Mclaneinc Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 (edited) Hi folks, Just decided after so many years to have another play with Ape but I'm hitting a dead end, It installs and there's no issues buy when you ask it to run Ape it terminates itself soon after start. I'm using a stand SIO2USB cable that works fine in RespeQT (just used it) but is it not compatible with Ape? I've tried the usual, run as admin, compatibility settings and Com 3 is certainly showing after Ape loaded its driver and then asked Windows update to check which also gave an FTDI driver (installed) but yet Ape just self terminates and Prosystem says that Com 3 has no drives on? Using Windows X64 Home Premium (a *real* nice green Holographic disk version) that is totally up to date... Wrong cable? Just odd it terminates.. Cheers.....Did some research on here and found a thread but there was no answer and it became all about RespeQT... Its not important as the above said RespeQT does work fine but it would be nice to know what the deal is.. Thanks. Edited March 20, 2019 by Mclaneinc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 3.0.2 is a demo Version 3.0.13 and up Includes 64-bit, RS232, USB and VCP Support... if you are using a low cost ftdi usb to sio cable, you must use Virtual Comm Port. The demo isn't going to get the job done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 20, 2019 Author Share Posted March 20, 2019 Ok Doc, I'll pass then as Reseqt is running and does what I need, 50 dollars for a license (ignoring the CD I don't need) on a demo that does not work ootb just is more hassle than I want. Thanks for the help... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bikerbob Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Of course you get it if you buy the atarimax version of the hardware James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 20, 2019 Author Share Posted March 20, 2019 Lol....I think as I wasn't the UK guy who won 71 Million on the Lottery that I'll pass on that one too When I saw 50 bucks just for a license I stepped a little back...With no disrespect to the man, I think that is a little high in this day and age.. But his stuff, his prices... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roydea6 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 He is the Avery of peripheral emulations, and other products are very main stream to the Atari hobbyist . 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 20, 2019 Author Share Posted March 20, 2019 Oh don't worry, I agree, I've loved his products and was going to get a 32 in 1, I just feel 50 is a lot for a license only, add to that his rather intermittent emails and the support side suffering a little possibly.... Steve has been doing all this a LOOOOOOOONG time now, I just feel he's got the market he went after initially so a little drop in license price might just put a bit of pep in it.. There's always new additions... So no disrespect to Steve, he's a hero on here, purely what I think on a retail side, I'm just glad he's still offering these items and as said, its his business, his prices.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollowell Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Of course you get it if you buy the atarimax version of the hardware James You get the demo/toned down version, not the full registered version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 (edited) While I like RespeQT and actively work to find the bugs and help it improve.... APE is my go to. The Printer function is able to handle most anything, I use the R: handler/internet modem/bridge when I have the need, it handles the XF551 the way it should. Fully configurable to get around most issues, what can I say, it's spot on, with all the goodies loaded in and it's quite formidable . I can't say this enough... you folks know that if I could rub two pennies together and get a third I would... I bought APE.... that speaks volumes, I bought his sio2pc usb version... because it is the only one that lets me run the XF551 at full speed for imaging disks in both ways... Are any of them perfect, not a chance... Using pc mirror is not as easy as RespeQT with PClink... and that is all I use RespeQT for at this juncture. When they nail down the time date crash in RespeQT it may just be connected to one of the machines full time. Other solutions come and go... But APE has been a constant companion since the DOS box days... if I were a rich man I'd buy everyone a copy. It's not exciting, but it gets the job done. Edited March 20, 2019 by _The Doctor__ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollowell Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I agree wholeheartedly with The Doctor. I couldn't have said it better myself. I haven't used it anywhere near as long as he has, having only gotten my AtariMax SIO2PC-USB back in December, but I too was a little upset to find out that I hadn't gotten a "full" version when I bought me device, and that I'd have to shell out another $56 to get proper access to all the features of my XF551. But I did it, and I don't regret it. Steve has an awesome package here that is tops in my book and well worth the money. Also, Steve is a class act all around, even if it can be a little hard to get in touch with occasionally. I bought a standard single-port SIO2PC-USB device. I'd used it for a month before I even noticed that mine had two ports. I emailed to ask him about it, and he said he'd ran out of single port devices, so he just gave me a two-port for the same price rather than have me wait several weeks for him to get some more single-ports made. That goes a long way towards telling you what kind of guy he is and how he takes care of his customers. Anyway, I know Mclaneinc wasn't saying anything in any way negative about Steve, but I just wanted to clarify what a class act Steve at AtariMax is, and what awesome products he makes. While I agree $56 is a little steep for the registered version of APE, it is worth every penny. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 For SpartaDOS X users, there is little contest, since I don't believe SDX writes to the server work at all with PC-Mirror owing to SDX's sector caching. PCLink is RespeQt's killer feature, and the time/date bug (triggered by nonsense dates in files) - though an entirely legitimate issue - is hardly a reason not to use the software. I've been using RespeQt (for development) exclusively for several years now and never encountered that bug yet. As far as I know, it was only reported the other day and the developer has barely had a chance to address the matter yet. All software has bugs, and RespeQt appears to have very few. I have a fully licensed version of APE (thanks to Steve), but it only gets wheeled out once in a blue moon when I need to test someone else's AtariMax SIO2PC. Of course APE is a 'mature' product but on the other hand it's seen little development in recent years and I'm not aware of the author being especially receptive to feature requests. Of course much depends on one's requirements, and what works for one isn't necessarily the best for someone else. The dated UI and limited SDX compatiblity are on their own enough to put me right off APE, but then again I have no burning need for printer or modem emulation. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+kheller2 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I will have to say that the plus side to APE it that I purchased it years and years ago for whatever it cost then and ever since I've gotten every update and driver update as part of that original fee. That is one of the big things I like about it. I have several SIO2PC devices from Steve that I've purchased over the years to use with APE, but I only ever purchased APE once. I'm very happy there isn't a versioning fee with every maintenance release. Having said that... you can't beat for free RespeQt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Exactly, that's why I use RespeQT, seamless pclink driver for SpartaDos X. Well that and testing the new Happy support(WIP). When using all others it's APE. APE loader has been good to me as well. No issues using atr's with sparta or any dos for that matter. Steve did recently add metering to the RS232 internet modem to help out with time shared terminal services as well (PLATO) etc. If a pclink plugin were made it'd cover all the bases. I've installed every plugin APE allows including vapii...and never looked back. Bottom line I use both. PCLINK is the total backup choice for SpartaDOS X. If it were made to be a driver for all the Sparta Flavors, and other DOS 's as well I'd use it a good deal more. It's great more maintenance that's for certain. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I have not experienced any compatibility issues when using RespeQt to serve ATRs under disk operating systems other than SDX. I assume the perceived shortcoming is RespeQt's lack of write support on virtual folders ('Mirrors' in APE parlance); a non-issue for me, I must say, and PCLink wipes the floor with such practices anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 I will have to say that the plus side to APE it that I purchased it years and years ago for whatever it cost then and ever since I've gotten every update and driver update as part of that original fee. That is one of the big things I like about it. I have several SIO2PC devices from Steve that I've purchased over the years to use with APE, but I only ever purchased APE once. I'm very happy there isn't a versioning fee with every maintenance release. This is really nice, especially since I bought Ape (for DOS!) back in '93 and have gotten the upgrades and drivers up to the current version without any additional charges. Twenty six years, wow.... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 21, 2019 Author Share Posted March 21, 2019 Many of us might not be around in another 26 years I demand a price drop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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