Apple Sirius IIGS Technical Information Page 6
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6.94 A2-Centra/
Trackstar
rlus.
The
Trackslar
e is designed to
use
with the older
PC
digital video standards
(MGA,
CGA,
EGA).
We
tested a Trackslar flus,
which is designed to use with the current analog
(VGA)
video standard
becoming common
on
most
PC
compatibles. The
Trackslar
Plus
pack-
age
comes with the
Trackstar
card itself. a set
of
three connecting
cables, installation disk and a user's manual.
The
Trackstar
card is a full·length (about 13" long) card filled with
IC's and connectors, including two 65C02 microprocessors.
Of the
three cables supplied,
two
are
for video connection; only one
of
these
cables
is
actually used, depending on the type of system the Track-
slar is installed in.
The
remaining cable attaches to the
Trackstar
at
one end; the other end terminates in
an
Apple Hc·style (9·pin) game
port.
The
manual is small but covers the procedures necessary for nor-
mal installation and
use
with a few minor exceptions. The first excep-
tion that
we
ran
into
was
that the installation instructions only cov·
ered three specific
IBM
systems; the
PS/2
Model 25,
PS/2
Model 30,
and
PS/2
Model 30/286.
Since
we're relatively naive about the guts
of
these
systems,
it
took a few moments to sort through
the
hardware
deSCriptions
and determine the proper course
of
action for our non-
IBM
clone system.
PC
compatible slots
are
similar
to
Apple H slots; the card itself
installs in a receptacle on the motherboard, and there is a
"knockout-
hole
on
the rear panel
of
the computer for accessing connecting
cables
and
controls on the edge
of
the
card (unlike most Apple II
cards, for
PC
systems
the
design
of
the
slots usually assumes
any
mounting bracket for
access
is part
of
the
card itselD. Installation
of
the
Trackstar
boils down to finding one free full·size slot for the
Trackstar
card itself (the mounting bracket on the Trackslar card
includes the video output and disk drive port connectors), and (if
desired) a second slot knockout for mounting the game port bracket.
We
found
the
most appropriate installation description
to
be
the
one
for the
PS/2
Model 30, although the orientation
of
its slots
is
for
horizontal installation
of
boards (our clone's
cards
install vertically).
Simplified, the installation procedure involves running one
of
the
sup-
plied video cables from your existing
VGA
output to a connector on
the
Trackstar
board, also connecting the game port cable to the
appropriate connector on
the
Trackstar,
and mounting
the
Trackstar
and
game
port bracket in the selecled slot locations. Finally, you can·
nect your monitor
to
the
Trackstar
video port, and your Apple·compat·
ible disk drive to the
DB·19
port on the
Trackstar
bracket (if you have
the
older Disk II-style 20-pin inline connector, there is a place on
the
Trackstar
card itself to attach it).
Software installation involves creating a workdisk from the supplied
master disk
(I
just
added the files to the clone's hard disk) and run·
ning the
TSlITILlT.COM
program file to set up
the
Trackstar
environ·
ment.
One
item is the selection
of
the printer type
as
"IBM
compati·
ble"
or "Apple compatible".
The
other
is
the configuration
of
disk
drives.
The Trackstar
supports
the
use
of
up
to
four
drives"
One
of
these
may
be
an
Apple·compatible 5.25 attached to the drive port
on
the
Trackstar
itself.
The
Trackstar
accesses
an
Apple·compatibledrive
as
an
Apple II would;
we
booted several Apple II program. disks
(including copy protected software) from
an
Apple 5.25 drive attached
to
the
disk port.
other "drives"
are
represented by special files created on
MS·DOS
volumes (floppy drive, hard disk, or network volume) that the
Track·
star recognizes
as
representing Apple disk volumes.
One
such type
of
file is a TrackStore file, which the
Trackstar
utility software creates by
reading in
an
Apple 5.25 disk
and
storing the disk image into
an
M5-
DOS
file. Trackstore files
can
be
"inserted" and "removed" into the
virtual "Apple 5.25 drive"
by a selection mechanism provided with
the
Trackstar
environment.
From
MS·DOS,
the files
are
recognized by a
filename ending
in
".APP",
and
may
be
manipulated with normal
MS·
DOS
file utilities.
If
you elect to
use
an
Apple drive,
it
will
be
assigned
as
a slot 6
device (usually
as
drive I for
use
as
the
boot device). The second slot
6 device
can
then
be
an
MS·DOS
volume holding one or more Track'
Store
files; the first time you try to
access
the device from an Apple
program, a selection screen will appear that
asks
you to select which
TrackStore disk you wish to appear in the virtual
drive from a dis·
played list.
Move
the cursor to the desired TrackStore file,
hit
Return,
and you return to the Apple side
of
life with
the
selected disk online.
Vol.
6,
No.
12
While performing
the
setup, the installation software will ask
if
you
wish to
assign
two addilional drives for use with
ProDOS.
If
you
elect
to do this,
you
can
create one or
two
ProDOS
volumes
of
up to
ten
megabytes in size (limited by the available
space
on the drive select·
ed
to hold the file representing the
ProDOS
volume).
These
volumes
will
be
assigned to slot 7
as
drives I and
2.
Once
you boot into the
Trackslar,.
you
can
use
ProDOS
utilities to format
and
use
the drives.
The
Trackstar
monitor
ROM
and
BASIC
firmware is
by
t.anguage
Ms,
the same people who brought
you
the t.aser 128 monitor
ROM
and,BASIC firmware. The Trackstars firmware does
not
seem
to
sup-
port all
of
the features
of
the current !.aser 128
ROM;
for example,
the
Trackslac's
monitor does not support the disassembly listing com·
mand.
For
higher compatibility, the configuration program allows
you
to
save
a TrackStore image
of
a
DOS
3.3
System
Master under the
filename INIT
(INIT.APP
from
M5-DOS)
and select to load Applesoft
from the
FPBASIC
image on the
System
Master file. Alternatively,
you
can
elect
to
have
FPBASIC
loaded from
an
Apple diskette; the system
will prompt
you
when
it
is ready to load Applesoft.
Running
the
system
is
only
a
little
bickier
than
using
an
Apple
II.
From
MS·DOS,
you launch the
Trackstar
into Apple mode by
running
STAR.COM.
STAR
will ask
you
which volume you wish to boot
from.
If
the selected volume
is
not the "slot
7,
drive
I"
ProDOS
vol·
ume
(PRODOS.HDI)
or the Apple external drive, it's probably a vol·
ume containing TrackStore files
and
STAR
will additionally
ask
you
which TrackStore image
you
want to boot.
Work
through the
selec-
tions
and
you'll
be
working on an Apple II clone.
The
correlation .isn't
always
direct.
For
one thing, you have no
open· and closed·Apple
keys;
instead
you
use
the
PC's
F9
and FlO
function
keys.
This
can
be
slightly awkward, depending on the layout
of
your keyboard.
There is also no reset
key.
Reset
and several other functions
are
reached from a special menu activated
by
hitting
the
function
key
FI
followed
by
Escape.
From this menu you
can
type
several single·key
commands:
"R"
to reset
the
Trackstar
(equivalent to "control·reset" on
an
Apple II), "B" to reboot from the selected device (equivalent to
"control·open·apple·reset"),
"I"
to switch
the
configured disk I (in
case
it's assigned to a TrackStore volume), "2"
to
switch disk 2,
"+"
to
toggle Apple
11+
mode, "K" to display a list
of
other control
keys,
"X"
to exit to
M5-DOS,
and
the
"ENTER"
key to return to
the
Trackstar,
So,
for example,
you
can
reset
the
Trackstar
from Apple mode
by
press-
ing "FI
",
"Escape", and then
"R".
The
additional
keys
shown by "II"
are
used to control system
parameters.
"F2
" will toggle the graphics display between color and
monochrome;
you
can
use
this
to
surpress
color
on
programs
expect-
ing a monochrome monitor. Using a modifier key on the
PC
keyboard
named
"AIt" like a "shill"
key,
you
can
switch the speed
of
the
Track-
star; "AIt·[" (hold down
the"
AIt" key
and
press"
I")
forces I
mega·
hertz operation,
"AUT
pushes the system to 2 megahertz,
When
you
select
oX'
from
the
menu,
you'll
be asked
if
you
want
to
terntinate
the
operation
of
the Trackstar.
If
you choose
"Y",
you exit to
M5-DOS
and the
Trackstar
is shut down;
you
must run
STAR.
COM
again
to
restart.
othelWise, you exit to
MS·DOS
and
the
Trackstar
will continue to
operate until
it
requires some aspect
of
the
PC's
input/output
resources, at which point
it
suspends operations and waits for
you
to
return to
Trackstar
mode
so
it
can claim the resource
it
needs.
With
the
Trackstar
running, you
can
switch between
MS·DOS
and
Trackstar
modes by
using"
AIl·Escape". Thus the
Trackstar
is
a parallel proces-
sor that allows
the
MS·DOS
and
Trackstar
processors
to
run alongside
each
other at the
same
time,
The
unused function keys can have key sequences ("macros")
assigned with the configuration software.
Once
defined, pressing the
function key within
Trackstar
mode
causes
the
defined keystrokes to
be
issued
as
if
you
had
typed them from the keyboard,
The
Trackstar
also includes a set
of
utilities to allow transferring
mes
between
MS·DOS
and
Apple
(DOS
and
ProDOS)
format disks.
The
Trackstar appears
to
be
designed to
run
Apple
software
in
a classroom
environment
where Apple II systems
are
being dis·
placed by
MS·DOS
systems. The
Trackstar
does
an
admirable
job
of
running software from 5.25 disks, provides (through Trackstore) a
- AppleFest 1
- A2·CentraJ 2
- ' 3
- 11' 4
- Miscellanea 5
- 6.94 A2-Centra/ 6
- January 1991 7
- A2.centraJ 8
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