Jump to content
IGNORED

Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative


Farb

Recommended Posts

Thanks for getting through everything, k1w1. A couple of notes:

 

Spider Eater - Looks like a copy/paste error in the database - the real dump will be in the next torrent.

Star League Baseball - I can successfully boot and start a game (Altirra 2.6/800 OSB/48K/NTSC)

Trivial Pursuit - I was able to load the game and use question disk (sector 2) to successfully answer a question (Altirra 2.6/XL/64K/NTSC)

Trolls and Tribulations - I was able to load and play the game (Altirra 2.6/XL/64K/NTSC)

Video Poker + Vegas Jackpot - I was able to load option 2, insert a coin and play (Altirra 2.6/XL/64K/NTSC)

WarGames - This boots fine for me in XL/XE mode. If you try to boot in Atari 800 mode, you have to turn Altirra's memory floating I/O bus option on.

Edited by Farb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's been a while since there's been a torrent update. This one includes the following updates (along with who contributed them):

 

Crossfire (On-Line Systems) - Farb/fujidude

Crossword Magic (Softsmith) - Farb
Cyborg (Softsmith) - Farb
Encounter at Questar IV (Softsmith) - Farb
FileManager+ (Synapse Software) - DjayBee
Flight Simulator II - Scenery Disk #11 (subLOGIC) - Farb
Ghost Hunter (Arcade Plus) - Farb/fujidude
Guderian (Avalon Hill) - Farb
Kennedy Approach (MicroProse) - Farb
Mad-Netter (Computer Magic) - Farb/fujidude
Mindwheel (Synapse) - still missing verified Disk 2 Side B - advfan
Moonbase Io (PDI) - Farb/fujidude
NATO Commander (MicroProse) - Farb
Sereamis (Ariolasoft) - advfan
Slot-Machine (Ariolasoft) - advfan
Solo Flight 1st Edition (MicroProse) - advfan
Video Title Shop (Datasoft) - Farb
Additionally, it includes most of the corrections that k1w1 was able to provide.

Atari 8bit Preserved Software 2016-03-26.torrent.zip

Edited by Farb
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Clay,

 

You see that disparity sometimes. The most notable instance was Jawbreaker by Sierra On-Line where the in-game title was different from the title on the box.

 

Farb,

 

There must be a few small differences between Altirra 2.6 and 2.8 beta. Trolls and Tribulations runs in 2.6 but not 2.8 but i still can't get Video Poker or Wargames to run in either. Vegas Jackpot loads ok though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What in the world is a "floating I/O bus"?

 

The 800 is unique in having split data buses due to the personality board, which I call the "I/O bus" due to the components connected to it. You can float data on this bus separately from the main bus such that it only reflects the last data transferred on that bus. This causes the 800 to report different values when reading from undriven addresses than other computers with unified floating data buses, like the 130XE. It's why the OS memory scan stops at $C000, and WarGames depends on it for its ROM check to work.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Clear as mud.... :lol:

 

So I guess my next question is.. if it is a feature specific to the 800.. why not just emulate it when the 800 is selected rather than have an option to specifically activate it?

 

ok.. never mind.. I'm guess the floating i/o bus overrides the Atari 800's default behavior.. ?

Edited by Shannon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Clay,

 

You see that disparity sometimes. The most notable instance was Jawbreaker by Sierra On-Line where the in-game title was different from the title on the box.

 

 

 

Yep, AFAIK it is previously undumped so I wanted to state for the record that it is indeed correct to remove any ambiguity. (I think it was safe to say it was not a wide release-- literally sold in a plastic bag with a dot-matrix printed label on it.) I bought it new, back in the day from a close-out table. ;-)

 

-Clay

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Clear as mud.... :lol:

 

So I guess my next question is.. if it is a feature specific to the 800.. why not just emulate it when the 800 is selected rather than have an option to specifically activate it?

 

ok.. never mind.. I'm guess the floating i/o bus overrides the Atari 800's default behavior.. ?

 

Practicality -- it's slow to emulate and rarely needed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Farb,

 

I had a quick look at your cartridges this morning and noticed "Speedway Blast" & "Embargo" should be labeled [OS-B].

 

When i was compiling the MESS softlist for cartridges i went to great lengths to identify verified dumps i.e. dumps with the same checksum from different sources. Krotki also made a spreadsheet with cartridges he had verified which matched my list.

 

I have quite a few commercial cartidges verified by krotki and myself that you dont have in your collection. Please let me know if you would like a copy of these. They are currently in .bin format but i can quite easily put a header on them to match your format.

Edited by k1w1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a quick look at your cartridges this morning and noticed "Speedway Blast" & "Embargo" should be labeled [OS-B].

 

Thanks, I've updated those.

 

I have quite a few commercial cartidges verified by krotki and myself that you dont have in your collection. Please let me know if you would like a copy of these. They are currently in .bin format but i can quite easily put a header on them to match your format.

 

 

I've been using the Kr0tki spreadsheet as well and have thus far included all titles that I have matching ROM dumps for. It would be extremely helpful If you could provide CAR files for the missing titles so I can include them!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, i will get the cartridge files to you within a week or so.

 

I am currently working my way through your BASIC .cas files and have noted a few things.

 

Most of the files are loaded CLOAD & RUN with about 20 others that have machine language loaders that auto launch a BASIC program on the cassette. These file do not CLOAD.

 

I know your not keen on having loading instructions on the title although some do already have [CLOAD+RUN].

 

For the sake of consistency you could name all of the manual load files with [CLOAD+RUN] and name the ones with machine language loaders as [Autoload].

 

Or

 

Don't use [CLOAD+RUN] on the file name with the assumption that all BASIC cassettes are handled that way unless they are titled [Autoload]

 

What do you think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's what i have found.

 

I have listed all the [Autoload] below. All of the other [bASIC] .cas files should be [CLOAD+RUN].

 

And i think i may have found the missing "Quest for the Space Beagle" and a few anomalies, see below.

 

I will have a look at the non-BASIC cas files later.

 

Counter (1982)(APX)(US)[bASIC] = Autoload
Cubbyholes v2.0 (1982)(APX)(US)[bASIC] = Autoload
Deflection + Simon Says (1980)(Adventure International)(US)(Side A)(Deflection)[bASIC] = Appears to be a game called "Bounce". Not as labeled.
EduFun! - Aliencounter + Face Flash (1982)(Milliken Publishing Company)(US)(Side A)(Aliencounter)[bASIC] = Autoload
EduFun! - Aliencounter + Face Flash (1982)(Milliken Publishing Company)(US)(Side B)(Face Flash)[bASIC] = Autoload
EduFun! - Battling Bugs + Concentraction (1982)(Milliken Publishing Company)(US)(Side A)(Battling Bugs)[bASIC] = Autoload
EduFun! - Battling Bugs + Concentraction (1982)(Milliken Publishing Company)(US)(Side B)(Concentraction)[bASIC] = Autoload
Football Manager (1985)(Addictive Games)(GB)[!][bASIC] = Does not load correctly.
Galactic Empire (1986)(A1)(GB)[CLOAD+RUN][bASIC] & Galactic Trader v1.1 (1981)(Adventure International)(US)[!][bASIC] = Are the same.
Giant Slalom (1981)(Artworx)(US)[!][bASIC] = Autoload
Keypad Controller v1.0 (1982)(APX)(US)[bASIC] = Autoload [OS-B]
League Challenge (1988)(Atlantis Software)(GB)[bASIC] = Autoload
Mo?zgprocesor v1.0C (1990)(Computer Adventure Studio)(PL)[bASIC] = Cannot load.
Mo?zgprocesor v1.0C (1992)(Mirage Software)(PL)[bASIC] = Cannot load.
Pilot (1982)(Artworx)(US)[bASIC] = Autoload
Quintominoes (1982)(Dynacomp)(US)[bASIC] = Is "Quest for the Space Beagle.atx" [OS-B]
Shooting Gallery (1981)(ANALOG Software)(US)[CLOAD+RUN][bASIC] = Won't run.
Sketchpad (1982)(APX)(US)[bASIC] = Autoload
Wordmaker (1982)(APX)(US)[bASIC] = Autoload
Yahtman (1982)(APX)(US)[bASIC] = Autoload

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks once again, k1w1.

 

Deflection + Simon Says - this dump was taken straight from Atarimania which claims it was dumped from an original. So I assume the naming discrepancy is correct.

Football Manager & Shooting Gallery - both these need to be run using RUN"C:" rather than CLOAD+RUN. I've added this to their filenames.

Mo?zgprocesor - I was able to load this as an auto-boot in Altirra 2.6 using XL/64K mode

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And here is what i have found with the non-BASIC .cas files.

 

Just about all of the Polish software does not load with SIO. Having said that i still have found a few with loading issues. I have not tried them in Altirra 2.6. A few of these crash to a "Ready" as if BASIC was installed, although it wasn't. Some just cause an error with Altirra.

 

Blue Max (1983)(Synapse Software)(US) = Crashes Altirra when loading.
Centurion - Defender of Rome (1995)(Sikor Soft)(PL) = Crashes at end of load.
Computer Baseball Strategy (1982)(Avalon Hill)(US) = Crashes at end of load.
Cribbage (1980)(Thorn EMI)(GB) = Does not run at end of load.
Drop It! (1993-09)(Sonix Software)(PL)(en) = Crashes Altirra when loading.
EduFun! - Snake-o-Nyms + Word Flip (1983)(Milliken Publishing Company)(US)(Side A)(Snake-o-Nyms) = [bASIC] Autoload
EduFun! - Snake-o-Nyms + Word Flip (1983)(Milliken Publishing Company)(US)(Side B)(Word Flip) = [bASIC] Autoload
Energy Czar (1980)(Atari)(US) = Does not run at end of load.
Gauntlet - The Deeper Dungeons (1985)(US Gold)(GB) = Crashes Altirra when loading.
Inspektor (1993-04)(Orkus Software)(PL) = Does not run at end of load.
Jaffar (1993-03)(Mirage Software)(PL) = Crashes Altirra after loading.
Kampania wrzes?niowa (1993-04)(L.K. Avalon)(PL) = Crashes Altirra after loading.
Kolony (1991)(Mirage Software)(PL) = Does not run at end of load.
Living Daylights, The (1995)(Mirage Software)(PL)(en) = Does not run at end of load.
Mad-Netter (1982)(Computer Magic Ltd.)(US) = There are two files that appear to be the same except for the Ltd. in the file name. Is this an Alt file ?
Magia (1993)(Mirage Software)(PL)(Side A) = Crashes Altirra after loading.
Master Head (1992-03)(Sonix Software)(PL) = Crashes Altirra during loading.
Microx (1993-04)(L.K. Avalon)(PL)(en) = Does not run at end of load.
Misja + Fred (1991-10)(L.K. Avalon)(PL)(Side A)(Misja) = Crashes whilst loading. B side "Fred" loads ok.
Przemytnik (1992-10)(ASF)(PL) = Crashes whilst loading.
Roderic (1991)(Mirage Software)(PL) = Crashes Altirra after loading.
Rucu (1992-09)(L.K. Avalon)(PL) = Crashes whilst loading.
Sargon II (1982)(Hayden Software)(US) = Crashes whilst loading.
Sea Bandit (1983)(Gentry Software)(US) = Crashes whilst loading.
Skarbnik (1992-03)(ASF)(PL) = Crashes whilst loading.
Space Trap (1981)(Dynacomp)(US) = Crashes Altirra during loading.
Ultimate Renumber Utility (1981)(APX)(US) = Loads but then crashes strait away.

Edited by k1w1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Farb,

 

I have attached the two MESS Softlist files that catalogue all of the cartridges (well, nearly all) of the cartridges dumped for the Atari 8 bit computers (483 cartridges).

 

The lists contains information including CRC and whether i have been able to confirm verified dumps. This may be able to help you in compiling appropriate carts for your project.

 

Let me know if you require any of the software listed on them for the preservation project.

xegs.xml

a800.xml

Edited by k1w1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

cool to stumble on to this thread....

 

i want to contribute.. I am going to be buying either a used catweasel or kryoflux.. Curious about the mods required to the kryoflux though...

 

Also curious if this initiative is just copywritten stuff or pretty much anything? I have not downloaded the torrent yet nor have I gone through this entire thread (but I will) so I apologize for asking questions that have already been answered...

 

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi doctor_x,

 

Glad to hear you're interested in contributing!

 

I haven't done anything with Catweasel personally so I can't speak to it. I personally feel that Kryoflux or SuperCard Pro are your best bets right now if you want to archive Atari software.

 

A modded 5.25" PC drive is needed for Kryoflux only if you want to do double-sided "flippy" disks (i.e. disks that have two sides but only one index hole). The information on how to do the mod is here:

 

 

The preservation initiative is interested in original disks -- they don't necessarily have to be copyrighted. For example, we've got ANALOG and Antic magazine disks as well as some Antic PD disks in the archive.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...