¢ o=o=o=o=o=¢¢ Atari 8-Bit Emulators -- Part III¢ By Alan Sharkis¢ Editor, OHAUG Newsletter¢¢ I'm trying to concentrate on this¢ article. It isn't easy. My son just¢ went out and bucked a musical trend. ¢ He's been playing acoustic guitar for¢ several years (largely self-taught¢ but not bad) and he just brought home¢ a Fender solid body with a rather¢ powerful amplifier. He's getting¢ sounds out of it that make me very¢ proud, but occasionally there's¢ something he tries to do that just¢ doesn't have the desired effect. ¢ It's unnerving, to say the least,¢ when that happens, but I won't¢ discourage him because most of what¢ he's doing is so nice. It reminds me¢ of one of the products I'm going to¢ describe in this article.¢¢ First, let me catch you up on an item¢ I missed in the last installment. I¢ hadn't had time to see the Rainbow¢ for the Macintosh, and between then¢ and now I did see it. I have a¢ friend with a Mac who was only too¢ willing to let me download the¢ emulator to his machine, get the rom¢ images from mine, and put them¢ together on his Mac. I did that. ¢ Rainbow for the Mac can do most of¢ what Rainbow for Windows 95 promised¢ to do. The demos ran smartly, if a¢ little slow, but they ran. Sound¢ wasn't really as good as I imagined¢ it could be, but it was there. I¢ didn't try the 5200 roms with¢ anything, but I'm assuming that they¢ work. BASIC also seemed to work¢ normally. Depending on the Mac you¢ have (my friends was a Quadra) you¢ can easilly emulate 8-bit speed or¢ faster. Since "faster" bothers a lot¢ of us, there is a facility to cap the¢ speed at 100% of 8-bit speed.¢¢ Now, on to what this article is¢ really about -- the peripheral¢ emulators that made all of the second¢ installment possible. These are¢ SIO2PC and A.P.E., both shareware¢ products. They both run under MS-¢ DOS. Do not attempt to use them¢ under Windows 3.x or Windows 95. A.¢ P. E. can be used under Unix with¢ some modification, as described in¢ the docs. Peripheral emulators don't¢ put an Atari on the screen of your¢ PC. They do allow the PC to act as a¢ ramdisk, emulating Atari floppy¢ drives and creating ramdisk images¢ that can be stored as PC files. ¢ These files, in turn, are more¢ convenient to store on the PC's hard¢ drive or even on PC floppies than¢ they are on Atari drives, and can be¢ loaded back into your Atari to be run¢ at any time, perhaps even faster than¢ the Atari's floppy drives can do it. ¢ Disk images can be created in several¢ different sizes and densities, as¢ described for each of the products. ¢ They are also the images that can run¢ under PC Xformer, or Pokey, or XL-It,¢ or Rainbow '95, and they usually have¢ the extender .ATR on them. Both¢ SIO2PC and A.P.E. allow the Atari to¢ "print through" to the PC's printer,¢ a great convenience when you only¢ have one printer or wish to take¢ advantage of a higher-quality printer¢ than can be attached to your Atari¢ directly. The feature also allows¢ printing through to disk files or to¢ the screen. Several translation¢ features are built in. A.P.E. also¢ allows the PC's modem to interface¢ with your Atari. If you get a¢ registered version of A.P.E., you can¢ do this at fairly high speeds. Both¢ SIO2PC and A.P.E. transfer files to¢ and from the Atari at higher speeds¢ than those normally associated with¢ Atari floppy drives, but there are¢ caveats to this, and descriptions of¢ the products will carry those¢ caveats. Several utilities have also¢ been developed for these peripheral¢ emulators that allow such things as¢ converting .DCM (Discomm) files to¢ .ATR files, and converting .ATR files¢ to .XFD files and vice-versa.¢¢ SIO2PC and I are no strangers. You¢ may remember (or wish to forget) that¢ I wrote an article on SIO2PC for AC¢ Magazine a few years back. In that¢ article, I compared software of the¢ 2.xx series with software of the 3.xx¢ series. Also in that article, I used¢ an interface built for me by Nick¢ Kennedy, the creator of SIO2PC. I¢ still have that interface and I'm¢ using it to test the software¢ packages for this article. The¢ interface is of a very early, two-¢ chip design, using the Harris ICL-¢ 232. It doesn't even have the diode¢ that eliminates the need to run the¢ ACOMINIT file which isolates the two¢ machines when the SIO2PC software is¢ not running. I bought and use a¢ switched CSS Quintopus connector,¢ since the older SIO2PC interface¢ without the diode makes it impossible¢ to use floppies beyond D1: when the¢ interface is switched on. Today,¢ Nick is advocating a one-chip design¢ (his own) based on the same chip, or¢ on the MAX-232. There are also¢ designs out there that are based on¢ the 7400 series of chips, but I¢ haven't used them. I've been told¢ that the 7400 series doesn't really¢ create the same voltages as the ICL¢ and MAX chips and may not work well¢ with some setups. For me, a one-chip¢ design may eliminate that switch, and¢ if I have time to test it before this¢ installment is complete, I'll give¢ you the results of that test.¢¢ The SIO2PC software that is most¢ current at the time of writing this¢ article is version 4.16. It came to¢ me directly from Nick Kennedy. I¢ know that 4.10, at least, is¢ available from the UMICH archives,¢ and the zip includes the sio2pc.com¢ (one-chip, version 4.10i) and the¢ sio2pc2.com (2-chip, version 4.10)¢ program files. The 4.16 improves on¢ the 4.10 in several ways, and the¢ entire 4.xx series is a VAST¢ improvement over the 3.19 I had used¢ for so many years and had to re-time¢ when I switched from a '286 clone to¢ a Pentium-100. The 4.xx series¢ should work with today's faster PCS¢ without re-timing, but Nick explains¢ how to re-time it in the¢ documentation. What he doesn't¢ explain fully, but which Jon¢ Mordosky (Ol' Hackers member and¢ vice-president of LVAUG) did explain¢ in great detail, is how to switch a¢ one-chip version to a two-chip¢ version (or vice-versa) using MS-¢ DOS's debug command. I had the one-¢ chip version, which, of course, I¢ couldn't use with my two-chip¢ interface. The only major difference¢ between the two versions seems to be¢ the sense of the command line. This¢ can be changed via the "M" command in¢ the diagnostic submenu of the 4.16¢ software. You can run and change¢ 4.16i in a debug session, changing¢ the sense of the command line, then¢ quitting the program normally,¢ writing the changes to disk and then¢ quitting debug. After doing so, the¢ program will run without the "I" next¢ to the version number in the main¢ screen. The byte checksum, which¢ Nick includes for virus protection,¢ will also be changed and will have to¢ be readjusted so that you won't get a¢ virus warning. When you exit the¢ software for the first time after¢ changing the sense of the command¢ line, you'll be prompted and¢ instructed how to do this. I renamed¢ my converted version sio2pc2.com,¢ following a pattern that Nick had¢ begun back in the 3.xx series. ¢ Thanks, Jon, for adding this little¢ trick to my arsenal and allowing me¢ to review and use 4.16!¢¢ SIO2PC presents the user with a¢ screen that includes the title, a¢ list of commands, and space to¢ represent four bays for ramdisk¢ images. These ramdisks may be¢ assigned numbers from 1 to 8, but¢ only four of them will show on the¢ screen. Additionally, you're¢ restricted somewhat by the size of¢ the ramdisks you create and the size¢ of your PC's conventional memory but¢ the program will automatically go to¢ disk access if that limit is¢ exceeded. There's also a status line¢ at the bottom of the page that may be¢ useful for trouble-shooting. The¢ first thing you are presented with is¢ a request for the COM port you're¢ using on the PC. Although responding¢ with 1, 2, 3, or 4 will work, there¢ is further flexibility built into the¢ menu. You can actually designate the¢ IRQ associated with your port if you¢ need to do that. Most people find it¢ easier to include the COM port in a¢ command-line tag when loading the¢ program. This can, of course, be¢ done in a batch file. In this batch¢ file, you can also ask the program to¢ load specific ramdisk images into¢ specific disk drive numbers, thus¢ making it possible to boot your Atari¢ directly from the SIO2PC. SIO2PC¢ reads, writes and transfers with any¢ mix of conventional Atari floppies¢ and ramdisk images, as long as you¢ don't have a conflict between floppy¢ D2: and ramdisk D2:, for example. ¢ You can switch ramdisk numbers at any¢ time. You can unload any ramdisk¢ image, but if you've just created or¢ modified it, you're prompted to see¢ if you wish to save it first. The¢ latest versions of SIO2PC bring up a¢ menu that can be used to load or save¢ ramdisks from anywhere on your PC's¢ drives, sparing you the earlier task¢ of figuring out where those image¢ files were located and how they were¢ named. A sub-menu allows using a¢ 1050 disk drive through the PC's¢ parallel port, but a special hardware¢ interface must be built to do this.¢¢ You can create ramdisk images in¢ single- or double-densities in a¢ variety of side and track¢ arrangements as follows:¢¢ 64K (small, for experiments) ¢ 92K (like an 810 single-side disk) ¢ 133K (like a 1050, enhanced disk) ¢ 184K (like an SSDD disk) ¢¢ or the following special sizes:¢¢¢ SECS/ TOT.¢ CHOICE SIDES TRACKS TRACK KBYTES SECS¢¢ ------ ----- ------ ----- ------ ----¢ 1 1 35 18 79 630¢ 2 1 35 26 114 910¢ 3 2 35 18 157 1260¢ 4 2 35 26 227 1820¢ 5 1 40 18 90 720¢ 6 1 40 26 130 1040¢ 7 1 77 26 250 2002¢ 8 2 77 26 500 4004¢ 9 1 80 18 180 1440¢ A 1 80 26 260 2080¢ B 2 80 16 360 2880¢ C 2 80 26 520 8200¢¢ You can also specify a decimal number¢ of sectors up to 65,536 for really¢ large ramdisk images. If you wish to¢ back up a BBS, for example, you can¢ back up 16 Megabyte partitions in¢ this way. There is a DOS shell. You¢ can lock the data line, but for most¢ setups, it should remain automatic. ¢ You can get directories of you PC¢ files, or of Atari files within a¢ particular ramdisk image. You can¢ install a PC file as a ramdisk image¢ or write a ramdisk image to a PC¢ file. You can toggle the status line¢ at the bottom of the screen on and¢ off if it bothers you. You can jump¢ to Ultraspeed I/O and back to normal¢ speed. There are also hidden¢ commands, which are not on the menu,¢ and allow you to redraw the screen¢ (handy if you have just printed from¢ the Atari to the screen) or blank the¢ screen. Another hidden command turns¢ off the beep that comes when a bad¢ sector is found reading from the 1050¢ in the parallel port (versions 4.10¢ on), and the clicks that are found on¢ floppy access in version 4.16.¢¢ The status line shows the following¢ entries:¢¢ HDL - file handle number -- useful ¢ in checking if file is open ¢ or closed ¢¢ CMND - current command to drive ¢¢ LAST - previous command to drive ¢¢ DEV - device number being accessed ¢ (explained in docs for this ¢ program) ¢¢ COM - High/low status of Atari ¢ command line ¢¢ ERR - error codes Nick Kennedy uses¢ in debugging (symbol doesn't ¢ always mean error) ¢¢ SEC# - sector number being accessed ¢ (decimal -- 4 digits) ¢¢ RAM - number of kbytes of PC ¢ conventional RAM left ¢¢ SPEED - N for normal; H for ¢ UltraSpeed ¢¢ Hitting "A" from the main screen¢ takes you to the timing submenu, from¢ which re-timing can be done. Also¢ available at this submenu are a¢ choice to change the configuration of¢ a disk, to change the sense of the¢ command line, or to bring up two more¢ submenus -- the 1050-2-PC submenu and¢ the hardware diagnostics submenu.¢¢ The 1050-20-PC submenu is used only¢ with that special interface I spoke¢ about before. It will allow a 1050¢ drive, connected through that special¢ interface, to read 720 or 1040 sector¢ files from the 1050 into ramdisk¢ images, to write from a ramdisk image¢ to the 1050, to read a block of¢ sectors to a file, to format an Atari¢ disk in the 1050, to scan sectors for¢ status and errors and to edit¢ sectors, and, of course to go back to¢ SIO2PC.¢¢ The diagnostics submenu allows the¢ Atari, running software provided by¢ Nick Kennedy, to enter an "intercom"¢ mode with the PC, or to toggle the¢ status of the input, output and¢ command lines with some restrictions¢ elaborated in the docs, or to send¢ sectors from the Atari to the PC and¢ vice-versa, and, of course, to exit¢ back to SIO2PC. ¢¢ I haven't assembled or used the¢ special interface for the 1050. I¢ don't think I'm going to do that,¢ since I'd need another one for PC¢ Xformer, and a third for A. P. E. I¢ know that some people have reported¢ good results with the 1050 in SIO2PC.¢ I also see that Nick Kennedy has¢ included some features in SIO2PC that¢ allow working with copy-protected¢ software. I don't know if he did this¢ because of competition from A.P.E. or¢ because other users asked for it. I¢ do know that I haven't had time to¢ try it, and it's unlikely that I will¢ in the next little while.¢¢ SIO2PC has worked reliably on my¢ system. Although I had to re-time¢ 3.19, as stated above, I haven't had¢ to do that with 4.10 or 4.16. I can¢ mix physical floppies and ramdisks¢ and copy from one to the other¢ without any problem. Printing¢ through the IBM hasn't been a¢ problem. Above all, Nick Kennedy has¢ been very cooperative with the¢ community. He has developed a¢ product that he states is a hobby,¢ but his approach to it has been most¢ professional. Nick will get you the¢ software and construction plans for a¢ shareware fee. He also sells kits of¢ parts for his interface and will¢ assemble an interface for you for an¢ additional fee. He can be reached¢ at:¢¢ Nick Kennedy¢ 300 South Vancouver Street¢ Russellville, Arkansas 72801¢ (501) 967-3483¢ E-Mail: nkennedy@cswnet.com¢¢ A. P. E. (Atari Peripheral Emulator)¢ is a system by Steven Tucker that¢ relies on an SIO2PC hardware¢ interface to work. I am describing¢ version 1.10 here. The actual¢ screens are much more elaborate than¢ those of SIO2PC software. Steven¢ distinguishes between distribution¢ versions (which are sometimes betas)¢ and registered versions. The¢ registered versions of A. P. E. do¢ come with advanced features. Steven¢ maintains a Web page from which you¢ can download any or all of his¢ products, register them, etc.¢¢ Most of the SIO2PC functions are also¢ included in A. P. E., sometimes with¢ more bells and whistles. A. P. E.¢ includes a "Pro" system (for which¢ you also have to build an additional¢ interface) which connects a 1050 to¢ the PC through the parallel port, and¢ allows making disk images of copy-¢ protected software which will then¢ run only in that Pro system. This is¢ for personal archival use only,¢ although Steven did include some Pro¢ image files in some versions of the¢ A.P. E. software. I didn't test¢ them. There are a couple of features¢ in A. P. E. that SIO2PC doesn't have.¢ What is disturbing to me about A. P.¢ E. is that its performance tends to¢ vary more from system to system than¢ does SIO2PC. But, I don't really¢ wish to rate A. P. E. down, because¢ many people have reported greater¢ success with it in the newsgroup. ¢ So, let me describe its intended¢ features for you, and if you wish to¢ try, please do and please let me know¢ how it worked.¢¢ The main screen will come up right¢ after the title screen, if you have a¢ registered version of A. P. E. If¢ you don't, there will be a delay of¢ some seconds while you are reminded¢ to register your copy. The A. P. E.¢ main screen has a two-part layout.¢ The top of the screen shows the¢ status of all eight ramdisk bays, and¢ it is possible to have all eight¢ ramdisks in memory or disk access at¢ the same time. For each ramdisk you¢ will see the SIO command most¢ recently associated with it, the¢ sector being accessed in decimal, the¢ total number of sectors, the bytes¢ per sector (Dns), the Pro status (P),¢ whether the file is protected from¢ writes from the Atari or not, and the¢ image filename, which might be¢ truncated. Below this table you will¢ see an indicator for the Ultraspeed¢ status, and whether the emulation of¢ the drives is "smart" or "stupid." ¢ At the bottom of the screen is a¢ scrolling display of all SIO¢ commands, only a few lines long, but¢ potentially valuable, since every¢ sector's commands come up.¢¢ Pressing "!" from your keyboard takes¢ you to a DOS shell. You exit back to¢ A.P.E. by typing "EXIT <ENTER>," just¢ as in most DOS shells found in other¢ PC programs.¢¢ Pressing "|" from the keyboard resets¢ the file system in A. P. E. That is¢ to say, it closes all files, resets¢ all pointers, and remounts all .ATR¢ images.¢¢ Pressing "@" from the keyboard¢ toggles the concurrent I/O. This¢ mode activates automatically when you¢ are using the PC's modem, but it may¢ have to be reset after disk access¢ takes place during an upload or¢ download.¢¢ Pressing "H" from the keyboard brings¢ up a Help Screen full of commands. ¢ The one you should try FIRST is "Z",¢ which brings up the configuration¢ submenus. Of these five, the first¢ is the most important. The very¢ first choice you have to make on this¢ one is the SIO2PC type. Here, you¢ choose whether you have a one-chip or¢ two-chip interface. The wrong¢ setting just won't work. The second¢ choice tells A. P. E. in which of¢ your COM ports the SIO2PC interface¢ is located. The third, fourth, fifth,¢ and sixth choices tell A. P. E. in¢ which of your COM ports your PC's¢ modem is located, what its maximum¢ baud rate is, and how to set the PC's¢ DTR and RTS lines (these are most¢ probably high - the default setting.)¢¢ The seventh choice is somewhat¢ critical, and may need some¢ experimenting. It lets A. P. E. know¢ how fast hardware flow control takes¢ place with your modem. Steven Tucker¢ suggests that the number start at¢ setting 1000 for 19.2 Kbps. I¢ found modem use with this program to¢ present many problems. There is a¢ paragraph later on in this¢ installment that describes the¢ difficulty I was having. Steven¢ seemed to have no solution for the¢ problem.¢¢ Choice 8 is also somewhat critical,¢ and needs some experimentation, and¢ it has led to a good deal of¢ frustration on my part. It¢ designates a framing threshold for¢ Ultraspeed on the SIO bus, and Steven¢ suggest that your initial setting¢ should be 8. I have run it as high¢ as its maximum and as low as its¢ minimum and still can't get ramdisks¢ and physical floppy drives to¢ cooperate in my system. Again, there¢ is a paragraph later on in this¢ installment that describes my¢ difficulties in more detail, but here¢ I can rationalize and say that A. P.¢ E. was meant to ELIMINATE writes¢ to physical Atari drives and that I¢ shouldn't mix them into the system.¢¢ Choice 9 takes the SIO command¢ monitor off the screen. This is¢ vital if your PC is very slow, since¢ leaving the command monitor there¢ would slow down reads and writes.¢ Choice 0 toggles the verbosity of the¢ SIO command monitor, and choice %¢ serves to filter out some of the¢ commands shown so that you can¢ concentrate on the more common ones¢ during trouble-shooting. To use¢ these filters, you must provide the¢ hex numbers of the commands you wish¢ to filter. Registered users may¢ assign macros to the letters A-Z for¢ use in the A. P. E. program. ¢ Configurations can be saved with¢ CTRL-S, loaded with CTRL-L, and¢ defaults restored with CTRL-D.¢¢ The second configuration submenu¢ deals with printer configuration. ¢ The choices here are similar to the¢ ones described for SIO2PC, and pretty¢ much self-explanatory.¢¢ The third configuration submenu deals¢ with default paths and filename¢ extensions and can be quite useful in¢ automating A. P. E. The program has ¢ a feature called block configuration,¢ which makes it possible to hit one¢ key (thus running one "block¢ configuration" file) and¢ automatically load several pre-¢ specified ramdisk images into several¢ pre-specified bays.¢¢ The fourth configuration submenu¢ allows you to adjust the IRQ and base¢ addresses of your PC's COM ports for¢ those very unusual situations¢ occasionally encountered.¢¢ The fifth configuration submenu sets¢ Ultraspeed for US Doubler drives. ¢ Choice 1 locks the speed at normal¢ SIO speed. Choice 2 sets Ultraspeed¢ as the default. Choice 3 sets the¢ "APE+ Ultraspeed," which is about¢ three times as fast as normal SIO. ¢ This is only useful for US Doubler¢ drives. I don't have one, so I¢ couldn't test it. Sparta Dos 3.2G¢ automatically switches to APE+¢ Ultraspeed when it boots up. You are¢ advised, if you use this DOS, to¢ include the command, KEY OFF in your¢ startup.bat file.¢¢ Let's go back to the main screen,¢ assuming configurations are set as¢ you wish and saved. Here, again,¢ pressing "H" will give you all of the¢ commands you can use from the main¢ screen. I'll lay them out for you so¢ that you can understand the features¢ of A. P. E. Perhaps the most¢ important command is "C." This¢ command allows you to create a new¢ .ATR image. This is always a MyDos¢ image, and about the same sizes,¢ side, density and sector/track ¢ configurations of ramdisk image that¢ are found in SIO2PC can be created in¢ A.P.E. (Steven Tucker, by the way, ¢ gives a great illustration of how to¢ make up a 16 megabyte hard drive disk¢ image in MyDos in his documentation.)¢ However, the procedure is different¢ from SIO2PC in a few important¢ respects. In SIO2PC, you select¢ density, and the bay in which the¢ image will reside, create the image¢ by selecting its size, format it,¢ write to it, and only get to name it¢ when it is actually written to your¢ hard drive or a floppy. In A. P. E.,¢ you must calculate some of these¢ sizes on screen. In addition, you¢ must name the image first. You are¢ cautioned to be careful naming an¢ image, since it will overwrite one¢ with the same name on the same drive.¢ Before the disk is created, you are¢ given a summary of the size choices,¢ name, and destination you have¢ selected before you give the final¢ command to create the ramdisk. After¢ creation, you are prompted to format¢ the ramdisk. Once this is done, the¢ created ramdisk is shown on the main¢ screen, in the bay you have¢ designated. You can write to it,¢ read from it, copy it, etc.¢¢ Suppose you have an already-created¢ ramdisk image. You simply use the¢ "L" command to load it into a bay¢ that you designate. If you don't¢ specify a filename, a file-finder¢ comes up and you can use it to find¢ the file you want. Later versions of¢ SIO2PC do this, as well. If you have¢ designated a bay that's already¢ occupied, the program will ask you if¢ you wish to replace the image that is¢ in that bay. When the file appears¢ on the main screen, it's name and¢ statistics are also there. In¢ addition, if the ramdisk has come¢ from a "PC Mirror drive" (more about¢ that later) its name will be in¢ inverse red. If the file is in¢ A.P.E.'s Pro system, its name will be¢ in inverse purple. Now, suppose you¢ want to switch the images you have to¢ different bays. You press the bay¢ number for an image, followed by the¢ bay number to which you wish to¢ switch it, and the switch is done.¢¢ The "R" command releases, or removes¢ a disk image from a designated bay.¢¢ The "A" command will convert a .DCM¢ or .XFD image to an .ATR so that it¢ can be used with A. P. E. This¢ feature is very handy. Before it was¢ included, you'd have to go out to¢ another utility to do the job. I¢ have some of those utilities. They¢ are very nice, but they involve¢ switching programs. In fact, one of¢ them, Imagic, which operates under¢ Windows 95, was written by Steven¢ Tucker. ¢¢ The "B" command sets up the block¢ configurations described above.¢¢ The "P" command changes to the Pro¢ Emulation mode, and is available for¢ registered users only. Again, I¢ didn't test this mode because it¢ would have me building another¢ interface.¢¢ The "S" command sets up the PC Mirror¢ drive. PC Mirror is a feature that¢ allows you to get directories of your¢ PC's files, with proper subdirectory¢ listings, from your Atari. It can¢ become very convenient. You may¢ write to your PC Mirror drive only if¢ you're a registered user of A. P. E.¢¢ The "T" command toggles "smart" and¢ "stupid" emulation. "Smart"¢ recognizes all disk configurations,¢ skews and speeds, etc. "Stupid,"¢ according to Steven Tucker, makes A.¢ P. E. most like a 1050 drive, and is¢ useful only for earlier versions of¢ Superdos.¢¢ The "U" command toggles Ultraspeed.¢¢ The "V" command brings up a text¢ viewer that usually automatically¢ recognizes ATASCII, ASCII or Unix¢ text files. If it fails to recognize¢ the type of text file, you can toggle¢ within the viewer with the "F" key. ¢ If you wish to switch text files from¢ within the viewer, you can use the¢ "N" command. ESC takes you back to¢ A. P. E. If you are a registered¢ user of A. P. E., you can use this¢ viewer from a command line.¢¢ The "W" command toggles write¢ protection for an image on and off.¢¢ The "Q" command quits the A. P. E.¢ program.¢¢ Steven Tucker has tried to provide¢ Atari users with a way to access¢ their PC's modem using the Atari and¢ programs like BobTerm. It's a great¢ idea, and I'm quite sure that it¢ works for some people or it wouldn't¢ have been released. Of course, as I¢ mentioned earlier, you have to have a¢ registered copy to go to the 19.2¢ Kbaud of which BobTerm is capable. I¢ tried it, and had two serious¢ difficulties. One involved¢ concurrent SIO, something the Atari¢ must be able to do when it is working¢ with a modem. This gets suspended¢ during disk access, but it would not¢ automatically return in earlier¢ versions of A. P. E. A later version¢ fixed that problem, but still would¢ not allow me the faster¢ communications speeds I wished for. ¢ As soon as a connection was made,¢ BobTerm would switch to 1200 or 2400¢ baud, depending on the BBS I had¢ called. I had to go to BobTerm's¢ main menu, change the baud rate¢ manually, and often I discovered that¢ by that time the BBS had¢ disconnected. I tried changing the¢ modem initialization string in¢ BobTerm. I tried taking the init¢ string out completely. Nothing¢ worked.¢¢ On my system, I couldn't get physical¢ Atari floppy drives and ramdisk¢ images to work reliably together.¢ Specifically, I couldn't get an .ATR¢ of DOS 2.5 to duplicate to a physical¢ 1050. But A.P.E. is capable of¢ higher transfer speeds than SIO2PC,¢ as long as you stick with ramdisk¢ images or go from a physical drive to¢ a ramdisk image. If I wanted to use¢ only A. P. E., perhaps with its Pro¢ system, that wouldn't matter. But¢ alas, I need to transfer reliably¢ from Atari disks to ramdisk images¢ and vice-versa without the Pro drive,¢ and to my dismay, the ultraspeed¢ keeps switching in and out,¢ interfering with transfers and¢ causing errors 138, 139 or 140. I¢ can lock it out, but then other¢ problems arise. A. P. E. also has¢ locked up the PC and the Atari at¢ times when such disk access was¢ attempted, making it necessary to¢ turn the equipment off, and then back¢ on again.¢¢ Despite my difficulties with A. P.¢ E., I recognize its great flexibility¢ and usefulness. Like Nick Kennedy,¢ Steven Tucker is continuing to¢ upgrade his product. He is¢ accessible, and I have spoken to him¢ several times via E-Mail about my¢ difficulties with the product, but¢ there seem to be too many variables¢ in my specific system for him to come¢ to any conclusion. I am going to¢ continue to experiment with A. P. E.¢ to see if I can find the source of¢ the problems. Steven can be reached¢ at:¢¢ Steven J. Tucker¢ 9131 Sunrise Boulevard M-33¢ North Royalton, Ohio 44133¢ (216) 237-5308¢ E-Mail: classics@nacs.net¢ Web:¢ http://www.nacs.net/%7Eclassics/¢¢ Meanwhile, if you have a PC, even if¢ you consider it inferior to your 8-¢ bit, consider using it as a¢ peripheral emulator for your 8-bit. ¢ You will solve disk-storage space¢ problems, get faster program-loading,¢ and a host of other improvements.¢¢ In my next and final installment, I¢ will discuss some of the ethical¢ considerations that emulation has¢ brought up. I will be treading on¢ dangerous, if not controversial¢ ground. I may make friends and¢ enemies and attract people who wish¢ to sway me to one side or the other. ¢ You might consider taking one of¢ those positions after reading it. ¢ Your thoughts, responses, etc., are¢ invited, as usual.¢¢ o=o=o=o=o=¢¢¢¢
