Vapi2sio is a mini SIO2PC/APE Windows program for running VAPI images under real Atari hardware.
This is by no means a full-fledged application, and probably will never be. You can only load a single Atari image in drive D1:. ...
VAPI2SIO 0.1a: http://vapi.fxatari.com/downloads/vapi2sio_01a.zip
Driver for Win9X/ME: http://vapi.fxatari.com/downloads/fxcomd_01.zip
No driver is required for Win NT based systems.
VAPI.DLL 0.2a (required): http://vapi.fxatari.com/downloads/vapiDll_02a.zip
This is an updated version of VAPI.DLL. A buglet was fixed that affected loading images in "wholly buffered mode" which is explained in the VAPI2SIO docs.
VAPI2SIO: SIO2PC for VAPI
Moderator: Atari Frog
VAPI2SIO
Copyright c 2005 by Jorge Cwik
http://vapi.fxatari.com
Vapi2sio is a mini SIO2PC/APE Windows program for running VAPI images under real Atari hardware.
This is by no means a full-fledged application, and probably will never be. You can only load a single Atari image in drive D1:. The only option available is to write protect or write enable the image.
The program requires the VAPI.DLL and the only images types allowed are the ones supported by the DLL. Currently they are uncompressed VAPI and ATR images.
There is an option to buffer the whole file image in memory or not. This is not for the purpose of saving memory usage. Atari images are small enough that memory shouldn't be a problem unless you are using an extremely old PC. When an image is wholly buffered writes are "lost on-eject". This means that the actual file on the PC is not modified. So disable whole file buffering if you want to permanently modify the image (but not that writes to VAPI images are currently not supported by the DLL).
Disabling whole file buffering, on the other hand, might create small delays when accessing the image. This might be relevant for some copy protected programs if the file resides in a slow media.
Operating system specifics:
Windows 9X/Me
The program was tested under Windows 98 SE (Second edition). It should work under Windows ME, and probably under Windows 98 Gold (not SE). I don't know for sure if it will work under Windows 95.
A special provided virtual driver is required under these operating systems. The driver must be present in the same directory than the main program. Only a standard PC serial port is supported. Converters like USB to serial, or serial cards not 100% compatible will not work. Both "RI" and "DSR" cable types are supported.
Windows NT derived versions.
The program was tested under Win 2000 and Win XP. It should work under Windows 2003. I don't know if and how it will work under Windows Vista or Windows XP-64. The driver for these systems is a user level one, currently no kernel driver is provided. This has the advantage that "anything" that has a COMx interface is supported. In particular, USB converters are supported. But it depends on many other factors (both software and hardware) how well (if at all) they will work.
The cable type under these systems must be of the "DSR" type. The old APE cable using the "RI" signal is not supported. The Atarimax three-in one is both cables at the same time, so just select "DSR" as the cable type.
The program should work fine under Windows NT 4 as long as you configure the serial port FIFO correctly. Logged in as Administrator configure the "FIFO receive trigger" as one (the minimum). For later NT systems this is not required and the program does it automatically.
In general, the accuracy and reliability of the program depends on the relative load of the computer. This is a real-time application running on operating systems not designed for this purpose. There is no specific minimum requirement for CPU speed or memory. It depends more on the relation between the power of the PC and the active processing. User level programs running on the background should not affect too much. But drivers, anti-virus, and similar programs might.
The Win 9X version is more accurate. With it virtual driver it talks directly to the hardware and takes almost full control of the PC at the critical points.
You might find that several VAPI images don't run on your computer. There are programs that, in their original copy-protected form, don't run on computers with more than 64K.
Copyright c 2005 by Jorge Cwik
http://vapi.fxatari.com
Vapi2sio is a mini SIO2PC/APE Windows program for running VAPI images under real Atari hardware.
This is by no means a full-fledged application, and probably will never be. You can only load a single Atari image in drive D1:. The only option available is to write protect or write enable the image.
The program requires the VAPI.DLL and the only images types allowed are the ones supported by the DLL. Currently they are uncompressed VAPI and ATR images.
There is an option to buffer the whole file image in memory or not. This is not for the purpose of saving memory usage. Atari images are small enough that memory shouldn't be a problem unless you are using an extremely old PC. When an image is wholly buffered writes are "lost on-eject". This means that the actual file on the PC is not modified. So disable whole file buffering if you want to permanently modify the image (but not that writes to VAPI images are currently not supported by the DLL).
Disabling whole file buffering, on the other hand, might create small delays when accessing the image. This might be relevant for some copy protected programs if the file resides in a slow media.
Operating system specifics:
Windows 9X/Me
The program was tested under Windows 98 SE (Second edition). It should work under Windows ME, and probably under Windows 98 Gold (not SE). I don't know for sure if it will work under Windows 95.
A special provided virtual driver is required under these operating systems. The driver must be present in the same directory than the main program. Only a standard PC serial port is supported. Converters like USB to serial, or serial cards not 100% compatible will not work. Both "RI" and "DSR" cable types are supported.
Windows NT derived versions.
The program was tested under Win 2000 and Win XP. It should work under Windows 2003. I don't know if and how it will work under Windows Vista or Windows XP-64. The driver for these systems is a user level one, currently no kernel driver is provided. This has the advantage that "anything" that has a COMx interface is supported. In particular, USB converters are supported. But it depends on many other factors (both software and hardware) how well (if at all) they will work.
The cable type under these systems must be of the "DSR" type. The old APE cable using the "RI" signal is not supported. The Atarimax three-in one is both cables at the same time, so just select "DSR" as the cable type.
The program should work fine under Windows NT 4 as long as you configure the serial port FIFO correctly. Logged in as Administrator configure the "FIFO receive trigger" as one (the minimum). For later NT systems this is not required and the program does it automatically.
In general, the accuracy and reliability of the program depends on the relative load of the computer. This is a real-time application running on operating systems not designed for this purpose. There is no specific minimum requirement for CPU speed or memory. It depends more on the relation between the power of the PC and the active processing. User level programs running on the background should not affect too much. But drivers, anti-virus, and similar programs might.
The Win 9X version is more accurate. With it virtual driver it talks directly to the hardware and takes almost full control of the PC at the critical points.
You might find that several VAPI images don't run on your computer. There are programs that, in their original copy-protected form, don't run on computers with more than 64K.
Hello.
I am running Vista x64 here and your program works perfectly on it !
I am VERY glad it does since I cannot get APE working on it for my life (it detects the device and everything, but when the actual APE starts it says it cannot Init the device). So this is the only way for me to use the Atari 130XE with the Vista.
btw. it also worked fine on an XP system
TC
I am running Vista x64 here and your program works perfectly on it !
I am VERY glad it does since I cannot get APE working on it for my life (it detects the device and everything, but when the actual APE starts it says it cannot Init the device). So this is the only way for me to use the Atari 130XE with the Vista. btw. it also worked fine on an XP system
TC