THE SPECTRE OF MACINTOSH EMULATION Eating the Forbidden Apple By Wm. Price --- * --- This is a reprint from the BMUG (Berkeley Macintosh User Group) Journal for Spring/Fall 1989. It is written for a Macintosh audience that has not met the Spectre with excitement. On GEnie, there once was a topic on the Macintosh Roundtable called "Macintosh versus Spectre - Which is Best" (or something to that effect). Evidently the discussions were not fully appreciated by the Sons and Daughters of Father Apple (a maternalistic group would have behaved differently), and at their request it was moved to the Gadgets Roundtable. Discussions about computing should be held with less polarity than Senator Jesse Helms' views on art. Thanks are due to a much more liberal, and worldly editorial staff at BMUG for inviting this choir to sing in their church. This West Coast group with their tie-dyed T-shirts and earrings opened the eyes of white shirt and tie, wing-tipped shoe businessmen at this Summer's Mac World Expo in Washington, DC. They added a unique flavor to the stiff Washington scene. --- * --- TERRITORIAL IMPERATIVES Few subjects outside religion, social issues, and politics raise strong, even emotional feelings. But among them is computing where brand loyalties are such that whatever one buys is "wrong" from the perspective of those who own different equipment. Remarks such as "Why did you ever buy that arcane, medieval system?" are common expressions of disdain. Aside from these perspectives, there is the question of Macintosh emulation. If emulation is being performed, how successful is it, how well does Macintosh software operate in a pseudo environment, and are the costs for emulation competitive? Answers to these questions and more are explored in this review of nibbling the Apple. ROOTS OF HEARSAY Over the past few years several efforts have been made to develop Macintosh clones in Taiwan, Korea, Brazil, and Germany followed by rumors of legal action from Cupertino. Yet this "cloned" capability has been around since 1986 in the form of an 8 MHz Motorola 68000 based computer from Atari and the Magic Sac and successor Spectre 128 cartridge emulators from David Small. This conjunction was unplanned. There was no collusion, but rather a collision of interests, and only recently have the individuals involved been able to work in a mutual business relationship -- albeit a minimal one. The Spectre emulator operates the Atari ST as a Macintosh Plus, and comparative benchmarks show that Mac software is executed at speed increases of 20 percent over the Plus. This can be attributed to use of custom chips in the ST that handle some of the I/O functions to relieve the 68000 processor for other concurrent operations. Transfer of data from hard disks through the ST's Direct Memory Access (DMA) port is slightly faster than on a Macintosh II. And the 12-inch, 640x480 monochrome monitor provides a viewing area some 30 percent larger than that of the Plus. With STs available in half to 4MB RAM models at relatively reasonable prices, the performance of this emulation is worthy of serious attention, even from the skeptics. Both IBM and Macintosh users have commented that the ST is the most underrated computer on the market, and Atari lacks aggressive marketing and support to change perceptions. It's as if the ST's designer developed an instrument beyond Atari's understanding and ability to exploit. This immediately recalls the pioneering developments by a remarkably talented staff at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. The futuristic results were more fully exploited by companies other than Xerox. The ST was developed not as a Macintosh clone but rather as a look-alike and feel-like system that operates with a mouse under the Graphic Environment Manager(GEM) -- a windows shell developed by Digital Research Inc. Introduced in 1985, Atari must be given credit for recognizing the efficacy of this approach to computing years before IBM was driven to adopt it. The ST's disk format is almost identical to that used by IBM, and the ST's operating system can directly read both 3.5 and 5.25-inch IBM disks. Its low cost -- one of Atari's major production objectives -- has made the ST an ideal host for third party developers. Emulators have been a logical choice, and the first -- Magic Sac -- was introduced in the Fall of 1986 to support Macintosh operation. An IBM PC emulator developed by Bill Teal -- a former senior systems engineer in IBM's Federal Systems Division -- followed within months. Dubbed pc ditto, it is remarkable that his PC XT emulation is totally software based, especially when it was considered unlikely that a Motorola 68000 could be used to emulate an Intel 8088 processor. A new version will rely on a cartridge and custom gate arrays to increase emulation speed. A CP/M Z80 emulator is also available. But the real eyebrow raiser is near perfect emulation of the Macintosh with David Small's Magic Sac and Spectre 128. THE MAC CONNECTION Dave's Macinations began soon after the ST was introduced, but it was the ready availability of Apple's 64K Operating System ROMs that made his idea a reality. When the original Macintosh was upgraded in 1985 by replacing the 64K ROMs, a plentiful supply of these chips appeared on the market. The Magic Sac cartridge and emulation software were sold without the essential Apple ROMs. Owners or prospective owners had to purchase these chips separately and make a simple installation in the cartridge. Since Macintosh software will not display properly on the ST's color monitor, aspiring users had to purchase an additional high reso-lution monochrome monitor. Macintosh emulation was an instant success with existing ST users. Although very few if any STs have been purchased solely on the basis of this capability, Magic Sac and pc ditto emulation make the ST an attractive computing system. This is especially true where IBM PCs dominate the office place, and compatibility, rather than ease of use and performance, is often a driving force when buying home computers. Although emulation works well, initially Macintosh disks -- formatted and written at five different rotational speeds -- could not be used with ST 3.5-inch drives that run at a constant 300 RPM. Software had to be transferred to Magic Sac disks that are formatted with the same track and sector layout but at constant speed. To make this transfer, software is ported from a Macintosh through a null modem cable connected to the ST. TermWorks, with its 9600 baud rate, can be used on both computers with Ramdisks to speed transfer. Although Dave Small provided utilities for both the Macintosh and ST to port contents of entire disks, disk-to-disk transfer was slow. But his software did answer the "chicken and egg" question by allowing System and Finder, TermWorks and a Ramdisk utility to be ported first and establish a bridgehead on the ST for more efficient transfer operations. MAC-IN-A-BOX Not many Macintosh friends, despite the portability of their systems, were willing to spend the better part of Sundays performing software transfers to an ST. A solution was in the works, but production problems and FCC testing delayed delivery by some 6 months. Named the Translator, this small Z80 computer is daisy chained through the ST's external floppy drive port to perform reading, formatting, and writing of Macintosh disks on constant speed ST drives. Contents of Macintosh disks, either single files or entire disks, are read in one drive and written to a Magic Sac disk in the other. Although applications on Macintosh disks can be executed using the Translator, the slowness in performing disk operations clearly compares with the high viscosity of molasses. Transfer between 800K formats takes just over 12 minutes, but despite this slow process, files can be copied to Magic Sac disks where "real time" reading and writing is fully achieved. The Translator's computer is operated through MIDI In/Out lines connected to the ST. It maintains proper linear micro-bit spacing when writing to either Macintosh or Magic disks, and data written at variable speeds are treated as different frequencies to achieve compatibility between the two methods of recording data. More recently, Richard Adam's new Happy Discovery Cartridge has furnished a faster means of transfer. Designed primarily for copying protected software, special utilities support transfer between Macintosh and Magic Sac/Spectre disks. An 800K transfer is completed in 6 minutes. But the Discovery Cartridge, unlike the Translator, cannot read and display disk contents. It is a blind copying device, much like Copy II Mac, that exercises control over disk drives that cannot be achieved solely with software. Solutions often uncover other impediments. Some drive mechanisms, like the earlier NECs, have internal frequency filters on the Write Data line. Although intended for eliminating the possibility of stray frequencies, this protection feature inhibits writing to Macintosh disks at the low frequencies required. In some cases, these filters can be removed to provide fully successful operation with the Translator. KEEPING PACE WITH APPLE Just as Macintosh users discovered, the Magic Sac with 64K ROMs has its limitations. Although Dave Small provided a unique capability for reading double-sided MFM disks, the HFS format can only be used with HD-20. But the greater problem is with newer versions of software developed around Apple's 128K ROMs. In the Spring of 1988, Dave completed the last enhancements to Magic Sac and began exploring emulation with 128K ROMs. After long nights, some of which produced over a thousand lines of code, the Spectre 128 cartridge was delivered in a record-breaking 3 months. Immersed in the Mac world, Dave understands every piece of code in the Macintosh Operating System better than some applications developers. Spectre was introduced at an Atari show in California, and the limited production run of some 200 cartridges was sold out on the first day. Like its predecessor, 128K ROMs must be purchased separately and installed by users. Although not as plentiful as the 64Ks, the higher priced 128s are available from several sources. Spectre 128 is compatible with System 6.0.2, Finder 6.1, and Multifinder. But many users continue to prefer System 6.0 and Finder 4.2. Spectre works well with newer applications including MacWrite 5.01, MS Write 1.0, WriteNow 2.0, FullWrite Professional 1.0, Word Finder 2.0, Spellswell 2.0f, MacProof 3.0, MS Works 2.0, Reflex Plus 1.0, 4th Dimension 1.01, FoxBase+ 1.1, MORE II 2.0, PageMaker 3.0a, Ready,Set,Go! 4.5, Adobe Illustrator '88 1.6, FreeHand 1.0, Image Studio 1.0, MacDraw II 1.0, MacPaint 3.01, SuperPaint 1.1, Cricket Draw 1.1, Cricket Graph 1.1, Ready,Set,Show 1.0, and PowerPoint 1.0. Although HyperCard 1.2.1 works, it is unstable with some stacks. A compatibility list covering some 400 commercial software titles and versions is available from GEnie Page 691, File #81. About 75 items are identified as not compatible, and over half won't run because of copy protection that prevents transfer to Spectre disks. A host of CDEVs, INITs, and DAs such as Suitcase II 1.2.2, On Cue 1.3, Menu Fonts II 2.0, Hierarchy DA, Memoir DA, Super Clock 3.0, and Sun Clock 1.4 DA also function properly. Surprisingly ResEdit, FEdit Plus, Mac Zap and sector editors work with Spectre formatted disks. As for sound, although the Macintosh and ST methods are substantially different, a recent version of Spectre does provide support. This emulation noticeably slows operation, so sound can be toggled ON or OFF at anytime. Sound Master does work and the familiar HAL is available on start-up. INCOMPATIBILITIES Software that is hardware specific or doesn't comply fully with Apple's APD standards may not operate with Spectre. For example, the zero RAM address in a Macintosh is the beginning location for the ST's ROM-based system. Dave performs an incredible number of traps for "illegal" calls and reroutes them to maintain a seamless operation, but there are some that can't be handled. Among the applications that won't work with Spectre are Fontastic 2.6(Fontastic Plus 2.02 works), Fontographer 1.5 (2.3 works), Copy II Mac, MacTermhnal, disk copy in Mac Tools and Mac Zap, Mac Write 4.5 (4.6 and 5.0 work), MS Word, and TOPS. With Spectre and 128K ROMs, MS Word 3.01 and 3.02 give an "Out of Memory" message, but with 64K ROO�OÀÏÏOÏ��ÏÏ�Ï�:7;·¹5;´º47ºº0·<897±62¶¹ ¶:47º³´(º°¹5,(92¹¹3:·1º4··94º;´¶677º894·::7077·¨7¹º)±¹4¸:22»4±²9º±´0¹0·"¸9··1·¶¸0º4±627¹$("2¹µ%2º894·:2¹*429°¶²64¶´º0º4··0¶9· applies to operation on a Macintosh. The ability to read and write Macintosh formatted disks in real time is now being accomplished with the Spectre GCR. In fact, GCR can read Macintosh disks slightly faster than Spectre disks. GCR (Group Coded Recording) is a special format developed by Steve Wozniak for the Apple II. His IWM (Integrated Woz Machine) controller chip to handle this format was so simple and successful that it was carried over to the Macintosh. The need to transfer software and operate from Spectre disks is eliminated with Spectre GCR, which brings emulation closer to the real thing by running Macintosh software right out of the box. A wide variety of printers can be driven through the ST's parallel or serial ports using SoftStyle drivers, Grappler LS, and Printer Interface III 2.0. Output from a 300 dpi HP Desk Jet, although slow, is remarkably close to that of a laser printer. But a major drawback is the inability to print directly to a PostScript laser. The System requires Apple Talk, which is not available on the ST. A cumbersome alternative is to save files as Encapsulated PostScript(EPS) and upload or dump them through the serial port with a utility. It would appear that if an entire computer system and its unique floppy drives can be emulated, it should be possible to do the same for Apple Talk. Unfortunately this is not one of Dave's current priorities, but he has struck on a possible solution. DIFFERENCES Shutdown and Restart are not supported by Spectre. CommanaÏAÏÏÆO�ÏÄÁÏÏ�O�O��OOðpÏÏÏÏÏÏÏÏÏ�ÏO ÀÏÏ�Ï��OO�ÁÏ�OOðpÏÏÏÏÏÏÏÏÏ��O� ÀÏÏO�ÏO��� ÏO�OO�ppÏÏÏÏÏÏÏÏÏ�Ï�À Of course disks cannot be formatted from the desktop. Spectre utilities, operating under native ST control, are used to format both Spectre and Macintosh disks. The ST's hard drive support provides a wide range of options, and its 10.6 megabit-per-second transfer rate through the DMA port has few contenders in either the Macintosh or IBM world. Hard disks can be partitioned for ST, Macintosh, and DOS usage on the same drive. My ST system has two 62MB Miniscribe RLL drives with four 12MB partitions for Macintosh software, 5 for ST applications, and 1 for MS DOS use. RLL encoding yields an increase of 50 percent in sectors per track, and with 1:1 interleave format, contents of an entire track are transferred in one revolution of the disk. As another bonus, RLL and 1:1 give a 50 percent increase in the rate of data transfer. The Macintosh Plus is limited to a 3:1 interleave where three revolutions are required to transfer contents of a single track. A stock IBM PC XT with a 4.77 MHz clock must use a slower 6:1 interleave format requiring 6 revolutions to transfer a track. Even though there are minor shortcomings to Spectre emulation, they are far outweighed by other benefits. THE ST BEHAVING AS ITSELF Although earlier Atari 8-bit computers were popular for game software, the ST is a radically different architecture that provides performance and capabilities comparable to and in some cases better than other personal computers. And it does so at one of the lowest prices in the industry. The ST's GEM desktop display is similar to the Macintosh. Multiple windows can be opened, scrolled and resized, and directories are displayed either as icons or text. Mouse operation is augmented by Function and Control (Command) Keys. But unlike the Macintosh, most printer drivers are unique to and installed by each application. Global access provided by the Mac System is not available on the ST except for special drivers and related fonts. The ST is produced in four capacities: the half megabyte 520ST, 1MB 1040ST, 2MB Mega ST2, and 4MB ST4. Lower capacity models can be upgraded to 4MB. All STs come with an internal, double-sided, 3.5-inch floppy drive; a mouse; and 94-key extended keyboard. ST Color and monochrome monitors are optional, and the ST can drive most multisynch monitors such as NEC, Sony, Princeton Graphics, and Mitsubishi with an adapter cable. Standard on all models are serial and parallel ports for modems and printers, DMA hard disk port, MIDI In and Out, RGB analog output in both color and monochrome, high speed cartridge slot, and separate connections for mouse and joy stick. Supra and ICD market DMA interface boards for hard disk mechanisms, and fortunately both provide a wide range of utilities that support most popular drives and controllers. ICD utilities now support Sony's rewriteable magneto-optical disk drive which can be connected through their DMA interface. It would be a mistake to simply view the ST and Spectre with "peaceful coexistence", or worse still, with disdain. The ST with Spectre and pc ditto provide a viable gateway and turnstile for my Macintosh II. It has more advantages than Esperanto, and languages involved need not be learned. Word Perfect files produced on an IBM PC can be loaded directly into the ST version of Word Perfect. These files can then be saved as ASCII text, and with Transverter, an ST utility developed by Doug Wheeler, files can be transferred and converted to Macintosh disks for use with MacWrite, Ready,Set,Go!, and other applications that import ASCII or Mac binary text files. The reverse transfer and conversion from Macintosh through the ST to an IBM PC is equally as easy. THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS Has this straddling of several computers produced a form of schizophrenia? Has the forbidden fruit been eaten? To the contrary, a true perspective of co-processing has emerged. And as noted earlier, there are more similarities than differences with the Macintosh. The desktop displays and operation of the ST and Macintosh are so similar that one is equally comfortable with either. ST users are frequent visitors to GEnie's Page 606. Macintosh users can also benefit by visiting the Gadgets by Small (Spectre) Roundtable on Page 690. You will quickly discover that ST users are not content with off-the-shelf products. They are an aggressive group best characterized as RYO (Roll-Your-Own). You will also discover that domestic support from Atari Corporation is minimal. A high exchange rate for the American dollar, lower import duties in the Common Market, and the European's more pragmatic approach to computing with less buyer concern for brand names have turned Atari's attention to that market. Almost 70 percent of the ST production is shipped to Western Europe. THE FUTURE Earlier this year, Atari demonstrated a laptop ST at the Hanover Computer Fair (CeBIT). Currently called STacy, it may join the thin ranks of other Mac laptops by using the Spectre. With a super-twist, LCD display of 640x400 pixels, it will be offered in 1MB or 2MB RAM versions with either 2 floppy drives or 1 floppy and a 30MB hard disk. Although a tracball is built into the keyboard, a mouse can also be used. Reportedly this unit will be assembled in Japan rather than Taiwan. Also shown was a prototype 16MHz 68030 TT with full 32-bit I/O and internal processing. UNIX is supported and it will share the ST's operating system to provide compatibility. Although scheduled for production this year in Germany, keep your expectations moderate because Atari is noted for indecision and vaporware. Atari will not move until the price is right. In promising a CD ROM drive, Atari indicated it would not be available until units could be produced for a retail price in the $500 range. Although operational prototypes have been demonstrated, production units are not yet available. On the positive side, Atari does not gouge your pocket. This has created a market where users expect reasonable prices, and third party developers of software and peripherals have been forced to compete in this lower pricing structure. Another plus is David Small's robust support for his product. With earlier releases of software, it was routine for him to upload improved versions to Compuserve and GEnie sometimes as frequently as 3 consecutive nights. Persistence, enthusiasm, and superb expertise are understatements. The ST and Spectre are well worth the investment as a back-up or companion to your Macintosh. You will also appreciate the color monitor and variety of respectable ST software that is available. ST users are delighted with this triple-header computing capability. In exploring this emulation, it appears that the major differences between the Macintosh and ST are the 64K or 128K System ROMs, the floppy drive controller, and Apple Talk. The ST addresses ROM and RAM differently, it uses three custom chips to augment the 68000 processor, and Direct Memory Access instead of SCSI is used to interface hard disk drives. Of course there are much deeper technical differences in the architectures. The questions are whether or not (in the tradition of Adam and Eve) great damage has been done to society, or if there are redeeming values from this emulation. You now have the information to make your judgement. PRICES List / Discount ---------------------------------------------- 520ST $ 600/ $ 500 1040ST $ 800/ $ 699 Mega ST2 $ / $ 1200 Mega ST2 Color $ 1900/ $ 1500 Mega ST2 Monochrome $ 1700/ $ 1300 Mega ST4 $ / $ 1700 Mega ST4 Color $ 2600/ $ 2000 Mega ST4 Monochrome $ 2400/ $ 1800 Color Monitor $ 400/ $ 329 Monochrome Monitor $ 200/ $ 150 Spectre 128 $ 180/ $ 130 Spectre GCR $ 300/ $ 215 Magic Sac $ 65/ $ 50 Translator $ 300/ $ 250 Apple 64K ROMs (2) $ / $ 50 Apple 128K ROMs (2) $ / $ 100 Happy Discovery Cartridge (Basic) $ 250/ $ 190 pc ditto $ 90/ $ 70 pc ditto II Board $ 300/ $ 225 Bill Price writes for Current Notes magazine concentrating primarily on desktop publishing and peripheral devices for the ST. He is both an ST and Macintosh II user. He established the Desktop Publishing and Presentations Center at the U.S. Department of State. Introducing the Macintosh to the Department, the centre is also equipped with IBM PS-2 and Wang 386 capabilities to provide a range of choices to users free from marketing pressure. The Centre provides graphic design and applications assistance as well as produces Department publications and presentations. GEnie Mail: WM.H.PRICE Bill Price 126 Casmar St. SE Vienna, VA 22180 (703) 560-2684