Apple Emulation with Echo II Plus Emulation
Windows version prepared by Jayson Smith
jaybird@bluegrasspals.com or Twitter @jaybird110127
Mac modifications prepared by Darcy Burnard
darcy@burnard.net or on twitter @DHSDarcy
Using the open-source MESS emulator
This package contains an emulator called MESS which we have set up to emulate an Enhanced Apple IIe with an Echo II Plus speech synthesizer. Here are some notes about the contents of this archive.
Do you want to discuss this emulator, Apple games, and all things Apple II? Join my mailing list! Send a blank message to blindapple-subscribe@bluegrasspals.com and reply to the confirmation message you receive. This is a good place to get in touch with other blind Apple IIe enthusiasts.
According to the letter of the law, it is illegal to distribute the ROMs needed by this emulator to anyone who does not own the equipment being emulated. However, without those files, the emulator would be completely useless, and you'd have to find some way to obtain the ROMs. Since the firmware is so old, I'm taking the chance and distributing the files anyway.
You may have already obtained the Windows or Mac package. If not, or if you've downloaded the wrong one for your system, here are the relevant links.
You'll probably need a full desktop keyboard, for reasons which will become apparent later on. If you're on Windows and using Jaws, you'll also want to set up a script to put it to sleep when mess.exe is running. Otherwise, it will try to grab some Apple keystrokes, and in general not do very nice things.
To start the emulator with a disk in drive 1, type the following at a command prompt, for example:
mess apple2ee -flop1 disks\egames.dsk
Yes, you do need to type apple2ee with two e's since that's the designator for an Enhanced IIe. You can replace egames.dsk with the name of some other disk image.
If you did everything correctly, you should hear the traditional Apple IIe system beep, and you should hear speech within about fifteen seconds. All bootable disks included in this package will talk when they boot. A few disks are not bootable, please see disks.txt for details.
Do not switch away from the emulator window after starting it, or while using the Apple. This will mess things up.
Before you get started, you'll need to install the SDL shared library. In the folder with this readme file, you'll find a sub-folder called SDL.framework. You need to move or copy it to the Frameworks sub-folder of the main Library folder on your Hard Drive.
To start the emulator with a disk in drive 1, type the following at a command prompt, for example: ./mess64 apple2ee -flop1 disks/egames.dsk
The Apple IIe supports two floppy drives. They are designated on the command line as -flop1 and -flop2. If you want to put another disk, such as a data disk, in the second drive, just add another command line parameter -flop2 and the name of the second disk. The Apple will only boot from drive 1.
Please see the file called disks.txt in this directory for a complete list of files in the disks directory, along with descriptions.
You can put any disk images you already have into this folder.
Once the Apple has started, things pretty much work like you'd think they would. The four arrow keys really do act as the Apple's arrow keys, left and right alt on Windows, left and right option on Mac, are open and closed apple, F12 is reset. In most cases, even if your real caps lock is turned off, the Apple's caps lock will be turned on, simply because so many Apple games and programs require all upper case input. If you want to change this, just hit your caps lock.
If you boot a disk and the Echo says, "Ready," with no instructions in sight, that means the disk doesn't have a menu system. Here are some pointers to get you started with such disks.
To get a catalog of the files on the disk, type CATALOG and press Return or Enter. If the Apple beeps and says, "Syntax Error, Ready," you need to push your caps lock. After every eighteen files, it will pause. Hit the space bar to continue. You'll know the catalog is finished when it says "Ready" again.
There are several types of files on disks. For each file, the first thing you'll hear is a letter. If the letter is A, you can run that program by typing RUN, followed by a space, followed by the name of the program and pressing Return. Files with a file type letter of A are written in Applesoft BASIC, the most common form of BASIC.
After the file type letter, you'll hear three digits. This relates to how much space the file is using on the disk, you don't have to worry about that. Finally, you will hear the file name, which can contain spaces. For example, if the system said, "A zero zero two HELLO," you could type RUN HELLO to run that program.
If the file type letter is I, this is a program written in an older form of BASIC called Integer BASIC. To run such programs, you first need to teach your Apple computer Integer BASIC. To do this, type: BRUN INTEGER and press Return. When that command completes, the system will say, "Greater than." Now you can RUN Integer BASIC programs just like Applesoft programs. You can keep running Integer programs until you reboot, turn the computer off, or run an Applesoft program. Any of these things will make the computer forget Integer BASIC, so you'll have to BRUN INTEGER to teach it again if you want to run another Integer program.
On all disks included here, you'll see a few files you don't need to run. Every disk will contain an Applesoft program called HELLO. This is the program that runs when the disk is first booted, so you don't need to run it again. There will also be files with a file type letter of B called TEXTALKER.RAM and TEXTALKER.OBJ, or names similar to these. These are files relating to the Textalker software which makes the system talk. You don't need to worry about these.
If you need a quick reminder about all of this, boot using the egames.dsk disk. First it will ask if you want slow speech, press Y or N depending on your preference. Then it will tell you this disk contains games and programs in DOS 3.3, and ask if you want notes about using them. Answer Y here, and you'll be given instructions.
The disk called echocric.dsk contains lessons on using the Echo speech synthesizer. You should consult these lessons for information about controlling the Echo speech and reviewing the screen. Complete instructions are included.
The program records a wav file of your Apple session in a file called session.wav. If you don't want this file, just delete it. It is overwritten with each new emulator session, so if you do anything you want to preserve, you need to take steps to do so before you run Mess again.
We don't currently know of a good way to switch disks, but for now, the following method will work.
Please be aware that this program doesn't significantly speed up disk access, so there may be long pauses while Apple programs load. If you have requested a program and the system seems to have frozen, just give it some more time. Some programs load very slowly, as they did on the real hardware.
To exit the emulator, on Windows, hold down the scroll lock and press the insert key on the six-pack, that is, the set of keys with insert, del, home, end, page-up, and page-down. Release both keys. On a Mac, hold down FN and press Delete, then release both keys. In either case, hit escape. This will flip the power switch on the virtual Apple, so anything you were doing will be lost forever.
Have fun!