ATARI Megafile 44 Cartridge Copy v1.05 Written by Anton Raves Revision: 01/07/90 This utility program enables the user of an Atari Megafile 44 to copy a SQ400 cartridge with just one drive for backup purposes. The program runs on every Atari ST computer, from the 520 to the Mega ST4, although the number of car- tridge swaps will reduce with larger memories available. On a Mega ST4 you'll have to swap 13 times, taking about 15 minutes. If you have a second Megafile 44, it will take only 2 minutes 47 seconds to copy an entire cartridge. The program is 4345 bytes, and was written entirely in 68000 machinecode with the Hisoft Devpac 2 assembler. It can be used in medium and high resolution. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Before you are going to use COPYCART.PRG you are advised to remove RAM-disks, deskaccessories and AUTO-start programs, as they take away valuable memory! And some AUTO-start programs may interfere with COPYCARTs operations. Double click on COPYCART.PRG, and after a few seconds you get a menu with 3 options: START, which will take you to another menu where you can choose the source and target drives. After that you will be prompted to insert the right cartridges until it is completely copied. RESET, you may like to reset your computer after a copy operation. NOTE that this reset is the same as switching your computer off and on, any RAMDISK on board is lost! (It is advised to remove RAMDISKs before copying, as you'll need all the memory you can get!!!) QUIT, you'll probably guess what this is meant for. On choosing the source- and target Megafile 44's please check that you choose the right one's !!! You will hear a short beep each time you're requested to insert the next car- tridge. Please take great care in waiting for the Megafile to be ready before remove the cartridge, as well as for the Megafile to show you the GREEN light before pressing DONE in the swap dialog. Should you make an error by pressing DONE too soon, the copy operation will be aborted, for safety reasons !!! Also make sure that you are using the HDX 3.01 or later, otherwise COPYCART can only backup the first 32Mb due to a 32Mb limit in HDX 2.1. And the last rule you'll have to stick to is that the destination cartridge has to be for- matted before using it, COPYCART doesn't format (because it would take extra time to do so, and a lot of extra code as well !!!). The good news on the other hand, that COPYCART.PRG uses an IMAGE methode to copy the cartridges, enabling you to copy Spectre HD's, ALADIN HD's, as well as the cartridges created on an Atari PC4/X with Syquest SQ555. The program has been tested on the Atari Megafile 44 as well as using a Supra SCSI hostadaptor and a seperate Syquest drive, formatted with HDX 3.01. Contents of COPYCART.ARC: COPYCART.PRG, the program itself README.TXT, this document ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in v1.01: - An 8K buffer has been released to the total memory, decreasing the number of swaps on a Mega 4 by one. What's new in v1.02: - An indicationbar has been added, now you can see how many times you'll have to swap before you have an entirely copied cartridge. What's new in v1.03: - Another 239 bytes were removed from the program. What's new in v1.04: - Version 1.03 contained a serious bug, letting you think your original cart- ridge is damaged, while it isn't. SO DON'T USE V1.03 !!! What's new in v1.05: - An extra option has been inserted into Copy Cartridge, now you can use an extra harddisk to copy your cartridges. The good thing about this is, that that second harddisk doesn't have to be a Megafile 44, as long as it has 44 Mb of free space. This can be a Megafile 60, or even an internal 49Mb Hard- disk, like a Seagate ST157N-1. This extra option can be found in the two device selectors by clicking the button FILE. COPYCART will show an item- selector where you can give a name for the file. The file-extension has to be .CAR !!! If you are copying to a file, COPYCART will check the free disk space first. You will need a free partition with the nice size of 44390400 bytes !