Atari Launcher - Front End for Atari800WinPlus

[jacobus]

I've been developing a front end for the Atari800WinPlus emulator for several years and I just put a copy of it up on SourceForge. It allows you to organize and categorize your image collection (xex,atr,dcm,bin,etc) under a (user-defined) set of tabs. As well it allows you to set and save a variety of emulation options so that each Atari program runs with it's own custom settings (e.g. OS Type, Memory, Video, etc). Also supported is the ability to capture and display an snapshot image of each program in progress.

 

The Atari Launcher also supports emulators of other systems, but not to the degree that Atari800WinPlus is supported.

 

 

I would appreciate any feedback and/or suggestions for improvements.

 

 

 

Program files and Installation instructions can be found here:

 

http://sourceforge.net/projects/atarilauncher/

[Rybags]

Looks good.

 

I'll be sure to download it and check it out later.

[eru]

Looks interesting.

But I have to admit I hate the fact you're using VisualBasic + access (according to the description on SourceForge)- that means this thing won't be portable Did you consider using some other platform, e.g. Qt or WxWidgets? This could result in a program people from non-windows platforms (Mac,Linux) could use.

[krupkaj]

Cannot install the software. I have Windows 2000 SP4. After start installer copied some files and then this warning window appear:

 

So I clicked OK, then restarted the machine. After restart I launched installer again with the same effect. So what is wrong?

[Rybags]

Outdated version of the Windows installer maybe?

[UNIXcoffee928]

Thanks for taking the time & effort to do this, it is a cool idea.

[Mclaneinc]

I've been developing a front end for the Atari800WinPlus emulator for several years and I just put a copy of it up on SourceForge. It allows you to organize and categorize your image collection (xex,atr,dcm,bin,etc) under a (user-defined) set of tabs. As well it allows you to set and save a variety of emulation options so that each Atari program runs with it's own custom settings (e.g. OS Type, Memory, Video, etc). Also supported is the ability to capture and display an snapshot image of each program in progress.

 

The Atari Launcher also supports emulators of other systems, but not to the degree that Atari800WinPlus is supported.

 

 

I would appreciate any feedback and/or suggestions for improvements.

 

Hi there,

 

5200 support is broken, it's not parsing the file and just booting the emulator into 5200 mode.

 

The utility menu suggests you can browse to a directory where you have multiple sub dirs and it will scan from there, in fact you actually have to go into one of the sub dirs and pick a file before it allows the browser window to be close and a scan done. To get around this you manually need to edit the line afterwards which isn't a big thing but helps a little.

 

Also, is it possible to show the file extn in the top right window. It help if you have many versions of the same game ie an atr or a cas.

 

Apart from that I love it, dead handy little util, many thanks

[jacobus]

Looks interesting.

But I have to admit I hate the fact you're using VisualBasic + access (according to the description on SourceForge)- that means this thing won't be portable Did you consider using some other platform, e.g. Qt or WxWidgets? This could result in a program people from non-windows platforms (Mac,Linux) could use.

 

Ya, I agree I could have written it in something more portable, but initially I wrote it just for my own use and it evolved from there. If you're interested I can walk through the guts of the program (quite simple really)

 

 

Cannot install the software. I have Windows 2000 SP4. After start installer copied some files and then this warning window appear:

 

So I clicked OK, then restarted the machine. After restart I launched installer again with the same effect. So what is wrong?

 

I've attached a batch file that should help (rename the .txt to .bat). Create a folder, unpack the .cab file into it and add the batch file (manual_install.bat). Edit it to point to your System32 folder (defaults to C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32) and destination directory (defaults to C:\ATARI) and then run it. After it runs (should not take more than a couple of seconds) try running the Atari Loader.exe. If it works fine, continue with the installation/config instructions, otherwise please let me know.

 

 

Thanks for taking the time & effort to do this, it is a cool idea.

You're very welcome, Thank you for the feedback!

 

 

I've been developing a front end for the Atari800WinPlus emulator for several years and I just put a copy of it up on SourceForge. It allows you to organize and categorize your image collection (xex,atr,dcm,bin,etc) under a (user-defined) set of tabs. As well it allows you to set and save a variety of emulation options so that each Atari program runs with it's own custom settings (e.g. OS Type, Memory, Video, etc). Also supported is the ability to capture and display an snapshot image of each program in progress.

 

The Atari Launcher also supports emulators of other systems, but not to the degree that Atari800WinPlus is supported.

 

 

I would appreciate any feedback and/or suggestions for improvements.

 

Hi there,

 

5200 support is broken, it's not parsing the file and just booting the emulator into 5200 mode.

 

The utility menu suggests you can browse to a directory where you have multiple sub dirs and it will scan from there, in fact you actually have to go into one of the sub dirs and pick a file before it allows the browser window to be close and a scan done. To get around this you manually need to edit the line afterwards which isn't a big thing but helps a little.

 

Also, is it possible to show the file extn in the top right window. It help if you have many versions of the same game ie an atr or a cas.

 

Apart from that I love it, dead handy little util, many thanks

 

5200 Support: Is Atari800WinPlus setup to run 5200 apps by double clicking on them? (I make use of the Windows associations)

 

Good point about the utility menu - I'll add that to the to-do list.

 

The (yellow) text box is actually the Title field (you can edit it and then save the changes with the Save button). I know what you mean about confusing versions - I was thinking about some kind of indicator icon ... (by the way, when you click on a disk image file (.atr) the 810 drive image should light up)

 

Thanks very much for the feedback (and the praise!)

 

 

jim

manual_install.txt

Edited December 11, 2007 by jacobus

[Mclaneinc]

5200 Support: Is Atari800WinPlus setup to run 5200 apps by double clicking on them? (I make use of the Windows associations)

 

Good point about the utility menu - I'll add that to the to-do list.

 

The (yellow) text box is actually the Title field (you can edit it and then save the changes with the Save button). I know what you mean about confusing versions - I was thinking about some kind of indicator icon ... (by the way, when you click on a disk image file (.atr) the 810 drive image should light up)

 

Thanks very much for the feedback (and the praise!)

 

 

jim

 

Hi Jim,

 

I didn't have them associated but found an interesting thing, the only real 99% way I could run the carts in 5200 mode was to use the 'convert rom to cart' option in Atari800win Plus. This took any of the .a52 or .bins and converted them (some needed a choice between one or two chip cart), they then ran happily but only after manually switching to 5200 mode in the emulator. once that was done as long as you only played 5200 stuff it worked without needing to switch OS's again.

 

Found this on here :

 

"You can then use (in Atari800win plus) the command line to load those images. You would then use the "-cart filename" option to load the cart. "-5200" for 5200 mode. "-xl" for xl mode. "-atari" for atari 800 mode, etc."

 

I don't know if that helps? I noticed you were using a command line via a bat file.

 

Edit.....Ack, was testing the .car images via double clicking, was not until I rebuilt the rom path in the launcher that I found it does not pick up .car extn's

 

It's a valid Atari800win Plus extn that it specifically recognises.

 

Edit 2...Ack 2...Just spotted you copy and rename the rom to a bin which would scupper the .car idea as if you rename the .car to a .bin it just does what I was getting in the first place

 

Edit 3...Ack 3...There's no need to use the convert option in Atari800win, just renaming the file to a .car works, if the emu can't decide if it's a one or two chip file it asks otherwise you can happily double click on anything.

Edited December 11, 2007 by Mclaneinc