Atari800MacX Help
Menus
Control Menu




The Control menu on the Atari800MacX emulator allows the user to pause, control the speed, reset, and save/load the state of the emulator.  It has the following menu selections:

Pause (cmd-P)
This menu item allows you to toggle the Pausing of emulation.
Limit To Normal Speed (F7)
This menu item allows you to limit the speed of the emulator to the classic Atari speed of 50 or 60 frames per second (depending on the TV mode, NTSC or PAL), or allow the emulator to run as fast as the Macintosh is capable.  This setting is also on the Display Tab of the Preferences Window, and defaults to limiting the speed of the emulator.  
Warm Reset (F5)
This menu item allows you to do a warm reset on the emulator, the equivalent of pressing reset on the Atari.
Cold Reset (shift-F5)
This menu item allows you to do a warm reset on the emulator, the equivalent of cycling power on the Atari
Atari Machine Type Submenu
This submenu item allows you to select the type of Atari computer which is emulatod.  The type of computer may also be chosen in the System Tab of the Preferences Window. 
PBI Expansion Type Submenu
This submenu item allows you to select the type of PBI Expansion which is emulated.  The choices are no expansion, MIO, or BlackBox, and work with the XL line of computers.  More on these Expansions can be found on the Expansions Tab of the Preferences page. 
Disable Basic
This menu item allows you to disable Atari BASIC on Cold Restart's.  Also, if you want to disable Atari BASIC on Warm Restarts, there is an option that allows you to do this as well in the System Tab of the Preferences Window.  Note, that the real Atari's didn't work this way, but it can be much more convient.
Save State (cmd-S)
This menu item allows you to save the state of the emulator, so that it may be loaded later with the Load State command. Disk images and cartridges inserted into the computer are stored in the state file.  The state is stored in a .a8s file that may also be double-clicked or dragged to the Atari800MacX icon in the Finder, or to the main Atari800MacX window, to load the state. 
Load State (cmd-L)
This menu item allows you load a state file (.a8s) previous saved with the Save State command.  Note, the state file format was changed to fix a serious error with saved cartridges and disk images, and the format in version 1.4.0 and later is not compatible with 1.3.0 and earlier, so old state files will not load into the new emulator and visa versa.
Save Configuration (cmd-shift-S)
This menu item allows you to save the configuration of the emulator, so that it may be loaded later with the Load Configuration command.  Configuration files (.a8c) are discussed further on the Configuration Files page. 
Load Configuration (cmd-shift-L)
This menu item allows you load a Configuration file (.a8c) previous saved with the Save Configuration command.
Enable Keyboard Joysticks (cmd-J)
This menu item is used to enable or disable keyboard joysticks.  If any of the controllers are set to keyboard joystick control, setting this to enable will use the keys defined for them as joystick keys.  Setting it to disabled will allow the keys to be passed to the emulator as normal keystrokes.  This is enabled by default.
Enable CX85 Keypad
This menu item is used to enable or disable the emulation of the CX85 keypad.  The port the CX85 is plugged into may be selected from the Controllers Tab of the Preferences Panel.  When enabled, the keys are as follows:

  Mac Keys                     CX85 Keys
  ---------                          ----------
  keypad 0123456789-.   0123456789-.
  keypad /                        NO
  keypad Ctrl+/                ESCAPE
  keypad *                       DELETE
  keypad +                       YES
  keypad Enter                +ENTER

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

Monitor (F8)
This menu item invokes monitor console, to be used for debugging Atari programs, viewing memory contents and other advanced actions. Type help to display list of available monitor commands, type cont to close the monitor console and continue emulation.
Show Function Key Window
This menu item makes the Function Key Window active.  It provides a way to press the select, start, and option Atari keys from the screen, as opposed to using the keyboard. (F2-F4).  The window that is displayed looks like:

Show Message Window
This menu item shows the message window which will display status/startup information about the emulator, and any serious error messages encountered during emulation will be displayed here.  The author may use this tool with you to debug difficult, or non-repeatable issues.