
The CTH Emulator
(Some enhancements by Tom Hunt)

This document best viewed with word-wrap turned ON.

These directions are for the Winsock 1.x and OSS parts of the emulator.

1.	Overview

2.	Host requirements

3.	Hardware setup

4.	Software setup

5.	Trouble shooting

6.	Other helpful and interesting links

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1.	Overview

	This emulator had been created in order to better support applications, rather than just games.  These applications include BBS programs and programming languages.  You can still run games on it, but that wasn't what I wanted to focus on.  It supports the Sparta Dos long directory names when viewing the Hx: devices, which is important if you want your 8-bit BBS program to offer downloads from your PC's CD drive.  It also supports the R: device as far as receiving calls, like a BBS program requires.  Finally, it supports Basic XE and it's BASICXE.OSS extentions. It's the BASIC language that has everything! 

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2.	Host requirements

	The host computer must be running Windows 95 and winsock 1.x.  Winsock 1.1 is the version that comes with Windows 95.  Some Windows 95 users may have upgraded to winsock 2.  The way you can tell is to look in the \windows directory for a directory named "ws2bakup".  If ws2bakup is there, then the Windows 95 system has been upgraded to winsock 2, and the CTH Emulator will not work.  Winsock 2 provides some minor enhancements over winsock 1.  There is a way to uninstall winsock 2 and restore winsock 1, but it is beyond the scope of this documentation to cover how to do this.

	To run a BBS in the emulator you must already be connected to the internet.  This emulator intercepts R: functions and converts them in to Winsock functions.

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3.	Hardware setup

	None, this is an emulator!

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4.	Software setup

	This part is only a little bit harder than the hardware setup.  You must first run the supplied netsetup.exe program on the host system.  The purpose of the netsetup program is to ask you some questions about your networking setup and save that information in to a file that the CTH Emulator will use later.  You can get this information by running winipcfg.exe or by opening start/settings/control panel/network.  When it asks for the directory to save the file in to, just use your /windows directory, or choose the directory that you placed the emulator in to.  It will also add one new line in your autoexec.bat file, which sets an environmental variable named "lsck" to point to the directory that you told it to save it's files in to.  After this you will need to reboot for the changes to take effect.  After rebooting, start a MS-DOS window and cd in to the directory where the CTH Emulator program resides.  The name of the file is "Atari800.exe".  I have supplied a batch file to help with the command line parameters that I like to use.  You will need to modify it to match your filepaths.

	Just in case you get confused about exactly what your "\windows\hosts" file should look like after netsetup.exe finishes, you can use mine as an example:

# hosts.eg
# An example hosts file
# Please edit this to suit your site

127.0.0.1	localhost
127.0.0.1	cth.tzo.com
127.0.0.1    CTH
194.159.231.71	atari.demon.nl


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5.	Trouble shooting and FAQ

	Problem:  The emulator won't recognize my OSS ROMS.

	Answer:  The emulator is sensitive to wierd filepaths.  For instance, having a ROM in \Atari800.0.9.8 won't work because of all the periods.  Try moving the ROM to a directory with a simpler name, like \Atari800 .  

	Problem:	The emulator boots Sparta Dos way too slow.

	Answer:	Use a version of Sparta Dos that doesn't have built-in high-speed support, like x3.3a.  There is another version you can try, called the 'z' version.  It is a patched x.32d that has the high-speed taken out.  The reason this works is because the emulator has it's own built-in high-speed CIO, which is much faster that Dos' built-in high-speed.

	Problem:	I can't figure out how to call out using BobTerm.

	Answer:	This emulator only supports receiving calls, not calling out.  If you really want to call out using BobTerm, try the PC-Gateway.  The link is at the bottom of this document.

	Problem:	I only have a dynamic I.P. address.  How can I run an emulated Atari 8-bit bbs?

	Answer:	Check in to http://www.tzo.com .  They can supply you with a static URL, even with dynamic dial up accounts.

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6.	Helpful links

Visit the CTH web page at:
http://cth.tzo.com/index.html

Visit the CTH PC-Gateway web page at:
http://cth.tzo.com/pro/gateway1.html

Visit the CTH Emulator web page at:
http://cth.tzo.com/Emulator/CTH_Emulator.html

Visit the BBS Express! Professional web page at:
http://cth.tzo.com/pro/pro1.html

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Please send suggestions, bug reports, etc., to:
tomhunt@bright.net
