ATARISERVER(1)

NAME
atariserver - SIO server (peripheral emulator) for Atari 8-bit computers, for use with an SIO2PC cable

SYNOPSIS
atariserver [-h] [-f device] [-c] [-C] [-m] [-o file] [-p] [-s] [-S] [-X] [-t] [-<1-8>] [-V density dir] [-P conv path] [filename] [...]

DESCRIPTION
atariserver emulates Atari 8-bit peripherals using the SIO protocol, including disk drives, printers, and cassette tape decks. This manual page only documents the command-line options to atariserver. For more information, including a description of the user interface and the command set for remote command support, see the README file for AtariSIO, possibly located in /usr/doc/atarisio or /usr/share/doc/atarisio.

OPTIONS
Most options can be set from within atariserver's curses-based user interface while the program is running.

-h  Displays command line help message

-f device
    Sets the AtariSIO device. This option is only needed if you configured the kernel driver to support more than one interface.

    Note: this must be the very first command line option, otherwise it will be ignored!

    Without this option, atariserver will check if the environment variable ATARISERVER_DEVICE is set. If not, the default device /dev/atarisio0 will be used.

-c  Tells AtariSIO that your Atari is connected via an alternative SIO2PC cable. The standard SIO2PC cable uses the RI pin for command line input. Some Windows SIO emulators use a slightly modified SIO2PC cable, using DSR instead of RI. If you are not sure what kind of SIO2PC cable you have, just try starting atariserver with and without the -c switch and test if your Atari can boot from atariserver.

    Note: there's no performance benefit using the DSR line instead of the RI line; both cables work identically with AtariSIO.

-C  Similar to -c except that the CTS pin is used. This is quite useful for testing purposes: connect two PCs with a nullmodem-cable, start atariserver with -C on one machine and atarixfer with -p on the other.

-m  Monochrome mode: disable colors, even if your terminal reports color support.

-o file
    Set trace file: all output displayed in the log window will also be saved to the specified file.

-p  Loads the next image with "write protect" enabled. This option is only valid for the next image; if you want to load multiple write protected images, you have to specify this options before each filename.

-s  Disables high speed (57600 bit/sec) SIO support. It sets the baudrate to fixed 19200 bit/sec and also disables several special commands like "get ultraspeed byte" or "flush disk" that are only supported by high-speed drives like the 1050 speedy. Read the list of SIO commands at the end of the README for more details.

-S  High speed (57600 bit/sec) mode with pauses between bytes. This is needed for some high speed SIO routines which are too slow to handle sustained 57600 bit/sec transfers. The effective speed will be approx. 48000 bit/sec.

-X  Enable XF551 compatibility mode. In XF551 mode atariserver reacts to commands with the 7th bit set and automatically switches to 38400 bit/sec transfer mode. Additionally, the GetStatus command sets both bit 7 and 6 in case of an QD (double sided, double density, 1440 sectors) disk, just like the XF551.

-t  Increases the trace level. You may use this option up to three times if you want more output.

-1 through -8
    Set the drive number for the next image file. The default is 1 for the first image, and is incremented for each subsequent image. See NOTES below for an example.

-V density dir
    Create virtual device of given density, using files from directory dir. density is one of:

    s (single density, 720 sectors),

    d (double density, 720 sectors),

    e (1050 "enhanced" density, 1040 sectors),

    numbers (single density, number sectors, e.g. 1440s),

    numberd (double density, number sectors, e.g. 1440d),

    S (single density, the number of sectors needed to store all files is automatically calculated)

    D (double density, like S)

-P conv path
    Install printer handler.

    conv is EOL conversion: r=raw(no conversion), l=LF (UN*X), c=CR+LF (DOS/Windows)

    path is either a filename or |print-command, eg |lpr

    Note: Most shells require you to quote path if it contains a pipe (|) character. To use the standard unix print service, use: -P l "|lpr"

filename
    One or more image files, which should be either ATR or XFD format Atari 8-bit disk images. Image filenames may be interleaved with -[1-8] and/or -p options. Images may be in any Atari-compatible DOS or boot disk format; atariserver simply serves them to the Atari, without interpreting the contents.

NOTES
To load several images you could start atariserver with the following options (for example):
atariserver dos.atr -3 -p data1.atr -V d filedir
This will load dos.atr into D1:, data1.atr into D3: and create a virtual drive in double density (720 sectors) out of the directory filedir. Furthermore, D1: and D4: will be writable, whereas D3: will be write protected. If you set the environment variable ATRPATH, atariserver will look for image files in the specified (colon separated) directories if the image can't be found in the current working directory. ATRPATH works both on the command line and in the user interface. For example: export ATRPATH=/home/atari/dos:/data/xl/magazines or (for csh users): setenv ATRPATH /home/atari/dos:/data/xl/magazines

KERNEL SUPPORT
atariserver requires the atarisio kernel module (driver) to be loaded. If you receive an "error opening /dev/atarisio0" message, try loading the module (as root):
/sbin/modprobe atarisio port=/dev/ttyS0

Replace ttyS0 with whichever serial port has the SIO2PC cable attached. If the module refuses to load, you may have to "modprobe 8250" first.

SUPPORTED HARDWARE
atariserver works with most common one-chip RS232 (serial port) SIO2PC designs, including the AtariMax "smart" SIO2PC by Steven Tucker, and designs based on the 1489/14C89 and Max232/233 chips.

The USB SIO2PC (sometimes incorrectly called SIO2USB) from AtariMax is NOT supported, though support is planned for future versions of AtariSIO/atariserver.

The old two-chip SIO2PC interface (with a MAX232 and an LS368) is NOT supported, and probably never will be.

All Atari 8-bit computers (400/800, XL, and XE series) are supported.

AUTHOR
Matthias Reichl <hias@horus.com>

Man page by B. Watson <urchlay@urchlay.com>

SEE ALSO
atarixfer(1), dir2atr(1), adir(1).

AtariSIO home page: http://www.horus.com/~hias/atari/