Provided by: atari800_5.2.0-2_amd64 
NAME
atari800 - emulator of Atari 8-bit computers and the 5200 console
SYNOPSIS
atari800 [option]... [file]...
DESCRIPTION
atari800 emulates the Atari 8-bit computer systems including the 400, 800, 1200XL, 600XL, 800XL, 65XE,
130XE, 800XE and the XE Game System, and also the Atari 5200 SuperSystem console.
OPTIONS
-help Print complete and up-to-date list of command line switches
-v Print emulator version
-verbose
Display framerate when exiting
-config filename
Specify an alternative configuration filename
-autosave-config
Automatically save the current configuration on emulator exit.
-no-autosave-config
Don't save the current configuration on emulator exit (the default).
-osa_rom filename
Path to file containing Atari Rev.A Operating System.
-osb_rom filename
Path to file containing Atari Rev.B Operating System.
-xlxe_rom filename
Path to file containing Atari XL/XE Operating System.
-5200_rom filename
Path to file containing Atari 5200 Games System ROM.
-basic_rom filename
Path to file containing Atari BASIC ROM. Used to override paths defined at compile time.
-800-rev auto|a-ntsc|a-pal|b-ntsc|custom|altirra
Select operating system revision for Atari 800:
auto The default. Use the most appropriate from the available ones.
a-ntsc Use OS rev. A NTSC from early NTSC 400/800 units.
a-pal Use OS rev. A PAL from PAL 400/800 units.
b-ntsc Use OS rev. B NTSC from late NTSC 400/800 units.
custom Use a custom OS.
altirra
Use AltirraOS that is included in the emulator.
-xl-rev auto|10|11|1|2|3a|3b|5|3|4|59|59a|custom|altirra
Select operating system revision for Atari XL/XE:
auto The default. Use the most appropriate from the available ones.
10 Use OS AA000000 rev. 10 from early 1200XL units.
11 Use OS AA000001 rev. 11 from late 1200XL units.
1 Use OS BB000000 rev. 1 from the 600XL.
2 Use OS BB000001 rev. 2 from the 800XL and early 65XE/130XE units.
3a Use prototype OS BB000002 rev. 3 from 1400XL/1450XLD units (also known as 1540OS3.V0 and
1450R3V0.ROM).
3b Use prototype OS BB000002 rev. 3 ver. 4 from 1400XL/1450XLD units (also known as os1450.128
and 1450R3VX.ROM).
5 Use prototype OS CC000001 rev. 4 (also known as Rev. 5), for which sources are available at
<http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/78579-a800ossrc/page__view__findpost__p__961535>.
3 Use OS BB000001 rev. 3 from late 65XE/130XE units.
4 Use OS BB000001 rev. 4 from the XEGS.
59 Use OS BB000001 rev. 59 from the Arabic 65XE.
59a Use OS BB000001 rev. 59 from Kevin Savetz' Arabic 65XE:
<http://www.savetz.com/vintagecomputers/arabic65xe/>.
custom Use a custom OS.
altirra
Use AltirraOS that is included in the emulator.
-5200-rev auto|orig|a|custom|altirra
Select BIOS revision for Atari 5200:
auto The default. Use the most appropriate from the available ones.
orig Use BIOS from 4-port and early 2-port 5200 units.
a Use BIOS rev. A from late 2-port 5200 units.
custom Use a custom BIOS.
altirra
Use Altirra BIOS that is included in the emulator.
-basic-rev auto|a|b|c|custom|altirra
Select BASIC revision:
auto The default. Use the most appropriate from the available ones.
a Use BASIC rev. A.
b Use BASIC rev. B from early 600XL/800XL units.
c Use BASIC rev. C from late 600XL/800XL and all XE units.
custom Use a custom BASIC.
altirra
Use Altirra BASIC that is included in the emulator.
-xegame-rev auto|orig|custom
Select XEGS builtin game version:
auto The default. Use the most appropriate from the available ones.
orig Use the original Missile Command game.
custom Use a custom game ROM.
-atari Emulate Atari 400/800
-1200 Emulate Atari 1200XL
-xl Emulate Atari 800XL
-xe Emulate Atari 130XE
-320xe Emulate Atari 320XE (Compy-Shop)
-rambo Emulate Atari 320XE (Rambo)
-576xe Emulate Atari 576XE
-1088xe
Emulate Atari 1088XE
-xegs Emulate Atari XEGS
-5200 Emulate Atari 5200
-c Enable RAM between 0xc000 and 0xcfff in Atari 800
-axlon n
Use Atari 800 Axlon memory expansion: n k total RAM
-axlon0f
Use Axlon shadow at 0x0fc0-0x0fff
-mosaic n
Use 400/800 Mosaic memory expansion: n k total RAM
-mapram
Enable the MapRAM memory expansion. Works only when emulating an Atari XL/XE machine.
-no-mapram
Disable the MapRAM memory expansion.
-pal Emulate PAL TV mode
-ntsc Emulate NTSC TV mode
-nobasic
Used to disable Basic when starting the emulator in XL/XE mode. Simulates the Option key being
held down during system boot.
-basic Turn on Atari BASIC ROM
-cart filename
Insert cartridge (CART or raw format)
-cart-type 0 .. 160
Select type of the cartridge inserted with the -cart option. When inserting a raw ROM image its
type cannot be detected automaticcaly, and must be provided with this option. Setting to 0 means
disabling the cartridge, and any other number indicates a specific cartridge type:
1 Standard 8 KB cartridge
2 Standard 16 KB cartridge
3 OSS two chip 16 KB cartridge (034M)
4 Standard 32 KB 5200 cartridge
5 DB 32 KB cartridge
6 Two chip 16 KB 5200 cartridge
7 Bounty Bob Strikes Back 40 KB 5200 cartridge
8 64 KB Williams cartridge
9 Express 64 KB cartridge
10 Diamond 64 KB cartridge
11 SpartaDos X 64 KB cartridge
12 XEGS 32 KB cartridge
13 XEGS 64 KB cartridge (banks 0-7)
14 XEGS 128 KB cartridge
15 OSS one chip 16 KB cartridge
16 One chip 16 KB 5200 cartridge
17 Decoded Atrax 128 KB cartridge
18 Bounty Bob Strikes Back 40 KB cartridge
19 Standard 8 KB 5200 cartridge
20 Standard 4 KB 5200 cartridge
21 Right slot 8 KB cartridge
22 32 KB Williams cartridge
23 XEGS 256 KB cartridge
24 XEGS 512 KB cartridge
25 XEGS 1 MB cartridge
26 MegaCart 16 KB cartridge
27 MegaCart 32 KB cartridge
28 MegaCart 64 KB cartridge
29 MegaCart 128 KB cartridge
30 MegaCart 256 KB cartridge
31 MegaCart 512 KB cartridge
32 MegaCart 1 MB cartridge
33 Switchable XEGS 32 KB cartridge
34 Switchable XEGS 64 KB cartridge
35 Switchable XEGS 128 KB cartridge
36 Switchable XEGS 256 KB cartridge
37 Switchable XEGS 512 KB cartridge
38 Switchable XEGS 1 MB cartridge
39 Phoenix 8 KB cartridge
40 Blizzard 16 KB cartridge
41 Atarimax 128 KB Flash cartridge
42 Atarimax 1 MB Flash cartridge (old)
43 SpartaDos X 128 KB cartridge
44 OSS 8 KB cartridge
45 OSS two chip 16 KB cartridge (043M)
46 Blizzard 4 KB cartridge
47 AST 32 KB cartridge
48 Atrax SDX 64 KB cartridge
49 Atrax SDX 128 KB cartridge
50 Turbosoft 64 KB cartridge
51 Turbosoft 128 KB cartridge
52 Ultracart 32 KB cartridge
53 Low bank 8 KB cartridge
54 SIC! 128 KB cartridge
55 SIC! 256 KB cartridge
56 SIC! 512 KB cartridge
57 Standard 2 KB cartridge
58 Standard 4 KB cartridge
59 Right slot 4 KB cartridge
60 Blizzard 32 KB cartridge
61 MegaMax 2 MB cartridge
62 The!Cart 128 MB cartridge
63 Flash MegaCart 4 MB cartridge
64 MegaCart 2 MB cartridge
65 The!Cart 32 MB cartridge
66 The!Cart 64 MB cartridge
67 XEGS 64 KB cartridge (banks 8-15)
68 Atrax 128 KB cartridge
69 aDawliah 32 KB cartridge
70 aDawliah 64 KB cartridge
71 Super Cart 64 KB 5200 cartridge (32K banks)
72 Super Cart 128 KB 5200 cartridge (32K banks)
73 Super Cart 256 KB 5200 cartridge (32K banks)
74 Super Cart 512 KB 5200 cartridge (32K banks)
75 Atarimax 1 MB Flash cartridge (new)
76-93 Reserved
94 Ram-Cart 64 KB cartridge
95 Ram-Cart 128 KB cartridge
96 Double Ram-Cart 2x128/256 KB cartridge
97 Ram-Cart 1 MB cartridge
98 Ram-Cart 2 MB cartridge
99 Ram-Cart 4 MB cartridge
100 Ram-Cart 8 MB cartridge
101 Ram-Cart 16 MB cartridge
102 Ram-Cart 32 MB cartridge
103 SiDiCar 32 KB cartridge
104-160
Reserved
If this option is not given, the user will be asked to choose the cartridge type when the emulator
starts.
-cart2 filename
Insert piggyback cartridge (CART or raw format). This works only if the first cartridge is a
pass-through (currently only SpartaDOS X 64KB and 128KB types).
-cart2-type 0 .. 160
Select type of the cartridge inserted with the -cart2 option. When inserting a raw ROM image its
type cannot be detected automatically, and must be provided with this option. The available
values are the same as for the -cart-type option above.
-cart-autoreboot
Automatically reboot after cartridge inserting/removing (this is the default setting). This does
not apply to the piggyback cartridge - inserting or removing it never causes automatic reboot.
-no-cart-autoreboot
Disable automatic reboot after cartridge inserting/removing.
-run filename
Run Atari program (EXE, COM, XEX, BAS, LST)
-state filename
Load saved-state file
-tape filename
Attach cassette image (CAS format or raw file)
-boottape filename
Attach cassette image and boot it
-tape-readonly
Set the attached cassette image as read-only.
-1400 Emulate the Atari 1400XL
-xld Emulate the Atari 1450XLD
-bb Emulate the CSS Black Box
-mio Emulate the ICD MIO board
-nopatch
Normally the OS is patched giving very fast I/O. This options prevents the patch from being
applied so that the OS accesses the serial port hardware directly. This option will probably
never be needed since programs that access the serial hardware should work even if the OS has been
patched.
-nopatchall
Don't patch OS at all, H:, P: and R: devices won't work
-H1 path
Set path for H1: device
-H2 path
Set path for H2: device
-H3 path
Set path for H3: device
-H4 path
Set path for H4: device
-Hpath path
Set path for Atari executables on the H: device
-hreadonly
Enable read-only mode for H: device
-hreadwrite
Disable read-only mode for H: device
-devbug
Put debugging messages for H: and P: devices in log file
-rtime Enable R-Time 8 emulation
-nortime
Disable R-Time 8 emulation
-rdevice [dev]
Enable R: device. If dev is specified then it's used as host serial device name (e.g. /dev/ttyS0
on linux). If there is no dev specified then R: is directed to network.
-mouse off
Do not use mouse
-mouse pad
Emulate paddles
-mouse touch
Emulate Atari Touch Tablet
-mouse koala
Emulate Koala Pad
-mouse pen
Emulate Light Pen
-mouse gun
Emulate Light Gun
-mouse amiga
Emulate Amiga mouse
-mouse st
Emulate Atari ST mouse
-mouse trak
Emulate Atari Trak-Ball
-mouse joy
Emulate joystick using mouse
-mouseport num
Set mouse port 1-4 (default 1)
-mousespeed num
Set mouse speed 1-9 (default 3)
-multijoy
Emulate MultiJoy4 interface
-directmouse
Use mouse's absolute position
-cx85 num
Emulate CX85 numeric keypad on port num
-grabmouse
SDL only, prevent mouse pointer from leaving the window
-record filename
Record all input events to filename. Can be used for gaming contests (highest score etc).
-playback filename
Playback input events from filename. Watch an expert play the game.
-playbacknoexit
Don't exit the emulator after playback finishes.
-refresh
Controls screen refresh rate. A numerical value follows this option which specifies how many
emulated screen updates are required before the actual screen is updated. This value effects the
speed of the emulation: A higher value results in faster CPU emulation but a less frequently
updated screen.
-ntsc-artif mode, -pal-artif mode
Set emulation mode of video artifacts in NTSC or PAL, respectively. The available values for mode
are:
none Disable video artifacts.
ntsc-old
Simple emulation of NTSC composite video artifacts. Fast but inaccurate.
ntsc-new
Improved emulation of NTSC artifacts. May look better than ntsc-old.
ntsc-full
Full emulation of NTSC artifacts. Rather slow and available only in 16- and 32-bit video
modes.
pal-simple
Simple emulation of PAL chroma blending, without composite artifacts. Fast but inaccurate.
pal-blend
Accurate emulation of PAL chroma blending, without composite artifacts. Available only in
16- and 32-bit video modes.
-artif mode
Set artifacting mode 0-4 (0 = disable). Only for tv effects ntsc-old and ntsc-new.
-colors-preset standard|deep-black|vibrant
Use one of predefined colour adjustments
-saturation n
Set screen color saturation (like TV Colour control)
-ntsc-saturation n, -pal-saturation n
Set saturation only for NTSC or PAL, respectively
-contrast n
Set screen contrast (also called white level)
-ntsc-contrast n, -pal-contrast -fIn
Set contrast only for NTSC or PAL, respectively
-brightness n
Set screen brightness (also called black level)
-ntsc-brightness n, -pal-brightness n
Set brightness only for NTSC or PAL, respectively
-gamma n
Set screen gamma correction
-ntsc-gamma n, -pal-gamma n
Set gamma adjustment only for NTSC or PAL, respectively
-tint n
Set tint -1..1.
-ntsc-tint n, -pal-tint n
Set tint only for NTSC or PAL, respectively
-ntsc-colordelay n
Set GTIA color delay for NTSC system. This emulates adjusting the potentiometer existing at the
bottom of Atari computers, which adjusts hues of colors produced by the computer.
-pal-colordelay n
Set GTIA color delay for PAL system.
-paletten filename, -palettep filename
Read Atari NTSC/PAL colors from ACT file
-paletten-adjust, -palettep-adjust
Apply colour adjustments (brightness, contrast etc.) to the loaded NTSC/PAL palette (by default
the loaded palette is displayed unmodified).
-screenshots pattern
Set filename pattern for screenshots. Use to override the default pattern of atari###.png which
produces atari000.png, atari001.png etc. filenames. Hashes are replaced with raising numbers.
Existing files are overwritten only if all the files defined by the pattern exist.
-showspeed
Show percentage of actual speed
-sound Enable sound
-nosound
Disable sound
-dsprate freq
Set sound output frequency in Hz. The default is 44100 Hz.
-stereo
Enable stereo sound
-nostereo
Disable stereo sound
-audio16
Set sound output format to 16-bit
-audio8
Set sound output format to 8-bit
-aname pattern
Set filename pattern for audio recordings. Use to override the default pattern of atari###.wav
which produces atari000.wav, atari001.wav etc. filenames. Hashes are replaced with raising
numbers.
Note that WAV format files can support all audio codecs, including MP3, but many programs assume
WAV files contain only PCM audio.
If MP3 support was enabled when compiling the emulator, and MP3 audio is selected using the
-acodec mp3 option below, the default pattern will be atari###.mp3 to save in MP3 format files.
-acodec auto|pcm|mp3|mulaw|pcm_mulaw|adpcm|adpcm_ima_wav|adpcm_yahama|adpcm_ms
Select the audio codec used when saving to AVI or WAV files. Some codecs are lossy, meaning they
reduce storage space while attempting to sound as close as possible to the original audio.
auto The default. Use the codec that provides the best audio quality, which is PCM.
pcm Use uncompressed pulse-code modulated (PCM) samples. Lossless. Produces very large audio
files.
mp3 Use MP3 encoding. Lossy; only available with 16-bit audio, and provides the best possible
quality of all the lossy codecs while also using the least storage space. This codec is
only available if MP3 support is enabled when compiling the emulator.
mulaw Use mu-law encoding. Lossy; only available with 16-bit audio, and provides 2x reduction in
size from PCM samples. Comparible acoustic quality to a 192kbps MP3 file.
pcm_mulaw
Sames as mulaw, included to match ffmpeg codec name.
adpcm Use the best adaptive dynamic pulse-code modulated (ADPCM) codec. Lossy; all ADCPM codecs
provide 4x reduction in size over PCM samples. Comparible acoustic quality to a 64kbps MP3
file.
adpcm_ima_wav
Use the DVI IMA ADPCM algorithm. This seems to perform better on POKEY waveforms than other
ADPCM algorithms and will be used when adpcm is selected.
adpcm_yamaha
Use the Yamaha ADPCM algorithm.
adpcm_ms
Use the Microsoft ADPCM algorithm.
-ab kbps
Set the bitrate in kbps of the MP3 codec. The default is 128, and can range between 8 and 320.
Higher numbers mean better quality at the cost of increased file size.
-ar freq
Set the output sample rate in Hz of the MP3 codec. The default is the same sample rate as set by
the -dsprate option. Only a limited set of choices are available: 8000, 11025, 12000, 16000,
22050, 24000, 32000, 44100 and 48000. As with bitrate, higher numbers mean better quality and
larger files.
-aq num
Set the MP3 audio compression algorithm quality 0-9 (default 4). 0 means reduced quality but fast,
9 uses the slowest algorithms to try to increase quality. Does not affect storage space.
-snd-buflen ms
Set length of the hardware sound buffer in milliseconds. Setting to 0 (the default) causes the
length to be set automatically. Higher values increase sound latency. Automatic setting should
be OK in most cases.
-snddelay ms
Set sound latency in milliseconds. Increase it if you experience gaps of silence during sound
playback.
-vname pattern
Set filename pattern for video recordings. Use to override the default pattern of atari###.avi
which produces atari000.avi, atari001.avi etc. filenames. Hashes are replaced with raising
numbers.
-vcodec auto|rle|msrle|png|zmbv|uzmbv
Select the video codec used to store image frames in AVI video recordings. All video codecs use
lossless compression.
auto The default. Use the codec that provides the best average compression ratio which is zmbv
if available, otherwise rle.
rle Use run-length encoding (RLE) for very good compression of video frames. This codec is
always available.
msrle Sames as rle, included to match ffmpeg codec name.
png Use PNG image compression for moderate compression of video frames. This codec is only
available if PNG support was compiled into the emulator.
zmbv Use Zip Motion Blocks Video (ZMBV) for the best compression of video frames. This codec is
only available if support for the zlib compression library was compiled into the emulator.
uzmbv Uncompressed Zip Motion Blocks Video is only available when compiled without the zlib
compression library.
-showstats
Show elapsed recording time and file size on screen during recording of video or audio.
-no-showstats
Don't show multimedia statistics during recording of video or audio
-keyint num
Set the keyframe interval to one keyframe every num frames (default is 50 for PAL, 60 for NTSC).
The RLE and ZMBV codecs use keyframes and inter-frames, which encode full frames and differences
between frames, respectively. Inter-frames are typically much smaller than full frames, but most
video players can only seek to keyframes.
-compression-level num
Set compression level 0-9 (default 6) PNG or zlib compression used in the emulator. Zero means no
compression and larger numbers correspond to higher compression and smaller image sizes, at the
cost of increased time to generate the compressed image. This affects both screenshots and the
video codec.
Curses Options
-left Use columns 0 to 39
-central
Use columns 20 to 59
-right Use columns 40 to 79
-wide1 Use columns 0 to 79. In this mode only the even character positions are used. The odd locations
are filled with spaces.
-wide2 Use columns 0 to 79. This mode is similar to -wide1 except that the spaces are in reverse video
if the previous character was also in reverse video.
Falcon Options
-interlace x
Generate Falcon screen only every x frame
-videl Direct VIDEL programming (Falcon/VGA only)
-double
Double the screen size on NOVA
-delta Delta screen output (differences only)
-joyswap
Swap joysticks
Java NestedVM Options
-scale n
Scale width and height by n
SDL Options
-fullscreen
Start in fullscreen mode. The default resolution is 336x240 and can be later changed.
-windowed
Start in a window (the default).
-rotate90
Rotate display (useful for devices with 240x320 screen).
-no-rotate90
Don't rotate display (the default).
-fs-width number-of-pixels
Host horizontal resolution for fullscreen.
-fs-height number-of-pixels
Host vertical resolution for fullscreen.
-win-width number-of-pixels
Set horizontal size of the window. The window can be later resized manually.
-win-height number-of-pixels
Set vertical size of the window. The window can be later resized nanually.
-bpp number-of-bits
Sets image color depth when OpenGL acceleration is disabled. Accepted values are: 0 (use desktop
depth; this is the default), 8, 16 and 32. Depending on the type of graphics hardware, the
fullscreen setting and current desktop bit depth, either of the values might give the best
performance. Note that with bit depth set to 16 emulation of colors is slightly less accurate.
-vsync Synchronize the display with the monitor's vertical retrace, to remove image tearing artifacts.
This improves display quality, but may be not available depending on the current wideo mode
(fullscreen/windowed), the chosen SDL_VIDEODRIVER and type of graphics hardware. Synchronization
is available for some SDL videodrivers (directx, dga) but not for others. In OpenGL this option
has no effect - vertical synchronization must be instead enabled in the video hardware driver's
settings, if available.
-no-vsync
Disable synchronization with monitor's vertical retrace (the default).
-horiz-area narrow|tv|full|number
Set amount of visible screen horizontally:
narrow Shows 320 pixels.
tv The default. Shows area visible on a standard TV (336 pixels).
full Shows full overscan area (384 pixels).
number An exact horizontal size can be set by providing a number between 160 and 384.
-vertical-area short|tv|full|number
Set amount of visible screen vertically:
short Shows 200 pixels.
tv The default. Shows area visible on a typical TV (224 or 240 pixels, depending on current
TV system).
full Shows full overscan area, which can be up to 300 pixels in case of the XEP80.
number An exact number of visible scanlines can be set by providing a number between 100 and 300.
Note that when displaying output of an XEP80 or Austin Franklin 80 column card, the tv setting
will crop the top and bottom parts of text area, just like a real TV does - in such case setting
the option to full would be more appriopriate.
-horiz-shift number
When the visible horizontal area is not set to full, this option specifies the screen's area that
will be visible. Values higher than 0 will cause showing more of the right side of the screen,
while values lower than 0 will cause showing more of the left side. The default is 0 (no shift).
-vert-shift number Analogically to -horiz-shift: when the visible vertical area is not set to
full, this option specifies the screen's area that will be visible. Values higher than 0 will
cause showing more of the bottom part of the screen, while values lower than 0 will cause showing
more of the top part. The default is 0 (no shift).
-stretch none|integral|full|number
Choose method of stretching the image to fit the screen/window area:
none The image won't be stretched at all.
integral
The default. The image will fit the screen/window but will be stretched only by an
integral multiplier. This setting allows for nice output when using scanlines in low
screen resolutions.
full The screen will fit the entire screen/window area. This setting looks best in high screen
resolutions.
number A custom multiplier (floating point number) can be also provided to precisely set the
amount of stretching.
-fit-screen width|heightWhen -stretch is set to integral or full, this parameter
controls how the stretching is performed with relation to window/screen size:
width Fits the image's width while allowing it to be cropped vertically.
height Fits the image's height while allowing it to be cropped horizontally.
both The default. Fit both the image's width and height, avoiding cropping.
-image-aspect none|square-pixels|real
Choose how the image's aspect ratio should be maintained when stretching:
none Causes the image to be stretched without restriction to fit the screen/window area fully.
square-pixels
The default. Causes the image to be stretched by the same amount horizontally and
vertically, maintaining square pixels. In low screen resolutions this setting may produce
the nicest result.
real Recreates the aspect ratio of a real TV display (pixels are not square), but only if the
-host-aspect-ratio option is set correctly.
-host-aspect-ratio auto|x:y
Set the aspect ratio of the host monitor on which the emulator's display is placed. Allowed
values are auto for autodetection, or ratios like 4:3, 16:9, 1.25:1 ... This value is used to
properly maintain image's aspect ratio when having -image-aspect set to real. The default value
is auto. Note that host aspect ratio detection works as expected only if the desktop resolution
matches aspect ratio of the display device (in other words, display pixels are square). If, for
example, desktop resolution is 800x600 on a 16:9 monitor, autodetection will fail and host aspect
ratio will have to be set manually, by measuring physical width and height of the monitor and
setting the parameter to width:height.
-80column
Shows output of an 80 column hardware, when it is available (the default). This parameter has
effect only if an 80 column hardware is activated, using one of the parameters -af80, -proto80 or
-af80.
-no-80column
Deactivates showing output of an 80 column hardware.
-nojoystick
Do not initialize SDL joysticks
-joy0hat
Use hat of joystick 0 rather than the axis for joystick movement.
-joy1hat
Use hat of joystick 1 rather than the axis for joystick movement.
-joy2hat
Use hat of joystick 2 rather than the axis for joystick movement.
-joy3hat
Use hat of joystick 3 rather than the axis for joystick movement.
-joy0 path-to-device
Define path to device used in LPTjoy 0. Available on linux-ia32 only.
-joy1 path-to-device
Define path to device used in LPTjoy 1. Available on linux-ia32 only.
-ntsc-filter-preset composite|svideo|rgb|monochrome
Use one of predefined NTSC filter adjustments.
-ntsc-sharpness n
Set sharpness of the NTSC filter.
-ntsc-resolution n
Set resolution of the NTSC filter.
-ntsc-artifacts n
Set artifacts of the NTSC filter.
-ntsc-fringing n
Set fringing of the NTSC filter.
-ntsc-bleed n
Set bleed of the NTSC filter.
-ntsc-burstphase n
Set burst phase of the NTSC filter. This changes colors of artifacts. The best values are 0,
0.5, 1, 1.5.
-scanlines n
Set visibility of scanlines (0..100). Scanlines are only visible when the screen's or window's
vertical size is at least 480 (more precisely, at least twice the number of scanlines given in
-vert-area).
-scanlinesint
Enable scanlines interpolation (looks nicer).
-no-scanlinesint
Disable scanlines interpolation (in software modes may give better performance).
-video-accel
Use OpenGL hardware acceleration for displaying and stretching of the emulator's display. Using
OpenGL improves performance.
-no-video-accel
Don't use OpenGL hardware acceleration (the default).
-pixel-format bgr16|rgb16|bgra32|argb32
Choose format of texture data when OpenGL acceleration is enabled. Depending on the type of the
graphics hardware, either of the values might give the best performance. Note that with pixel
format set to bgr16 or rgb16, emulation of colors is slightly less accurate.
-pbo Use Pixel Buffer Objects when OpenGL acceleration is enabled (the default). PBOs are available on
newer graphics hardware and when used, substantially improve emulator's performance. However in
rare cases (some Intel on-board chips) using PBOs may actually descrease perfromance.
-no-pbo
Don't use Pixel Buffer Objects when OpenGL acceleration is used.
-bilinear-filter
Enable bilinear filtering of the screen in OpenGL modes.
-no-bilinear-filter
Disable bilinear filtering in OpenGL modes (the default).
-opengl-lib path
Provide a custom OpenGL shared library. If not given, Atari800 will use a default system-specific
library (typically opengl32.dll or libGL.so).
-proto80
Emulate a prototype 80 column board for the 1090
-xep80 Emulate the XEP80
-xep80port n
Use XEP80 on joystick port n
-af80 Emulate the Austin Franklin 80 column daughterboard for Atari 800.
-volume 0..100
Sets global volume of Atari 800.
X11 Options
-small Run the emulator in a small window where each Atari 800 pixel is represented by one X Window pixel
-large Runs the emulator in a large window where each Atari 800 pixel is represented by a 2x2 X Window
rectangle. This mode is selected by default.
-huge Runs the emulator in a huge window where each Atari 800 pixel is represented by a 3x3 X Window
rectangle.
-clip_x number-of-pixels
Set left offset for clipping
-clip_width number-of-pixels
Set the width of the clipping-area
-clip_y number-of-pixels
Set top offset for clipping
-clip_height number-of-pixels
Set the height of the clipping-area
-private_cmap
Use private colormap
-sio Show SIO monitor
-x11bug
Enable debug code in atari_x11.c
-keypad
Keypad mode
KEYBOARD, JOYSTICK AND OTHER CONTROLLERS
F1 Built in user interface
F2 Option key
F3 Select key
F4 Start key
F5 Reset key ("warm reset")
Shift+F5 Reboot ("cold reset")
F6 Help key (XL/XE only)
F7 Break key
F8 Enter monitor
F9 Exit emulator
F10 Save screenshot
Shift+F10 Save interlaced screenshot
Alt+R Run Atari program
Alt+D Disk management
Alt+C Cartridge management
Alt+Y Select system
Alt+O Sound settings
Alt+W Sound recording start/stop
Alt+V Video recording start/stop
Alt+S Save state file
Alt+L Load state file
Alt+A About the emulator
Shift + Insert Insert line (Atari Shift+'>')
Insert Insert character (Atari Ctrl+'>')
Shift+Ctrl+Insert Shift+Ctrl+'>'
Shift + Delete Delete line (Atari Shift+Backspace)
Shift+Backspace Delete line (Atari Shift+Backspace)
Delete Delete character (Atari Ctrl+Backspace)
Ctrl+Backspace Delete character (Atari Ctrl+Backspace)
Shift+Ctrl+Delete Shift+Ctrl+Backspace
Shift+Ctrl+Backspace Shift+Ctrl+Backspace
Home Clear (Atari Shift+'<')
Ctrl+Home Ctrl+'<' (also clears screen)
Shift+Ctrl+Home Shift+Ctrl+'<'
~ Inverse video
Up Up (Atari Ctrl+'-')
Down Down (Atari Ctrl+'=')
Left Left (Atari ctrl+'+')
Right Right (Atari ctrl+'*')
Ctrl+Up -
Ctrl+Down =
Ctrl+Left +
Ctrl+Right *
Shift+Up _ (Atari Shift+'-')
Shift+Down | (Atari Shift+'=')
Shift+Left (Atari Shift+'+')
Shift+Right ^ (Atari Shift+'*')
Shift+Ctrl+Up Shift+Ctrl+-
Shift+Ctrl+Down Shift+Ctrl+=
Ctrl+\ Ctrl+Esc (Workaround for Windows)
Shift+Ctrl+\ Shift+Ctrl+Esc (Workaround for Windows)
CX85 Keypad (if enabled):
host keypad 0123456789-. 0123456789-.
host keypad NO
host keypad Ctrl+/ ESCAPE
host keypad * DELETE
host keypad + YES
host keypad Enter +ENTER
Paddles, Atari touch tablet, Koala pad, light pen, light gun, ST/Amiga mouse, Atari trak-ball, joystick
and Atari 5200 analog controller are emulated using mouse on ports that support it. See the options
above for how to enable mouse.
Basic
No function keys or Alt+letter shortcuts. Use Ctrl+C to enter the monitor. Controllers not supported in
this version.
Curses
F10 (Save screenshot) does not work in the default CURSES_BASIC build. Shift+F5 and Shift+F10 don't work
at all. Avoid Ctrl + C, H, J, M, Q, S and Z. The remaining control characters can be typed. Control
characters are displayed on the screen with the associated upper case character in bold.
Controllers not supported in this version.
Falcon
Help Help key (XL/XE)
Joystick 0 is operated by the numeric keypad (make sure that the numeric keypad has been enabled).
7 8 9
\|/
4 5 6
/|\
1 2 3
And 0 is the fire key.
Mouse not supported in this version.
SDL
` Atari/Inverse key
LSUPER Atari/Inverse key (unusable under Windows)
RSUPER CapsToggle (+Shift = CapsLock)
LAlt+F Switch fullscreen/windowed display.
LAlt+G Switch visible horizontal area. See -horiz-area.
LAlt+J Swap keyboard_emulated joysticks
LAlt+M Grab mouse (prevents mouse pointer from leaving the window)
LAlt+LShift+1 Decrease tint (also called hue)
LAlt+1 Increase hue
LAlt+LShift+2 Decrease saturation (like TV Colour control)
LAlt+2 Increase saturation
LAlt+LShift+3 Decrease contrast (also called white level)
LAlt+3 Increase contrast
LAlt+LShift+4 Decrease brightness (also called black level)
LAlt+4 Increase brightness
LAlt+LShift+5 Decrease gamma adjustment
LAlt+5 Increase gamma adjustment
LAlt+LShift+6 Decrease color delay (Atari color adjustment potentiometer)
LAlt+6 Increase color delay
The following keys work only when the NTSC filter is enabled (-ntsc-artif set to ntsc-full):
LAlt+LShift+7 Decrease sharpness
LAlt+7 Increase sharpness
LAlt+LShift+8 Decrease resolution
LAlt+8 Increase resolution
LAlt+LShift+9 Decrease artifacts
LAlt+9 Increase artifacts
LAlt+LShift+0 Decrease fringing
LAlt+0 Increase fringing
LAlt+LShift+- Decrease bleed
LAlt+- Increase bleed
LAlt+LShift+= Decrease NTSC burst phase (use this to change artifacting colours)
LAlt+= Increase NTSC burst phase
LAlt+LShift+[ Decrease scanlines visibility
LAlt+[ Increase scanlines visibility
LAlt+] Toggle NTSC composite/S-Video/RGB/monochrome settings
LAlt+Shift+X Enable/disable output of a 80 column hardware (use with -xep80, -proto80 or -af80).
Apart from standard joysticks (handled by the SDL) up to two keyboard joysticks are supported. The keys
used for joystick directions and the trigger can be freely defined in the config UI (Controller Config ->
Define layout). Keyboard joystick emulation can be enabled/disabled in the Controller Config. By
default, joy 0 is enabled and joy 1 is disabled (to not steal normal AWDS keys in the emulator).
X11
Alt Atari key (either Alt key will work)
Joystick 0 is operated by the mouse position relative to the center of the screen. The mouse button acts
as the trigger. On Linux, standard joysticks are also supported.
AUDIO RECORDING
Audio can be recorded to WAV format sound files or as the audio track of AVI format multimedia files
(described in the next section). A choice of audio codecs is available, some using lossy compression to
reduce file size as compared to uncompressed audio. All lossy codecs require 16 bit sample sizes using
the -audio16 option.
The term "lossy" means the recorded sound is not bit-for-bit identical to the output of the emulator.
Each codec provides a different method to reduce size, possibly reducing the audio quality. In practice,
the audio produced by these codecs is not perceptibly worse than lossless encoding when using sample
rates of 44.1kHz or 48kHz. However, the possibility exists that recompressing lossy audio (for instance
by uploading to YouTube) could reduce quality.
The only lossless codec provided is the pulse-code modulation (PCM) codec, which simply stores the raw
data generated by the POKEY emulation. This takes the most space of any codec, but provides the best
possible audio quality. The sample size is specified by the -audio16 or -audio8 options. This is the
recommended codec unless extremely long recording times are desired. See the tables in the VIDEO
RECORDING section below.
The MP3 codec is the best choice of a lossy codec, as paramaters can be tuned to generate high quality
audio for different situations. An audio bitrate of 128kbps (the -ab 128 option) results in high quality
audio at about an 8x reduction in storage space over PCM audio. The MP3 codec is a compile-time option,
and will be included automatically if the libmp3lame library is found during compilation.
The remaining lossy codecs should not be considered unless the MP3 codec is not available. In most cases
they produce reasonable quality, without many audible artifacts to the casual listener. But the
algorithms were originally designed for compressing speech over telephone lines and they can produce
audio distortion in some instances.
The mu-law codec uses a logarithmic scale to convert 16 bit samples into 8 bits of data, resulting in
half the size of 16 bit PCM audio. This codec does not work with 8 bit audio. Waveform analysis shows the
acoustic quality is similar to a 192kbps MP3 file, although the MP3 is half the size. Surprisingly, in
many cases the acoustic quality of mu-law can be better than 8 bit PCM samples even though it takes the
same storage space.
Adaptive differential pulse-code modulation (ADPCM) encodes differences between successive 16 bit audio
samples into 4 bits, therefore the output is one quarter of the size of the PCM codec. The acoustic
quality is similar to a 64kbps MP3 file, although the MP3 is 3x smaller. Audio distortio may be audible
under certain conditions, like high volume square waves.
VIDEO RECORDING
atari800 is capable of recording the emulated video and audio to AVI format multimedia files. A choice of
lossless video codecs is available, while audio is stored with any of the lossless or lossy codecs as
described above. To record without sound, specify the -nosound option.
The most efficient video codec is the Zip Motion Block Video (ZMBV) codec. This codec uses keyframes and
inter-frames, and achieves its high compression because inter-frames use motion estimation when
calculating differences to the previous frame. It is a compile-time option when building the emulator,
and is the default if available. There is an uncompressed variant that is available when compiled without
zlib; see the note below.
The Run-Length Encoding (RLE) video codec also uses keyframes and inter-frames. Its inter-frame
compression is not as efficient as ZMBV, but still produces high compression in cases where only small
parts of the screen change between frames. This codec is always available and is the default if
compressed ZMBV is not available.
The PNG video codec has moderate compression because it uses only keyframes. It is useful in certain
cases if the ZMBV codec is not available. It is a compile-time option when building the emulator.
Uncompressed ZMBV is typically inferior to RLE and PNG and is not recommended in general. There are a few
limited instances (like detailed scrolling backgrounds) where uncompressed ZMBV will outperform RLE or
PNG, and for that reason it is made available as the uzmbv codec when compiled without zlib. For testing
purposes when compiled with zlib, uncompressed ZMBV video can be generated with the -compression-level 0
command line argument.
Video Support:
┌──────────────────────┬────────────┬─────────────┬───────────────────────┐
│ Application │ Type │ Platform │ RLE PNG ZMBV │
├──────────────────────┼────────────┼─────────────┼───────────────────────┤
│ YouTube │ Website │ Browser │ Yes Yes Yes │
│ Twitter │ Website │ Browser │ No[1] No[1] No[1] │
│ FFmpeg │ Transcoder │ Win/Mac/Lin │ Yes Yes Yes │
│ Handbrake │ Transcoder │ Win/Mac/Lin │ Yes Yes Yes │
│ VLC │ Player │ Win/Mac/Lin │ Yes No[2] Yes │
│ Windows Media Player │ Player │ Windows │ Yes No No │
│ Win 10 Movies & TV │ Player │ Windows │ No No No │
│ IINA │ Player │ Mac │ Yes Yes Yes │
│ QuickTime │ Player │ Mac │ No No No │
│ Totem (Gnome Videos) │ Player │ Linux │ No Yes Yes │
│ MPV (Celluloid) │ Player │ Linux │ Yes Yes Yes │
│ MPlayer │ Player │ Linux │ Yes Yes Yes │
└──────────────────────┴────────────┴─────────────┴───────────────────────┘
[1] Twitter only accepts mp4 files using the h264 video
codec and the aac audio codec. The avi files produced
by atari800 must be transcoded with an application like
FFmpeg or Handbrake. Videos are limited to 2 minutes and
20 seconds.
[2] VLC recognizes and plays PNG-encoded video, but decodes the
video incorrectly resulting in garbled images.
Currently there is a limit of 4GB for video size. The maximum recording time for this size limit depends
on many factors. Some examples can be seen in the tables below:
ZMBV codec (default compression level):
┌──────────────┬─────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │ Average │ Estimated recording time │
│ Game │ video ├───────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ frame │ mp3 mp3 ADPCM 8-bit 16-bit │
│ │ size │ 128 kbps 320 kbps audio audio audio │
├──────────────┼─────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ │ │
│ Jumpman │ 0.08k │ 49 hr 23 hr 38 hr 21 hr 11 hr │
│ Miner 2049er │ 0.13k │ 43 hr 22 hr 35 hr 20 hr 11 hr │
│ Alley Cat │ 0.37k │ 28 hr 17 hr 24 hr 16 hr 9h 40m │
│ Dropzone │ 0.82k │ 17 hr 12 hr 15 hr 11 hr 7h 55m │
│ AtariBlast! │ 1.2k │ 12 hr 9h 55m 11 hr 9h 30m 6h 50m │
│ Boulder Dash │ 0.17k │ 40 hr 21 hr 33 hr 19 hr 10 hr │
└──────────────┴─────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
RLE codec:
┌──────────────┬─────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │ Average │ Estimated recording time │
│ Game │ video ├────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ frame │ mp3 mp3 ADPCM 8-bit 16-bit │
│ │ size │ 128 kbps 320 kbps audio audio audio │
├──────────────┼─────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ │ │
│ Jumpman │ 0.36k │ 28 hr 17 hr 24 hr 16 hr 9h 45m │
│ Miner 2049er │ 0.39k │ 27 hr 17 hr 24 hr 15 hr 9h 35m │
│ Alley Cat │ 1.0k │ 14 hr 11 hr 13 hr 10 hr 7h 20m │
│ Dropzone │ 2.3k │ 7h 25m 6h 20m 7h 05m 6h 10m 4h 55m │
│ AtariBlast! │ 6.9k │ 2h 40m 2h 30m 2h 35m 2h 30m 2h 15m │
│ Boulder Dash │ 9.1k │ 2h 00m 1h 55m 2h 00m 1h 55m 1h 45m │
└──────────────┴─────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
PNG codec (default compression level):
┌──────────────┬─────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │ Average │ Estimated recording time │
│ Game │ video ├────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ frame │ mp3 mp3 ADPCM 8-bit 16-bit │
│ │ size │ 128 kbps 320 kbps audio audio audio │
├──────────────┼─────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │ │ │
│ Jumpman │ 2.4k │ 7h 05m 6h 10m 6h 50m 5h 55m 4h 45m │
│ Miner 2049er │ 2.2k │ 7h 40m 6h 35m 7h 20m 6h 20m 5h 00m │
│ Alley Cat │ 4.1k │ 4h 20m 4h 00m 4h 15m 3h 55m 3h 20m │
│ Dropzone │ 2.8k │ 6h 10m 5h 25m 6h 00m 5h 20m 4h 20m │
│ AtariBlast! │ 4.4k │ 4h 05m 3h 45m 4h 00m 3h 40m 3h 10m │
│ Boulder Dash │ 4.5k │ 4h 00m 3h 40m 3h 55m 3h 35m 3h 10m │
└──────────────┴─────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
FILES
/usr/share/atari800/ATARIOSA.ROM
Atari O/S A
/usr/share/atari800/ATARIOSB.ROM
Atari O/S B
/usr/share/atari800/ATARIXL.ROM
Atari 800XL O/S
/usr/share/atari800/ATARI5200.ROM
Atari 5200 O/S
/usr/share/atari800/ATARIBAS.ROM
Atari Basic
BUGS
See the BUGS file.
Atari800 5.2.0 2023-12-29 ATARI800(1)