Task: Save an ATR File from Altirra to Your PC
Needed: Altirra emulator
Time: 10-15 mins
Introduction
When I first started using the Altirra 8-bit emulator I decided I wanted make ATR floppy disk images that I could then save to my hard disk for later use or to transfer to original hardware using the SIO2PC. For example, I often program in BASIC or assembly language in a text editor or IDE on my PC and then copy and paste the code over to Altirra to try using one of the programming languages. Once the code is in Altirra and running I like to save it to an ATR file. I usually copy a blank ATR file with DOS on my PC and have this booted in Altirra. The programming language is usually attached as a cartridge. The problem I encountered early on was that I could save to the ATR in Altirra but it wasn’t saving to the ATR file on my PC and thus was lost when I closed the emulator. I poked around on Atari Age and found a simple solution.
Instructions
According to a post on this Atari Age thread, you need to make sure that the ATR file on your PC isn’t set to read-only. Some are depending on where you downloaded them from. What stumped me was that the file I was working with wasn’t set to read-only and still wasn’t working. This threw me for a loop but I eventually discovered that the file was blocked by Windows for security reasons. Below the read-only check box in the properties box there was a security message that said “This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer”. There is a check box next to that message that says Unblock. Clicking that then allowed me to save my work to the ATR file on my PC. I was initially only looking at the read-only box and totally didn’t notice this!
Comments
I hope you find this minor note useful. It certainly threw me for a loop when I first tried this. It is very satisfying to be able to write code on your PC, test it with the emulator, and then immediately boot it up on your Atari to test and run on original hardware. From there you can make a floppy disk.