tjlazer Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 (edited) Why anybody would want to preserve this format is beyond me. Don't pirate? Sure, I understand that. The trouble is that anybody in the business of Atari ST software quit giving a shit 27 years ago. .STX is crap, as it won't run on real hardware. Anythintg that won't run on real hardware is crap. Just an opinion. As always, opposing viewpoints are welcome! The idea is to be able to preserve the protected disk format before bit rot kills all the original disks. At a later time a method can be done to allow the writing back of .STX disk formats. With KryoFlux and other devices I think it will be possible. Plus you can use the .STX format in Emulators, so it's not all worthless. Edited August 24, 2013 by tjlazer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParanoidLittleMan Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Why anybody would want to preserve this format is beyond me. Don't pirate? Sure, I understand that. The trouble is that anybody in the business of Atari ST software quit giving a shit 27 years ago. .STX is crap, as it won't run on real hardware. Anythintg that won't run on real hardware is crap. Just an opinion. As always, opposing viewpoints are welcome! STX is not crap. It is very well usable in emulators - better said only in Steem and Saint currently. There is some job done to support it in Hatari, but lack of specs and support by Ijor makes it hard. And actually, STX is usable on real HW too - with HxC floppy emulator. Now, if you say that it is crap, and only real floppy drives are good, you are really an id... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 I understand. But I was under the impression - my impression - that running on REAL harware was "where it's at." Evidently, I am mistaken in this regard. I guess people love emulators more than I do, but they are always "off" in some regard, to my senses. STX it is, then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DarkLord Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 Have to say, the only time I've used any Atari related emulator was just for the kicks and giggles. Then I removed it and went back to where it's really at, the original hardware. (and this was under Linux. Running anything Atari under anything Microsoft leaves a very bad taste in my mouth) Just my preference, and as always, YMMV. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjlazer Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 No most people love the real hardware more. But we also have to preserve the original disks as much as we can, and with Pasti, we can do that. It would be nice if there was an easy way to write them back to real disks, but then again, the disks are HEAVILY copy protected. So the fact that we can even copy them as a disk image is great! Better than nothing! Right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 It's still cool on a "technical" level (pasti) but on a "functional" level, the crackers who cracked this stuff (25-28 years ago) did much more than pirate (although that was their goal at the time). They actually preserved the software for perpetuity, and that means running it on REAL hardware. Floppy emulators, etc...make this possible. Sure, it's nice to run the stuff on your Windoze box as Pasti, but I'd play the cracked version on REAL hardware with a floppy emulator ANY day. Just an opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjlazer Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 (edited) It's still cool on a "technical" level (pasti) but on a "functional" level, the crackers who cracked this stuff (25-28 years ago) did much more than pirate (although that was their goal at the time). They actually preserved the software for perpetuity, and that means running it on REAL hardware. Floppy emulators, etc...make this possible. Sure, it's nice to run the stuff on your Windoze box as Pasti, but I'd play the cracked version on REAL hardware with a floppy emulator ANY day. Just an opinion. Yes and thanks to all the pirating all platforms can enjoy the disk images and emulation, and also the writing back to real disks for use on real hardware! But cracks do have limitations and bugs. Some have corrupt graphics and other issues. Having access to real disks is great. Case in point on the Amiga. We can use these protected ADFs to install HD install able games using WHDload! Edited August 28, 2013 by tjlazer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParanoidLittleMan Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 My main problem with cracks - at least most of them (95%) is that they did not 'preserve' SW (games mostly) in original form, but add intros, annoying blah (greetings and other silly things) to game. In worst cases there are changes of original txt (replaced with 'cracked by xy' and similar). Some even change graphic, title screens. In such cases, and when no STX image of original available, I needed to combine multiple sources to get unchanged original content. There are bad, incomplete cracks too, as is known. Pasti is for sure more reliable source, and %-age of bad Pasti images is much less than by cracks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwiliteZoner Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 (edited) I think everyone can agree that the best case scenario is to run these programs on real hardware. With that said playing ST and 8Bit games using real Atari joysticks with stelladaptor with Altirra or STeem (thanks guys) is a very enjoyable experience and at least to me does not diminish that experience. Real hardware is going to die and real disks are already well on their way. Its nice to have a fallback for when this happens. Edited August 28, 2013 by TwiliteZoner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 The fact that real hardware is going to die does not justify throwing out the desire to play on real hardware, while it exits. When real hardware is all in the shitcan and no longer possible, that may be a valid argument. Until then, real hardware, please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwiliteZoner Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 (edited) The fact that real hardware is going to die does not justify throwing out the desire to play on real hardware, while it exits. When real hardware is all in the shitcan and no longer possible, that may be a valid argument. Until then, real hardware, please. Did I say anything about throwing out the desire to play on real hardware? According to my wife I have entirely too much real hardware. Edited August 29, 2013 by TwiliteZoner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Bell Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 Why is Steem not working, I tried contacting the Author, but just completely IGNORED myself! donmegacool@hotmail.com I was trying to use Premier Manager 2, so he asked what I was using and I had an older version of Steem, he then said he dont support that version and I need to Download the Latest Version. I did so and guess what Premier Manager 2, dont work! It goes to a Match and just Pauses and never continues. Can a nice person, try and help a retro gamer out please Many Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
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.