SDLTRS Help Introduction

| SDLTRS Help Introduction Introduction Features Options Text GUI OS X Features Known Bugs Release History Credits

sdltrs is a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I/III/4/4P emulator for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. It is a port of the very capable xtrs emulator for Unix by Tim Mann. It includes lower case, the real time clock, hi-res graphics, serial port, parallel printer, mouse, cassette, sound and music output, 5" and 8" floppy disk drives in single and double density, and even hard disk drives. The emulated floppy and hard disk file formats are compatible with the popular MSDOS-based emulators by Jeff Vavasour, Matthew Reed, and David Keil, and (if you choose a capable enough file format), all features of the original TRS-80 floppy disk controller are emulated.
Why did I write another emulator? Several reasons. First, and foremost, there was no TRS-80 emulator available for Mac OS X. Since I am the author of Atari800MacX, which is based on libSDL, it made it easy for me to make a TRS80 xtrs port based on SDL, so it would run on Windows and Linux as well as Mac OS X. Second, sdltrs provides a text menu based GUI, which is more user friendly interface than the interface xtrs provides. Finally, sdltrs provides some other enhancements to xtrs, such as the ability to copy and paste from the host to/from the emulator, the ability to save and load the emulator state, disk indicator LED's, and on the Mac, to emulate an Epson printer as well.
If you use SDLTRS, and appreciate the work that went into it, you can donate to it's development at: http://order.kagi.com/?6FBTU&lang=en
There is a lot of help available in the other html pages of this help which have links available at the top of the screen. Since it is based on xtrs, Tim Mann's web page is also a good resource (http://www.tim-mann.org/xtrs.html).

- ROM images for Model I/III/4 are available elsewhere on the Web. I do not know the copyright status of these ROM images, and I have no connection with the sites that offer them. Some MS-DOS based TRS-80 emulators come with Model I and Model III/4 ROM image files. These files will work in xtrs too.
- Alternatively, for Model III or Model 4 emulation, xtrs can use a MODELA/III file as its ROM image. This is not identical to a real Model III/4 ROM, but is close enough that almost 100% of TRS-80 programs will work with it. The LS-DOS 6.3.1H operating system disk that I have permission to distribute includes a MODELA/III file. You can boot this operating system using xtrs's Model 4P emulation and export the file for use in Model III and 4 emulation, or for convenience, click here to download the MODELA/III file directly.
- For Model 4P emulation, you can use Pete Cervasio's free minimal Model 4P boot ROM, now supplied with xtrs; however, the free ROM can boot only Model 4 operating systems (not Model III), and only from floppy disks. The original Model 4P boot ROM is copyrighted software, but if you own a Model 4P, you can copy its boot ROM onto a floppy for personal use using the instructions and tools in this article, originally published in the Misosys Quarterly 1.2. You can also buy Frank Durda IV's improved Model 4P ROMs from M. A. D. Software.