Atari 800 Emulator for Windows 10 or Android advice

[CarlLind]

Good morning,

I have never written any code before and have no idea where to start. I saw an article from an old magazine on a code to write and I would like to give it a try. My question is, I do not have access to any original hardware and want to know if it is possible to use an emulator? If it is possible, what emulator do you recommend to write the code? Also if there is any tutorials on where to start and how.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[gozar]

Good morning,

I have never written any code before and have no idea where to start. I saw an article from an old magazine on a code to write and I would like to give it a try. My question is, I do not have access to any original hardware and want to know if it is possible to use an emulator? If it is possible, what emulator do you recommend to write the code? Also if there is any tutorials on where to start and how.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

To emulate the Atari 8-bit computer, your best bet is Altirra, an 8-bit Atari computer emulator if you are on a Windows machine. There is a new version of AtariMacX emulator for macOS, and for Linux, atari800 or Altirra under Wine.

 

Once you get an A8 emulator running, head on over to Atari 400 800 XL XE Books on Atarimania and check out the books, probably Your Atari Computer would be a good start.

 

And welcome!

[CarlLind]

I have seen this before, and just downloaded it and will try it out later. Thank you so very much for all of your help. I really appreciate it.

[Rybags]

Is Colleen still the premier Android emulator ?

 

I'd not exactly recommend Android for programming work though a 10" tablet with external kb and mouse might be bearable.

[atarixle]

I am still working with Colleen - where 'working' means to play simple games (Joystick only games) and watch Demos (e.g. SillyPack 18).

 

A very big downside for me is that Colleen cannot write onto ATRs if they are stored on the external SD-Card.

 

But it still is a cool thing to quickly show things to people on your mobile instead of a Laptop or the real machine.

Edited February 22, 2019 by atarixle

[Rybags]

Maybe it's an Android permission thing? I remember (I think) version 4 used to be a real turd for that, then they fixed it so that permissions would be asked for when needed.

[CarlLind]

So I downloaded Altirra 3.10 onto my computer and when I was reading about how to use it, I noticed that it said before I can use it, I would need software to run on emulator. They can come in the form of:

Disk Images

Tape Images

Cartridge ROM Images

Executable Images

BASIC programs

I think for what I am wanting to do, I want the BASIC programs,but I have no idea what these other ones mean. What are the differences between all of these? And where would I find them so I can run the BASIC program on the Altirra emulator. I have a code that I want to input to make a picture come up on the screen.

Thanks guys and I really do appreciate all of your help on this.

[invisible kid]

Disk Images - computer file representation of an atari 8 bit disk, *.atr is the most popular format

Tape Images - computer file representation of an atari 8 bit cassette, *.cas

Cartridge ROM Images - computer file representation of a rom cartridge, *.bin is one

Executable Images - computer file representation of a binary executable, *.xex is one

BASIC programs - these would most commonly be located on an *.atr

 

For a simple setup that would be close to how I did basic as a kid would be:

blank dos disks in *.atr format, old school simple would be dos 2.0S

1 basic rom or emulation of an atari with built-in basic

 

load the disk(*.atr) in the emulator

load basic rom(*.bin) or enable built in basic

then you can write basic and SAVE "D:<filename>" etc.

 

to find disk images or cart images, you will need to use google or similar, but they are out there.

 

good luck

[+DrVenkman]

Check Atarimania.com for a good selection of most commercial software for the Atari. Once you've exhausted those, or need something not located there, we can point you in the right direction.

 

Altirra comes with a rever-engineer operating system ROM file that is quite good, and Avery (the author) has also created a very good BASIC that is much more powerful than Atari BASIC called Altirra BASIC. If you want the real system OS ROMs, again people can steer you in the right direction.

[flashjazzcat]

Altirra OS is not reverse-engineered. It's a complete, from-scratch reimplementation of the A8 OS.