[ToxicoH ome Page] [My Old Atari] [WWW Setup] [Software Tips] [Atari Links]
In September '97 I finally replaced my Atari STFM with an Apple Macintosh 6360/160 PPC (the so-called "Multimedia Performa"). Sweet!
Over the years it was upgraded with: Sonnet G3/400 CPU, to 136 MB RAM, 13 GB HD, Voodoo3 2000 Video card, Yamaha 400t CD-R, and (finally) a 24x CD-ROM. Towards the end running Mac OS 9.2.2, I got a good run with it until the seven year old 6360 started giving problems at the end of 2004.
Now I've got an iMac 2GHz, 17", 160 Gb HD, 2 GB RAM, running OSX Leopard. (Much better.)
I've enjoyed trying some of the Mac-based Atari ST emulators. You could ask why I bother?
One reason for using these is to salvage some old files from Atari and move them into a Macintosh environment.
Another reason is that some specialized music software written for old synthesizers never made it to newer computing platforms. For instance, what modern software can edit patches on a 1980's Casio CZ-1 synthesizer?
Emulators for Macintosh I know about are:
Downloads can be found at Tim's Atari World
The older Version 0.65 worked best for me on Mac OS 9.x. It was good to communicate over MIDI with my old Casio CZ-1. (The newer Version 1.42 works with Quicktime, but OMS is greyed out.)
On OSX, Version 1.42 "sort-of" works. My main problem is MIDI is only output to Quicktime Instruments. I need to spend more time with it. I'm liking using monochrome settings for "serious" applications.
This emulator is my favorite for music applications and some games. Unfortunately, the Mac's joysticks don't work with it, so you're stuck using the keypad for games.
A big plus is NoSTalgia can take screenshots.
Another cool thing to do is use Atari-based music patch software to edit the sounds of some synthesizers via MIDI. CZ Rider and CZ Android worked well with my old Casio CZ-1 and Mac OS 9.x/OMS on my old Performa 6360.
NoSTalgia can access the Mac MIDI port using Quicktime, (or via OMS on OS 9.x), which is way-cool if you've got a heap of old sequencer files to work with. I was pleased the public release of Passport's Master Tracks Pro 3.6 works well.
The DuST program for Macintosh is useful to convert ST floppies into disk images before loading. This is a very slow way to move files between the ST and Mac.
An easier way is to drag the HDD-C icon in the NoSTalgia Folder onto Mac OS 9's Disk Copy program. The File Exchange Extension must be enabled for this trick to work.
To make things easier, I keep an alias for Disk Copy in the Mac's NoSTalgia folder. Open the disk image, and swap files as normal on a Mac.
The trick is to drag all copies of the disk image to the trash before restarting NoSTalgia.
On OSX it is easy to just open the NoSTalgia HDD-C file with Apple's DiskimageMounter.app and do the same thing. Just double-click on the HD image to open it, then copy the downloaded ST file to the desired directory location.
Once again, NoSTalgia should not be running while doing this.
It doesn't seem ready for music applications though. MIDI has basic output to external devices, but there's no input yet.
The application lets you access the Mac fonts, floppy drive, and serial ports directly. Most serious applications run well, but not many games or MIDI applications.
I've set it up with NVDI and other AUTO and Control Panels to make one kick-ass emulated TOS machine!
On 18 January 1998 I connected to the WWW on my old Performa 6360 Mac using the MagicMac Demo and STING/CAB for my very first time! I thought that was quite an achievement, if somewhat pointless.
This internet software setup for Atari ST is described here.
Since MagicMac was a Classic application, I haven't tried this on my new iMac G5 machine.
The latest builds provide fast stable emulation of mint, and many other free software packages.
I'm testing it out.
![[Main Index]](home.gif){kind=small}
Back to ToxicoH ome Page