Hi all,

My apologies for not posting in German!

I have several Atari game and program carts (from the 800) that I'd like to have as a disk file (.atr) for use in an emulator. Are there instructions somewhere on how to make a disk file? Now, I just keep 2 carts of each game, in case cart stops working. Any help would be very much appreciated!

Here's my attempted translation into German:

Ich entschuldige mich für die Entsendung nicht in Deutsch!

Ich habe einige Atari-Spiel und Programm-Wagen (ab 800), dass ich möchte, wie eine Datei (haben. ATR) zur Verwendung in einem Emulator. Gibt es irgendwo auf Anweisungen wie man eine Datei zu machen? Nun, ich weiterhin nur 2 Wagen von jedem Spiel, bei den Einkaufswagen nicht mehr funktioniert. Jede Hilfe wäre sehr geschätzt.

lensman

Hello Lensman,

it really depends on the type of cartridge: 4k, 8k, or 16K-128K bankswitching carts.

There is almost always some machine language programming and reverse engineering needed.

The easiest are 4K and 8K Carts. The Carts occupy the memory locations from $8000-BFFF (8K) or ($A000-BFFF) (4K). To bring these carts to a loadable COM-File, you need to dump this memory locations to a file. This can be done with a memory monitor program (Turbo-Freezer, QMeg, Bibomon etc) build in (or attached) to your Atari. The you create a startup program that will

* reserve space at for the code (when no physical cartridge is inserted, the screen memory is in the memory range somewhere between $8000-$BFFF)
* re-initialize the graphics
* load the cartridge program code into the same memory location as it is when on physical cartridge
* jump through the cart init vector

This would be similar code as for the AtariArtist loader in this article:
http://wiki.strotmann.de/wiki/Wiki.jsp? ... dled%20DOS

Some carts have a simple copy protection. A cartridge is ROM (Read Only Memory). So the code tries to write some random stuff in its own memory. This has no effect when running from a cartridge, but will destroy the program when running from a file. You need then to disassemble the program and patch this routines.

For 16K-128K Carts you need to do much more work to reverse engineer the bankswitching code used in the cart and emulate that.

Atari Emulators on a PC can now directly load cartridge dump files, that is much easier. A cartridge dump file is just a memory dump of the cart. You still need a machine monitor build into the Atari to create this dump.

To my knowledge almost all cartridges have already been dumped and are available on the Internet.

The easiest way is probably not to try to re-invent the wheel, but to use these ready made cart dumps from the Internet.

See if you find your carts here: http://www.atarimax.com/jindroush.atari ... artdp.html

-- Carsten

cas hat geschrieben:To my knowledge almost all cartridges have already been dumped and are available on the Internet.

Acknowledged, with one exception: Yellow_Man pointed out lately that all dumps of "Seafox" are faulty - instead of releasing a horizontal torpedo when you hold down the fire button, three vertical torpedoes are released.

Should I bring my original cartridge to the NOMAM so someone could dump the content and finally make a fully working EXE from it?


Thorsten

HI all,

The carts I want to dump are 4K and 8K .

If I want to dump a region of memory, can I do it from within a BASIC program instead of with a separate cart/program/hardware? Where do I get the hardware needed to dump $8000-$8FFF? The carts are NOT protected, so that is not a problem.

> Turbo-Freezer, QMeg, Bibomon etc) build in (or attached) to your Atari
Are these programs or add-on hardware? I'm OK with assembly language and a soldering iron, although the assembly language has been a while.

thanks for the help!
dan
p.s. Aren't the verbs supposed to be at the end of the sentence in German? Or is that just for scientific writing?

google translation into really poor German:

Der Wagen will ich dump sind 4K und 8K: D.

Wenn ich will, zu einer Region der Speicherabbild, kann ich es aus einem BASIC-Programm statt mit einem separaten cart / Programm / Hardware? Wo bekomme ich die Hardware benötigt, um $ 8000 - $ 8FFF Dump? Die Wagen sind nicht geschützt, so dass ist kein Problem.

> Turbo-Freezer, QMeg, Bibomon etc) im Aufbau (oder gepfändet werden), um Ihre Atari
Sind diese Programme oder Add-on-Hardware? Ich bin OK mit Assembler und einen Lötkolben, obwohl der Assembler eine Weile her ist.

danke für die Hilfe!
Dan
p.s. Sind nicht die Verben, soll am Ende des Satzes in deutscher Sprache sein? Oder ist das nur für wissenschaftliches Schreiben?

lensman hat geschrieben:HI all,

The carts I want to dump are 4K and 8K .

If I want to dump a region of memory, can I do it from within a BASIC program instead of with a separate cart/program/hardware? Where do I get the hardware needed to dump $8000-$8FFF? The carts are NOT protected, so that is not a problem.

> Turbo-Freezer, QMeg, Bibomon etc) build in (or attached) to your Atari
Are these programs or add-on hardware? I'm OK with assembly language and a soldering iron, although the assembly language has been a while.

thanks for the help!
dan
p.s. Aren't the verbs supposed to be at the end of the sentence in German? Or is that just for scientific writing?

The problem with a BASIC program is that a BASIC program needs the BASIC cartridge (which is build in XL/XE Systems) that will occupy the same memory location as the cart you want to dump. Turbo Basic will also not work when a CART is inserted.

QMEG is a ROM Replacement, Turbo-Freezer and BiboMon are build-in hardware monitors. I guess QMEG can be still bought from Stefan Dorndorf (Stefan is available in this forum from time to time). Turbo Freezer and BiboMon are both available from ABBUC but currently sold out, and no plans to a new production run at this point of time.

The problem with game carts is that they do not boot a DOS. So there is very little chance to get your own dumping code loaded unless it is in some ROM (like the OS ROM).

There is one (but rather dangerous) way to boot a DOS (Atari DOS 2.5 will work), then insert the Cart in your running Atari (this can destroy your Atari !!) and hope that the Atari does not crash when doing so. If all goes well, you can then dump the Cart with the 'save memory' command to disk.

I wouldn't do it this way, as I'm not able to repair my Atari after an unsuccessful try.

Carsten

P.S.: Verbs are not always at the end of a sentence in German. German is quite complicated, with many cornercases and exceptions.

Present tense:
Ich _spiele_ BallBlazer an meinem Atari.

Past tense (here it is at the end for this example):
Ich habe BallBlazer am Atari _gespielt_.

Future (also at the end):
Ich werde BallBlazer am Atari _spielen_.

Maybe it's off topic, but i figured out, that we can boot from tape, while a cartdrige is inserted.
So i have written a small programm, which dumps the whole cart-area($8000-$bfff, 16k) to tape.
I testet it with the game Tennis, and it works great. Because thats the only cart i have

Copy this programm to tape e. g. with FMOVE, Rewind, and turn off your Atari. Now insert the cartdrigde, turn on and boot from tape while holding down the START & SELECT key(only 2 blocks), and after you hear the save burp sound. Press PLAY & RECORD on tape, and then any Key. Wait while done.

After this copy the image back to disk, use sio2usb etc.

Have fun!

Klaus

If i remember right, there is a tool for dumping Carts, build in into real-Dos.

Maybe, but my solution works with an original, unmodified machine.

EDIT: It takes a little more time, but i have no risk of damage.