Atari Cassette WAV files on Atarimania FTP

[+Allan]

How is the quest for finding all the Dorsett tapes, coming? Do you think somebody actually has all of them?

 

-Thom

Not very good. Part of the problem is that doing a search for Dorsett on eBay brings up many other things. You can include the word Atari but that means sometimes you might miss things.

 

The other problem is most people aren't willing to put the time to archive their stuff. Especially cassettes because it is more of a pain although not that hard.

 

Archive your Atari 8-bit stuff people before it goes bad! Please.

 

Allan

[tschak909]

Not very good. Part of the problem is that doing a search for Dorsett on eBay brings up many other things. You can include the word Atari but that means sometimes you might miss things.

 

The other problem is most people aren't willing to put the time to archive their stuff. Especially cassettes because it is more of a pain although not that hard.

 

Archive your Atari 8-bit stuff people before it goes bad! Please.

 

Allan

 

Perhaps we can contact Lloyd G. Dorsett, about it? He's still in Norman, Oklahoma.

 

-Thom

[+Allan]

 

Perhaps we can contact Lloyd G. Dorsett, about it? He's still in Norman, Oklahoma.

 

-Thom

Do you have any contact info? Maybe we could see if the guys at the Antic Podcast could set up an interview with him and maybe get some programs and other material from him.

 

Allan

[tschak909]

I found an SEC filing with an address here:

 

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1286218/000105050204000367/giftliq3-4.txt

 

Will try to find more info as time permits.

 

-Thom

[fujidude]

- Home_Financial_Management_Thorn_EMI_Side_2.wav - this is odd. It requires OS rev. B and doesn't work on any other version, but the program was published by a British company, and OS rev. B existed only in NTSC 400/800 computers - in PAL we had rev. A only. But the program doesn't work with rev. A. I've seen other software by Thorn EMI on Atarimania, that shares this odd characteristic.

 

It really doesn't have to be odd if one just considers that a non US company could focus a product on the US market. It really makes no difference the nationality of the company, only what market a product is intended for.

[Kr0tki]

Yeah, never mind, I have just noticed on Atarimania that the box has "For NTSC sets only" written on the front.

[R4ngerM4n]

Yeah, never mind, I have just noticed on Atarimania that the box has "For NTSC sets only" written on the front.

 

Do the programs use artifacting?

[_The Doctor__]

That might not mean a thing many ntsc things play fine in pal just not normally the other way around. Often the box and scans and papers are not from the actual version uploaded either. It is usually the best documentation that could be found at the time....

[+Ripdubski]

Allan. The Thorn EMI Home Financial Management Side B does not work. it dies with a BOOT ERROR after 2 or 3 blocks. I can't digitize my cassette of it. And yes, Im using OSB with BASIC, etc. Just letting you know it's broked. I had similar trouble with side A, but eventually got it to load successfully. No luck with side B.

[Kr0tki]

I don't remember if the WAV file loaded successfully without cleaning it up, but the resulting CAS file is 100% correct.

[+Ripdubski]

Point me at the WAV for TE Home Financial Management side B and I'll check.

 

I'm wondering if there isn't enough leader at the beginning. There is a block at the very beginning that sometimes gets read, but most often does not. Then it has a long delay at counter 2, then reads 1 (maybe 2) more blocks, then dies.

 

{edit}

I got it to load finally.

1) I had to enable the SIO patch of the emulator for it to read properly.

2) It doesn't like BASIC version C. Version B works.

 

On a side note, 1000 posts! Woot!

[Kr0tki]

Point me at the WAV for TE Home Financial Management side B and I'll check.

Please don't bother, the CAS file is fine anyway.

 

I'm wondering if there isn't enough leader at the beginning.

The CAS file contains more than 18 seconds of leader, which is more than enough.

 

I got it to load finally.

1) I had to enable the SIO patch of the emulator for it to read properly.

2) It doesn't like BASIC version C. Version B works.

Ah, you hadn't mentioned you were using an emulator. I don't know what you were doing wrong, but the CAS file runs correctly on NTSC OS A or B with any revision of BASIC, with or without the SIO patch, on both Altirra and Atari800. It also loads on PAL OS A but then hangs on title screen; and it crashes during loading on any XL/XE OS revision.

 

Note that tape emulation in today's emulators (without SIO patches) is so accurate that sometimes a program fails to load even though the tape file is fine - just as on real hardware. When you have set the emulator correctly and the loading fails, you've got to try again - it might load on the 2nd or 3rd try.

[+Ripdubski]

Ah, you hadn't mentioned you were using an emulator. I don't know what you were doing wrong, but the CAS file runs correctly on NTSC OS A or B with any revision of BASIC, with or without the SIO patch, on both Altirra and Atari800. It also loads on PAL OS A but then hangs on title screen; and it crashes during loading on any XL/XE OS revision.

 

Note that tape emulation in today's emulators (without SIO patches) is so accurate that sometimes a program fails to load even though the tape file is fine - just as on real hardware. When you have set the emulator correctly and the loading fails, you've got to try again - it might load on the 2nd or 3rd try.

Nice inference that I was doing something wrong. It indeed does not load correctly using Atari800MacX without SIO patch enabled Try it before barking.

[fujidude]

Note that tape emulation in today's emulators (without SIO patches) is so accurate that sometimes a program fails to load even though the tape file is fine - just as on real hardware. When you have set the emulator correctly and the loading fails, you've got to try again - it might load on the 2nd or 3rd try.

 

Uhg. No wonder I never really looked back once I got my 1st floppy disk drive.

[+Stephen]

 

Uhg. No wonder I never really looked back once I got my 1st floppy disk drive.

Yeah - I'm all about having the original hardware. The gf just bought me a 20" Sony PVM to use with my 130XE which I've owned since 88. But even though my 1st setup was a 400 with B-key and a 410 back in 82, once I got the 1050, I never touched a tape again. Also, now that I have so many PBI based harddrive solutions, I never touch floppies.

[Kr0tki]

Nice inference that I was doing something wrong. It indeed does not load correctly using Atari800MacX without SIO patch enabled Try it before barking.

Well, you tested the CAS image using an outdated emulator, not a real machine, and it somehow was enough for you to claim the image is "broked". Yes, that fits the definition of "wrong", sorry.