USING THE SIO-2-PC INTERFACE SOFTWARE *** IMPORTANT NOTE **** SIO2PC is a hobby for me and a service to Atari users, not a money making project. Therefore I can't accept any liability from use or construction of the program or interface. If you have given me any money and don't want to accept responsiblity for use of the system, I will refund your money. Don't use SIO2PC on computers used for commercial purposes or for critical applications. Always back up important files. This is a brief description of the current release. The software is menu driven, and I hope, fairly self-explanatory. If you specify a command by mistake, ESC will usually return you to a higher level of the menu. Here is a run-down of the commands: CREATE DISK: Reserves ram area for a ramdisk, single or double density. Prompts for size. Reports when memory isn't available, and creates the file as a "file access" disk instead of as a ramdisk. After creating a disk, you must format it with your Atari. The disk's status is shown on the appropriate disk status line. The size and density are shown. Also, a single letter field shows an 'N' if you haven't written to the ramdisk, 'W' if you have. amd 'F' for file access disks. These fields are also color coded, white, red, and green. You can assign disk # 1 through 8. LOAD DISK IMAGE FROM FILE: This command prompts for disk # and filespec. Various DOS errors will be reported if there is anything wrong with the file you specified. The file information specified is appended to the disk status line. If there isn't enough ram for a ramdisk, file access will be used. (To force file access, follow the filename with "/P", no space.) WRITE DISK IMAGE TO FILE: This is essentially the inverse of the above with a few exceptions. You have the choice of writing back to the file you read from (if any), or you can specify a new filename for the disk image storage. This option doesn't apply to file access disks, which are continually updated. (Exit SIO2PC normally to close files - use option ''Q'.) INSTALL PC FILE AS ATARI DISK: This command lets you install any PC file as an Atari disk image. It creates a simulated Atari disk image containing only the loaded PC file. The file can only be read sequentially, no random access, and is read only. The file can be a data file or an Atari executable file. You can also install a PC file which is an Atari BOOT file. Use /B after the file name. JUMP TO ULTRA SPEED: This command toggles between SpartaDos' high speed mode and the normal speed. Normally, this is automatic, but if you get out of sync, this command can help. SET COM PORT NUMBER: This command lets you choose which port you are going to plug the interface into, assuming you have more than one. The screen will show the # of the port you have specified. Note that the program begins with the port # query. So, if you didn't enter it in the batch file, or on the command line, you must now enter it before proceeding. TOGGLE STATUS LINE: The program status line gives information about what the system is doing, if anything. The program writes directly to screen memory for this function (for speed). Because this may cause noise on the screen of a CGA computer display, you have the option of turning it off. EXCHANGE DISK I.D. NUMBERS: The purpose of this command is to allow you to change the number of the default, or bootable disk. You could for instance, boot up with a physical drive as drive #1 and copy files into ramdisk #2, then turn off the drive and change #2 to #1. Note that you can swap a defined ramdisk with one which doesn't yet exist, which is the same as renumbering a disk. No problem. D1 thru D8 are legal. PRINT_THRU: Tells SIO2PC to intercept your Atari's printer bound data. You can choose to send this data to your PC's printer, screen, or disk file. You can also choose to translate Atari EOLs to PC CR's or CR/LFs, Atascii tabs to ASCII tabs, and/or clear the high data bit. A field in the menu tells the current status of your PRINT-THRU choices. LOCK DATA LINE: Usually, leave in Auto. One user needed this to cure a bug. See README.DOC for more info. This is N/A for the one chip version I have built for the past several years - doesn’t use tri-state logic. ENTER PORT ADDRESS: Allows you to specify the port address in hex. Usually, the defaults are OK and you don't need this. If you have a 10 year old, highly incompatible clone, it might be needed. UNINSTALL DISK: Removes a disk and frees its memory and position for others. Warns you if the (ram) disk hasn't been saved. ADJUST BUS TIMINGS: Again for the one user with a cantankerous system. See README.DOC for more. This submenu also has some other functions. For instance, you can toggle the COMMAND LINE sense logic between the two modes required for my early and latest hardware versions. The default I sent you should be correct for your hardware. An 'i' after the revision number on top of the screen indicates the newer hardware. A new sub-menu under this menu is for the 1050-2-PC functions, which allows direct access to Atari disk drives from the PC. Separate hardware is required for this feature, which is still being expanded as of this writing. See separate TXT file on 1050-2-PC. QUIT PROGRAM: Returns the PC to DOS. Warns you to save changed ramdisks. DIRECTORY SEARCH Allows you to look at a PC directory without leaving SIO2PC. You can use the usual PC path specifiers and wildcards. Also, you can look into the directories of your Atari disk image files. Filename with extensions ending in "S" are treated as SPARTADOS files for directory extraction. REDRAW SCREEN Hit "R" or ESCAPE to restore the proper screen if PRINT-THRU or some other event has changed it. DOS SHELL The "H" command leaves SIO2PC and runs COMMAND.COM. You can then run DOS commands, programs, etc. Type EXIT to return to SIO2PC. Notes: COMMAND.COM must be in the C:\ directory. Don't install TSRs using this shell. Install them before starting SIO2PC. BLANK SCREEN Press "B", ESCAPE to restore. This command isn't on the menu. I hope to make it automatic in the future. USING COMMAND TAILS: The SIO2PC software allows you to simplify configuration of the program through the use of the command tail feature of DOS. The command tail consists of text found on the command line after the program name. An example will illustrate: If you start the program by the command SIO2PC 2 C22 L1A:\DOS.ATR R, it tells the PC to: Run SIO2PC, use Port 2, create a ramdisk as disk #2, size 92K, Load a disk image into ramdisk #1 from file A:\DOS.ATR. Always make the port # come first. Use /V to skip automatic virus checking. USING BATCH FILES: The real advantage of command tails is in using them from batch files. If the above text (SIO2PC 2 C22 L1A:\DOS.ATR R) is stored as a batch file, you can set up your Atari ramdisks for a computing session just by typing the name of the batch file. You could have different batch files called GAMES.BAT, PROGBAS.BAT, PROGASSY.BAT etc., automating set-up and making things much easier for you than remembering a bunch of commands and file names. You should put a space after the last command of the batch file. You may have noticed that there's no S before the PORT # in the batch file. That's because SIO2PC starts up expecting a PORT # entry. Other Included Programs: There are a few utility programs included on your disk, in addition to SIO2PC: REMOTE.OBJ: This program is an Atari program found on the ramdisk file ATARI.ATR on your disk. It allows you to control the SIO2PC program by remote control, from the Atari. Get into DOS on your Atari. Load the program and then enter SIO2PC commands as though you were entering them from the PC's keyboard! You have to anticipate the prompts and include the answers in your command string. (A few complex commands don't work from command tails or from REMOTE.) FILE2PC.OBJ: This is another Atari program found on your ATARI.ATR disk file. It allows you to send your Atari files to the PC as PC files instead of as Atari disk images. See the README.DOC file on the diskette file for more information. MAKADISK.EXE This is a PC program which takes a PC file and converts it to an Atari disk image which you can then load with SIO2PC and read with your Atari. More or less made obsolete by the “Install PC File as Disk Image” menu function. GETTING STARTED First, you should make a copy of the distribution disk for safekeeping. Now, plug SIO2PC into the PC and the Atari's daisy chain. Start SIO2PC by typing SIO2PC # [ENTER], where # is the number of the COM port you are using. Load up the supplied Atari disk image with the commands: "L", then "1", then A:\ATARI.ATR (This assumes the floppy is in drive "A.") Now, the status line for ramdisk #1 on the PC should show that this ramdisk is resident. Turn on your Atari and try to boot from the PC. You should see some action on the status line: Command: usually "R"; DEVID: 31 (for disk 1); COM: "H", flashing to "L" intermittently. Now, ask for a directory of D1. If all is well, you should see that the ramdisk has REMOTE.OBJ and FILE2PC.OBJ (described elsewhere), TANK.OBJ (a game written by my brother) and KEYER.OBJ (A ham radio program I did) on it.