AspeQt

The Internet is filled with all sort of applications that you can check out and use on your computer in order to enhance its features. One of such applications is AspeQt. It's packed with lots of tools that help you emulate various Atari 8-bit peripherals.

AspeQt currently runs under Windows and Linux but porting to Mac OS X and other Unix-like operating systems shouldn’t require too much effort.

The application doesn't take long to install, but you will need to adjust some preferences before you can actually start using it. AspeQt comes with a really intuitive graphical interface that's packed with lots of nice tools and features that you can check out.

The first thing that you need to do after launching the application is to adjust some settings to meet your preferences.

You will need to provide the port name and pick one of the handshake methods available. You can also adjust some user interface options, pick the language, have the application save the D9-DO drive visibility status and enable shade in mini mode by default.

You can also use larger font in drive slot descriptions to make it easier to read the text. Some emulation settings are available, you can use high speed executable loader, custom baud rate for cassette emulation and adjust the folder image.

Instead of using real disks, AspeQt uses disk images. These are regular files that contain an image of an Atari disk.

You can see the result of your operation in the log display which is below the disk slots, if the operation is completed successfully, your Atari should be able to see the mounted disk image just like a real disk in a real drive.

You can use the tool buttons and context menu items to perform other operations like saving the disk image, enabling write protection for the image, reverting the image to its last saved state and so on. You can also swap images using drag and drop.

AspeQt is a very nice application for emulating various Atari 8-bit peripherals like disk drives and printers.