MAKEATR(1)

NAME
makeatr - convert an Atari executable to a "K-file" bootable disk

SYNOPSIS

makeatr imagefile.atr atari-executable

DESCRIPTION

For various reasons, it's sometimes useful to make a bootable disk image of an Atari executable. makeatr does exactly that.

If you have a bootable image made with makeatr, but you've lost the original executable, you can extract it from the image with unmakatr(1).

NOTES

makeatr is only useful for single-file games or other programs that don't need DOS disk access to run: the bootable image won't contain any DOS at all, or even a DOS file structure (you can't read the directory).

Disks made with makeatr are recognizable when booted on the Atari, because they display a GRAPHICS 0 screen with a lowercase k (screen is otherwise blank).

Disk images made with makeatr are only created with enough sectors to hold the executable. AtariSIO can handle these images fine, as can most other ATR utilities, but the smaller-than-regulation size may cause problems with some utilities.

There is only one Atari executable format, regardless of filename extension. All .XEX, .COM, .BIN, .EXE, etc. files for the Atari are the same file type, regardless of the name, and regardless of what you may have read on some forum site. Atari DOS doesn't care about the filename; it only exists for human consumption (and for filetype association with emulators, these days).

DIAGNOSTICS

makeatr's error messages are not well documented. They consist only of an internal error number code, listed here:

1   Unable to open ATR image for writing

2   Unable to write image ATR header

6   Unable to write boot sectors to ATR image

7   Error while padding ATR image to an even sector size

11  Unable to stat the input file (not found, permission denied, etc)

12  Input file is 0 bytes in length

13  Can't open input file

19  Error writing to ATR image, or trailing junk in the input image

20  Input file is not an Atari executable (missing 0xFF 0xFF signature)

    Error messages are printed to standard output, not standard error output.

EXIT STATUS

Exit status is 0 for success, or non-zero status for failure.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 1997, Ken Siders.

AUTHOR

Ken Siders was the original author of this utility.

Man page and Linux port done by B. Watson <urchlay@slackware.uk>; Urchlay on irc.libera.chat ##atari.

SEE ALSO

atrdir(1), atrextr(1), makeatr(1), sortatr(1).

Any good Atari 8-bit book: De Re Atari, The Atari BASIC Reference Manual, the OS Users' Guide, Mapping the Atari, etc.