[Blindapple] Slowness with emulator

[Tony Baechler]

Hi, sorry for replying to yet another old post.  I've found a generic tip
which seems to help with very slow disks.  As Jayson says, putting a
different DOS on the disk can help, but I've found another solution.  I was
looking at a game which was very slow, but it wasn't using the disk drive.
If you have quick reflexes, there is a simple workaround.  Press the key to
toggle between full and partial keyboard emulation.  That's Scroll-lock in
Windows.  Be careful at this point because Escape will exit the emulator.
Press F10.  That makes the emulated system run at the fastest speed and
doesn't slow it down to the normal 1 MHZ Apple II processor speed.  You need
quick reflexes because it also speeds up the Echo, so you have to know when
to hit F10 again.  If you know the game or program stops and asks you for
input, you can wait until you hear it talk, press F10 to get back to normal
speed and Scroll-lock to switch back to full keyboard emulation.  Enter
review mode as normal and read the last line on the screen so you know what
it's asking you.  You have to be careful at this point because pressing
Escape to exit review will also exit the emulator if you forgot to switch
back to full keyboard emulation.  That happened to me and I had to start the
game over again.  I've found that this greatly speeds up slow loading games.
 I haven't tried it on Eamon yet, but I imagine it would help a lot as it
could take 10 minutes or more for a game to fully load into memory.  I got
kind of spoiled by A2 which always runs at full speed.  The other big issue
with Eamon and Pronto-DOS is that Pronto doesn't have a verify command, so
most Eamon games will bomb out when trying to run correctly.  I'm sure there
is a way around this, but I like the F10 solution better.

On 9/8/2013 5:36 PM, Jayson Smith wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> You're not the only one asking about that disk. I've had several inquiries
> of a similar nature.
> 
> The response is that once you ask for lessons, that program takes a long
> time to load. Just give it some more time.
> 
> My policy has always been to present Apple disks in as close to the
> original, unmodified form as possible. However, so many people have asked
> about this particular situation that I may need to try upgrading the DOS on
> this disk, or at the very least put in a message explaining that loading
> will take a while. What do you guys think?
> Jayson
> 
> On 9/8/2013 8:31 PM, Blake Roberts wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Thanks Jayson and everyone else who made the Apple2 emulator with Echo
>> synthesizer possible. I grew up in the 80's using an Apple2 computer and
>> would play games for hours on end when my teacher for the visually
>> impaired would permit me to spend my time playing games. As other new
>> members have said recently, this emulator has brought back memories. The
>> fact that a software version of the Echo synth was created is amazing to
>> me. Although I expressed my thanks to Jayson in a private email before
>> joining this list, I want everyone on here to know how excited I am!
>>
>>  
>>
>> I also have a question. How do I use the Echo training disk echocric.dsk?
>> When I load it into the emulator, I am asked if I want training on how to
>> use the Echo. I answer yes and the Echo stops talking. Is this disk not
>> blind-friendly?
>>
>>  
>>
>> Blake
>>
>>  
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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> 
> 
> 
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> 

-- 
Have a good day,
Tony Baechler
tony at baechler.net