Archie      Version 0.9 (5 September 2000)
by Chris-o
chris-o@geocities.com
http://www.geocities.com/chris-o/

With thanks to Phil, Jasper, Kirk & Dirk.


What it is?
-----------

Archie is an Acorn Archimedes emulator for DOS.

It is freeware and is not to be distributed with OS
ROMs or to be modified or sold.


Getting Started
---------------

Unzip archie9.zip with the -d option to create the necessary
files and subdirectories.

You should have the following files & directories:

  'Archie.exe'  - The emulator.
  'Readme.txt'  - This file.
  'Cmos.nvr'    - Cmos ram file.
  'Mdisk.bas'   - Basic program to run on your old
                  Archimedes to create disk images of
                  your software (if direct drive access doesn't
                  work on your PC)
  'Makeimg.bat' - Dos batch file to build a disk image
                  on PC from data created by Makedisk.bas
  'Archie.cfg'  - Archie's internal config file.
  'Disks'       - Directory holding disk images.
  'Bmp'         - Directory to store your screendumps
  'Pcfs'        - Directory pcfs uses to hold files.

Within the pcfs sub-directory is a Archimedes basic program called patchrom.
This can be used to patch PCFS into the RiscOS 3 roms, removing the
need for the PCFS disk image. (see PCFS section for details)

Within the Disks directory are two disk images called blank.adf
and pcfs.adf. There is also a zipped file (blank.zip) containing
the blank.adf image.

Available as separate downloads:

  'Dos4gw.exe'  - Required, but most people already have a copy so
                  not included to save download time.
  'Arcimg.exe'  - Utility written by Jasper Renow-Clarke to quickly
                  make disk images of Acorn D/E format disks direct
                  from your 1.44mb A: drive.

  Various disk images which should be unzipped into the disks directory.


You will also need to save the roms from your Archimedes into
four 512k files named IC24.ROM, IC25.ROM, IC26.ROM and IC27.ROM.
They need to be in the same directory as Archie.exe (see following
section on transferring roms)


Syntax:

  ARCHIE  [/1] [/i]


The /1 switch will force Archie to run in Vesa 1.2 graphics mode, the
same as previous versions.  Archie will default to Vesa 2 or later LFB
mode if available on your graphics card as this is faster. To do this
your graphics card must have 800x600 8bpp LFB mode available.

The /i switch will check your vesa bios and report the results
without starting Archie.  


The menu screen has the following sections:

Disk Image  - This is a listing of all disk images with an .adf
              extension in the disks sub-directory.  To select a disk
              just left-click with the mouse over the required one.
              The first image name 'None, use A:' will attempt to read
              and write ADFS D/E or DOS 720k format disks directly from
              the PC's A: drive. For best results, always perform a
              dismount before changing the disk format in the drive.

Available
Resolutions - If you are running under Vesa 2 or later, you can select which
              PC screen modes are available to Archie here.  Archie will
              attempt to find the best fit from the modes you allow it.
              Any modes your graphics card reports as unavailable will be
              greyed out and unselectable.  If you are running under
              Vesa 1.2 all these modes will be unavailable.

              *** WARNING ***  If you allow Archie to select the best mode,
              there is a remote possibility that any Archimedes software
              which performs rapid mode switching could damage your monitor.
              For this reason it is recommended to test any unfamiliar
              software with only 800x600 selected.  

Vsync       - Causes Archie to synchronise emulated vsyncs with the PC Vsync.
              This can limit the speed of anything which may run too fast,
              and will make graphics appear smoother.

Fastsync    - Causes Archie to ignore any requests to wait for the next
              emulated vsync and therefore can cause some games to run
              faster.

Parallel
port emu.   - Attaches the emulated parallel port output to lpt1: enabling
              printing directly from Archie.

Left alt for
middle but. - Turns the left alt key into the mouse middle button for people
              without a 3 button mouse or Windows 95/98 keyboard with the
              mouse menu key (next to right control)

Fast floppy
access      - Faster loading and saving to disk images. This is at the
              expense of other interrupts, so may cause unpredictable
              results occasionally.

Quad memc
(16 Mb)     - This enables Quad memc emulation giving 16mb of ram under
              RiscOS 3.  The native RiscOS 2 desktop doesn't seem to
              support 16Mb.  Will require a hard-reset or ctrl-break
              to take effect.

Keyboard
LED's       - Enables update of the keyboard leds to reflect the Archimedes
              ones.  Scroll lock is also used to indicate floppy disk image
              access. 

Sound       - Enables *experimental* 8 channel sound emulation.  Requires
              a soundblaster or compatible sound card which supports up to
              44Khz.  You must also have the DOS BLASTER environment
              variable set. See the sound section below for details.

Hard Reset  - Clicking this button will cause Archie to perform a power on
              reset when you return to the emulation.

Screendump  - Only available under Vesa 2 or later.  Will dump the screen
              from the point you returned to the menu to a BMP file named
              archiexx.bmp where the xx increments for each dump performed
              in that session.

OK/Enter    - Start/resume emulation.

Exit/Escape - Quits Archie.


When the emulator is running:

Ctrl-End    - Will return to the menu screen.

Mouse pointer key (next to right-ctrl) simulates middle mouse button.
If you have a three button mouse, the middle button should be configured
to produce a DOS middle button click.  If you do not have the mouse pointer
key or a three button mouse you should use the left alt for middle button
option on the menu.


Been a while since you used the old machine?

By default Archie will start at the supervisor * prompt.
To get into the GUI type *desktop
To make the emulator start up in the GUI:
	for ROS3 type *configure language 10 
	for ROS2 type *configure language 4

Please check www.topcities.com/Computers/arcsupport/index.htm for
common installation & setup FAQ.


Transferring Roms
-----------------

To transfer the roms from your Archimedes with RiscOS 3:

1) format a 720k dos disk on your pc by typing format a: /f:720
   from a dos prompt.

2) put the disk in your Archimedes and from a command line type

   *save :0.ic24/rom 3800000 3880000
   *dismount

3) remove the disk and MOVE the file to the Archie directory on your PC

4) repeat steps 2 & 3 for the following commands

   *save :0.ic25/rom 3880000 3900000

   *save :0.ic26/rom 3900000 3980000

   *save :0.ic27/rom 3980000 3A00000


For RiscOS 2, as PC floppies are not directly supported by the OS, you will
need to use a pc disk read/writer.

Roms are copyrighted by Acorn, and are therefore under no circumstances
to be distributed with this emulator.  Please do not ask for them.


Sound
-----

The sound emulation in 0.9 is highly experimental.  The speed of playback
depends on how fast your machine is.  As a guide my 450Mhz Celeron gives
near 100% speed of an A400.  There is some breakup of sound, mostly
noticeable during music playback.

You will need to have the BLASTER environment variable set within DOS. This
is usually set from within the autoexec.bat file. eg.

  SET BLASTER = A220 I7 D1

The 'A' parameter is the base address of the card, the 'I' parameter
is the configured irq, and the 'D' parameter is the DMA channel.
Consult your soundcard manual for details.


Floppy Disk Emulation
---------------------

Archie 0.9 contains emulation of 1 floppy drive.  Drive :0 uses a
disk image file which contains a sector dump of an Adfs D or E format
disk. Simply select the required image from the menu.  The scroll-lock light
is used as the disk drive light for the disk image.  It is recommended that
you only change disks when this light is out.  Access to disk images is
always read and write.

The first image name 'None, use A:' will attempt to read or write ADFS D/E
or DOS 720k format disks directly from the PC's A: drive. For best results,
always perform a dismount before changing the disk format in the drive.
Access to the A: drive is read and write, so make sure you write-protect
any valuable disks.

Low level operations such as formatting are NOT supported.  If you require
another blank disk image simply rename the existing blank.adf and unzip
blank.zip.

If the direct access to A: doesn't work on your machine, you can transfer
disks from your Archimedes as follows:

Mdisk.bas is a simple program to run on your 'real' Archimedes to
create disk images. The program creates the image in two parts all on
drive 0, and so should run on any ROS3 machine.  Before running you will
require two 720k dos disks & your source disk.

On your pc you should then run Makeimg.bat with a image name

eg.  makeimg demos2.adf

This will prompt you to insert the disks & will combine the parts
into a whole image called demos2.adf in the disks directory. The image
will then appear in the 'Disk Image' section of Archies menu screen for
selection.

Alternatively you can use Jasper Renow-Clarkes Arcimg.exe utility. Insert
your Acorn D/E format disk into the a: drive and type arcimg <imgname.adf>.
Ensure the created image is in the disks sub-directory for Archie to see it.

Dos disks should be directly accessible in A: from RiscOS 2 using a PC disk
reader such as !Pcdir or !Multifs.


PCFS
----

PCFS is a filesystem which allows acorn files to be stored and retrieved
on the PC's hard disk using DOS.

To use from the desktop, simply double click the !PCFS application on
the pcfs.adf disk image.  This will install a hard drive icon labelled PCFS
on the left of the Icon bar.  Clicking with the mouse will open a filer
window which can be used as normal.  PCFS can also be used from the command
line - simply insure the pcfs module has been loaded and select with *pcfs.

Alternatively, you can patch pcfs into the RiscOS 3 roms so it automatically
starts as follows:

1. Copy ic27.rom into the PCFS sub-directory
2. Make sure you have a backup copy of ic27.rom
3. Run Archie
4. Start !PCFS from the PCFS disk image
5. Open the PCFS drive
6. Double click the Patchrom basic program
7. Exit Archie
8. Type copy pcfs\ic27p.rom .\ic27.rom
   to replace the ic27.rom in the Archie directory with the patched
   ic27p.rom 

The patched version also adds mode 99, an 800x600x256 colour mode.

Thanks to Dirk Engling for the patch program.

Limitations:

PCFS uses 10 character filenames (as does ADFS) but there is no case
distinction (as the file is stored in DOS).  PCFS supports alphanumeric
filenames as well as some other characters for compatibility.  It is
recommended to use alphanumeric filenames where possible.  No free space
checking is performed, PCFS assumes you have enough room.

The following character translations are performed:

               RiscOs  DOS
               +       }
               /       %
               ?       #
               ,       &
               ;       @
               >       .   (Not recommended)


Importing:

As PCFS uses standard dos files, any file placed in the pcfs subdirectory or
lower will be accessible from within Archie.  To do this you should be aware
of the filenaming convention used.  PCFS splits the 10 character filename
across the dos extension if required, eg.

!runimage appears in dos as !runimag.e

The first time PCFS 'sees' a file it will create a corresponding file to hold
its attributes.  This has the same name but prefixed with a $ sign. 

If you were to place a file called bia.zip into a PCFS directory, this would
appear as Bia>zip.  This should be renamed before processing to remove
the '>'.

Problems:

PCFS is not finished.  It is primarily designed for RiscOS 3 and may not
function fully under RiscOS 2.  There are some outstanding problems with
8 character filenames, mainly during deletions.



Coming Soon
-----------

Some of the main enhancements in the pipeline (in no particular order) are:

1) Even more bug fixes
2) Improved PCFS
3) Improved (and faster) Sound
4) Possible emulation of a lower level disk image for better compatibility
5) Possible emulation of a later FDC allowing reading of HD Acorn & PC disks
6) Improved keyboard routines
7) Improved graphics routines



Problems
--------

Occasionally locks up when changing mode in desktop.

S3 graphics cards don't seem to work with Vesa 2 - no graphics displayed.



Disclaimer
----------
The program and documentation are provided 'as is' and without
any warranty, not even the implied warranty of merchantability
or fitness for any particular purpose. In no event will the
author be liable for any damage or loss caused by use of this
program or documentation.  The program is used entirely at the
users own risk.
