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The A64 Package Copyright (C) 1990, QuesTronix Designed and Written By: Cliff Dugan QuesTronix P.O. Box 340285 Hartford, CT 06134-0285 (203)296-5331 10/90 1.01n - COPYRIGHT The A64 Package, Copyright (C) 1990, QuesTronix. All programs in The A64 Package including, but not limited to: A64, 64Cmd, 64Dir, 64Print, 64Status, 64ToAmiga, AmigaTo64, Cache, InstallA64Font, Pet2ASCII and StripLoadAddr are Copyright (C) 1990, QuesTronix. All documentation in The A64 Package including this manual are Copyright (C) 1990, QuesTronix. LICENSE AGREEMENT The A64 Package is being licensed to you. You may use and distribute The A64 Package as long as the following terms are agreed to: The A64 Package may not be modified in any way. If distributed, it must include all of the original programs and documentation it came with and all copyright notices must remain intact. You may not reverse engineer any of the programs in The A64 Package nor may you examine their inner workings in any way. The A64 Package may not be distributed for profit nor will it be made part of a "for sale" public domain software collection without prior written permission from QuesTronix. QuesTronix is charging a license fee, of $25.00 (plus $3.00 for shipping and handling of the hardware interface), for the use of The A64 Package. After receiving the license fee, from you, QuesTronix will send you the hardware interface that is used with most of the programs in The A64 Package. Your use of any program in The A64 Package states that you agree to these terms and have accepted this license agreement. DISCLAIMER The A64 Package is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event will QuesTronix be liable for incidental, consequential or other similar damages. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of The A64 Package is with you. QuesTronix reserves the right to change The A64 Packages' copyright status and/or cost at any time, without notice. CREDITS The A64 Package was designed and written by Cliff Dugan. 1 - SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS All programs in The A64 Package will work on all Amiga models except the A3000 (See A64 AND THE A3000 in the technical section). All programs in The A64 Package will work with V1.2 or higher WorkBench (including V2.0). The utility programs included with The A64 Package will run with 512k RAM. A64 will run "as is" with 1mb RAM, but can be made to run with 512k RAM (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). All programs included with The A64 Package will work with any 680x0 microprocessor (See 680x0 SUPPORT in the TECHNICAL section). If the hardware interface is used, a separate adapter cable is required for the Amiga 1000. UPDATES The A64 Package may be updated from time to time. QuesTronix will notify registered owners, by mail, whenever The A64 Package has a major revision. QuesTronix will upload new releases to GEnie, People Link and CompuServe and you may obtain a copy from any one of these services. For people who do not have access to these services, you may order an update directly from QuesTronix. We are charging $3.50 for updates. You do NOT have to be a registered owner of The A64 Package to order an update. REPLACEMENTS QuesTronix will provide replacements of the hardware interface should it become damaged. Replacements will be made available to registered owners only and will cost a nominal fee. Please contact QuesTronix for exact details on replacements. TECHNICAL SUPPORT QuesTronix will provide technical support to REGISTERED OWNERS ONLY! To become a registered owner you must fill out the registration form and mail it with the license fee to QuesTronix (See HOW TO BECOME A REGISTERED OWNER in the INTRODUCTION section). HOW TO CONTACT QUESTRONIX You may contact QuesTronix by calling (203)296-5331, please keep phone calls brief, or by writing to: QuesTronix P.O. Box 340285 Hartford, CT 06134-0285 2 - We may also be contacted via EMail on GEnie, People Link and CompuServe. GENie mail address: QUESTRONIX CompuServe mail address: 73670,1510 NOTE: As of this writing we were not yet established on People Link, but should be within a matter of days (10/20/90). TRADEMARKS The A64 Package, A64, A64 BASIC, A64 Prefs, A64Mon and QuesTronix are trademarks of QuesTronix. Commodore 64 and C64 are trademarks and COMMODORE is a registered trademark of Commodore Electronics, Ltd. Amiga, AmigaDOS and Workbench are registered trademarks of Commodore-Amiga, Inc. GO-64! is a trademark of Software Insight Systems, Inc. The 64 Emulator is a trademark of ReadySoft, Inc. Deluxe Paint is a trademark of Electronic Arts. PrintShop is a trademark of Broderbund Software. GEOS is a trademark of Berkely Softworks. GEnie is a service mark of GE Information Services CompuServe is a service mark of CompuServe, Inc. People Link is service mark of American Home Network, Inc. 3 - TABLE OF CONTENTS COPYRIGHT ......................................................... 1 LICENSE AGREEMENT ................................................. 1 DISCLAIMER ........................................................ 1 CREDITS ........................................................... 1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ............................................... 2 UPDATES ........................................................... 2 REPLACEMENTS....................................................... 2 TECHNICAL SUPPORT ................................................. 2 HOW TO CONTACT QUESTRONIX ......................................... 2 TRADEMARKS ........................................................ 3 INTRODUCTION ...................................................... 1-1 WHAT IS THE A64 PACKAGE? ...................................... 1-1 WHAT IS NEEDED? ............................................... 1-1 WHAT DOES IT COST? ............................................ 1-2 HOW TO BECOME A REGISTERED OWNER .............................. 1-2 A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR ........................................ 1-3 GETTING STARTED ................................................... 2-1 RUNNING A64 .................................................... 2-1 A64'S HARDWARE INTERFACE ....................................... 2-3 INSTALLING A64'S HARDWARE INTERFACE ............................ 2-3 INSTALLING THE A64 PACKAGE ON ANOTHER DISK OR HARD DISK ........ 2-4 A64 PREFS ......................................................... 3-1 A64 PREFS SETTINGS AND CONFIGURATION FILES .................... 3-1 THE MENUS ..................................................... 3-2 THE PROJECT MENU .......................................... 3-2 RESET A64 ............................................. 3-2 LOAD CONFIG ........................................... 3-2 SAVE CONFIG ........................................... 3-3 NAMING CONFIGURATION FILES ........................ 3-3 RESET CONFIG .......................................... 3-4 ABOUT A64 ............................................. 3-4 QUIT A64 .............................................. 3-4 EXIT PREFS ............................................ 3-5 THE SYSTEM MENU ........................................... 3-6 PAR PORT .............................................. 3-6 SER PORT .............................................. 3-6 MODEMS ............................................ 3-7 GAME PORTS (JOYSTICKS) ................................ 3-7 SWAP PORTS GADGET ................................. 3-7 PORT 1 AND PORT 2 GADGETS ......................... 3-8 DRIVES ................................................ 3-9 AMIGA DRIVES ...................................... 3-10 THE GRAFIX MENU ........................................... 3-11 COLORS ................................................ 3-11 COLOR GADGETS ..................................... 3-11 SLIDER GADGETS .................................... 3-12 COLOR MODE GADGET ................................. 3-12 20 COLOR MODE ................................. 3-13 16 COLOR MODE ................................. 3-13 4 - 2, 4, & 8 COLOR MODES ......................... 3-14 BORDERS ............................................... 3-15 SCRN REFRESH .......................................... 3-16 SCREEN REFRESH TYPE GADGET ........................ 3-16 DIRECT MODE ................................... 3-16 SAMPLE MODE ................................... 3-16 SCREEN REFRESH RATE GADGET ........................ 3-16 SCREEN REFRESH RATE TABLE...................... 3-17 RASTERS ............................................... 3-18 SCAN LINE READ GADGET ............................. 3-18 REAL .......................................... 3-18 FAKE .......................................... 3-18 THE TOOLS MENU ............................................ 3-20 SAVE SCREEN ........................................... 3-20 A64 PREFS NOTES ............................................... 3-21 UTILITIES ......................................................... 4-1 UTILITY SUMMARY ............................................... 4-1 CONVENTIONS FOR THE CLI BASED UTILITIES ................... 4-1 64Cmd ......................................................... 4-3 64Dir ......................................................... 4-4 64Print ....................................................... 4-5 64Status ...................................................... 4-6 64ToAmiga ..................................................... 4-7 AmigaTo64 ..................................................... 4-8 Cache ......................................................... 4-9 InstallA64Font ................................................ 4-10 Pet2ASCII ..................................................... 4-11 PrintFile ..................................................... 4-12 StripLoadAddr ................................................. 4-13 C64 PROGRAMS .................................................. 4-14 SaveROMs .................................................. 4-14 64Colors .................................................. 4-14 TECHNICAL ......................................................... 5-1 THE A64 PACKAGES FILE STRUCTURE .............................. 5-1 THE KEYBOARD ................................................. 5-2 KEYBOARD DIFFERENCES ..................................... 5-2 A PROBLEM WITH THE KEYBOARD .............................. 5-2 THE NUMERIC KEYPAD ....................................... 5-2 UNUSED KEYS .............................................. 5-3 A64 AND MULTITASKING ......................................... 5-4 A64 AND MEMORY ............................................... 5-4 680x0 SUPPORT ................................................ 5-5 A64 AND THE A3000 ............................................ 5-5 ROMS ......................................................... 5-6 WHAT IS ROM? ............................................. 5-6 THE C64'S ROMS ........................................... 5-6 A64'S ROMS ............................................... 5-6 INSTALLING THE C64'S ROMS ................................ 5-7 PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS .......................................... 6-1 A64 ERRORS .................................................... 6-2 ERROR LIST ................................................ 6-3 5 - INCOMPATIBILITIES ............................................. 6-9 FAST LOADERS .............................................. 6-9 CASSETTE PORT, USER PORT and CARTRIDGE PORT ............... 6-9 SPRITES ................................................... 6-9 KNOWN BUGS .................................................... 6-11 PAR PORT BUG .............................................. 6-11 SCREEN SHIFTED BUG ........................................ 6-11 WHAT IS IN THE FUTURE ........................................... 7-1 VERSION CHANGES ................................................. 8-1 V1.01n ...................................................... 8-1 APPENDICES ....................................................... A ERROR REPORT ................................................. A 6 - INTRODUCTION Welcome to The A64 Package. This manual assumes that you are familiar with the basic usage of the CLI and WorkBench. If you are not please consult your Amiga user's guide. This manual also makes the assumption that you are familiar with using the Commodore 64. If you want to learn more about using the Commodore 64 there are many good books available on the subject. Throughout this manual some names are used that we would like to clarify. When you see the name "The A64 Package" we are referring to the entire package including all its utilities. When you see the name "A64" by itself we are referring only to the A64 program. The names: "A64's hardware interface","hardware interface" or just "interface" all refer to the same interface. The bulk of this manual is for describing the use and function of A64. The descriptions and instructions for all of The A64 Packages' utilities can be found in the UTILITIES section. We recommend that you fully read this manual before attempting to use any of the programs included with The A64 Package. WHAT IS THE A64 PACKAGE? The A64 Package is a collection of Amiga programs to help Commodore 64 users upgrade to the Amiga. We like to call The A64 Package "a Commodore 64 upgrade kit." Commodore 64 owners have spent hundreds or even thousands of dollars on their C64 peripherals and software. Many of them would like to upgrade to the Amiga, but they do not want to lose their investment. There is a solution! The A64 Package will allow them to continue to use their familiar Commodore 64 software and peripherals while they're learning how to use their powerful, new Amiga. The main program included with The A64 Package is A64. A64 is a Commodore 64 emulator. The word emulate means to strive to equal or excel, especially through imitation. A64 emulates the Commodore 64. This means that using A64 is just like using a C64. There are literally thousands of programs available for the Commodore 64 and A64 will run a majority of them. The A64 Package also includes several utilities to help with the transfer of data or programs from the Commodore 64 to the Amiga and back again. Now bridging the gap from the Commodore 64 to the Amiga is easier than ever before. The A64 Package helps to make the upgrade path a little easier to take. WHAT IS NEEDED? The A64 Package is a hardware and software combination. The software, the A64 program and its associated utilities, perform the actual Commodore 64 emulation and allow you to transfer data or programs from C64 drives to Amiga drives and back again. The hardware is an interface that plugs into the parallel port of your Amiga 500 or 2000 and allows The A64 Package to access Commodore 64 disk drives and printers. A separate adapter cable is needed for the A1000. You already have the software and the hardware is available from QuesTronix. You DO NOT need the hardware to use A64, but without it, its use is very limited. You DO need the hardware to use most of The A64 Packages' utility programs. 1-1 - WHAT DOES IT COST? The software portion of The A64 Package is licensed to you. You are free to use and distribute it as long as certain terms are agreed to (See LICENSE AGREEMENT on page 1). One of these terms is that QuesTronix is charging a license fee for the use of The A64 Package. This license fee is $25.00 (plus $3.00 for shipping and handling of the hardware interface, overseas orders please add an additional $2.00 for a total of $5.00 for shipping and handling. Connecticut residence please add 8% sales tax. Paying this license fee makes you a registered owner of The A64 Package and grants you certain rights and privileges. Also, after receiving the license fee, from you, QuesTronix will send you the hardware interface that is used with most of the programs in The A64 Package. The adapter cable needed for the A1000 is available for an additional $20.00. Please add $3.00 for shipping and handling if you order the adapter cable separately (overseas orders add $2.00 more for a total of $5.00 for shipping and handling). HOW TO BECOME A REGISTERED OWNER Included with The A64 Package is the file "Registration.form". This file serves as a registration form for The A64 Package. Please print this file (See PrintFile in the UTILITIES section) and then fill it out and send it with a check or money order, for the license fee, to: QuesTronix P.O. Box 340285 Hartford, CT 06134-0285 Funds must be drawn on a US bank. Please allow 4-6 weeks for personal checks to clear. Sorry no CODs or charge cards. Please take the time to fill out the registration form completely. The information you put on it will help us to put out better updates of The A64 Package. Users without printers can substitute the registration form with a letter. 1-2 - A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR Those of you that have been around the Amiga community for a while know all about C64 emulators and what a disappointment they have been. I hope that A64 is going to change that. I decided to write A64 because I knew that a C64 emulator could be faster and more compatible than the two commercially available emulators. Seeing how I was co-author of one of them (GO-64!), I had a slight advantage in writing another emulator. A64 V1.01n is the second release in my attempt to write a better emulator and I see many improvements and more features in the future. Although I believe that The A64 Package, in its current state, to be useful and in many ways superior to the competitors packages, it still needs quite a bit of work to be the best it can be. Unfortunately writing a program as complex as a C64 emulator takes a great deal of time and for QuesTronix to continue development of The A64 Package we need your support. If you find The A64 Package useful and would like to see it improve, send in the license fee. I believe that the license fee is minimal. Where else can you find a quality Amiga hardware/software product for $25.00? Thanks in advance, Cliff Dugan P.S. I would like to say thank you to the people who have supported The A64 Package so far. If the support continues it won't be long before the next major revision is released. 1-3 - GETTING STARTED If you already have A64's hardware interface you should install it before running A64 (See INSTALLING A64'S HARDWARE INTERFACE in the GETTING STARTED section). RUNNING A64 To run A64 you should have: 1. A copy of WorkBench that can be to written to. You can either use the WorkBench that you usually use with your Amiga or make a copy of it. If you decide to use your normal WorkBench you should note that a font will be added to it and it should have enough room on it to store this font (less than 1%). You should make sure that the WorkBench disk contains the following directories and files: "C" directory containing the files "Execute, Assign, Path and Copy" "Libs" directory containing the file "diskfont.lib" "Fonts" directory 2. A separate disk containing The A64 Package, which should be in the directory named "TheA64Package." Please note that A64 expects certain files to be in certain directories and if you have downloaded The A64 Package from a BBS The A64 Packages' expected file structure may not be intact (although it is NOT supposed to be distributed in this manner). Check THE A64 PACKAGES FILE STRUCTURE in the TECHNICAL section to make sure your A64 disk is in order. Before you can run A64 you must install a font onto the WorkBench disk that you will be using with The A64 Package. This is easily done by using the program "InstallA64Font" that is included with The A64 Package (See InstallA64Font in the UTILITIES section). The procedure for installing the font, from the WorkBench, is as follows: 1. Insert the disk containing The A64 Package into any drive. 2. Double-click The A64 Packages' disk icon. 3. When the disk window appears double-click TheA64Package drawer icon. 4. When the drawer window appears you will see an icon that is named "InstallA64Font," double-click this icon. 5. A window will appear asking you to enter the name of the drive containing The A64 Package. You should enter the name of drive and press the RETURN key when you are done. For example, if the drive containing The A64 Package was drive 1 then you would enter: df1: and then press return. 6. The A64 font will then be installed to your WorkBench fonts directory. If you have a single drive system just swap disks when needed. To run InstallA64Font from the CLI, type the following: cd TheA64Package run InstallA64Font You can now follow the procedure listed above, starting at step 5. 2-1 - The installation of the A64 Font only needs to be done once as long as you always use the same WorkBench disk with A64. If you change WorkBench disks you will have to install the A64 Font on the new WorkBench disk. After installing the A64 Font you are now ready to run A64. If you still have TheA64Package drawer window open from installing the A64 Font you can go directly to step 4. 1. Insert the disk containing The A64 Package into any drive. 2. Double-click The A64 Packages' disk icon. 3. When the disk window appears double-click TheA64Package drawer icon. 4. You will see an icon named "A64" that looks like an Amiga 2000, double-click it. 5. You will then see A64's title screen. There will be a brief pause while A64 loads its files. After it's done loading you will see a message flashing on the lower left hand side of the screen saying "PRESS A MOUSE BUTTON." At this time you should do so. 6. You will then be shown A64's license agreement screen. You should read this entire screen before proceeding. If you agree to the terms listed on the screen you should press the left mouse button to enter A64. If you do not agree to the terms you should press the right mouse button to quit A64. To run A64 from the CLI, type the following: cd TheA64Package run A64 Make sure you type run before A64 to take advantage of A64's multitasking capabilities. You can now follow the procedure for running A64 starting at step 5. Assuming you agreed to the terms of the license agreement and pressed the left mouse button, you will now be shown the A64 BASIC screen. The A64 BASIC screen will differ from the C64 BASIC screen in two ways: 1. The startup message will say "*** QUESTRONIX A64 BASIC V1 ***" instead of "**** COMMODORE 64 BASIC V2 ****." This is because the Commodore 64 ROMs are not present in A64 (See ROMS in the TECHNICAL section). 2. There will be no borders around the screen. (See BORDERS in the GRAFIX MENU section). You have now turned your Amiga into a C64. You can do almost everything in A64 that you would do on a C64. You can try all the BASIC commands or POKE and PEEK around memory. It's all there. NOTE: While the A64's title screen is being displayed you can press the TAB key to cycle the background. Pressing it again will stop the cycling. 2-2 - A64'S HARDWARE INTERFACE To fully utilize The A64 Package you need its hardware interface. This interface is a small hardware box that plugs into the parallel port of your Amiga 500 or 2000. A separate adapter cable is required for the Amiga 1000. This interface allows you to connect your Commodore 64 disk drive and printers to the Amiga in the same way you would connect them to your C64. It's this interface that allows you to load and save C64 programs from C64 disk drives and transfer them to and from Amiga disks. The hardware interface is not absolutely required to use A64, but without it, its use is very limited. To get the interface you must become a registered owner of The A64 Package (See HOW TO BECOME A REGISTERED OWNER in the INTRODUCTION section). INSTALLING A64'S HARDWARE INTERFACE The hardware interface is a small box with two connectors on it. The large connector is the end that plugs into your Amiga and the small connector is the end where you plug in your C64 disk drives and printers. To install the hardware interface use the following procedure: 1. Make sure your Amiga is turned off. You should NEVER plug anything into your Amiga while it's turned on, because damage to your Amiga could result by doing so. 2. If you have the Amiga 500 or 2000 you may now plug the interface directly into its parallel port. If you have the Amiga 1000 you must first plug the adapter cable into the parallel port and then connect the interface to the cable. Please note that this adapter cable is not a simple gender changer and only a cable specifically made to connect A500/A2000 devices to an A1000 parallel port should be used. 3. You are now ready to connect your C64 disk drives and printers to the interface. Make sure that each C64 device that you wish to connect has its power turned off. Using the serial cable that came with your disk drive or printer, plug one end of the cable into the interface and the other into your C64 peripheral. The C64 peripherals may now be "daisy chained" in the same way as they would be on a C64, by plugging each new device into the back of each previous device. After all C64 devices are connected you can then turn them on. A64 will support up to four different C64 disk drives and two separate C64 printers, simultaneously. 4. You may now turn on your Amiga and boot it up as you normally would. The hardware interface can stay plugged in at all times without interfering with any programs on your Amiga, as long as they do not use the parallel port. If you want to use your parallel port with some other piece of hardware, like a printer or digitizer, you must remove the hardware interface and install the other device as you normally would. You can also use an A-B switch and just switch between devices. Please note that A64 takes over the parallel port and for the parallel port to be used by other devices while A64 is running certain procedures must by followed (See PAR PORT in the SYSTEM MENU section). 2-3 - INSTALLING THE A64 PACKAGE ON ANOTHER DISK OR HARD DISK To install The A64 Package on another floppy disk or hard disk all you need to do is copy TheA64Package directory (drawer) to the disk you want to install it on. The way to do this is as follows: From the WorkBench: drag the TheA64Package drawer to the destination disk. From the CLI type: makedir <destination disk>TheA64Package copy <source disk>TheA64Package <destination disk>TheA64Package all copy <source disk>TheA64Package.info <destination disk> <source disk> is the disk containing TheA64Package directory and <destination disk> is the disk you want to install The A64 Package on. 2-4 - A64 PREFS A64 Prefs utilizes an Intuition user interface with menus, requesters and gadgets. This manual assumes that you are familiar with using this type of user interface and the terms used to describe it. If you are not familiar with them please consult your Amiga user's manual. A64 is the Amiga's first truly multitasking Commodore 64 emulator and A64 Prefs is your bridge, from A64, to the multitasking environment. A64 Prefs allows A64 to have features you've come to expect from Amiga programs, like an Intuition user interface with menus and requesters. A64 Prefs allows you to change the way A64 is configured to run C64 programs, access tools included with The A64 Package and, most importantly, it allows you to stop any C64 program that A64 is currently running and return to the WorkBench, after which you can use A64 Prefs and re-enter the C64 program and pick up EXACTLY where you left off. A64 Prefs gives A64 the power and flexibility that, until now, no C64 emulator has had. To gain access to A64 Prefs from A64 press the [LEFT ALT] key and the [RIGHT ALT] key simultaneously. After doing so a title bar will appear on the C64 program that is currently running. At this point you can get back to the Workbench or CLI by dragging the screen down or by depth arranging the A64 Prefs screen by using the front-back gadgets. To get back to A64 Prefs you do the same thing, drag or depth arrange any other screen that may visible. You can also use the following key sequences to depth arrange the A64 Prefs screen with the Workbench screen: [LEFT AMIGA] [M]: Send Workbench to back, A64 Prefs to front [LEFT AMIGA] [N]: Send Workbench to front, A64 Prefs to back A64 PREFS SETTINGS AND CONFIGURATION FILES A64 Prefs effects the operation of A64 much like the WorkBench Preferences program effects the operation of the Amiga. By changing A64 Prefs' settings you can force A64 to change its performance or appearance, in the way that it runs a C64 program. All of A64 Prefs' settings are accessed with menus and requesters. When you change one or more of these settings they become the current settings, meaning they will take effect immediately or when A64 is re-entered. These settings will stay in effect until you change them again or until you quit A64. You can also save all of A64 Prefs' settings in what is called a "configuration file." Unlike the WorkBench Preferences program, A64 Prefs allows you to create as many different configuration files as you like and name them what ever you choose. The procedure for changing A64 Prefs' settings and loading and saving configuration files is detailed in THE MENUS section. NOTE: A64 has a default configuration file. This file is named "A64.config" and it is loaded anytime you run A64. It contains all of A64's initial settings, which are shown by A64Prefs' menus and requesters. By changing any one or more of A64 Prefs' settings and saving them with the name "A64.config" will force A64 to use your new settings as its initial settings. 3-1 - THE MENUS A64 Prefs is broken up into several menus. Each having its own function and options. All of A64 Prefs settings and features are accessed with these menus. Each menu and its options are described in the following sections. THE PROJECT MENU RESET A64 KEY SEQUENCE: [LEFT AMIGA] [N] (New) The RESET A64 menu option allows you to reset A64 back to its initial state. If selected, this option will terminate the program that A64 is currently running and return A64 to the BASIC startup screen. Essentially, this is the same thing as turning a Commodore 64 off and then on again. When selecting RESET A64 you will be prompted with a requester asking you "Are sure you want to reset A64?". Select one of the requester's gadgets to answer the question: YES, Reset A64. NO, Abort the procedure. NOTES: RESET A64 is non-destructive. Any programs that were in memory before the reset will still be there after the reset. RESET A64 does not reset any devices connected with A64's hardware interface (i.e., C64 disk drives and printers). If you were using a program that used copy protection and/or sent commands to the devices you may have to reset them by turning them off and then on again. LOAD CONFIG KEY SEQUENCE: [LEFT AMIGA] [L] (Load) The LOAD CONFIG menu option allows you to load a previously saved configuration file. If selected, this option will load the requested configuration file and the newly loaded settings will become A64 Prefs' current settings. When selecting LOAD CONFIG you will be prompted with a requester asking you to enter the name of the configuration file you wish to load. Use the requester's string gadget to enter the name and then press the RETURN key to load the file. You can also use the requester's other gadgets to select the following: OK, Load the configuration file (pressing RETURN does the same). CANCEL, Abort the procedure. 3-2 - NOTE: The filename can contain any legal AmigaDOS path name, limited to 31 characters in length. SEE: A64 PREFS SETTINGS AND CONFIGURATION FILES and SAVE CONFIG in the A64 PREFS section. SAVE CONFIG KEY SEQUENCE: [LEFT AMIGA] [S] (Save) The SAVE CONFIG menu option allows you to save the current A64 Prefs' settings. If selected, this option will save all of A64 Prefs' current settings in the configuration file that you specified, to be loaded at a later time. When selecting SAVE CONFIG you will be prompted with a requester asking you to enter the name of the configuration file you wish to save A64 Prefs' current settings to. Use the requester's string gadget to enter the name and then press the RETURN key to save the file. You can also use the requester's other gadgets to select the following: OK, Save the configuration file (pressing RETURN does the same). CANCEL, Abort the procedure. NOTES: The filename can contain any legal AmigaDOS path name, limited to 31 characters in length. You can change the default A64 Prefs' settings, the settings used when A64 is first loaded, by saving the current settings with the name "A64.config". This configuration file is always loaded whenever you run A64. SEE: A64 PREFS SETTINGS AND CONFIGURATION FILES and LOAD CONFIG and NAMING CONFIGURATION FILES in the A64 PREFS section. NAMING CONFIGURATION FILES It is a good practice to end your configuration files with the file extension ".config". This will help you to remember what you named your configuration files. For example, if you saved a configuration file for the C64 program "PrintShop" and you named it "PrintShop.config" then when loading the file at a future time you would have no problem remembering what you named it. 3-3 - RESET CONFIG KEY SEQUENCE: [LEFT AMIGA] [R] (Reset config) The RESET CONFIG menu option allows you to reset A64 Prefs' current settings to their default states. If selected, this option will reset all of A64 Prefs' settings to their original settings. When selecting RESET CONFIG you will be prompted with a requester asking you "Are sure you want to reset config?". Select one of the requester's gadgets to answer the question: YES, Reset the configuration settings. NO, Abort the procedure. NOTE: The default settings set by RESET CONFIG are not necessarily the ones currently saved in the default configuration file "A64.config". If you have changed this file and you want to reset it to the default settings you must save them with the name "A64.config". SEE: A64 PREFS SETTINGS AND CONFIGURATION FILES and SAVE CONFIG in the A64 PREFS section. ABOUT A64 KEY SEQUENCE: [LEFT AMIGA] [A] (About) The ABOUT A64 menu option allows you to read some information about A64. When selecting ABOUT A64 you will be shown a screen with a cycling blue background. On the screen will be a requester with some information about A64. After you have read the information you can select the requester's OK gadget to return to A64 Prefs. NOTE: The TAB key will NOT toggle the cycling background on and off as it will with the title screen. IMPORTANT NOTE: See SCREEN SHIFTED BUG in KNOWN BUGS section! QUIT A64 KEY SEQUENCE: [LEFT AMIGA] [Q] (Quit) The QUIT A64 menu option allows you to quit A64. If selected, this option will terminate A64 for good and return you to the WorkBench. When selecting QUIT A64 you will be prompted with a requester asking you "Are sure you want to quit A64?". Select one of the requester's gadgets to answer the question: YES, Quit A64. NO, Abort the procedure. 3-4 - EXIT PREFS KEY SEQUENCE: [LEFT AMIGA] [X] (eXit) The EXIT PREFS menu option will allow you to exit A64 Prefs and return to A64. If selected, this option will close A64 Prefs and return you to A64 at the exact point where you left it. When selecting EXIT PREFS you will be prompted with a requester asking you "Are sure you want to exit prefs?". Select one of the requester's gadgets to answer the question: YES, Exit A64 Prefs and return to A64. NO, Abort the procedure. NOTE: You can get back to A64 Prefs by pressing the [LEFT ALT] key and the [RIGHT ALT] key simultaneously. 3-5 - THE SYSTEM MENU PAR PORT KEY SEQUENCE: None The PAR PORT menu option allows you to toggle ownership of the Amiga's parallel port between A64 and other Amiga programs. Because A64 takes over the Amiga's parallel port for its hardware interface, it can only be used by either A64 or other Amiga programs at any one time. The PAR PORT menu option has two settings: AMIGA and A64. You can select one or the other of these settings and selecting one automatically unselects the other. The current selected setting is shown by displaying a checkmark next to it. To use A64's hardware interface, A64 must own the parallel port and the A64 setting must be selected. If you want to use some other program, while A64 is running, that needs the parallel port for some other piece of hardware (i.e., parallel printers or digitizers) then the Amiga must own the parallel port and the AMIGA setting must be selected. NOTES: The A64 setting should only be selected when the A64 program itself needs the parallel port. If you want to use the utility programs included with The A64 Package, that also need A64's hardware interface (i.e., 64Dir, 64ToAmiga, AmigaTo64, etc.), the AMIGA setting must be selected. IMPORTANT NOTE: See PAR PORT BUG in the KNOWN BUGS section! SER PORT KEY SEQUENCE: None The SER PORT menu option allows you to toggle ownership of the Amiga's serial port between A64 and other Amiga programs. Because A64 takes over the Amiga's serial port for using modems, it can only be used by either A64 or other Amiga programs at any one time. The SER PORT menu option has two settings: AMIGA and A64. You can select one or the other of these settings and selecting one automatically unselects the other. The current selected setting is shown by displaying a checkmark next to it. To use modems with A64, A64 must own the serial port and the A64 setting must be selected. If you want to use some other program, while A64 is running, that needs the serial port for some other piece of hardware (i.e., serial printers or modems with Amiga programs) then the Amiga must own the serial port and the AMIGA setting must be selected. NOTE: You should not change the SER PORT setting to AMIGA while A64 is running a C64 telecommunications program. This could cause the C64 program to lose data and possibly crash, forcing you to reset A64. 3-6 - MODEMS A64 supports Amiga modems. To use an Amiga modem with A64 you must make sure the SER PORT menu item is set to A64 (See SER PORT in the SYSTEM MENU section). You do not have to set BAUD, PARITY or other telecommunications parameters with either A64 Prefs or the WorkBench Preferences program. The C64 program that A64 is running will set these parameters. A64 does not support BAUD rates of 50 and 75 which are available on the C64, but it does support all common BAUD rates from 110 to 19200. NOTE: A64's modem support is still in development and C64 telecommunications programs may or may not fully work. For the best results with A64 V1.01n try to use C64 programs that use the following settings: NO PARITY, 300 or 1200 BAUD, 1 STOP BIT, 8 DATA BITS and 3-LINE protocol. Modem support will be fully implemented by the next version of A64. GAME PORTS (JOYSTICKS) KEY SEQUENCE: [LEFT AMIGA] [G] (Game port) The GAME PORTS menu option allows you to tell A64 what kind of input devices are connected to the Amiga's game ports (Game ports are the ports that you plug your Amiga mouse and joysticks into). In the following explanation of the GAME PORTS menu option, reference is made to each port in the following manner: port 1 means the port that your Amiga's mouse is normally plugged into and port 2 means the other port. By default, port 1 on the Amiga corresponds to port 1 on the C64 and port 2 on the Amiga corresponds to port 2 on the C64. When selecting GAME PORTS, you will be prompted with a requester containing several gadgets. The function of each gadget is as follows: SWAP PORTS GADGET Selecting SWAP PORTS will toggle the game ports on the Amiga. This is shown by toggling the gadget between YES and NO. The meaning of both are as follows: NO, The Amiga's game ports act as normal. Port 1 on the Amiga corresponds to port 1 on the C64 and port 2 on the Amiga corresponds to port 2 on the C64. YES, The Amiga's game ports are swapped. Port 1 on the Amiga will become port 2 on the C64 and port 2 on the Amiga will become port 1 on the C64. This swapping of the ports is in reference to the actual game ports on the Amiga and not the PORT 1 and PORT 2 gadgets described below. 3-7 - For example, you are using a C64 program that requires a joystick in port 1. Instead of unplugging your Amiga's mouse from port 1 you can plug the joystick into port 2 and select YES as the SWAP PORTS setting. Now A64 will read the joystick as if it was plugged into port 1. Please note that you must still set the PORT 1 gadget to JOYSTICKS as described below. Also note that SWAP PORTS only effects how A64 reads the game ports and not how the Amiga and WorkBench read them. With proper use, SWAP PORTS will allow you to use almost any C64 program and not have to unplug your Amiga's mouse, unless of course both game ports are required by the C64 program. PORT 1 AND PORT 2 GADGETS Selecting PORT 1 or PORT 2 will allow you to change the input device for the corresponding C64 game port. This is displayed by changing the name of the input device for the corresponding port. Both of these gadgets work in the same way, except that PORT 1 corresponds to the C64's port 1 and PORT 2 corresponds to the C64's port 2. These gadgets ALWAYS correspond to the C64's game ports and not the Amiga's, regardless of the status of the SWAP PORTS gadget described above. That means if a C64 program requires a joystick in port 1 you MUST set the PORT 1 gadget to JOYSTICKS. Currently there are only two supported settings for these gadgets: JOYSTICKS: Selects joysticks for the corresponding C64 port. NO DEVICE: Acts as if there is no device connected regardless of what is actually plugged in. OK GADGET Selecting OK will preserve all changes to the GAME PORTS settings. They will become the current GAME PORTS settings and be active as soon as A64 is re-entered. CANCEL GADGET Selecting CANCEL will ignore all changes to the GAME PORTS settings and abort the procedure. NOTES: While the PORT 1 gadget is set to JOYSTICKS and SWAP PORTS is set to NO the Amiga's mouse will interfere with the keyboard and characters will appear on the screen when the mouse is moved. This is normal. The same thing will happen if you plug an Amiga mouse into port 1 of the C64. This problem can be avoided by setting SWAP PORTS to YES or setting the PORT 1 gadget to NO DEVICE. Also note, because of the way the SWAP PORTS gadget works this problem can also be created with the Amiga's game port 2. More input devices will be supported in future versions of A64. 3-8 - DRIVES KEY SEQUENCE: [LEFT AMIGA] [D] (Drives) The DRIVES menu option allows you to assign a type of disk drive to a drive number. The Commodore 64 allows you to connect up to four disk drives to it. A64 is no different in that it also allows you to utilize up to four drives, but unlike the C64, A64 allows you to use not only C64 drives, but you can also use Amiga drives. The C64 uses drive numbers to access its drives. Numbered 8-11. A64 uses these same drive numbers and the DRIVES option allows you to assign a type of drive to them. When selecting DRIVES you will be prompted with a requester. On this requester you will see the numbers 8-11 on the left hand side of it. These numbers correspond to the C64's drive numbers mentioned above. To the right of each of these numbers are two gadgets. The 1st gadget (going left to right) allows you to toggle between a C64 drive or an Amiga drive for that particular drive number. This is displayed by showing the word C64 or AMIGA. If you want to assign a C64 drive to a drive number you set this gadget to C64 and if you want to assign an Amiga drive to a drive number you set this gadget to AMIGA. The second gadget is a string gadget and is only used when you the first gadget is set to AMIGA. If you set the first gadget to C64 then this gadget will be disabled. The purpose of the second gadget is to tell A64 what Amiga device you want to assign to a drive number. This is done by typing in the device name that you want to assign to a drive number. This name can be any Amiga drive or any valid AmigaDOS path name. Some valid device names are: df0:, df1:, dh0:, and RAM:. You can also use volume names like WorkBench 1.3: or directory names like df0:TheA64Package/64Prgs. For example, you want to load the C64 program named "64Colors" and this program is located on the The A64 Package disk in the 64Prgs directory, which itself is in the directory TheA64Package. With the A64 disk in df0: you would do the following: 1. Select the DRIVES menu option with either the mouse or key sequence. 2. When the requester appears change drive 8 to AMIGA. This is done by clicking on the first gadget (going left to right) next to the number 8. 3. The string gadget will then become enabled. Select the string gadget and type in the following: df0:The64Package/64Prgs [RETURN] 4. Select the OK gadget so your changes will be preserved. 5. Exit A64 Prefs using the EXIT PREFS menu item in the PROJECT menu. 6. When you are back in A64 type in the following: LOAD"64COLORS",8 [RETURN] 3-9 - A64 will then load the program from the path you assigned to drive 8, "df0:The64Package/64Prgs." You can now RUN the program as if were loaded from a C64 drive. Now whenever you perform an action involving drive 8, A64 will act as if "df0:The64Package/64Prgs" is drive 8. Please note that you could also have assigned drive 8 to just df0: and typed the following when you re-entered A64: LOAD"THEA64PACKAGE/64PRGS/64COLORS",8 [RETURN] The remaining two gadgets are as follows: OK will preserve all changes to the DRIVES settings. They will become the current DRIVES settings and be active as soon as A64 is re-entered. CANCEL will ignore all changes to the DRIVES settings and abort the procedure. AMIGA DRIVES A64 supports Amiga drives for the loading and saving of programs and data to and from A64. These drives can be floppy drives, hard drives and RAM drives. But before you attempt to use any of these with A64 you must understand an important fact about using them. They are not as compatible as using a C64 drive with A64 and their use is limited. The reason for this is that C64 disk drives are what is referred to as "intelligent devices." This means that C64 drives have ROM and RAM (memory) giving them the ability to run programs just like the C64 does. Basically they are computers! The C64 can transfer a program or send a command to the C64 disk drive telling it to perform some internal action. This action happens totally independent of the C64. This ability is used for everything from reading drive errors to copy protection and FAST LOADERS. Amiga drives on the other hand are not "intelligent devices." They have no RAM or ROM and basically rely on the Amiga to perform all actions. Because of this fact, Amiga drives will not work with most C64 copy protection and will not support any kind of communications meant for a C64 drive besides the simple reading and writing of programs and data. If you try to perform some action with an Amiga drive that it can not handle an error requester will appear (See A64 ERRORS in the PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS section). You can avoid these incompatibilities by using C64 disk drives whenever possible. A64 supports all communications with C64 disk drives and when using them these incompatibilities do not exist. NOTES: You can not do a directory of an Amiga disk from within A64. You must exit A64 to A64 Prefs and use the CLI to get the directory. Amiga drives will support reading and writing of the file types: PRG, SEQ and USR. Relative (REL) files are not supported. Please note that file types are not saved with the file on Amiga drives, but the file formats are identical to the C64's (PRG files include load address, SEQ and USR do not). In A64 V1.01n LOADING (reading) from Amiga drives is slow, even from RAM disks. We do expect to dramatically increase the speed of LOADs in the future. 3-10 - THE GRAFIX MENU COLORS KEY SEQUENCE: [LEFT AMIGA] [C] (Colors) The COLORS menu option allows you change A64's colors and the number of colors A64 uses to draw the C64's display. Before explaining the COLORS option we must first explain a little bit about the Commodore 64's colors and how it uses them. The Commodore 64 is capable of displaying a maximum of 16 colors at any one time. On the C64 you are not able to change its colors, they are always displayed the same (Until now!). The C64 uses numbers to signify its colors. Seeing how there are 16 colors and computers start counting at 0, these color numbers range from 0 to 15. The C64's color numbers and there corresponding colors are as follows: 0 = BLACK 4 = PURPLE 8 = ORANGE 12 = MED GRAY 1 = WHITE 5 = GREEN 9 = BROWN 13 = LGT GREEN 2 = RED 6 = BLUE 10 = LGT RED 14 = LGT BLUE 3 = CYAN 7 = YELLOW 11 = DARK GRAY 15 = LGT GRAY When selecting COLORS a screen will open at the bottom of the A64 Prefs screen. This screen has many gadgets that allow you to control A64's colors. The color screen's gadgets will be explained by separating them into sections. Please note that most of the color screen's gadgets interact with each other. If you change the setting of one gadget it will probably change the setting of one or more other gadgets, because of this we suggest that you read this section of the manual in order, without jumping from section to section. The color screen's gadgets and their functions are as follows: COLOR GADGETS The COLOR GADGETS are the 20 small gadgets that start at the top, left hand side of the screen. These gadgets represent A64's current color palette, with each gadget containing one of A64's colors. These COLOR GADGETS allow you to select a color that you want to change. The current selected gadget will be displayed with a red square around it. You will note that there are 20 gadgets, while the C64 only has 16 colors. This is because A64 needs other colors, in addition to the C64's 16 colors, for some of it's COLOR MODES (COLOR MODES are discussed in the following sections). To explain this we need to define what C64 colors are represented by each COLOR GADGET. Going left to right, the first COLOR GADGET represents the C64's current background color. The background color is the color of the screen that doesn't contains any graphics data, the transparent part of the screen. For those of you that know a little about the C64's graphics, the background color is stored in the C64's color register at 53281. The actual color this gadget contains depends on what COLOR MODE you are using. If you are using 16 or 20 COLOR MODE, this gadget will contain a mirror image of one of the C64's 16 colors (it will contain the same color as one of the other gadgets). If you are using one of the other COLOR MODES: 2, 4, or 8, then it will contain it's own independent color. The next 16 gadgets represent the C64's 16 colors, with the first gadget representing the C64's color 0 and the last gadget, of the 16, representing the C64's 3-11 - color 15. The last three color gadgets are only used for A64's 20 COLOR MODE. They represent three of the C64's color registers that are used for two of it's graphics modes. For the people who know a little bit about the C64's graphics, the C64 color registers are at 53282-53284 and are used for multicolor text and extended background color text modes. These three gadgets are like the background color gadget and will contain a mirror image of one of the C64's 16 colors. NOTES: The four gadgets described above, the background color gadget and the three gadgets used by 20 COLOR MODE, are different from the other 16 COLOR GADGETS. While the other 16 COLOR GADGETS represent actual C64 colors that the C64 can not change, these four gadgets represent color registers within the C64 that can be changed to any one of its 16 colors. Seeing how the C64 can change the color in these registers, thus changing the color in the gadgets that represent them, any changes you make to these gadgets will be temporary. If you want to change one of these four gadgets and have its color preserved when A64 is re-entered you must find the other gadget (in the other 16 gadgets) that contains the same color as the gadget you want to change and then modify that gadget to the color you want. For example, using the default C64 colors, the background color gadget will contain the color blue and will be a mirror image of the seventh COLOR GADGET, which will also contain the color blue. If you change the color of the seventh COLOR GADGET to white and then re-enter A64, the background color will be changed to white, the color you selected in the seventh COLOR GADGET. If you had only changed the color in the background color gadget and re-entered A64 the background color would be changed back to blue, the color in the seventh COLOR GADGET. When selecting a COLOR MODE of less than 20, all unused COLOR GADGETS will be disabled. SLIDER GADGETS The SLIDER GADGETS are the three long, multicolored gadgets located below the COLOR GADGETS. These gadgets are used to change A64's colors. More specifically, they allow you to change the color contained in the selected COLOR GADGET. On the Amiga, colors are formed by adding a combination of RED, GREEN and BLUE color parts. These SLIDER GADGETS represent these three color parts with; RED on top, GREEN in the middle and BLUE on the bottom. Each one of these gadgets contain 16 different colors. By selecting one of these colors you will change the selected COLOR GADGET to that color. You will note that every time you select a color that all the colors in the SLIDER GADGETS will change, this is to show what new colors are available within a certain range from the color you just selected. All of the Amiga's 4096 possible colors can be achieved by changing the settings of these three gadgets. COLOR MODE GADGET The COLOR MODE gadget is the located at the top, right hand side of the color screen. It is shown by the words "COLOR MODE:" followed by a gadget containing a number. This gadget allows you to pick how many colors A64 will use to draw the C64 display. The possible settings are: 2, 4, 8, 16 and 20. Each setting corresponds to the number of colors that A64 will use. These color modes also relate to how many bitplanes are used to make 3-12 - the C64 display. The Amiga uses bitplanes to make up its screens (You do not need to fully understand bitplanes to grasp this example, but what you should understand is that the more bitplanes that are used, the more colors that can be displayed at one time and the more work A64 has to do to display them. By lowering the number of bitplanes, we lower the number of available color, but also decrease the amount of work A64 has to do to draw the screen, resulting in A64 running faster). The following chart shows you how many colors the Amiga is capable of displaying for a certain number of bitplanes and how many colors A64 will display for the same number of bitplanes: NUMBER OF NUMBER OF NUMBER OF BITPLANES AMIGA COLORS A64 COLORS --------- ------------ ---------- 1 2 2 2 4 4 3 8 8 4 16 16 5 32 20 20 COLOR MODE There are only 16 colors on the C64, but because of differences in the way that the Amiga and the C64 make their screens A64 uses more than 16 colors to display all of the C64's colors. In addition to the C64's 16 colors, A64 needs one color for the background color and it also uses three additional colors for two of its graphics modes (See COLOR GADGETS in the COLORS section). That brings our total up to 20 colors needed for A64 to draw the C64's screen. That's how we get 20 COLOR MODE. When using this COLOR MODE A64 can replicate the C64's screen perfectly. The confusion starts when we start changing the COLOR MODE and lowering the number of bitplanes. When we start lowering the COLOR MODE, we start losing colors. A64 handles this slightly different for 16 COLOR MODE than it does for the 2, 4 & 8 COLOR MODES. We will explain this by separating 16 COLOR MODE from the 2, 4 & 8 COLOR MODES and explaining them separately. 16 COLOR MODE With 16 COLOR MODE A64 uses four bitplanes. This allows us to have a maximum of 16 colors, exactly the number the C64 has, but remember, A64 needs other colors. A64 needs a maximum of 20 colors and we now only have 16, four colors short. A64 handles this by replacing the missing colors with other available colors. The first colors A64 can replace are the three colors mentioned above, that were needed for two of A64's graphics modes. These three colors are only used for 20 COLOR MODE and can be ignored for all other COLOR MODES. Getting rid of these three colors brings our total colors, needed by A64, down to 17. This still leaves us with one color too many. The way A64 handles this, is to replace one of the C64's colors. A64 replaces the C64's color 15 (light gray) with the C64's color 1 (white). This means, when using 16 COLOR MODE, whenever something is supposed to be displayed in color 15 it will be displayed in color 1. This replacement was picked, because the default color 1 (white) looks very close to the default color 15 (light gray). For all practical purposes, this is the only difference between 16 COLOR MODE and 20 COLOR MODE. With 16 COLOR MODE all colors will look the way they should, except color 15 will be replaced with color 1. 3-13 - 2, 4 & 8 COLOR MODES The remaining three COLOR MODES: 2, 4 & 8, are all handled by A64 in the same way. With these COLOR MODES A64 must replace more colors, the lower the color mode, the more colors that need to be replaced. The way A64 does this is by taking the number of allowed colors (the COLOR MODE number) and reserving one color for the background color and using the remaining colors for the C64 colors. Because of the limited number of colors provided by these COLOR MODES A64 sets aside one color for the background color that will be different than all the remaining colors, this is slightly different than the 20 & 16 color modes, where the background color is always a copy of one of the C64's colors. For example, in 8 COLOR MODE, A64 uses 1 color for the background color, leaving 7 colors free for C64 colors. In 4 COLOR MODE, A64 uses 1 color for the background color, leaving 3 colors free for C64 colors and in 2 COLOR MODE A64 uses 1 color for the background color, leaving 1 color free for C64 colors (this is the equivalent of a monochrome mode). The following chart shows what colors are replaced by these COLOR MODES: The 2, 4 & 8 COLOR MODE numbers correspond to the COLOR GADGETS starting with the second gadget in, from the left (skip the 1st color gadget, the background color gadget). C64 COLOR 8 COLOR MODE 4 COLOR MODE 2 COLOR MODE --------- ------------ ------------ ------------ 0 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 3 3 1 3 4 1 1 4 5 2 1 5 6 3 1 6 7 1 1 7 1 2 1 8 2 3 1 9 3 1 1 10 4 2 1 11 5 3 1 12 6 1 1 13 7 2 1 14 1 3 1 15 2 1 1 The different COLOR MODES supported by A64 may seem very confusing, but they are really not that complicated once you start using them. Included with The A64 package is a C64 program named "64Colors." It is located in the directory "64Prgs." We suggest you use this program and experiment with the different COLOR MODES to see their effect on the C64's colors. NOTES: Each COLOR MODE has its own color palette containing the number of colors supported by the COLOR MODE (i.e., 16 COLOR MODE has its own palette of 16 colors). When changing COLOR MODES the new COLOR MODE's palette will be switched in and the previous palette, and any changes you made to it, will be preserved. This is the same as if you had selected the OK gadget for the changes, so before changing COLOR MODES make sure any colors that you changed are they way you want them. 3-14 - The drawing of the C64's screen is the most time consuming part of A64. The general rule is that the more graphics a C64 program uses, the more work A64 has to do to display them and the slower A64 will run the C64 program. You can help compensate for this extra work, by lowering the COLOR MODE. When you lower the COLOR MODE you decrease the number of bitplanes that A64 has to draw to making A64 run faster. We strongly recommend that you lower the COLOR MODE to at least 16 whenever possible. 16 COLOR MODE will handle most C64 programs with no dramatic decrease in color resolution. Also note that if you are running an A1000 with 512k or an A500 or A2000 with 1mb or less, selecting 16 COLOR MODE, which eliminates the 5th bitplane, will give you a more noticeable speed increase. OK GADGET Selecting OK will preserve all changes to the COLORS settings. They will become the current COLORS settings and become active immediately. CANCEL GADGET Selecting CANCEL will ignore all changes to the current COLORS settings in the current COLOR MODE and abort the procedure. CANCEL will not cancel out changes to the COLOR MODE setting itself nor will it restore changes made to another COLOR MODES' colors. NOTES: When the A64 Colors screen is open the A64 Prefs screen will become "locked" and you will not be able to access any of A64 Prefs menus until you close the A64 Colors screen (when A64 Prefs screen is locked it will say "SCREEN LOCKED" on its title bar). A64 COLORS is still in the early stages of development. Future versions of it will have many more features that you would expect from a color selection screen of this type (i.e., COPY, SWAP, SPREAD, etc.). BORDERS KEY SEQUENCE: None The BORDERS menu option allows you to toggle the C64's borders on and off. Because the Amiga does not support a true border around its screen, a border around the entire C64 screen can not be emulated efficiently. To support programs that need borders, for such things as changing the border color to signify some status within the program, A64 supports a border on the top and bottom of the screen. Changing the status of the borders will have no effect on the operation of A64, but may make some programs look better. The BORDERS menu option has two settings: ON and OFF. You can select one or the other of these settings and selecting one automatically unselects the other. The current selected setting is shown by displaying a checkmark next to it. To turn the on borders, select ON, and to turn the borders off, select OFF. NOTE: The borders will not be visible until re-entering A64. 3-15 - SCRN REFRESH KEY SEQUENCE: None The SCRN REFRESH menu option allows to change how fast and the way A64 draws the C64 screen. When selecting, you will be prompted with a requester containing several gadgets. The function of each gadget is as follows: SCREEN REFRESH TYPE GADGET The SCREEN REFRESH TYPE GADGET allows you to toggle the way A64 draws the C64 screen. When selecting this gadget it will toggle between DIRECT and SAMPLE. These settings correspond to the two ways that A64 can draw the C64 screen. The meaning of each setting is as follows: DIRECT MODE When A64 is in DIRECT MODE it writes to the Amiga's screen directly. This means, when the C64 is performing an operation that changes some part of the C64's screen A64 make the same change immediately to the Amiga's screen. This way of drawing directly to the Amiga's screen has the advantage of showing changes of the C64's screen immediately resulting in smoother screen updates, but has the disadvantage of having the tendency to slow down A64 when alot of changes are happening to the C64's screen seemingly at one time. For example, scrolling in games. DIRECT MODE is the default setting for the way A64 draws the screen and it is suggested that you try using this setting before trying SAMPLE mode for most C64 programs. SAMPLE MODE When A64 is in SAMPLE MODE it draws the changes in the C64 screen at a set SAMPLE rate. This means that A64 will sample the C64 graphics at a certain rate to see what has changed and then draw the changes. This way of drawing the screen has the advantage of being faster when alot of changes are happening to the C64's screen seemingly at one time. For example, scrolling in games, but has the disadvantage of making the screen updates appear jerky and at times out of sequence. When using C64 programs that are real graphics intensive you can select SAMPLE MODE to make them run faster. NOTE: There are times in A64 when SAMPLE MODE will override DIRECT MODE, because SAMPLE MODE can perform the screen updates more efficiently. When you are running a C64 program that uses a graphics technique called "raster interrupts" and more than one graphics mode is used at one time SAMPLE MODE will automatically be used, regardless of the SCREEN REFRESH TYPE gadget setting. SCREEN REFRESH RATE GADGET The SCREEN REFRESH RATE GADGET allows you to change the rate at which A64 redraws the screen. This gadget is a string gadget and it will allow you to enter a five digit number that corresponds to A64's screen refresh rate. This number can range from 1-65535 and the way A64 interprets it is as follows: 3-16 - A64 uses the SCREEN REFRESH RATE value as a countdown to redraw the screen. A64 subtracts 1 from this value 60 times per second and when the value counts down to 0 A64 resets the counter and redraws the screen. For example if you set this setting to 1 then A64 would subtract 1 from it 60 times per second (1-1=0) and would result in A64 redrawing the screen 60 times per second. Listed below is a table showing how often A64 will redraw the screen based on the SCREEN REFRESH RATE setting. SCREEN REFRESH RATE TABLE REFRESH RATE VALUE REFRESH RATE ------------------ ---------------- 1 60 x per second 2 30 x per second 3 20 x per second 4 15 x per second 5 12 x per second 6 10 x per second ..... 10 6 x per second ..... 15 4 x per second ..... 30 2 x per second ..... 60 1 x per second ..... 120 1 x per 2 seconds ..... 600 1 x per 10 seconds ..... 6000 1 x per 100 seconds (1.66 minutes) ..... 65535 1 x per 1092.25 seconds (18.20 minutes) OK GADGET Selecting OK will preserve all changes to the SCREEN REFRESH settings. They will become the current SCREEN REFRESH settings and be active as soon as A64 is re-entered. CANCEL GADGET Selecting CANCEL will ignore all changes to the SCREEN REFRESH settings and abort the procedure. NOTE: Both the SCREEN REFRESH TYPE and SCREEN REFRESH RATE settings can have major effects on how fast A64 runs. We suggest you play around with these settings while using different C64 programs to see their effects. 3-17 - RASTERS KEY SEQUENCE: None The RASTERS menu option allows to change how A64 handles reads of the video scan line. Before explaining this setting we need to discuss some basic principals of video circuitry and how the C64 uses them. Inside your computer's monitor is an electron beam that sweeps across the inside of your monitor's picture tube, refreshing the picture as it goes. This electron beam sweeps across the screen from left to right and refreshes the screen one horizontal line at a time. This horizontal line is called a scan line. The standard NTSC screen is made up of 262 of these scan lines. This process of refreshing the screen, one scan line at time, happens very rapidly. It takes your monitor 1/60th of a second to refresh one entire screen. This means that in one second the screen will have been refreshed 60 times. Inside the C64 is a pair of registers (memory locations) that contain the current scan line number that is being refreshed by the monitor. These registers are used by MANY C64 programs for a variety of purposes. Seeing how these registers change at a regular rate many C64 programs use them for timing. Another popular use for these registers is for a program to wait for a specific scan line before continuing. When selecting RASTERS you will prompted with a requester containing several gadgets. The function of each gadget is as follows: SCAN LINE READ GADGET The SCAN LINE READ GADGET allows you to select the way A64 reads the scan line registers. When selecting this gadget it will toggle between REAL and FAKE. These settings correspond to the two ways that A64 can read the scan line registers. The meaning of each setting is as follows: REAL When the SCAN LINE READ GADGET is set to REAL, A64 will use the Amiga's hardware to get the current scan line. This method is the more compatible of the two and should be used whenever possible. There is one problem with using this method. Because of internal timing in the Amiga some scan lines can not be read (scan lines 6-12). Because of this, if a C64 program is waiting for one of these scan lines it will lock up waiting for something that will never happen. (NOTE: If this does happen you can still RESET A64. See: RESET A64 in the PROJECT MENU section). Because of this problem A64 supports another way of reading the scan line registers. FAKE When the SCAN LINE READ GADGET is set to FAKE, A64 will simulate the function of the scan line registers. This method will allow some C64 programs to run that wouldn't ordinarily with the above mentioned REAL method. This method will allow all scan lines to be read, but because of the fact that it is a FAKE reading it will not be in sync with the true scan line. This should not cause major problems with most C64 programs, but it will throw of the timing of any program that uses the scan line registers for that purpose. 3-18 - OK GADGET Selecting OK will preserve all changes to the RASTERS settings. They will become the current RASTERS settings and be active as soon as A64 is re-entered. CANCEL GADGET Selecting CANCEL will ignore all changes to the RASTERS settings and abort the procedure. 3-19 - THE TOOLS MENU SAVE SCREEN KEY SEQUENCE: [F1] The SAVE SCREEN menu option allows you to save the currently displayed C64 screen as an IFF file. After saving the screen you can then load it into any Amiga graphics program that supports IFF pictures, like Deluxe Paint. When selecting SAVE SCREEN you will be prompted with a requester asking you to enter the name of the file you wish to save the screen as. Use the requester's string gadget to enter the name and then press the RETURN key to save the file. You can also use the requester's other gadgets to select the following: OK, Save the screen. (Pressing RETURN does the same.) CANCEL, Abort the procedure. NOTE: The filename can contain any legal AmigaDOS path name, limited to 31 characters in length. 3-20 - A64 PREFS NOTES This section contains miscellaneous information about A64 Prefs that did not fit into other sections of the manual. When in A64 Prefs you can press [F10] to toggle the title bar on and off. When A64 is running some programs and you bring up A64 Prefs, you may notice some images disappear from the C64 screen, this is normal. These images are called "sprites." Sprites are independent graphics images and not part of the screen in the normal sense. Because A64 Prefs does not support C64 sprites, they will disappear from the screen when it is entered. An example of a sprite is the Amiga's mouse pointer. When A64 is running some programs and you bring up A64 Prefs, you may notice the background changes color, this is normal. This can happen if a C64 program is using a graphics technique called "raster interrupts" and the background color is different in areas on the same screen. Because A64 Prefs does not support multiple background colors on the same screen, as A64 does, it will display the last background color used for its background color. You should never attempt to bring up A64 Prefs while I/O (INPUT/OUTPUT) is in progress. This means that whenever A64 is loading or saving from a disk drive, accessing a modem or using a printer, you should wait until the operation is completed before bringing up A64 Prefs. This warning should especially be noted when accessing C64 devices. Bringing up A64 during I/O should not "crash" A64, but may result in a "C64 crash" forcing you to reset A64 and/or the C64 devices that you interrupted. To be on the safe side you should heed this warning. If at anytime you try to bring up A64 Prefs and the title bar does not appear and/or the screen goes blank this means A64 Prefs has not yet been entered correctly. The most likely cause of this is the Amiga has brought up a system requester on the WorkBench screen. You must clear this requester before A64 Prefs will be entered correctly. To do this, follow this procedure: 1. Use the following key sequence to get access to the WorkBench screen: [LEFT AMIGA] [N]: Send Workbench to front, A64 Prefs to back 2. Perform the action requested by the requester or select CANCEL. 3. If A64 Prefs does not appear automatically after handling the requester use the following key sequence or depth arrange the WorkBench screen to get to A64 Prefs: [LEFT AMIGA] [M]: Send Workbench to back, A64 Prefs to front NOTE: If there is not a system requester on the WorkBench screen then A64 is stuck somewhere and you will have to reboot your Amiga to get everything back to normal. Every precaution has been taken to make sure this doesn't happen. 3-21 - UTILITIES The A64 Package comes with a number of utility programs serving a variety of functions. The majority of these utility programs are for helping with the transfer of C64 programs and data to the Amiga. These utilities allow you to access C64 disk drives and printers directly from AmigaDOS and most of them must be run from the CLI. In the following sections we will outline each utility and how to use it. UTILITIES SUMMARY The following list gives a brief summary of the utilities included with The A64 Package. A couple of the headings need explanation. The heading HDW is short for HarDWare interface and is used to signify if the utility directly needs A64's hardware interface. The heading ENV is short for ENVironment and is used to state what environment the utility is to be used in. The different environments are: WB - the utility is meant to be used with the WorkBench, but can also be used from the CLI, CLI - the utility is used from the CLI only, C64 - the utility is meant to be used on the C64, and A64 - the utility can be used by both A64 and the C64. Please note that the utilities with their environment set to C64 or A64 are actual Commodore 64 programs, all other utilities are Amiga programs. Also note that just because a utility does not use the hardware interface directly does not mean that the utility will be useful without it. For example the utility "Pet2ASCII" will convert a file from PetASCII to ASCII, but to use it you must first transfer a C64 program to an Amiga disk. UTILITY NAME HDW ENV FUNCTION ------------ --- --- -------- 64Cmd YES CLI Send a command to a C64 drive 64Dir YES CLI Read the dir of a C64 drive 64Print YES CLI Print an Amiga file to a C64 printer 64Status YES CLI Read a C64 drives' status 64ToAmiga YES CLI Copy a file from a C64 drive to an Amiga drive AmigaTo64 YES CLI Copy a file from an Amiga drive to a C64 drive Cache NO WB Toggle 68020/30/40 cache on and off InstallA64Font NO WB Install A64's font to FONTS: Pet2ASCII NO CLI Convert a file from PetASCII to ASCII PrintFile NO WB Print an Amiga file to an Amiga printer StripLoadAddr NO CLI Strip the load address from a file 64Colors NO A64 View the C64's colors SaveROMs NO C64 Save the C64's ROMs CONVENTIONS FOR THE CLI BASED UTILITIES Here are some general conventions for using the CLI based utilities that will help make them easier to use: For all the CLI based utilities except one, 64Status, you may enter the utilities name alone to get it's usage (for 64Status enter ? after its name to get its usage). For example, if you type: 64ToAmiga [RETURN] 4-1 - The utility will print a short copyright message followed by a usage line that shows the syntax of the input that the utility expects. A usage line appears like this: Usage: 64ToAmiga <source filename> <destination filename> [file type] A utilities usage line shows what parameters are needed by the utility and incloses these parameters with symbols: When you see a parameter inclosed in < > this parameter is required by the utility and must be entered for the utility to function properly. When you see a parameter inclosed in [ ] this parameter is optional. If you don't enter anything for this parameter the utility will use some default value for it. NOTE: When using the CLI commands that require A64's hardware interface you should make sure the interface and the correct device for the utility is connected before attempting to use the utility. Failing to do this can lock-up your Amiga. 4-2 - 64Cmd PURPOSE: Send a command to a C64 disk drive USAGE: 64Cmd <command string> [drive] <command string> is a valid C64 drive command string. [drive] is a C64 drive, specified as df8:, df9:, df10: or df11:. df8: is the default. ENVIRONMENT: CLI INTERFACE: YES 64Cmd will allow you to send a command to a C64 disk drive. It supports all of the standard Commodore DOS commands. Some examples of using 64Cmd are: FORMAT: Format a disk USAGE: 64Cmd N0:<disk name>,<2 digit id> [C64 drive] EXAMPLE: 64Cmd N0:testdisk,64 df8: SCRATCH: Delete a file USAGE: 64Cmd S0:<filename> [C64 drive] EXAMPLE: 64Cmd S0:testfile df8: RENAME: Rename a file USAGE: 64Cmd R0:<new name>=<old name> [C64 drive] EXAMPLE: 64Cmd R0:testfile2=testfile1 df8: For more information on C64 drive commands see your 1541 disk drive user's manual. 4-3 - 64Dir PURPOSE: Get a directory listing of a C64 disk USAGE: 64Dir <search string> [drive] <search string> is a valid C64 search string. [drive] is a C64 drive, specified as df8:, df9:, df10: or df11:. df8: is the default. ENVIRONMENT: CLI INTERFACE: YES 64Dir will allow you to get a directory of a C64 disk. Some examples of using 64Dir are: 64Dir $ df8: Will list the entire directory of drive 8. 64Dir $:a* df9: Will list only the files that begin with "a" on drive 9. 4-4 - 64Print PURPOSE: Print a file to C64 printer USAGE: 64Print <filename> <device> [option] <filename> is the name of the file you wish to print. <device> is a C64 printer number, either 4 or 5. The default is 4. [option] can be either A for ASCII or B for Binary The default is A. The difference between these options is that A will convert the file from ASCII to PetASCII before printing it and B will not do any conversion of the file. ENVIRONMENT: CLI INTERFACE: YES 64Print will allow you to print a file to a C64 printer. Some examples of using 64Print are: 64Print testfile Will print the file "testfile" 64Print testfile2 B Will print the file "testfile2" without any ASCII conversions. 4-5 - 64Status PURPOSE: Read a the status of a C64 disk drive USAGE: 64Status [drive] [drive] is a C64 drive, specified as df8:, df9:, df10: or df11:. df8: is the default. ENVIRONMENT: CLI INTERFACE: YES 64Status allows you to read the status of a C64 disk drive. When a C64 drive encounters an error it will flash its read light off and on. You can use 64Status to find out what caused the error. An example of 64Status is: 64Status df8: Will read the status of drive 8. 4-6 - 64ToAmiga PURPOSE: Copy a file from a C64 drive to an Amiga drive. USAGE: 64ToAmiga <source filename> <destination filename> [file type] <source filename> is a C64 filename. <destination filename> is an Amiga filename. [file type] can be either P for PRG file or S for SEQ file. The default is P. ENVIRONMENT: CLI INTERFACE: YES 64ToAmiga will allow you to copy a file from a C64 disk drive to an Amiga disk drive. Some examples of using 64ToAmiga are: 64ToAmiga df8:testfile df0: Will copy the file "testfile" from the C64 drive 8 to the Amiga drive 0. 64ToAmiga df8:testfile2 df0:64Prgs/testfile S Will copy the sequential file "testfile2" from the C64 drive 8 to the file "testfile" in the directory 64Prgs on Amiga drive 0. 4-7 - AmigaTo64 PURPOSE: Copy a file from an Amiga drive to a C64 drive. USAGE: AmigaTo64 <source filename> <destination filename> [file type] <source filename> is an Amiga filename. <destination filename> is a C64 filename. [file type] can be either P for PRG file or S for SEQ file. The default is P. ENVIRONMENT: CLI INTERFACE: YES AmigaTo64 will allow you to copy a file from an Amiga disk drive to a C64 disk drive. Some examples of using AmigaTo64 are: AmigaTo64 df0:testfile df8: Will copy the file "testfile" from the Amiga drive 0 to the C64 drive 8. AmigaTo64 df0:64Prgs/testfile df8:testfile2 S Will copy the sequential file "testfile" from the directory 64Prgs on the Amiga drive 0 to the file "testfile2" on the C64 drive 8. 4-8 - Cache PURPOSE: Toggle 68020/30/40 microprocessor cache on and off. USAGE: Cache ENVIRONMENT: WorkBench or CLI INTERFACE: NO Cache will allow you to toggle the 68020/30/40 microprocessor cache on and off. When using one of these microprocessors you must disable it's cache before using one The A64 Packages utilities that directly use A64's hardware interface. Turning off the cache is not required when using A64 or any other utility that does not use the hardware interface. When Cache is run a window will appear stating the new microprocessor's cache status. The possible responses are: Installed microprocessor does NOT have a cache. Microprocessor cache is OFF. Microprocessor cache is ON. See 680x0 SUPPORT in the TECHNICAL section. 4-9 - InstallA64Font PURPOSE: Install the A64 Font to FONTS: USAGE: InstallA64Font ENVIRONMENT: WorkBench or CLI INTERFACE: NO Install A64 Font will allow you to install the A64 font to the current FONTS: directory. This font is needed by A64 and it must be installed on any WorkBench disk that you use with A64. To run InstallA64Font from the WorkBench follow this procedure: 1. Double-click the InstallA64Font icon. 2. A window will appear asking you to enter the name of the drive containing The A64 Package. When this window appears enter the drive name and press RETURN. For example, if the disk containing The A64 Package is in drive 0, enter: df0: [RETURN]. The font will then be installed to the fonts directory on your WorkBench disk. See RUNNING A64 in the GETTING STARTED section for more information. 4-10 - Pet2ASCII PURPOSE: Convert a file from PetASCII to ASCII. USAGE: Pet2ASCII <source filename> [destination filename] <source filename> is the name of the file you want to convert [destination filename] is the name of the file you want to output the converted file to. If not specified then <source filename> will be overwritten by the converted file. ENVIRONMENT: CLI INTERFACE: NO Pet2ASCII will allow you to convert a file from PetASCII to standard ASCII. The C64 does not use standard ASCII. "ASCII" stands for "American Standard Code for Information Interchange" and is a standardized method for the way that many computers represent certain information, namely english text. This manual was written on an Amiga which uses ASCII codes to represent each letter and symbol. The C64 has it's own form of ASCII called PetASCII. The Commodore 64's PetASCII is quite a bit different from standard ASCII and for the Amiga to represent it correctly it must be converted to standard ASCII. Some examples of Pet2ASCII's usage are as follows: Pet2ASCII testfile Will covert the file "testfile" from PetASCII to ASCII. Pet2ASCII testfile testfile.asc Will covert the file "testfile" from PetASCII to ASCII, leaving file "testfile" unchanged and the converted file in "testfile.asc". 4-11 - PrintFile PURPOSE: Print a file USAGE: PrintFile [filename] ENVIRONMENT: WorkBench or CLI INTERFACE: NO PrintFile will allow you to print a file to an Amiga printer. It can be used from either the CLI or the WorkBench. To use it from the WorkBench double-click its icon and then enter the name of the file you wish to print. After entering the filename press the RETURN key to print the file. You can also pass PrintFile a filename by selecting a document icon and holding down one of the SHIFT keys while double-clicking the PrintFile icon. For example if you want to print the file "ReadMe": 1. Select the ReadMe icon by clicking the left mouse button on it once. 2. Press one of the shift keys on the Amiga keyboard. 3. Double-click the PrintFile icon while still holding down the shift key. PrintFile will then be started and automatically start printing the file "ReadMe." To run PrintFile from the CLI enter the following: PrintFile [filename] PrintFile will then be started and automatically start printing the file you specified. When PrintFile is done printing a file it does not close itself. This allows you to print multiple files without restarting it. To quit PrintFile select the close gadget at the top left hand corner of its window. 4-12 - StripLoadAddr PURPOSE: Strip a C64 load address from a file USAGE: StripLoadAddr <filename> <filename> is the name of the file you want to strip the load address from. ENVIRONMENT: CLI INTERFACE: NO StripLoadAddr will allow you to strip a load address from a C64 file. The C64 adds a two byte load address to the start of its PRG files that tells it where to load the file. When transferring these files to the Amiga you may wish to strip this load address. An example of using StripLoadAddr is: StripLoadAddr testfile Will strip the load address from the file "testfile." 4-13 - C64 PROGRAMS The A64 Package comes with a couple of Commodore 64 programs, located in the directory 64Prgs. These programs are as follows: SaveROMs SaveROMs is for saving the C64 ROMs to disk. It is meant to be run on a C64 because A64 does not contain the C64's ROMs. To use this program see INSTALLING THE C64's ROMs in the TECHNICAL section. 64Colors 64Colors is a simple BASIC program that allows you to view the C64 colors. It was included with The A64 Package so you could experiment with A64's COLOR MODES while using it (See COLORS in the A64Prefs section). For information on how to load and run this program see DRIVES in the SYSTEM MENU section. 4-14 - TECHNICAL THE A64 PACKAGES FILE STRUCTURE The A64 Package is very large and fills over 70% of 3.5" floppy disk, because of this, the entire package will not fit on a WorkBench disk. Some users may wish to fit parts of The A64 PAckage onto a WorkBench disk, especially if they only have one disk drive. This can be done by separating A64 from the rest of The A64 Package. Please note that if you do separate The A64 Package into different parts you may not distribute them. The A64 Package may only be distributed in its entirety. We are not going to discuss the exact details of how to extract parts of The A64 Package, but what we will do is tell you what directories and files are needed to run just A64. Listed below is a directory listing of The A64 Package. Directories and Files that appear with an "*" before their name must appear as listed for A64 to run. All other files may be moved or removed. Please note that the "*" is not part of the name of the directories and files and appears only to show what should stay as listed. Please note that if you want to have the ability to install the A64 Font onto a WorkBench disk you will need the files marked with "#". Again, this symbol is not part of the names, but is used to signify them. *TheA64Package A64Utilities (dir) !.info .info 64Cmd 64Dir 64Print 64Status 64ToAmiga AmigaTo64 Pet2ASCII StripLoadAddr 64Prgs (dir) 64Colors SaveROMs #Fonts (dir) #A64 (dir) #6 #A64.font *64Fonts (dir) *CharROM.64font .info *A64 *A64.config *A64.info A64Utilities.info *BASIC.data Cache Cache.info InitA64 #InstallA64Font #InstallA64Font.info *KERNAL.data *Lic Manual Manual.info PrintFile PrintFile.info ReadMe ReadMe.info Registration.form Registration.form.info *ROM *Title *TheA64Package.info 5-1 - THE KEYBOARD KEYBOARD DIFFERENCES There are some minor differences between the C64 keyboard and the Amiga's. The way A64 maps the keyboard is pretty much "what you see is what you get." In most cases the legends on the keys represent their equivalent function. The exceptions to this are: AMIGA KEY C64 EQUIVALENT --------- -------------- ESC RUN/STOP BACKSPACE (BACKARROW) CLR/HOME HELP RESTORE LEFT AMIGA COMMODORE `~ BACK ARROW \| LYRA [{ [ (when shifted gives PI) ]} ] (when shifted gives shift @) NOTE: The key sequence [RUN/STOP] [RESTORE] that is used to stop C64 BASIC programs, can be done by pressing [ESC] [HELP]. A PROBLEM WITH THE KEYBOARD Because of differences in a small number of keys on the keyboards of the C64 and the Amiga, a minor problem can occur with certain key sequences. This problem is rare and under normal typing situations should not be apparent. It is related to pressing one or more of the shift keys and one of the numeric or punctuation keys simultaneously. What will happen is that A64 will think you pressed a key that you didn't and an unwanted character will appear on the screen. If this happens use the DEL key to delete the unwanted character. Please note that this is not a "BUG" in A64, but is related to the way that the C64 reads the keyboard. THE NUMERIC KEYPAD The numeric keypad on the Amiga keyboard is fully supported. It should be noted that shifting the keys on the keypad will give the C64 equivalent and not the Amiga's equivalent. For example, using the key sequence: [SHIFT] [2] On the Amiga: [SHIFT] [2] (2 key at top left of keyboard) produces the '@' [SHIFT] [2] (2 key on the numeric keypad) produces the '"' On the C64: [SHIFT] [2] produces the '"' NOTE: By using the numeric keypad and it's C64 shifted equivalents you will eliminate most of the keys that can cause the problem listed above. 5-2 - UNUSED KEYS There are a few keys on the Amiga keyboard that are unused by A64. They are as follows: TAB, F9, F10 and RIGHT AMIGA. Also, when pressed simultaneously the two ALT keys will invoke A64 Prefs, but have no meaning when pressed by themselves. 5-3 - A64 AND MULTITASKING A64 is the first true multitasking Commodore 64 emulator. A64's multitasking ability gives it power and flexibility and allows it to be a stable and reliable program (Multitasking programs are MUCH easier to debug and improve than programs that take over your Amiga). We hope you'll agree with us when we say "it's A64's multitasking ability that sets it apart from the other C64 emulators." Until now, everyone thought a program like a C64 emulator had to take over your Amiga, because it needs to run as fast as possible and needs system resources that the Amiga's operating system usually uses. A64 manages to run faster than the other C64 emulators, use all the Amiga resources it needs and still leave the Amiga's operating system intact. We can not even begin to explain what went into getting A64 to accomplish this amazing feat. What we can say is that A64 should work just fine with any program that follows the rules of multitasking programming on the Amiga. There have been times that we forgot that we were running A64 because we exited back to the WorkBench or the CLI to do something else and then after hours of running other programs we remembered that A64 was still in memory and we went back to it and found it working perfectly. The only programs that A64 may not work with are programs that take over, some part of or all of, your Amiga, like some games and other emulators. Which brings up to our next point. A64 can not multitask itself. Even though A64 is capable of multitasking it still takes over system resources that can not be shared with other programs, so one copy of A64 can not share these resources with another copy of A64. A64 AND MEMORY A64 is a very memory hungry program and in its full capacity it will take up over 300k of your Amiga's memory. If your Amiga has less than 1mb of RAM, more likely than not, A64 will not run. There are some things that users with 512k can do to get A64 to work. If they install the C64's ROMs (See INSTALLING THE C64's ROMs in the TECHNICAL section) they can save about 135k of RAM, but doing this will greatly decrease A64's speed. Please note that it is not the installation of the C64's ROMs that slows down A64, but rather the fact that 512k users do not have enough RAM to use A64's ROM emulation, which runs dramatically faster than the C64's ROMs by themselves. Users with 1mb or more can install the C64's ROMs with no decrease in speed, just added compatibility. Other things can also be done to save memory, like: make sure there are no other programs running, don't load the WorkBench and remove all external drives. None of these options are really desireable and for that reason we recommend at least 1mb of RAM when using A64. Different memory configurations can make a dramatic difference in the speed of A64. The worst case is running A64 on a 512k RAM system and the best case is running A64 on a 68020+ based system with 32 bit RAM. On a 68030 based system speeds of around 200% have been reached with some programs (See 680x0 SUPPORT in the TECHNICAL section). We normally recommend at least 1mb of RAM no matter how your Amiga is configured and this statement can be elaborated. If you are running A64 on an Amiga 1000 we recommend at least 1mb of RAM. If you are running A64 on an A500 or A2000 we recommend at least 1.5mb. The reason for this difference is not because A64 will not run on A500s or A2000s with only 1mb, it's because A64 will run faster if 5-4 - these machines have more than 1mb. This is because A500's and A2000's with only 1mb do not have what is called FAST RAM. This is RAM that can not be used by graphics and as a result programs run faster when using it. We also recommend running the program "FastMemFirst," found in the System drawer of the V1.3 WorkBench, before running A64. This program will force A64 (and other programs) to use this FASTer memory first. 680x0 SUPPORT All of the programs in The A64 Package will work with any 680x0 microprocessor. They have been tested with the 68000, 68010, 68020 and 68030 microprocessors. 68020/30/40 users should note that to use The A64 Packages utility programs that directly use A64's hardware interface you must first turn off the microprocessor's cache before attempting to use the utilities (See Cache in the UTILITIES section). Leaving the cache turned on will interfere with internal timing of the access to C64 devices causing your Amiga to lock up. Turning the cache off is only required for the utilities that directly use A64's hardware interface and is not required when using A64 or any other utility. A64 AND THE A3000 We finally had the opportunity to test A64 on the A3000 and the results were not very good. This release of A64 will NOT work correctly with the A3000. A64 has problems with the new enhanced chip set and with the 32 bit bus to CHIP RAM. We do not see these problems as major and we should be able to overcome them in a future release. Please note that these problems do not exist with other Amiga models using 68030 boards, these problems are specific to the A3000. 5-5 - ROMS WHAT IS ROM ROM is short for "READ ONLY MEMORY." A ROM is a computer chip that is capable of storing a program and like its name implies, it is READ ONLY, which means you can not change the program it contains. ROM unlike RAM (your computer's memory) does not loose its contents when your computer is turned off. Computers usually come with ROM to tell it what to do when it's turned on. Your Amiga uses a ROM called "KickStart." THE C64's ROMS The C64 has two ROMs that contain its operating system. One ROM holds the C64's BASIC and the other ROM holds the C64's KERNAL. A64 does not come with the C64's BASIC or KERNAL, because they are copyrighted. Before you start worrying that A64 will not work without them, this is NOT the case. A64 contains a very complex C64 ROM emulation which allows A64 to run most C64 programs, without the C64's ROMs. A64'S ROMS NOTE: This section of the manual gets a little technical by discussing machine language. If you are not familiar with machine language you should still read this section and and try to follow it as best you can, it contains some important information about A64. As mentioned above, A64 comes with a very complex C64 ROM emulation, this ROM emulation will handle the majority of C64 programs, but not all of them. To explain what A64's ROM emulation will and will not handle we need to discuss machine language. The C64's ROMs contain machine language programs. Machine language programs are made up of opcodes. Opcodes are machine language instructions that tell the computer to perform some tiny operation, like move a value from one place to another or perform some kind of operation to a value. It takes many, many opcodes to perform even the simplest operations on your computer. The C64's ROMs contain many thousands of these opcodes. The C64's ROMs are located in the C64's memory map at 40960-49151 (BASIC) and 57344-65535 (KERNAL), these numbers are called addresses. To access the C64's ROMs and the opcodes they contain you need to JUMP to one of these addresses. With BASIC this done with the command "SYS." For example, to reset the C64 (or A64), you can type the following: SYS 64738 [RETURN] This will cause the C64 (or A64) to enter the KERNAL ROM at address 64738 and start executing machine language opcodes starting at that address. If you were to disassemble (a disassembler is a program that turns machine language into a readable form) one of the C64's ROMs, you would get a listing similar to this: 5-6 - 40960 LDX #10 40962 LDA #138 40964 STA 1024 40967 ... NOTE: This listing is only used as an example and is not part of the C64's ROMs. The listing shows ROM addresses followed by the opcode stored at each address. Please note that the addresses are not perfectly consecutive, this is because different opcodes have different lengths. If A64 was to JUMP into the ROMs, using the above example, it would handle JUMPING in at all of the shown addresses: 40960, 40962, 40964 and 40967. The problem occurs if A64 tried to JUMP in at one of the addresses not shown, the addresses between opcodes. Because of the way machine language is, it is possible for an opcode to have another opcode contained within it. For example, if you disassembled the same code as above, but started at address 40963, you would get a listing like this: 40963 TXA 40964 STA 1024 40967 ... The opcode "TXA" at address 40963 is contained within the opcode "LDA #138" at address 40962. This is what A64 will not handle, when emulating the C64's ROMs, the JUMPING into the ROMs between opcodes. If you are running a program that tries to JUMP into the C64's ROMs between opcodes A64 will trap it and display an error requester telling you "PROGRAM TRYING TO EXECUTE BETWEEN OPCODES." This problem is only apparent when JUMPING into the C64's ROMs between opcodes and is not a problem when running C64 programs that use the same technique to JUMP within themselves. This problem can be corrected by installing the C64's ROMs into A64. INSTALLING THE C64 ROMS Installing the C64's ROMs into A64, basically involves saving the contents of the C64's ROMs (this must be done on a C64) to a C64 disk and then copying them to your A64 disk. Installing the C64's ROMs into A64 is not difficult, but it does require a few small steps to accomplish. Once the C64's ROMs are installed you never have to worry about them again. A64 will automatically load the C64's ROMs and use them whenever the above mentioned problem occurs. To install the C64 ROMs you need the following: A C64 A C64 disk drive (i.e., 1541) A64's hardware interface A 5 1/4" disk, formatted on a C64, with at least 20k free (NOTE: You can format the C64 disk with the utility 64Cmd). and the following programs that are included with The A64 Package: SaveROMs AmigaTo64 64ToAmiga StripLoadAddr 5-7 - The following procedure outlines the installation of the C64 ROMs. Part of it has to be done on a C64 and the rest must be done from the CLI on an Amiga. Your current directory from the CLI should be TheA64Package. For example, with the disk containing The A64 Package in drive 1, you should type: cd df1:TheA64Package The first thing you need to do is copy the C64 program "SaveROMs" from The A64 Package to a C64 disk. This program is used to save the Commodore 64's ROMs to a C64 disk. 1. Install A64's hardware interface and connect a C64 disk drive to it (See INSTALLING A64'S HARDWARE INTERFACE in the GETTING STARTED section). 2. With a C64 disk in the C64 drive, use the utility "AmigaTo64" to transfer the program "SaveROMs to the C64 disk. To do this type the following from the CLI: A64Utilities/AmigaTo64 64Prgs/saveroms df8: [RETURN] (Note "saveroms" is in all lowercase letters) Now that the C64 program "SaveROMs" is on the C64 disk you need to load and run it on a C64: 1. Either unplug the C64 disk drive from the interface or use another C64 disk drive and connect it to a C64. 2. With the C64 disk containing the program "SaveROMs" in the C64 disk drive type the following on the C64: LOAD "SAVEROMS",8 [RETURN] 3. After the program is done loading type: RUN [RETURN] 4. You will then be prompted to insert a disk into drive 8 and press any key when ready. 5. After pressing any key the C64 ROMs will be saved to the C64 disk. Now that the C64's ROMs are saved to a C64 disk you need to transfer them to your disk containing The A64 Package. 1. If you need to reconnect the C64 disk drive to your Amiga with A64's hardware interface, do so. 2. With the program "64ToAmiga" transfer the files BASIC.rom and KERNAL.rom from the C64 disk to your disk containing The A64 Package. To do this type the following from the CLI: A64Utilities/64ToAmiga basic.rom BASIC.rom [RETURN] and then: A64Utilities/64ToAmiga kernal.rom KERNAL.rom [RETURN] 5-8 - 3. After the C64's ROMs are installed onto The A64 Package disk you must run "StripLoadAddr" on them before A64 can use them. To do this type the following from the CLI: A64Utilities/StripLoadAddr BASIC.rom [RETURN] and then: A64Utilities/StripLoadAddr KERNAL.rom [RETURN] The C64's ROMs are now installed. A64 will automatically load and use them when needed. NOTES: If you are running A64 with 512k RAM, installing the C64's ROMs will replace A64's ROM emulation and save you about 135k of RAM, but will result in A64 running slower. Because A64's ROM emulation operates much faster than the C64 ROMs do, A64 will try to use its ROM emulation whenever possible and if you are running A64 with 1mb or more, the C64's ROMs will only be used as a fail-safe when the above mentioned problem occurs. It is highly recommended that you install the C64's ROMs if you have access to a C64. We have come across a few programs that won't run without the ROMs installed for reasons other than the in-between opcode problem described above. You have to expect the lack of ROMs in the C64 memory map to create problems with some C64 programs. The C64's ROMs take up about 20% of the C64's total memory map, that's a big chunk of missing information. 5-9 - PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS I can't get programs in The A64 Package to recognize a C64 disk drive. First of all make sure the hardware interface is installed correctly (See INSTALLING A64'S HARDWARE INTERFACE in the GETTING STARTED section). If you think the interface is installed correctly then try turning the disk drive of and then on again, this will reset the disk drive. The C64 disk drives may need to be reset from time to time when running A64. If you are running a C64 program that used copy protection you may have to reset the drive to clear it. When trying to load a C64 program the C64 disk drive light comes on but the program doesn't load and A64 appears to have locked up. The program you are trying to load may be using a technique called "FAST LOADING." FAST LOADING is a technique used to to speed up communications with a C64 disk drive. A64 can not handle FAST LOADING (See INCOMPATIBILITIES in the PROBLEMS and SOLUTIONS section). If this situation occurs you will have to reset the C64 drive and then reset A64. I think my hardware interface is faulty. We have a VERY low failure rate with our hardware interfaces. Usually when a problem occurs it is because of something not being done correctly or by trying to do something that A64 will not handle. If you think you're interface is bad you can run the program "64Status" to test it (See 64Status in the UTILITIES section). If this program works as it's supposed to then your interface is not faulty and the problem lies somewhere else. Please note that if the 64Status program doesn't work it is still possible that the interface is still not faulty. We know of a couple of people who have "blown" their parallel port by plugging in the interface or some other piece of hardware with their Amiga turned on. Before concluding that the interface is faulty you should try using some other piece of hardware on your Amiga's parallel port like a parallel printer or digitizer. If they work, and the interface doesn't, then you probably do have a faulty interface. You could also try to test the interface on someone elses Amiga. If you do have a faulty interface we will replace it (See REPLACEMENTS on page 2). When moving the mouse strange characters appear on the screen and the keyboard doesn't work. See GAME PORTS in the SYSTEM MENU section. When in A64 Prefs I can't read what's in the string gadgets. This is caused by the background color being the same color as the text in the string gadgets, which is black. The text is there, but appears invisable. To get around this problem you can use the colors screen to temporarily change the background color to some other color besides black (See COLORS in the GRAFIX MENU section). For more information on other possible problems see A64 PREFS NOTES in the A64 PREFS section. 6-1 - A64 ERRORS A64 has quite an extensive error handling system. A64 does its best to tell you when it can't do something by displaying a requester. These requesters are called error requesters and they display an error in three ways: 1. At the top of the requester will be the type of error, either FATAL or NON-FATAL. The meaning of each is as follows: FATAL ERRORs are just as the name implies, FATAL to A64. If you get a fatal error this means that A64 has encountered some situation that will forbid it to continue and it will have to exit back to WorkBench. After you handle the requester, by selecting one of its gadgets, a fatal error will force A64 to remove itself from memory and return you to the WorkBench. Fatal errors usually occur only during the loading and initialization of A64. NON-FATAL ERRORs are a little more forgiving than FATAL errors. They signify that A64 has encountered some situation that it can not currently handle, but which is not serious enough to cause A64 to exit back to the WorkBench. After you handle the requester, by selecting one of its gadgets, A64 will automatically leave you in A64 Prefs to try to correct the situation that caused the error. After being put into A64 Prefs your choice of action depends on what caused the error. If you are unable to correct the situation that caused the error then you should reset A64 (See RESET A64 in the PROJECT MENU section). 2. Following the type of error will be an eight digit error number. This error number is an error code that represents the exact cause and location of the error. 3. In the middle of the requester will be one or two lines of text giving a short description of the error. At the bottom of the error requester are two gadgets, labeled CONTINUE and DEBUG. Their functions are: CONTINUE will cause A64 to remove the requester. You will then either be returned to WorkBench or put into A64 Prefs depending on the type of error (FATAL or NON-FATAL) discussed above. DEBUG will cause A64 to put up an Alert showing the internal state of A64 when the error occurred. This information will probably not mean anything to you, but it can be invaluable to us for tracking down errors. After viewing the information in the Alert press a mouse button to remove the Alert. You will then either be returned to the WorkBench or put into A64 Prefs depending on the type of error (FATAL or NON-FATAL) discussed above. NOTE: In the appendices of this manual is an ERROR REPORT. If you are experiencing problems with a particular C64 program, or if you encounter an error that is not in the error list, you can send us a copy of the ERROR REPORT containing the information displayed in the Alert. We will try to correct as many errors as possible for future releases. 6-2 - ERROR LIST The following list contains A64's possible errors. The errors are shown by the error number followed by a line stating the error, which should be the same text that appears in the error requester. Below the line stating the error is a short comment on what caused the error, how to correct it and what section of the manual to check for more information. Errors that state "Should NEVER happen" should never occur, but if they do the probable cause is that something has corrupted your Amiga's memory or that you are out of memory. The appearance of a "x" in an error number means, that digit of the error number will contain some unpredetermined value. There may be a comment stating what the digit will be. Error numbers that start with 8 are FATAL errors. All other errors are NON-FATAL. Multiple error numbers mean that the error can be generated in more than one place in A64. $80000001 COULD NOT OPEN: DOS LIBRARY Should NEVER happen. $80000002 COULD NOT OPEN: GRAPHICS LIBRARY Should NEVER happen. $80000003 COULD NOT OPEN: DISKFONT LIBRARY Make sure the file diskfont.lib is in your WorkBench's Libs directory (See THE A64 PACKAGES FILE STRUCTURE in the TECHNICAL section). $80000004 COULD NOT OPEN: CIA A RESOURCE Should NEVER happen. $80000005 COULD NOT OPEN: CIA B RESOURCE Should NEVER happen. $80000006 COULD NOT OPEN: MISC RESOURCE Should NEVER happen. $80000007 OUT OF MEMORY, COULD NOT ALLOCATE: C64 MEMORY MAP You do not have enough RAM available to run A64 (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). $8f000108 COULD NOT OPEN OR READ: BASIC.DATA $8f000208 Make sure the file BASIC.data is in the TheA64Package directory (See THE A64 PACKAGES FILE STRUCTURE in the TECHNICAL section). $8f000109 COULD NOT OPEN OR READ: KERNAL.DATA $8f000209 Make sure the file KERNAL.data is in the TheA64Package directory (See THE A64 PACKAGES FILE STRUCTURE in the TECHNICAL section). 6-3 - $8f00010a COULD NOT OPEN OR READ: CHARROM.64FONT $8f00020a Make sure the file CharROM.64Font is in the 64Fonts directory (See THE A64 PACKAGES FILE STRUCTURE in the TECHNICAL section). $8000000b OUT OF MEMORY, COULD NOT ALLOCATE: A64 ROM BUFFER You do not have enough RAM available to run A64 (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). You may be able to correct this error by installing the C64's ROMs (See INSTALLING THE C64's ROMs in the ROMs section). $8f00010c COULD NOT OPEN OR READ: ROM $8f00020c Make sure the file ROM is in the TheA64Package directory (See THE A64 PACKAGES FILE STRUCTURE in the TECHNICAL section). $8000000d COULD NOT: INSTALL A64 ROMs This error should never occur, if it does something has probably corrupted the Amiga's memory. $8000000f YOU CAN NOT RUN TWO COPIES OF A64 SIMULTANEOUSLY A64 can not multitask itself (See A64 AND MULTITASKING in the TECHNICAL section). $80010000 OUT OF MEMORY, COULD NOT ALLOCATE: CHIP RAM 1 You do not have enough RAM available to run A64 (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). $80010001 OUT OF MEMORY, COULD NOT ALLOCATE: CHIP RAM 2 You do not have enough RAM available to run A64 (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). $80010002 OUT OF MEMORY, COULD NOT ALLOCATE: CHIP RAM 3 You do not have enough RAM available to run A64 (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). $8f010x03 COULD NOT OPEN OR READ: TITLE $8f010x04 Make sure the file Title is in the TheA64Package directory (See $8f010x05 THE A64 PACKAGES FILE STRUCTURE in the TECHNICAL section). $8f010x06 The "x" in the error number will be either 1 or 2. $80010007 COULD NOT OPEN: TITLE SCREEN If this error occurs you are probably out of memory (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). $80010008 COULD NOT OPEN: TITLE WINDOW If this error occurs you are probably out of memory (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). $80010009 COULD NOT OPEN: A64 SCREEN If this error occurs you are probably out of memory (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). $8001000a COULD NOT OPEN: A64 WINDOW If this error occurs you are probably out of memory (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). 6-4 - $8001000b COULD NOT OPEN: A64 6 FONT Make sure you have installed the font with InstallA64Font (See RUNNING A64 in the GETTING started section and InstallA64Font in the UTILITIES section). If you still get this error after installing the font you are probably out of memory (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). $8001000c COULD NOT OPEN: TOPAZ 8 FONT Should NEVER happen. $8f01010d COULD NOT OPEN OR READ: LIC $8f01020d Make sure the file Lic is in the TheA64Package directory (See THE A64 PACKAGES FILE STRUCTURE in the TECHNICAL section). $00020000 COULD NOT OPEN: REQUESTER If this error occurs you are probably out of memory (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). $0f020102 COULD NOT OPEN OR READ: CONFIG FILE $0f020202 The configuration file your trying to load can not be loaded. Check the spelling of the filename (See LOAD CONFIG in the PROJECT MENU section). If this error occurs when A64 is loading then it can not read the file A64.config and you should make sure this file is in the TheA64Package directory (See THE A64 PACKAGES FILE STRUCTURE in the TECHNICAL section). $0f020103 COULD NOT OPEN OR WRITE: CONFIG FILE $0f020303 For some reason A64 can not create the configuration file you requested. Make sure you've specified the correct drive and that the disk is write enabled. (See SAVE CONFIG in the PROJECT MENU section) $00030000 COULD NOT TAKE: PARALLEL PORT Some program has exclusive use of the Amiga's parallel port. You must make the program release the parallel port before A64 can use it (See PAR PORT in the SYSTEM MENU section). $00040000 A64 DOES NOT OWN THE PARALLEL PORT You are trying to access the parallel port when A64 does not own it. Select A64 in PAR PORT menu option (See PAR PORT in the SYSTEM MENU section). $00040001 ERROR TRYING TO WRITE TO AN AMIGA DEVICE $00040002 Some problem has occurred when trying to write a file to an $00040003 Amiga drive. Make sure you've specified the correct drive and that the disk is write enabled. (See DRIVES and AMIGA DRIVES in the SYSTEM MENU section). $00040004 ILLEGAL ACCESS TO AMIGA DEVICE CAN NOT USE COMMAND CHANNEL 15 The C64 program you are running is trying to access a disk drive in a way that an Amiga drive can not handle (See AMIGA DRIVES in the SYSTEM MENU section). 6-5 - $00040005 ERROR TRYING TO SAVE TO AN AMIGA DEVICE $00040006 Some problem has occurred when trying to save a file to an $00040007 Amiga drive. Make sure you've specified the correct drive and that the disk is write enabled. (See DRIVES and AMIGA DRIVES in the SYSTEM MENU section). $00040008 ERROR TRYING TO LOAD FROM AN AMIGA DEVICE $00040009 Some problem has occurred when trying to load a file from an $0004000a Amiga drive. Check the spelling of the filename and the DRIVES settings (See DRIVES and AMIGA DRIVES in the SYSTEM MENU section). $0004000b ERROR TRYING TO READ FROM AN AMIGA DEVICE $0004000c Some problem has occurred when trying to read a file from an $0004000d Amiga drive. Check the spelling of the filename and the DRIVES settings (See DRIVES and AMIGA DRIVES in the SYSTEM MENU section). $80050000 COULD NOT OPEN: MSGPORT Should NEVER happen. $80050001 COULD NOT OPEN: REPLY PORT Should NEVER happen. $80050002 COULD NOT OPEN: INPUT DEVICE Should NEVER happen. $80050003 COULD NOT: ADD IEHANDLER Should NEVER happen. $80050004 COULD NOT: DOIO. Should NEVER happen. $80060000 COULD NOT TAKE: CIA A: SERIAL DATA INTERRUPT You are running another program that is utilizing a low level function of your Amiga. The other program must be exited before A64 will run (See A64 AND MULTITASKING in the TECHNICAL section). $80060001 COULD NOT FREE: CIA A: SERIAL DATA INTERRUPT Should NEVER happen. $80070000 COULD NOT TAKE: CIA B: TIMER B INTERRUPT You are running another program that is utilizing a low level function of your Amiga. The other program must be exited before A64 will run (See A64 AND MULTITASKING in the TECHNICAL section). $80080000 COULD NOT TAKE: CIA B: TOD INTERRUPT You are running another program that is utilizing a low level function of your Amiga. The other program must be exited before A64 will run (See A64 AND MULTITASKING in the TECHNICAL section). $80080001 COULD NOT FREE: CIA B: TOD INTERRUPT Should NEVER happen. 6-6 - $00080002 PROGRAM HAS OVER 25 RASTER IRQs A64 will support up to 25 raster IRQs per screen, this is the equivalent of 1500 interrupts per second and we've not yet come across a C64 program that utilizes anywhere near this many. If you get this error we would like to hear about it. $00080003 PROGRAM DOING UNIMPLEMENTED RASTER IRQ AT SCAN LINE 0 A64 will handle raster IRQs at every scan line except 0. This is because of a problem with the raster IRQ handler and will be fixed in a future version. $00090000 COULD NOT TAKE: SERIAL PORT Some program has exclusive use of the Amiga's serial port. You must make the program release the serial port before A64 can use it (See SER PORT in the SYSTEM MENU section). $00090001 RS-232 ERROR: RECEIVE BUFFER OVERRUN A64 is not keeping up with the data coming in over the serial port. This has not been a problem so we have never seen this error. $00090002 RS-232 ERROR: RECEIVE BUFFER FULL A64 is not keeping up with the data coming in over the serial port. This has not been a problem so we have never seen this error. $000c0000 ILLEGAL VIC MODE: Should NEVER happen. $000d0x01 BLITTER VSIZE ERROR: VSIZE = 0 $000d0x03 Should NEVER happen. The "x" in the error number will be the $000d0x05 number 1-6. $000d0x02 BLITTER VSIZE ERROR: VSIZE > 8 $000d0x04 Should NEVER happen. The "x" in the error number will be the $000d0x06 number 1-6. $000e0000 COULD NOT OPEN OR WRITE: IFF OUTPUT FILE $000e0001 For some reason A64 could not create the IFF file you've requested. Make sure you've entered the filename correctly (See SAVE SCREEN in the TOOLS MENU section). $000e0002 OUT OF MEMORY, COULD NOT ALLOCATE: IFF FILE BUFFER A64 does not have enough memory to perform the operation (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). $000f0000 A64 HARDWARE INTERFACE IS NOT INSTALLED A64's hardware interface is not connected to the Amiga. You must connect it (See INSTALLING A64's HARDWARE INTERFACE in the GETTING STARTED section). $00100000 OUT OF MEMORY, COULD NOT ALLOCATE: CHIP RAM A64 does not have enough memory to perform the operation (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). 6-7 - $00100001 COULD NOT OPEN: COLOR SCREEN If this error occurs you are probably out of memory (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). $00100002 COULD NOT OPEN: COLOR WINDOW If this error occurs you are probably out of memory (See A64 AND MEMORY in the TECHNICAL section). $xxxxxxxx PROGRAM TRYING TO EXECUTE BETWEEN OPCODES AT PC: $xxxxxxxx The program is executing between opcodes. This error can be corrected by installing the C64 ROMs (See ROMs in the TECHNICAL section). $xxxxxxxx UNKNOWN OPCODE: $xx AT PC: $xxxxxxxx A64 has encountered an unknown opcode. This could be caused by either a C64 crash or A64 trying to execute certain unimplemented "undefined opcodes." Many of the 6502's undefined opcodes have been supported, but we lack good documentation on them, so when in doubt we left it out. If anyone out there has any documentation on the 6502's undefined opcodes we would greatly appreciate getting a copy so we could fully implement the 6502's undefined opcodes. $xxxxxxxx PC ERROR A64 is trying to execute at an illegal C64 address. The only way we know of this error occurring is if a C64 program tries to execute in the CHAR ROM area, a very unlikely occurrence, but we have learned that if something is possible on a C64, someone has done it. If you encounter this error we would like to hear about it. 6-8 - INCOMPATIBILITIES Alot of time has been spent trying to make A64 as compatible as possible. Unfortunately the only way to get 100% compatibility with a C64 is to use a C64. Listed below are the things that A64 does not currently handle or has problems with. FAST LOADERS The biggest problem with compatibility is related to disk I/O. We all know how slow the 1541 disk drive is and alot of software manufactures try to correct this problem by writing custom disk drive routines, called FAST LOADERS, to load and save programs faster than the normal rate. These routines are VERY time critical and must be run at 100% speed, with no interruptions, to function properly. Also these routines vary from program to program. A FAST LOADER that works with one program will not work with another. The only way to emulate these routines is to write a custom loader for each program that utilizes a FAST LOADER. Seeing how there are literally hundreds of FAST LOADER programs out there it would be nearly impossible to emulate all of them. There is no way to tell if a program uses a FAST LOADER until you try to load it. The most likely result of trying to load a program that uses one is the C64 program will stop and disk drive motor and or light will stay on. If this happen you must reset both A64 and the disk drive to abort the operation (See RESET A64 in the PROJECT MENU section). Future revisions of A64 may emulate some FAST LOADERS. If you have a program that uses a FAST LOADER and you would like to see A64 run it, put the name of it on the registration form or write us a letter. We will spend the time working on the must requested programs. CASSETTE PORT, USER PORT and CARTRIDGE PORT Seeing how the cassette, user and cartridge ports are not present on the Amiga they are not supported by A64. There is an exception to this in that Amiga modems are supported where C64 modems are normally connected to the C64 user port (See MODEMS in the SYSTEM MENU section). Also cartridge programs that have been converted to run from disk should work. SPRITES A64's VIC chip (graphics) emulation is the most complex aspect of A64. It provides such features as: rock steady raster IRQ's at every scan line and spaced as close as 1 scan line apart (something a C64 sometimes has problems doing), up to 25 rasters IRQs per screen with each one using its own graphics mode, VIC bank etc. Our VIC chip emulation even emulates sprites in the borders which is actually a bug in the real VIC chip. Unfortunately the VIC chip emulation does have its problems. Mainly sprites! The C64's sprites and the Amiga's sprites are about as compatible as fire and water. Trying to get Amiga sprites to behave like C64 sprites is not an easy feat. One of the biggest problems that you will notice almost immediately is that the sprites will flicker. Because of size differences between Amiga and C64 sprites there are not enough Amiga sprites to emulate all of the C64's sprites at one time. Because of this Amiga sprites need to be re-used, causing the flicker. The more C64 sprites that are used and if they are expanded horizontally the worse the 6-9 - flickering gets. There is no way around this problem and there will always be some flickering in the sprites. There are also other problems created because of incompatibilities between Amiga sprites and C64 sprites. Sprite collisions and sprite priorities are not 100% compatible. Also in V1.01n sprite re-use in raster IRQs is not supported. Most of the problems with emulating C64 sprites are caused by restrictions in the Amiga's hardware. It's hard to believe, but there are some things a C64 can do that an Amiga can't. We do have some ideas on how to improve the sprite emulation and reduce the flickering and hopefully they will be added in a future release. 6-10 - KNOWN BUGS PAR PORT BUG Although we have painstakingly tried to make A64 bug free, a bug turned up during testing and was not corrected in time for this release. This bug is easily avoided and we do plan on trying to correct it in a future release. We hope no other bugs have escaped our attention, but if you do come across one, please let us know so that we can try to correct it. The bug involves the PAR PORT menu option in the SYSTEM menu. When this option is set to A64 and you try to access the parallel port from another program a GURU MEDITATION error will occur. This bug seems to be in the Amiga's parallel device handler. It appears that the parallel device handler is not doing the correct error handling when the parallel port is not available for use. The way to avoid this bug is whenever you want to access the parallel port from another program besides A64 make sure the PAR PORT menu option is set to AMIGA. NOTE: This bug is not present for the serial port. SCREEN SHIFTED BUG It was brought to our attention that on certain Amiga models, namely the A2500, the A64 screen appears shifted to the right. This problem is apparent when in A64 and on the Title and About screens and is not apparent when in A64 Prefs. You can spot this problem if the A64 screen appears shifted noticeably to the right and is not centered on your monitor and then when you enter A64 Prefs the C64 screens jumps to the left and centers itself. This problem appears to be caused by differences in the Amiga's custom chips on different Amiga models and is more of a visual nuisance than anything else. There is one instance when this problem can cause you to think A64 has crashed when it hasn't. When viewing the About screen with this problem the OK gadget will appear not to function correctly. This is caused by the entire screen being shifted to the right. If you click the right mouse button just to the left of the OK gadget, it will select the OK gadget and remove the About screen. We are working on correcting this problem and hopefully it will be fixed in a future version. 6-11 - WHAT IS IN THE FUTURE We can just about guarantee at least one more revision of The A64 Package, there has been just too much work already done, on other features, not to update it. As far as, when The A64 Package will be updated and how many new features are added, depends on how many people support The A64 Package, by sending in the license fee. The more response we get, the more willing we'll be to spend the time adding new features and to get new versions of The A64 Package out there. The features that have been worked on (or at least given some serious consideration), that didn't make it into this release of The A64 Package, are almost too numerous to mention. We have put together a list of some of the more important features that we would like to add to future versions. If you have any suggestions or comments about new features, we would like to hear about them, put them on the registration form when sending in the license fee. SOUND: We realize that many of you think sound support is VERY important and so do we. We have a very talented programmer working solely on sound support and he has made excellent progress with this complex programming task. He will complete the sound support in the very near future and it should be included with the next major release. A64MON: A64Mon is an Amiga based, C64 system monitor. A64Mon is a powerful C64 debugging and hacking tool, it gives you the ability to stop any C64 program, that A64 is running, and examine its internals. A64Mon is an Amiga program, so it runs totally transparent to the C64 program that A64 is running, there is no stopping it from working. A64Mon has numerous features and commands that make "monitoring" a C64 program a snap. Some of its features include: PetASCII dump, disassembler, chip dumps, hex dump, edit memory, saving from and loading to the C64's memory map, all command output can be sent to Amiga disks or printers and it's all done in the Amiga environment. A64Mon was used extensively during the development of A64 and we found it an invaluable tool for finding out "What is the C64 program doing?" A64Mon is about 80% completed and it should be included with the next major release. AMIGA PRINTERS: A64 will have the ability to use Amiga printers in the same way it's able to use Amiga drives. AMIGA DRIVES: While the Amiga drive support is fully functional, it can be improved. Some of the drawbacks of Amiga drives are outlined in the AMIGA DRIVES section. C64 DEVICES: This one is a big one. The A64 Package comes with some utility programs that allow you to transfer C64 programs to and from Amiga disks. The key to these utilities is the ability to access C64 devices directly from AmigaDOS. By using this ability several other programs can be developed, like: a full featured, Amiga based, file transfer program and device drivers to use C64 disk drives and printers as Amiga devices so they can be used with ANY Amiga program. Quite a bit of work has already been done in this area, but to fully develop these features, The A64 Package needs alot of support. 7-1 - MODEMS: Amiga modem support is still in development and should be completed by the next release. INPUT DEVICES: A64 will support more C64 input devices, like paddles and C64 mice. We have also considered using the Amiga's mouse to emulate certain C64 input devices. FAST LOADERS: We would like to support some FAST LOADERS in the future. A couple that we've considered are: GEOS and ISEPIC. Let us know if you have others in mind. FILE REQUESTERS: Full featured file requesters in A64 Prefs. A64 PREFS SETTINGS: A64 Prefs will have more settings that allow you to to fine tune A64 to run a C64 program. A64 was designed to be able to do many things at variable rates; like redraw the screen, handle C64 interrupts and other things that effect the speed of A64. In the future A64 Prefs will give you the ability to change these settings to help A64 to run faster (NOTE: Some of these were added in V1.01n). COLOR SCREEN: The A64 COLORS' screen is still in development and when it's completed it will have many new features, like: UNDO, COPY, SWAP, SPREAD, etc. It should be noted that the COLORS' screen is fully functional as is and should not contain any bugs. SPRITES: A64 fully supports the C64's sprites, but work can be done in a number of areas concerning them, especially their flickering. FONTS: A64 will have the ability to change, load and save C64 fonts and maybe the ability to convert C64 fonts to Amiga fonts. And the list could go on and on... NOTE: Even if this list already contains the features that YOU would like to see added to The A64 Package, you should still let us know what they are. This will help us to decide what features are more important to add first. 7-2 - VERSION CHANGES V1.01n The changes in V1.01n from V1.00n are not major, basically the main difference between the two versions is that V1.01n now supports other 680x0 microprocessors. This version was not planned, but the majority of the people ordering the hardware interface requested either 68010, 68020 or 68030 support so we felt an upgrade was needed immediately. We are working on the next release which will probably be called V1.1. In the next release we hope to add many of the features listed in the WHAT IS IN THE FUTURE section as well as some other features that have been brought to our attention by registered owners. Remember fill out the registration form completely, we value your opinion and suggestions. Listed below is an outline of the major changes in V1.01n: 1. A64 now works with other microprocessors. It has been tested with the 68000, 68010, 68020 and 68030. 2. The Cache utility was added. 3. The Screen Refresh menu item was replaced with the Screen Refresh requester. 4. The Rasters requester was added. 8-1 - ERROR REPORT We have supplied an ERROR REPORT that you can send to us if you are experiencing difficulties with running a certain C64 program on A64. This error report will help us to track down problems more easily and to get better revisions of A64 out quickly. We realize that the majority of the people using A64 will not use these error reports, but if some of you do it will make our job a little easier. If it is possible, you may also send us a copy of the program that caused the problems. We realize that it is not practical to expect anyone to do this, but if some of you do it could save us a great deal of time by eliminating the need to track down the program. Please note that QuesTronix does not endorse copyright infringement and you should note a programs copyright status before sending it to us. A - A64 ERROR REPORT A64 VERSION ___________________ (from title screen) C64 PROGRAM NAME _______________________________________ VERSION ____________ MANUFACTURER ________________________________________________________________ TYPE OF PROGRAM: GAME ___ GRAPHICS ___ UTILITIES ___ SOUND ___ BUSINESS ___ EDUCATION ___ OTHER (Specify) ____________________________ WHAT AMIGA MODEL ARE YOU USING ______________________________________________ HOW IS YOUR AMIGA CONFIGURED (Ex. RAM, Special boards, hard disk) ___________ _____________________________________________________________________________ FILL IN THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IF APPLICABLE (It is obtained by selecting DEBUG when an error requester occurs). INTERNAL ERROR #: $____________ D0: $____________ D1: $____________ D2: $____________ D3: $____________ D4: $____________ D5: $____________ D6: $____________ D7: $____________ A0: $____________ A1: $____________ A2: $____________ A3: $____________ A4: $____________ A5: $____________ A6: $____________ A7: $____________ PC: $____________ SR: $____________ PLEASE GIVE A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM (Be as specific as possible) _______ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ (Please use a separate ERROR REPORT for each C64 program). -