¢ o=o=o=o=o=¢¢ Important Web Site!¢¢ by Alan Sharkis¢¢ Many Atarians are using emulation¢ these days. In the 8-bit world, we¢ have seen the standard emulator disk-¢ image file evolve as the .ATR. This¢ disk-image file, unlike the .XFD that¢ was instituted by DAREK MIHOCKA for¢ ST Xformer and PC Xformer, contains a¢ header that provides important¢ information about the file's¢ properties. In addition, .ATR files¢ have standardized lengths which¢ roughly correspond to the lengths of¢ real Atari disk files, thus making¢ whole-disk copying to and from the¢ Atari more convenient. It is this¢ duplicating process and some trouble¢ that I've had with it that prompted¢ me to write this column today.¢¢ Many of you may recall that a few¢ years ago I wrote a series on¢ emulation in the OHAUG Newsletter.¢ At the time, while discussing¢ peripheral emulators such as SIO2PC¢ and A.P.E., I wrote about a problem¢ that I was having with A.P.E. It¢ seemed that no matter how I tried, I¢ couldn't get A.P.E. copy an .ATR to a¢ real Atari disk that I had connected¢ in the SIO daisy chain. I discussed¢ the problem with STEVEN TUCKER, the¢ author of the A.P.E. software, but he¢ had no solution for me. And so, even¢ though A.P.E. was a much more¢ elaborate and feature-filled program¢ than NICK KENNEDY's SIO2PC software,¢ I had to rely on SIO2PC if I was¢ going to copy .ATRs to real Atari¢ floppies.¢¢ While reading comp.sys.atari.8bit¢ today, I saw a message from fellow¢ Ol' Hacker, LARRY WHITE. Larry, it¢ seems, had the identical problem. He¢ had an SIO2PC device and found that¢ it, too, couldn't transfers of .ATRs¢ to real Atari disk drives. However,¢ Larry's SIO2PC interface was based on¢ the 1489 chip, as opposed to my old,¢ two-chip SIO2PC device which is based¢ on the MAX-232 chip. Larry did find¢ a solution to the problem at the¢ following URL:¢¢ www.redshift.com/%7Ecdyson/atari.html¢¢ (If you're doing this with a PC, you¢ can replace the "%7E" with a tilde.)¢¢ CLARENCE DYSON, with permission from¢ the authors and with care to give all¢ of them full credit, has created a¢ Web site chock full of construction¢ plans, modification plans, and other¢ technical information. Among the¢ modifications are the video¢ modifications done by BOB WOOLLEY,¢ BEN POEHLAND, CHARLES COLE and¢ others. Four or five sets of plans¢ for various SIO2PC devices are also¢ given much space, with schematics,¢ parts lists, parts sources, step-by-¢ step construction notes, color¢ photographs, etc. In each of these¢ SIO2PC-related plans, there are¢ additional modifications shown that¢ would eliminate the problem that I,¢ Larry and perhaps others are having.¢¢ Clarence's site also has links to the¢ pages of STEVEN TUCKER (A.P.E.,¢ WinAPE and Imagic), NICK KENNEDY¢ (SIO2PC) and others. Since¢ Clarence's site is a member site of¢ the Atari WebRing, you can also go¢ from there to any other Atari WebRing¢ site very conveniently.¢¢ o=o=o=o=o=¢¢¢
