atari accepts both
ATR and XFD image formats. Megaimages are also supported. When you select "Disk
Management" item you'll see list of eight drives D1-D8. Pressing Space on drive
toggles between writable and read only, pressing Enter switches to browsing mode
where you can pick image you want to load into drive. Press Escape to return to
the main menu. Keep in mind that inserting and removind disks does not reboot
the emulator, you can use this to swap disks in multidisk games, etc.

* Cartridge Management
Here you can insert and remove cartridges. The other three features are
currently not working (Enable PILL works but as that menu item does not have
visual feedback it should be considered broken). Inserting or removing cartridge
reboots emulator. For cartridges in raw format (no header) you will have to
specify (guess) type.

* Run BIN File Directly
This is special feature of Atari800 emulator -- it can load Atari executables
directly without the need of disk images. Running executable reboots emulator.

* Select System
You can switch between different versions of Atari800. Don't select OS/A if you
don't have ATARIOSA.ROM and don't select Atari 5200 if you don't have 5200.ROM.
Switching system will definitely reboot emulator.

* Artifacting Mode
That's a long story. To make it short, it emulates some defects of old TV sets
and controllers. Most modes look somewhat odd but in a few games they produce
interesting and often useful results. In most cases you should it on default.

* Atari Settings
Built-in patches enable more functionality in Atari OS. In most cases you should
leave it as it is. If you have problems running some particularly quirky piece
of software you may need to disable SIO patch. Disk access will bog down to
authentic Atari 800 speed.

* Save State/Load State
Yes, you can save and load emulation state. This way you can save in games that
did not have save functionality. You are going to love this one.

* PCX Screenshot
Exactly what it says, saves screenshot in PCX format.

* Pocket Atari Setting
Port-specific settings. Linear filtering improves visual quality a lot but the
emulator may get a little slower. If you are using text modes, this setting
is recommended. Just try and you'll see. UI itself always uses linear filtering.
Keep in mind that not all devices support this setting.
Virtual joystick is stylus-controlled joystick. Not nearly final in this release.
Joystick autofire should really be easier available.

* Back To Emulated Atari
You can always press Escape instead.

* Reset and Reboot
Two ways to reboot your Atari. Some games efficiently intercept Reset. Reboot
is always successful.

* About Pocket Atari
Pocket Atari About box.

* About the Emulator
Core Atari800 About box.

* Exit Emulator
There was one old Mastertronic Adventure, Spellbound. Among all spells used in
that game there was one always available -- Quitus Gamus. Guess what it did.

Atari 5200 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

   Unfortunately, Atari 5200 system ROMs are not legally available at this
moment. Assuming that you have that ROM, it's pretty much the same as with Atari
800 ROMs. Put it into Pocket Atari folder.
   Cartridge loading is pretty much the same as for Atari 800. Cartridge types
are different.
   As soon as you switch to Atari 5200 mode on screen keyboard changes. The
original Atari 5200 had joystick with small numeric pad. Support for Atari 5200
in Pocket Atari is preliminary -- original console had analog joystick which is
pain to emulate. Some games work just fine in this version, others are not
playable.

Plans --------------------------------------------------------------------------

   I will continue development. Expect some updates in near future.
   Feel free to send me suggestions about possible improvements to this project.

Thanks -------------------------------------------------------------------------

   First of all, special thanks go to Atari engineers who designed the original
Atari 800. Without that computer my life could be very different.
   Big thanks to all Atari800 developers for creating this great emulator. They
also provided much needed help by answering some tricky questions.
   Thanks to Microsoft for designing Windows CE OS and finally bringing it to
the current level. Also, thanks for making nice development environment for it.
   Thanks to Compaq for creating iPAQ Pocket PCs. If it was not so cool I would
not buy one and this emulator would never be created.
   Thanks to Retrogames staff for hosting homepage for this emulator.

Disclaimers --------------------------------------------------------------------

   Pocket Atari is Freeware product distributed "as is" under the terms of GNU
General Public License (included). Author is not responsible for damage caused
by use, abuse, misuse or inability of use this software, either direct or
indirect. For all questions regarding distribution and terms of use consult GNU
GPL text.
   This software was developed using freely available tools on equipment that
belongs solely to the author. As author is currently employed by large computer
entertainment corporation, this disclaimer also states that that corporation is
in no way associated with this software and its development.
   All product names mentioned in this document, software and its source code
are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
   English is not my native language. Please be forgiving.

Contact Info -------------------------------------------------------------------

   If you have any questions you can reach me by e-mail: [e-mail].
   ROM REQUESTS WILL BE DELETED WITHOUT CONSIDERATION; I WILL NOT BE ENGAGED IN
ANY DISCUSSIONS REGARDING PIRACY AND LEGALITY OF EMULATION; NO BINARY
ATTACHMENTS OF ANY KIND WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT PREVIOUS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
When sending a message please try to make message subject clear. Please remember
that I am quite busy so don't expect instantaneous reply.

Vasyl
5-13-2002