Gemulator 96 and TOS ROM Images
Jonathan Tranter
Hello,
I was wondering if anybody had any information on using a standard TOS
image with Gemulator 96 (a commercial emulator of Atari ST machines for
the PC.) I contacted the author, Mihocka Darek, concerning the matter
and received the following reply:
"No, that is illegal and not supported by Gemulator. We are not in the
business of encouraging piracy. The makers of MagiC PC are also not in
that business which is why their emulator also does not support running
binary images of TOS.
- Darek"
This means that to use TOS with Gemulator 96 you need to purchase
Gemulator 96 together with ROM board *and* TOS (v1.4) chips for
$US149.95, compared to the price of the emulator alone which costs
$US69.95. I think that in the past Branch Always Software / Emulators
Inc. (who supply the emulator) used to supply an unpoplulated ROM board
but I may very well be wrong here.
While I think I understand the reasons behind this attitude, seeing as I
paid for my Atari ST and thus paid for a license to use TOS, I would
assume that I would be able to use a memory dump with Gemulator 96 as
long as I still owned my Atari machine. I guess that I'm not using the
TOS code in the use for which it was originally intended so perhaps I'm
breaking my license there, I'm not sure.
I know that if I disagree with the pricing structure then I just don't
buy the software and it's a simple as that. Okay that's fair enough, but
it seems that Mihocka is imposing an artificial software restriction to
make more money in a similar manner to Microsoft with it's server and
workstation editions of NT. It is also a similar case to some Atari ST
and Amiga software, games mostly, that were supplied on floppy and would
not allow installation to the user's hard disk. Would this user be
breaking the law if he used a crack or copy program to circumvent this
restriction ?
The freeware ST emulator for X Window, STonX, runs off a TOS image on
disk as does the (shareware ?) Amiga emulator, UAE, so everybody who
uses these systems and others like them is breaking the law whether or
not they own a license for the relevant operating system.
Sorry for going on for so long but I think I'm making an important
point. I would gladly pay the $US69.95 for Gemulator 96 instead of using
STonX for free because of the extra quality and convenience of not
running from Linux, but I would not pay $US149.95 when morally it
appears that I should not have to.
Thanks,
Jonathan.
Jonathan Tranter
e-mail: jona...@wolves4westbrom2.demon.co.uk
Anthony Watson
Jonathon,
JT> I was wondering if anybody had any information on using a standard
JT> TOS image with Gemulator 96 (a commercial emulator of Atari ST
JT> machines for the PC.)
First, I purchased Gemulator 4.0, the ROM card with TOS 2.06, and later
upgraded to Gemulator 96. The emulator is excellent. Dareks customer service
is among the worst I've experienced from any business.
With that said, there have been posts by other users in this newsgroup on a
method of taking a TOS dump (using a dump program designed for STonX),
downloading the demo of Magic PC (primarily to trick Gemulator), and then
download the Gemulator Demo for the actual emulator portion.
Even though I already have the ROM card installed, I very much wanted to free
up a card slot (mine are all full). So, I tried the above and got it to work.
Because I was excited about this new "feature" I spent $30 to upgrade to the
newer Gemulator 96 to get the ability to run from a TOS image and the full
screen Direct-X ability.
But, Darek apparently caught on to what folks were doing with the TOS dumps
and this little trick didn't work with the registered version of the program
(And surprise, the Direct-X mode didn't work on my machine either!). So, I'm
back to using the DOS version 3.x of Gemulator and the TOS ROM card. It's
currently my only option for full screen Atari emulation.
JT> We are not in the business of encouraging piracy.
I think that translates into them being in the business of selling ROM cards
(or Magic). If users could use a TOS image, Dareks sale of ROM cards would end.
JT> The makers of MagiC PC are also not in that business which is why
JT> their emulator also does not support running binary images of TOS.
This translates into the makers of Magic wanting to sell an operating system.
Same deal, if users could use a free TOS dump they won't use the Magic
operating system (OK, some might, but I don't think most would).
I seriously doubt either company is all that concerned about users making
disk images of TOS. They just want to make money (don't all businesses?).
JT> While I think I understand the reasons behind this attitude, seeing
JT> as I paid for my Atari ST and thus paid for a license to use TOS, I
JT> would assume that I would be able to use a memory dump with
JT> Gemulator 96 as long as I still owned my Atari machine.
The way I see it, as long as I own the TOS chip I own the right to make a
copy of it. As long as I'm not giving copies of the TOS chip to other users,
I can't see how I would be violating copyright laws. If I'm wrong, then every
user who makes a backup of their hard drive is violating copyright laws for
every piece of software they have installed on their system!
Anthony Watson
awa...@pacifier.com
RDupuy5596
I was impressed with the Gemulator demo and bought the full version from
Toad along with Magic (I ordered Magic 4 but was sent Magic 2)...
and I am very disappointed...
Not only did toad send me the wrong version of magic, but they did not
send me a registration card and Darek at Emulators, inc.will not help me
at all...Toad has yet to send the registration card, nor have they
responded to my Emails regarding the registration card. Darek says return
the software to Toad and buy from him, well I wish I had done that now,
but it would be very hard to return the software to Toad since they do not
accept returns.
Toad also sent me a bad Gemulator disk, but that, at least, has been
resolved.
One of the reasons I am so dissappointed in the full Gemulator is that it
does not do anything of the things the demo couldn't do on my computer.
Sound doesn't work, full screen mode doesn't work....I even went out and
bought Windows 95, only to find out DirectX doesn't work with my graphics
card, and furthermore no Windows 95 driver has ever been written for my
graphics card (despite the fact that I made the vendor promise it was
compatible with W95)...so contrary to Darek's documentation that Windows
95 is faster, I've actually seen a very dramatic performance degredation
under Windows 95...I would reload dos 6.22 and Windows 3.11, but guess
what, the disks have gone bad, so I'm stuck...Gemulator runs so slow now
that it is virtually unusable. Also, under W3.11 Magic put the name of
the disk drives under the icons, for some reason it doesn't do that
anymore and furthermore keeps running my floppy drive on reboots, which it
never used to do....
Gemulator has the potential to be a remarkable product, but if you aren't
sure about your equipment, then be wary....
I have a Pentium 60/ w16mb Ram and a 2mb VESA local bus video card, and I
currently cannot use it. It looks like I'm going to have to upgrade my
system again......
I don't know for sure why I can't get any sound, but if its because
Gemulator uses Directsound then I am going to have upgrade my sound
card... My Genuine Creative Labs Soundblaster card does not support direct
sound. You must have a Soundblaster 16 or better....
Brian
of problems...
Michael Weigand
In article <vUewgCA5...@wolves4westbrom2.demon.co.uk>, Jonathan
Tranter writes:
>
> Hello,
>
> I was wondering if anybody had any information on using a standard
TOS
> image with Gemulator 96 (a commercial emulator of Atari ST machines
for
> the PC.) I contacted the author, Mihocka Darek, concerning the
matter
> and received the following reply:
>
>
> "No, that is illegal and not supported by Gemulator. We are not in
the
> business of encouraging piracy. The makers of MagiC PC are also not
in
> that business which is why their emulator also does not support
running
> binary images of TOS.
>
> - Darek"
With the current version of MagiC PC you can use a TOS image as
operating system!
M!chael
Tony Smolar
>I was wondering if anybody had any information on using a standard TOS
>image with Gemulator 96 (a commercial emulator of Atari ST machines for
>the PC.) I contacted the author, Mihocka Darek, concerning the matter
>and received the following reply:
>
>
>"No, that is illegal and not supported by Gemulator. We are not in the
>business of encouraging piracy. The makers of MagiC PC are also not in
>that business which is why their emulator also does not support running
>binary images of TOS.
>
>- Darek"
That's funny. I spoke with him at Toadfest this past October and he
told me that you can use a TOS image with Gemulator, that it was possible
for awhile now. And best of all, he said that he really doesn't care what
people do with TOSes since he just sells emulators, not TOS.
I personally have successfully used a tos.img with the Gemulator Demo.
>point. I would gladly pay the $US69.95 for Gemulator 96 instead of using
>STonX for free because of the extra quality and convenience of not
>running from Linux, but I would not pay $US149.95 when morally it
>appears that I should not have to.
What? You call Windows a convenience? Ha ha ha ha. (sorry)
Dave Troy
- Everyone who buys Gemulator from Toad is automatically registered with Darek Mihocka electronically. You DO NOT NEED a regisrtration card to be registered. If there are any other problems with the service which we provided, we're happy to address them. Compatiblilty issues with your machine sound like your primary problem with Gemulator. I'd try it on another machine.
- Dave
Darek Mihocka
First of all, I would like to point out that Toad, along with any other
Atari dealer that sells Gemulator is given registration cards to include
with the Gemulators that they sell. For some reason, Toad was not
including the registration cards with Gemulators, and we also have
reports that they were not including the full printed documentation.
While this is unfortunate, I cannot speak for Toad or any other reseller
of Gemulator. We ship product to dealers. Dealers resell the product. As
I stated in the earlier email, if the dealer sends you an incomplete
package, you need to contact the dealer to get the rest of the package.
In the case of the registration cards, your sales receipt is just as
good as a registration card. Simply mail a copy of your sales receipt to
Emulators Inc. and you will be fully registered.
- Darek
In article <19961225052...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
RDupuy5596 <rdupu...@aol.com> wrote:
>I was impressed with the Gemulator demo and bought the full version from
>Toad along with Magic (I ordered Magic 4 but was sent Magic 2)...
>
>and I am very disappointed...
>
>Not only did toad send me the wrong version of magic, but they did not
>send me a registration card and Darek at Emulators, inc.will not help me
>at all...Toad has yet to send the registration card, nor have they
>responded to my Emails regarding the registration card. Darek says return
>the software to Toad and buy from him, well I wish I had done that now,
>but it would be very hard to return the software to Toad since they do not
>accept returns.
--
===============================================================
Darek Mihocka. Distributors of Gemulator Xformer and Recycler.
Emulators, Inc., 14150 N.E. 20th St. #302, Bellevue, WA 98007
phone:206-236-0540 fax:206-236-0257 http://www.emulators.com
Bill Merik
Darek Mihocka wrote:
>
> First of all, I would like to point out that Toad, along with any other
> Atari dealer that sells Gemulator is given registration cards to include
> with the Gemulators that they sell. For some reason, Toad was not
> including the registration cards with Gemulators, and we also have
> reports that they were not including the full printed documentation.
>
> While this is unfortunate, I cannot speak for Toad or any other reseller
> of Gemulator. We ship product to dealers. Dealers resell the product. As
> I stated in the earlier email, if the dealer sends you an incomplete
> package, you need to contact the dealer to get the rest of the package.
Bill
Allen Schreiber
How did you run Gemulator 96 with a TOS image? Did you use the
Tosdump.prg that came with STonX to dump the ROM? And do you think
there would be a problem with TOS 1.2 (Mega TOS)?
I would like to try the Gemulator demo have been unable to because the
MagiC PC demo is in German. It had some errors which I couldn't
figure out so I gave up on it.
As far as using TOS ROM's, I don't see a problem because all I have to
do is cross the room boot the Mega 2 and dump the rom. Besides, what
can Atari say after they dumped the ST years ago?
Allen Schreiber
sch...@osuunx.ucc.okstate.edu
Ben Hills
Hi Allen,
You can run Gemulator 96 with a TOS image file. You can use the
TOSdump program which you can find on the Unofficial STonX Page.
Gemulator does not have an option to load a TOS image file from
disk, so you will have to rename it magic_pc.os. When you then
search for MagiC, Gemulator will think that it is using Magic when
infact it is using TOS.
Despite the speed of MagiC on my Falcon I find that a TOS 2.06
image runs faster on the Gemualtor than MagiC.
Hope this helps,
Yours,
Ben Hills.
William Fisher
> You can run Gemulator 96 with a TOS image file. You can use the
> TOSdump program which you can find on the Unofficial STonX Page.
> Gemulator does not have an option to load a TOS image file from
> disk, so you will have to rename it magic_pc.os. When you then
> search for MagiC, Gemulator will think that it is using Magic when
> infact it is using TOS.
>
> Despite the speed of MagiC on my Falcon I find that a TOS 2.06
> image runs faster on the Gemualtor than MagiC.
Is there anyway that someone could possibly send me a copy of a TOS.IMG
file (version 1.4) so I can try Gemulator as well (the new version DOES
support a TOS.IMG file on your HDD)... I sold my STe a while back because I
think I was the last one to own one in my town! =(
TIA,
Will Fisher