En:EP32 manual

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Introduction

The EP32 and the EP128emu are Enterprise emulators for the PC. The EP32 is the work of Béla Vincze (Egzo) and can be run only in Windows operating systems. It has somewhat more modest capabilities than the EP128Emu but it is easy to configure and anyone can easily learn to use it. You can download it from here: http://web.axelero.hu/egzo/ep/ep32-120.zip After downloading it doesn't need to be installed, and it can be run at once.


Some essential information

After starting the emulator, you will first see an emulated memory-test for a few seconds (as in the real Enterprise computer) and an ENTERPRISE logo appears flashing in different colours. You can continue by pressing any key, and as the default you will enter BASIC, where Basic commands can be given. You can read about these commands in the Enterprise Programming Guide (available here in PDF format: http://ep.homeserver.hu/PDF/Enterprise_Programming_Guide.pdf ).


Loading Enterprise programs into the emulator

Beginners would mostly like to try out programs downloaded from the net. The easiest way to do this is to emulate an Enterprise computer with a cassette tape recorder.


Emulation of a machine with a cassette tape recorder

In the early days of the Enterprise, programs could only be loaded into the Enterprise using a tape recorder; the floppy disk and hard drive capabilities appeared later. When emulating a machine with cassette tape recorder, the EP32 actually reads files from the hard drive of the PC. To emulate a machine with cassette tape recorder you have to do the following:

1. Copy the program to be loaded into any chosen directory, with all its files, of course. (If you have downloaded a rar or zip file, it must be unpacked first.)

2. Run the emulator, choose the Hardware menu and load memory config, and then choose original EP with tape. (This will emulate an Enterprise with a single cassette tape recorder.)

3. In the File menu choose Select directory for tape and point to the directory where the desired files have been copied previously (see the first step above).

Attention! If you put any files of the desired program into sub-directories within the chosen directory, the emulator will not be able to load the program! Copy all the files into the same directory and don't create any sub-directories within it.


Now if you give the START command (in BASIC) (or press 1 on the numeric keyboard) after starting the emulator, a window will appear where you can select the file you want to load. When loading a game, this file should be one with a COM extension, because it is either a stand-alone program or a loader, which will load e.g. SCR and PRG files. These last mentioned file types cannot be run by themselves. (Do not be confused by the fact that PC DOS programs also have the extension COM.)

As well as COM files, you can also directly load files with the extension TRN (game with eternal life), BAS (basic programs) or EXT (system extension).


When emulating a machine with cassette tape recorder, it is unfortunately not possible to save files. So do not write programs within this type of emulation, because you will not be able to save them! Furthermore you can not use tape recorder emulation for programs which run only on a machine with floppy drive (there are only a few programs like that). If you want to save a program (e.g. a basic program) using the EP32 emulator, you must emulate a machine with floppy disk drive.

Emulation of a machine with a floppy drive

You have to have a floppy drive in your PC, even though this device is becoming more and more out-of-fashion. To emulate an Enterprise machine with a floppy drive you must do the following:

1. Using the emulator choose Hardware menu and load memory config, then select any of the configurations other than original EP with tape (all of them except this one emulate a machine with a floppy drive).

2. In the File menu, at configure disk drives, you can associate the PC floppy disk drive(s) with the emulated Enterprise drives. Instead of a floppy drive, you can select a floppy image file. Using a floppy image is faster but you cannot save to it (it's "write protected").

When emulating a machine with floppy drive, you must first copy the files of the desired program to the floppy disk, of course. It's essential that before starting emulation of a machine with floppy drive, you must close all Windows programs that may use the floppy drive. Even in Explorer the contents of the floppy drive should not be displayed. Run the emulator only after closing all such Windows programs! Otherwise the emulator won't read the floppy at all.

You can save files with this type of emulation, and they will appear on the floppy disk. If you want to check from Windows Explorer what files the emulator has saved to floppy disk, you must first close the emulator; otherwise Windows won't detect the new files on the floppy disk. The emulator entirely locks the floppy drive, so you can't access it from any other software while the emulator is still running.


For instructions on how to use the floppy drive, see The Enterprise Disk System Manual.

Using a floppy image

A floppy image is loaded into a virtual floppy disk drive (rather than a real hardware floppy drive). To create a floppy image, CPDRead software is needed, which runs in DOS mode. (You can download it here). Virtual Floppy Drive is a suitable alternative.

A drive letter can be assigned to the image file in File menu, configure disk drives. Under one of drive a:, drive b:, drive c:, drive d: tick use disk image, then click insert button to add the previously saved image file. Use the remove button to remove the image file from the virtual drive.

Note again: when using a floppy image, it's not possible to save modifications to the image file! You will only be able to save files using real floppy disks.

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