Gemulator 96 Release Notes
Atari ST/STE Emulator for Windows Desktop and Notebook Computers
Version 4.50 - September 16, 1996

These notes supplement your Gemulator printed manual, which was written for 
versions of Gemulator which use TOS ROMs only. Gemulator 96 includes the 
full functionality of our Gemulator for Laptops product and can thus also 
use the disk based MagiC operating system. Gemulator 96 runs on all 
versions of Windows - Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Windows 95, 
and Windows NT. You must install Win32s to run on Windows 3.1 and 3.11. 
Download Win32s free of charge from Microsoft's ftp site or from our 
Emulators web page.

For the very latest information on Gemulator and PC Xformer, or to download 
upgrades, browse our Internet World Wide Web page at 
http://www.emulators.com/. Our web page also contains a private download 
area for registered users of Gemulator, allowing you to download the latest 
updates and beta versions free of charge, Win32s, and other useful files. 
If you just purchased a brand new copy of Gemulator 96, you must promptly 
fill out and return the enclosed product registration card to Branch Always 
Software so as to be eligible for upgrades or product support. If you also 
purchased a copy of MagiC, it is a good idea to fill out their registration 
card as well. As a registered user of Gemulator, you will also be able to 
beta test new versions of Gemulator, including our upcoming Gemulator 5.0 
Atari TT emulator and our Apple Macintosh emulator. So please fill out your 
registration card now and keep us informed of mailing address changes.

Contents of the Gemulator 96 disk

The Gemulator 96 software comes on one high density 3.5-inch 1.44M disk. 
The GEMUL8R4 directory contains the Gemulator program GEMUL8R4.EXE as well 
as the optional STHDBOOT.SEC, CDRIVE.VHD, DDRIVE.VHD, EDRIVE.VHD, and 
FDRIVE.VHD files for use with Atari disk mode. Use the Windows Explorer or 
File Manager to copy the entire GEMUL8R4 folder on the floppy disk to your 
hard disk, then run GEMUL8R4.EXE from your hard disk. If you are using 
Windows NT (and only if you use NT) the NT directory contains files 
required to install the Gemulator device driver on Windows NT. Read NT.TXT 
for directions. All other files on the disk are either demos or sample 
programs and are not required to get Gemulator working. The MOSDOS 
directory contains an Atari utility which writes MS-DOS boot sectors to 
Atari ST disks for use in Windows disk mode. The utility WIN32VER.EXE tells 
you exactly which version of Windows you are running.

Installing MagiC

There are two versions of MagiC currently available - MagiC 2.0 and MagiC 
4.0. Both install to your hard disk the same way. In the root of your PC's 
C: drive is the file MAGIC.RAM which contains the MagiC operating system. 
There is also a folder called GEMSYS which contains support files for 
MagiC, such as the desktop program. The MAGIC.RAM file may reside in the 
root of any disk, although C: is the usual place.

To manually install MagiC, copy the MAGIC.RAM file from your MagiC 
installation disk to your C: drive. Create a folder called GEMSYS and 
within that folder create another folder called GEMDESK. From the MagiC 
installation disk, copy the files GEMDESK.APP, GEMDESK.RSC, and GEMDESL.RSC 
to this GEMDESK directory. If using MagiC 4.0, you also need to copy the 
file OFF002.OSD.

For an automated install, you can use the two command files INSTMAG2.BAT 
and INSTMAG4.BAT located in the GEMUL8R4 directory to install MagiC 2.0 and 
MagiC 4.0 respectively. Copy the GEMUL8R4 directory to your hard disk as 
above, then run the appropriate file from the Windows Explorer or File 
Manager. You will be prompted to insert the MagiC installation disk. MagiC 
will then be installed on your PC's C: drive.

If you wish to run Gemulator and MagiC from floppy, install MagiC to your 
hard disk as described, then copy the MAGIC.RAM file and GEMSYS folder to a 
blank 1.44M floppy disk. Then copy the GEMUL8R4.EXE program to the floppy. 
You now have bootable Gemulator floppy disk that you can run on any Windows 
computer.

When you run Gemulator for the first time, the Properties dialog box will 
be displayed. MagiC should be listed in the Operating Systems list. Make 
sure it is and that it is selected. Configure Gemulator how you like (set 
the amount of Atari memory, the screen mode, disk mode, etc) and click Save 
to have those settings remembered. You can change the settings at any time 
by pressing Alt+F11. If running MagiC from floppy disk, you will need to 
select A: as the boot disk instead of C:. If running from the hard disk, 
leave C: as the boot disk.

If you are using only MagiC and do not wish to use any TOS ROMs, you can 
click on ROM Card in the Properties dialog and set the count of cards to 0. 
Then click Save Settings to remember this setting. This will skip the ROM 
scan every time you run Gemulator.

Refer to your MagiC user's manual for complete directions on using MagiC. 
One thing you may wish to do is go to the Options Preferences menu in MagiC 
and disable the MagiC Resident option. This disables multi-tasking in MagiC 
and makes it behave more like Atari's GEM operating system.

Limitations of Gemulator 96

Gemulator 96 does not support joysticks or MIDI ports at this time. On 
Windows 3.1 and Windows For Workgroups, serial ports and Atari disk mode 
will not work. These are limitations of the Win32s extensions to Windows 
3.1. We will be adding MIDI and joystick support in the future.

Optimizing your VGA driver for fastest screen redraws

Gemulator has been optimized for use with 256 color Windows 95 and Windows 
NT video drivers. For best results, run Gemulator in a 256 or 65536 color 
video mode. Do not run in a 16 color VGA video mode, as most VGA drivers 
and cards are not optimized for that mode.

Using the printer with other MS-DOS and Windows programs

When you select to use one of the printer ports in Gemulator, that printer 
port becomes unavailable to other MS-DOS or Windows programs while 
Gemulator is running. If you select the "Share" option in the Properties 
dialog, Gemulator will release the printer port after 30 seconds of 
inactivity, and grab it again when your Atari ST program needs to print. If 
you need to release the printer port immediately, press Alt+F11 to pop up 
the Properties dialog, and set the printer setting to None. If you are 
printing a large document it may take more than 30 seconds to prepare 
between pages (such as when using Calamus or Pagestream), so it is a good 
idea to have Share turned off in such cases. Also make sure that the 
printer is connected and online if you activate the printer option. 
Otherwise Gemulator may appear to crash or hang when no printer can be 
found.

Atari disk mode and Windows disk mode

Atari computers and Windows computers format their disks in almost the 
exact same way. Most disks formatted on an Atari ST can be read on a PC 
running MS-DOS and Windows, and similarly, any disk formatted by MS-DOS or 
Windows can be used on an Atari ST. This is not always true. Atari disks 
formatted by TOS 1.0, TOS 1.2 and some buggy disk formatting utilities do 
not create an MS-DOS compatible disk. Also, some Atari games use "boot 
disks", which are disks formatted to run automatically when TOS is starting 
up.

Similarly, hard disks are not always formatted the same. Atari hard disk 
partitions cannot grow to more than 32 megabytes in size. So trying to run 
TOS on your PC, which may have a 300 megabyte or 500 megabyte or even 
larger hard disk, means that the hard disk cannot be used by Gemulator. 
This was true in earlier versions of Gemulator.

Gemulator offers the best of both worlds, by providing both an "Atari mode" 
and "Windows mode" of disk access. Which mode is in use is determined by 
the "Atari disk mode (VHD Files)" option in Gemulator's Properties dialog. 
The modes work like this:

Atari disk mode ("VHD Files" option is selected)

- All Atari ST floppy disks can be read, including boot disks, 360K, 800K 
disks, and TOS 1.0 formatted disks, except copy protected disks.
- Gemulator uses 4 "virtual partitions" to emulate 4 32-megabyte Atari ST 
hard disk partitions. These virtual partitions are stored on your PC as 
the files CDRIVE.VHD, DDRIVE.VHD, EDRIVE.VHD, and FDRIVE.VHD. No actual 
reformatting of your hard disk is required.
- Atari disk mode behaves exactly like how a real Atari ST's floppy disk 
and hard disk behaves.

Windows disk mode ("VHD Files" option is not selected)

- All MS-DOS formatted floppy disks (720K double density, 1.44M and 2.88M 
high density) as well as compressed floppy disks.
- All of the PC's hard disk partitions and CD-ROM drives are available, 
including compressed partitions and non-MS-DOS partitions. Whatever 
files can be accessed by the Windows desktop can also be accessed by 
Gemulator when in Windows disk mode.
- Windows disk mode is compatible with most Atari software except some 
disk utilities and AUTO folder programs. If a program does not work in 
Windows disk mode, try it in Atari disk mode. As of this writing, we 
have tested and verified that most major Atari ST software runs fine in 
Windows disk mode, including Calamus SL, Pagestream, Magic, Neodesk 4, 
GFA Basic, Data Manager ST, FLASH, and others.

The two disk modes cannot be mixed. Files stored in the virtual partitions 
(the .VHD files) cannot be accessed outside of Gemulator. What you may want 
to do is install all of your Atari software on virtual partitions first. 
Then re-install the software in Windows disk mode. Try running the software 
both ways and see which way you like best.

It is easy to convert an Atari formatted disk into a disk that is MS-DOS 
compatible. We provide one such utility, MOSDOS on the Gemulator disk. Run 
this utility while in Atari disk mode to convert any Atari disks that don't 
normally read on your PC. Then the disk will be usable in Windows disk 
mode.

DirectX (full screen mode)

This is a new option added to the Properties dialog. It activates full 
screen, allowing Gemulator to display 640x400 and higher video modes full 
screen instead of in a window on your desktop. Full screen mode typically 
runs up to 10% faster than windowed mode, and of course looks more like 
your real Atari ST computer. This mode requires DirectX, which is a feature 
of Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 only.

Debugger support

Gemulator 96 now emulates the 68000 Trace bit, which is used by 68000 
debuggers. If you are using a development package that requires this 
support, turn on the Debug Mode option on the main menu to activate the 
support for the Trace bit. You can also use the built in 68000 debugger in 
Gemulator. Simply press Alt+Ctrl+F11 at any time to activate the debugger. 
Q exits the debugger. S, T, and G and Step, Trace, and Go commands. Use D 
to disassemble, M to dump memory, : to modify memory, and . to dump 
registers.
