Atari800MacX Help
Preferences Window
Atari System Tab



The Atari System Tab controls the type of Atari System that the emulator is emulating, as well as allows some aspects of the Atari OS and emulation to be controlled.



Atari Type
This pulldown allows the user to chose the type of Atari machine emulated, and it's RAM size.
Disable Basic
This checkbox determines if the Atari Basic cartridge is disabled when the emulator boots or causes a Cold Reset.  
Disable Basic on Warmstart if Disable Basic Selected
This checkbox determines if the Atari Basic cartridge is disabled when the user causes a Warm Reset.  Note, the simple Disable Basic checkbox must also be selected for this to work.  Also, note this is not how the Actual Atari HW functions, but is provided as a user convienence.  
Boot From Cassette
This checkbox determines if the emulated Atari will boot from the emulated cassette when it is rebooted.  After the boot, you must press the space key to start the cassette (like pressing Play on the actual recorder).
Limit To Normal Atari Speed
This checkbox determines if the speed (in frames per second) of the emulator is limited to 50 or 60 (PAL or NTSC), of if it can free run, allowing it to run as fast as your Macintosh able.  This feature can also be controlled from the Control Menu.  
Ignore Header Write Protect Bit On ATR Disk Images

This checkbox should be checked to ignore the Header Write Protect Bit that is set in some ATR disk images.  It is unchecked by default, and should only be checked if the user needs to be able to write to an ATR image that has the bit set.  When this box is checked, the user will be able to set the drive to either read-only or read/write in the Drive Management panel.

Use International Keyboard Translation

This checkbox should be checked to to use keymapping specified for an International keyboard in the International Input Menu in System Preferences.   Use this is you are using an non-US English keyboard and want key presses properly translated to Atari keys.


Atari Computer Type Used For Auto Type Switching from 5200 mode

When the emulator is operating in 5200 mode, and the user inserts computer media (cartridge, disk, executable file), the emulator will automatically switch to Computer mode.  It defaults to an 800XL with 64K, however, this pulldown allows you to choose which computer type will be switched to automatically.


Arrow Keys
The Arrow keys assignment option selects the function of arrow keys:

UpDownLeftRight
Control+ArrowsControl+'-'Control+'='Control+'+'Control+'*'
Arrow Keys Only-=+*
F1 - F4F1F2F3F4


The are no separate arrow keys in Atari. Instead, keys -, =, + and * move the cursor when pressed with the control key. However, in many programs where typing these characters isnít necessary, the arrow keys are used without the Control key.

F1-F4 keys are present only in some Atari XL models. However, the OS in every XL/XE machine supports these keys, so some people even mount these keys by themselves to get following functions:

F1F2F3F4
Alonecursor upcursor downcursor leftcursor right
With Shiftcursor to top-left cornercursor to bottom-left conrnercursor to left margincursor to right margin
With Controllock/unlock keyboard turn display off (any other key turns it back on)toggle key clicktoggle international character set

Emulation Speed

If the limit to normal Atari Speed is checked above, then this control will determine the speed at which the emulator runs relative to a real Atari.  It can be adjusted from 10% to 300%, with the default being 100%, or the same speed as a real Atari.

Enable SIO Patch
The SIO (Serial Input/Output) patch is meant for speeding up disk operations. Originally, data between Atari computer and a disk drive is sent using slow, serial transmission (19200 bits per second). The Atari800 core emulator fully emulates the disk drive, so unlike other emulators it does not require the patch. However, it is much faster, if the emulator can immediately transfer data between a disk image and the Atari’s memory, skipping serial transmission emulation. The patch is only a change in the Atari OS, it does not disable real drive emulation.
Enable H: Patch
This checkbox determines if the Hard Disk Drive Device patch is applied to the OS.  The H: ('Hard Disk') device gives access to every file on your Macintosh to every Atari program. The device number specifies the base directory to be used and if the text conversion is applied:
Enable D: Patch
This checkbox determines if the D: Hard Disk Drive Device patch is applied to the OS.  This patch overrides drives D5: through D8: and uses then to access some of the same Macintosh directories that the H: device does.  The device number specifies the base directory to be used and if the text conversion is applied:
Enable P: Patch
This checkbox determines if the Printer Patch (P:) is applied to the emulator. When the patch is enabled, the user may then select one of the printer emulations from the Printer Preferences Tab, or from the Media Status Window.

Enable R: Patch
This checkbox determines if the Serial Port Patch (R:) is applied to the emulator. When using the R: patch, you may either choose to have the Serial port instead use the network, or an actual physical serial port.

When the patch is enabled and using the network, the user may then specify the TCP port number to use to "dial-in" to BBS software using telnet in place of the original modem connection.   To "dial-out" to a remote telnet server, in your Atari terminal software, you should send "ATDI ip-address port".  For example, to call a server at adddress www.example.org and port 1234, you would type "ATDI WWW.EXAMPLE.ORG 1234".

When the patch is enabled and using serial, the user may select the serial port to use from the drop down menu.  
XEP80 Connected
This checkbox determines if the XEP80 80 column display unit is attached.  If it is, then the pulldown listed next will determine which joystick port the XEP80 is connected to, Joystick port 1 or 2.

XEP80 Foreground and Background Colors
These fields determine the colors that will be used to display the XEP monitor screen.  The defaults are 15 for foreground and 0 for background which will be black on white.  The numbers range between 0 and 255 and corespond to Atari color numbers.  You can experiment to find different colors.  A couple of other options for foreground are 63 (Amber) and 207 (Green).

Enable Sound
This checkbox determines if the playback of Atari Sound is emulated.  This feature can also be controlled from the Sound Menu.  

Use Hi-Fi Sound
Starting with Version 4.3 of Atari800MacX, Hi-Fi sound is always selected, and is no longer an option.  However, there is now an option to use 16bit or 8bit sound with the new "synchronized sound", which eliminates the issues with SDL sound where noise, or total lack of sound, was present in some games and demos (The WoofWoof demo was a good example, Ultima is an example of a game with issues with the old sound).
When the sound quality is changed (between 8 and 16 bits), the program must be quit and reentered before the change will take effect..
Enable Console Speaker Sound (Keyclicks)

This checkbox determines if the console speaker is emulated.  This is produces the keyclicks when typing on the Atari keyboard.

Enable SERIO Sound (Disk I/O)
This checkbox determines if the Serial IO sound is emulated.  This is what produces the sound when Disk or Cassette Input/Output occurs.
Mute Audio When Atari800MacX is not Active
This checkbox determines if the sound is played from the emulator when it is not the foreground application.