Task: Edit an ATR File in Altirra and Save 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 run. 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 have three things to try if you are having trouble with this.
Instructions
First, go to the File menu of Altirra and select Disk Drives. Make sure the drive you plan to use (e.g. D1) is set to Read/Write (R/W) in the dropdown list to the right as shown below.
Second, make sure that the ATR file on your PC isn’t set to read-only. See the bottom of the General tab under the file Properties (right click file to get there).
Finally, below the read-only check box in the properties box for the ATR file there can be a security message that says “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. Make sure and click Unblock.
Comments
I hope you find these tips useful! They should solve 95% of problems writing to an ATR file from Altirra. 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.