PaCifiST v0.46


Richard Spowart and Joe Connor take a look at this intriguing Atari ST emulator...


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Atari emulation is all the rage with Gemulator, MagiC PC/MagiC Mac, Janus, STonX, TOSBOX and others it's possible to run most "cleanly programmed GEM applications" on any platform you like. However, the Atari ST remains one of the classic gaming platforms and games are not usually GEM applications. Enter stage left French programmer, Frederic Gidouin, who last April took up the challenge to program an emulator capable of running games software and PaCifiST is the result.
Since PaCifiST first appeared on the internet there has been phenomenal interest and many other sites have appeared to support the authors efforts.

Taming PaCifiST

PaCifiST runs fine from DOS or via Windows 95. After extracting the compact archive (less than 200Kb) setting up PaCifiST involves manually editing a configuration file (PACIFIST.INI) using a text editor (EDIT.EXE under DOS, Notepad under Windows). You may need to change. This file sets the paths to the various data files used by PaCifiST. It's straightforward enough but seems unnecessarily messy in this point and click era.
In common with other Atari ST software only emulators you will also need a "TOS image file" - a copy of the contents of the TOS chips inside every real Atari ST (see boxout).
A utility program (DUMP_ROM.PRG) is supplied with PaCifiST to make it easy to copy the TOS chips inside your Atari machine. PaCifiST currently supports TOS 1.00, 1.62 or 2.06 but unfortunately skips support for TOS 1.04 which was fitted to large numbers of machines.
With Pentium's sold as entry level machines these days raw processor speed isn't an issue anymore and any Pentium based machine will run Atari ST software faster than the real thing but the author reckons the minimum specification is a 486DX-100MHz. PaCifiST is developed on an AMD586-133MHz (roughly equivalent to a Pentium-75MHz) and the emulation normally runs faster than 8MHz at full frame rate with sound enabled for most games.
To hear sound you'll need a SoundBlaster or Gravis Ultrasound or compatible sound card and PaCifiST takes about 1.5Mb memory for itself.

Playtime!

On starting PaCifiST the opening screen is displayed followed by a screen which looks similar to a disassembler. If everything is configured OK pressing G [Return] will transport you to the standard Atari ST Desktop. Drive A will be configured to use whatever is being emulated as though you were using a real ST.
However, booting from floppies isn't recommended, in fact, it's strongly discouraged in favour of a utility called IMGBUILD which enables you to create DOS image files of standard double density ST disks and is the recommended way to load any non-protected commercial software. If you own commercial games which feature anti-piracy devices it is possible to persuade these games to run but this is beyond the scoop of this article.
By pointing PACIFIST.INI to access the disk image for drive A (you prepared earlier using IMGBUILD) the disk can be read and software run from the desktop in the traditional manner. Most demo disks will also work under PaCifiST.
Remember STOS - the application which suffered badly at the hands of a TOS upgrade many eons ago? Well, this works fine under PaCifiST, as verified by Tony "STOSer" Greenwood himself.
In use PaCifiST is remarkably stable and, minor glitches, limitations, and irritations aside, runs a wide range of software.
The ASCII format documentation is both comprehensive and informative and certainly added to the enjoyment of using the program.
It's worth pointing out PaCifiST isn't a substitute for a real ST, if you want to play the odd Atari game on your PC or show off some classic Atari games to jaded PC owners this is the program for you.
PaCifiST does not currently support MIDI devices or other hardware plug-ins but with real Atari machines changing hands for less than œ50 there really doesn't seem much point - and you'll need to own the real thing anyway to copy the TOS ROMs won't you?!


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The Maggie disk magazine up and running


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PaCifiST is all about running classic games


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LEGAL ISSUES


TOS is copyright material and Atari Computing and the A|C|G does not condone illegal copying or distribution in any form.
Please read the documentation which accompanies PaCifiST and other software emulators to ascertain your legal obligations.


WHAT'S EMULATED


  • Motorola 68000 CPU emulation: 100% assembler, 68030 is on the todo list.
  • Video shifter chip: 100% assembler, the three standard ST graphics modes and 640x480x16 extended ST resolution.
  • 6301 Keyboard simulation for keyboard, mouse, joystick & clock control.
  • Yamaha YM-2149 chip emulation: Programmed by Arnaud Carre, STF sample emulation in progress.
  • MFP Interrupts: VBL, FDC, ACIA, TIMER C and TIMERs A, B & D in events count mode.
  • FDC/HDC disk emulation: Gemdos, BIOS and hardware level, all implemented but under development.
  • I/O: Parallel sent to LPT1, no serial or MIDI support.
  • STe Blitter chip emulation: New in the current release.


PACIFIST v0.46

[] Author:
Frederic Gidouin
Email: frederic.gidouin@hol.fr
Web pages: http://wwwperso.hol.fr/~gidouin/pacifist.html
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/6875/pacifist.html
Status: Giftware

[] Requires:
Any 486/Pentium machine running DOS/Windows. Real Atari ST to copy TOS ROMs from
[] Pros:
Runs leisure and serious software, excellent documentation
[] Cons:
Fiddly to set up

85%



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