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Spectre gcr


Thelen

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I recall Dave did a series of Articles about programming cartridges on the A8...(particular the bank switching types) and discussing the various methods some companies went about programming bank switched A8 cartridges (it was either Antic or Analog, can't remember which one)

 

I had a version of the happy discovery cartridge that could fit a spectra GCR emulator in (as my version had an option for copying mac software)

 

Dave...One or two small question's...1stly...Curt mentioned an A8 thing you did called 'the integrator' which sounds like an o/s replacement for the A8...was that a hardware upgrade (i.e replacing the o/s chip etc) or on cartridge/disk (like the various 'translator' programs)

 

 

Lastly, seeming as though there a still some love for your spectre gcr emulator...ever thought about doing a software version (like the emulator's are today)...are you planning on updating spectre gcr...like some of the other post's said...supporting later versions of 68xxx mac plus o/s's

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  • 4 years later...

Some of Dave Small's best articles were in "Current Notes"

 

BTW.....Darklord also wrote some articles there. :)

 

Geez, how did I miss this thread all this time? :)

 

Agree with that - Dave Small's stuff was awesome - always looked forward to it.

 

Yeah, I did, didn't I? :)

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Geez, how did I miss this thread all this time? :)

 

Agree with that - Dave Small's stuff was awesome - always looked forward to it.

 

Yeah, I did, didn't I? :)

 

Agreed, I enjoyed reading articles by Dave Small and Dave Troy. Pretty much why I still keep and read my issues of Current Notes (wish they were archived on Atarimania)

 

Darklord: You wrote articles? Which ones? :)

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Agreed, I enjoyed reading articles by Dave Small and Dave Troy. Pretty much why I still keep and read my issues of Current Notes (wish they were archived on Atarimania)

 

Darklord: You wrote articles? Which ones? :)

 

Argh, you'll have to let me look them up - there were only a couple, all in all.

 

I think I did a couple of reviews - one on a mouse master and one on a TOS

2.06 upgrade board for an STe...

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Argh, you'll have to let me look them up - there were only a couple, all in all.

 

I think I did a couple of reviews - one on a mouse master and one on a TOS

2.06 upgrade board for an STe...

 

Oh ok, I remember the Mouse Master one... The top 10 list was funny :)

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Oh ok, I remember the Mouse Master one... The top 10 list was funny :)

 

Right, right, that's the one. I actually had a lot of fun coming up with that. (and Atari deserved

to be "poked at", for the ridiculous placement of the mouse/joystick ports on those models).

 

You got me curious, so I dragged out some old copies of Current Notes:

 

Current Notes, Vol. 13, No. 8/October 1993, Page 56

The STe TOS Switcher

Enjoy the Best of Both Worlds!

Review by Ronald J. Hall

 

Current Notes, Vol. 13, No.9 / November 1993, Page 54

Pyramid Mouse Master!

The Absolute Solution to an Age Old Problem

Review by Ronald J. Hall

 

Wow, was a real "blast from the past" re-reading those

old articles.

 

Thanks! :)

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  • 9 years later...

Only a decade late to the party but just wanted to say that I was also a "Current Notes" fan and met Dave and Sandy at an Atari Fest somewhere South of DC when I lived in Virginia (between 91 and 94).  That's where I sold my 1040ST and purchased a Meg4STE.

I still have my "I met Sandy Small" button ;-) 

sandysmall.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/5/2023 at 11:10 AM, ggn said:

 

I've always loved comments like that in the source, like it was a way of programmers to write messages to each other.

 

In the Bubsy Fractured Furry Tales source that Songbird passed on to me there was a now famous passage in regards to the Hansel and Gretel boss and how their cherry bombs would pop it is said in the comments:

 

"No smutty comments, please!"

 

505602422_ScreenShot2023-01-18at9_15_19AM.png.b7ea0cd3542b3b5120d0abb3efb32677.png

 

 

As for the Spectre GCR, I think for me personally that was one of those reasons I kept an ST around as long as I did.   It was just so much fun to play with.   Especially on the TT030.   If the Falcon could run Spectre, I would have had a Falcon along the way.  (one friend was trying to sell me a cLab 040 Falcon and we tried REALLY hard to get Spectre working with just no luck.)

 

So innovative, and I think I have the manual around for reading.  Was just a funny read.

Also have Dave Small as a friend on Facebook.   His son and I are in a Live Action Role Play group together.

 

"Small world"  :P

 

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On 1/5/2023 at 6:36 PM, Goochman said:

It would be great if we could somehow find a utility that could move Mac images to Spectre partitions on the ST.  Wonder if a version of Fujinet connected to the ST running in Mac mode could pull this off?

You mean this? :

 

http://obsolescenceguaranteed.blogspot.com/2013/04/atari-st-ultrasatan-spectre-mac.html

 

Edited by JamesWD
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20 minutes ago, DarkLord said:

Go back and read just about *anything* from Dave Small during his

time with Current Notes magazine.

 

Brilliant and absolutely funny. I always looked forward to reading

anything he wrote, each and every issue.

 

Yes superb Spectre GCR manual, I recommend anyone to read it even if you don't have Spectre GCR or interest in Mac's.

 

Where is the Dave Small appreciation website . . . . . .  . . . :)

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just found out about Dave Small and his emulators. 
 

Back in 1990 a guy at my work helped me turn a 520 ST into a mac. I still have the ST but I opened it up and the only mod it has is a piggy back ram upgrade. 
 

I remember it had a customization hard drive (I think it was and IDE drive) that had this breadboard on it with tons of wire wrapping all over it. I think this board had Mac ROMs on it. 
 

I don’t recall having anything that plugged into the cartridge port and I’m pretty sure the 520 would boot directly into Mac system 6. 
 

I wonder how that worked now and wish I could fond it. Now I’m wondering if there’s some connection to it being either a Spectre GCR or some hack or some connection to Dave and his software. 
 

I recently powered the 520 up and it runs but can’t see the full 1MB bit boots up into GEM. 
 

Anyone have any ideas about how my wire wrapped “mac” hard drive worked?

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  • 2 weeks later...

On Spectre 3 readme there's written:

 

  LOADABLE KEYBOARD TABLES
 
  Spectre will now automatically load a keyboard table for the appropriate
  country (similar to the language files).  By editing the keyboard table,
  you can remap most of the keys to other keys.  This is primarily for those
  countries that we don't currently support, although others may want to
  change the keyboard table as well.  For example, you can now swap the
  function of the Alternate and Control keys (many people have requested
  this).  You can also create a Dvorak keyboard layout, etc.
  The keyboard table files are named the same as the language files,
  except they have a .KEY extender (instead of .LNG).  Instructions for
  modifying/creating keyboard tables are in the file USA.KEY.

  Note: as with the language files, not all keyboard files are included with
  Spectre.  If you create a keyboard file for a country not included, we
  would appreciate a copy of it to distribute with Spectre.

 

Does anyone know how to make a XXX.KEY file?

Instructions should be in USA.KEY file, but I haven't found it.

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On 2/11/2023 at 1:09 PM, Philsan said:

On Spectre 3 readme there's written:

 

  LOADABLE KEYBOARD TABLES
 
  Spectre will now automatically load a keyboard table for the appropriate
  country (similar to the language files).  By editing the keyboard table,
  you can remap most of the keys to other keys.  This is primarily for those
  countries that we don't currently support, although others may want to
  change the keyboard table as well.  For example, you can now swap the
  function of the Alternate and Control keys (many people have requested
  this).  You can also create a Dvorak keyboard layout, etc.
  The keyboard table files are named the same as the language files,
  except they have a .KEY extender (instead of .LNG).  Instructions for
  modifying/creating keyboard tables are in the file USA.KEY.

  Note: as with the language files, not all keyboard files are included with
  Spectre.  If you create a keyboard file for a country not included, we
  would appreciate a copy of it to distribute with Spectre.

 

Does anyone know how to make a XXX.KEY file?

Instructions should be in USA.KEY file, but I haven't found it.

there is a Spectr download that has all the key files in the ETC folder.

 

I have attached the ETC folder here in case.

ETC.zip

Edited by JamesWD
wrong archive
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