Putting Atari Binaries on to a Disk Image.

Last Modified: 6/2/97

Atari software archives are normally made up of either disk images (identified by the file extensions .ATR, .XFD or .DCM) or individual binary files (these may have the file extensions of .EXE, .OBJ or .BIN). The most common format acceptable to an Atari emulator is the uncompressed disk image (.ATR or .XFD).

This page describes how a binary file can be loaded in to an emulator by first placing it in to a disk image. There are many ways to do this but the most convenient way is to put the binary file on to a disk image containing a bootable version of DOS. This will allow you to boot the emulator in to DOS and then run the binary file with the least effort.

What you will need:

  • An Atari emulator. For this example I am going to use XLit as it is the best emulator in my opinion;
  • A DOS disk image;
  • A binary game. For this example I am going to use mrdo.exe from Yogi's archive;
  • Imageman to process the disk image.

    What to do:

  • Make a copy of the DOS disk and call it something more meaningful

    copy dos25.atr games1.atr

  • Run Imageman passing it the disk image as a parameter

    Imageman games1.atr

    You will notice that 3 windows are displayed and the centre one contains the current contents of the disk image. If this is the first binary that you are adding to it then the centre window will show the files DOS.SYS and DUP.SYS. These files make up AtariDOS.

  • Press 'A' to add a new binary to the image. The rightmost window now shows a list of all files within the current directory on your hard disk. The ones that will fit on the disk image are highlighted. Using the cursor keys and the return key select 'mrdo.exe'.

  • The centre window now shows that mrdo.exe has been added the disk image. Press 'X' to exit Imageman.

  • Run up XLit passing it the disk image filename on the command line. You will also have to disable basic as many games will not run if the basic ROM is present.

    atari -nobasic games1.atr

  • The Atari should now boot up and display the familiar AtariDos blue screen and menu system. Pressing 'A' followed by 'return' displays the contents of the current disk image. To load and run the the binary press 'L' followed by the binary name and 'return'.

    l mrdo.exe

    Notes:

    Some games will not work. This could be due to them being designed to work on the earlier Atari computers (the 400 and 800 models). XLit allows an additional command line parameter that puts it emulate these older Atari computers. Exit the emulator and try

    atari -nobasic -oldmode games1.atr

    If the game still doesn't work then it may work on one of the other Atari emulators.