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  F.A.Q.
Introduction:

Following text covers various questions, which have been sent to us or likely, might be sent to us in the future.
 Q: What exactly is an "emulator"?
 A: Emulator (also reffered as "emu") is a computer program, which tries to simulate different hardware and software than actually present inside the box called "computer". It means that when using emulator, computer manufactured by company X, behaves like the one manufactured by company Y and so on. Using this program, you can, for example, run native Atari, Amiga or Mac etc. software on your PC. Because this site contains materials related to atari8bit, we'll focus on emulators of Atari 8-bit computers, like Atari 400/800/800XL/65XE/130XE and their clones. These programmes emulating above mentioned atari 8bit systems can be found in the Emulators section.
 Q: Which emulator is the best one?
 A: Well, experience had taught us, that if you're willing and trying different configurations, you probably get the best results with Atari800 emulator which seems to have, at this time, very good support by programmers, some of them former atari8bit coders and other experienced individuals. Another one, also supported and under continuous development, is Atari800Win. Others seem to be little bit outdated and no longer supported, such as XL-It! or POKEY, but it's possible, that some image will not work with those (by us) high-rated emus and will work with these, now considered (by us) almost obsolete. So, give it a try a take look into our Emulators section!
 Q: What is OS-ROM? Do you I need some OS-ROMs to run the gamez?
 A: Yes. To be precise, not to run the games, but to run emulator itself. As stated above, emulator is a software attempting to emulate hardware (primarily). Some emus try to emulate software (or let's call it firmware) as well, but in order to keep the most available compatibility rate, OS ROMs files seem to be somewhat better solution. These ROMs files are actual dumps of chips (or chip) inside the computer and contain complete operating systems routines, kernels etc. There are many different version of such ROMs, depending on Atari computer model it was dumped from. To use it with emulator, run the config and set the path to the ROM file (usually named xxx.rom). Note that some game images work with certain ROM, while not working with others. If experiencing troubles, take your time and test different ROM settings!
 Q: I wanna play gamez, but don't know what is the .atr thing!
 A: All games in our archive are, as you'll soon discover, named xxx.atr. These are images of real atari8bit floppy disks or any other mediums (tapes or cartridges) and were converted for use with emulators, for many technical difficulties arise when you try to read all those vintage Atari floppy disks, tapes and carts on nowadays computer platforms. Any file named xxx.atr should be loaded into the emulator using a familiar method.
 Q: I can't get that damned xxx.xxx image working!
 A: This question, which isn't as rare as we would like it to be, actually, it is completely common; it's highly possible that neither we are able to run this image at the present time. Although, we're trying to verify all of the images available in the archive, we can't avoid non-working images. Please be patient and do the best you can: try different emus' settings and different emus and if still unsuccesfull, send us a comment into our Troubleshooting section, when we plan to set up a discussion regarding problems with running various images on different emus and similar. Take your part in our efforts!
 Q: I'm looking for the tremendous little game called xxx.xxx and didn't find it. Why?
 A: Yes, we try to update our archives as often as possible, however, we are just a humans, not a machines connected to the internet 24 hour per day. If you can't find some image in our archive, try searching the Web and take a look at our Links section. First of all, try atari8bit search engine XLSearch. By the way, we plan to add an Upload section, so you can share you *unique* and *rare* images with us and with other atari8bit ethusiasist.
 Q: It's gonna be the *BIG* thing when you will finish this site, do you know it?
 A: Actually, yes. We know, there is a *lot* of work to do now, but we are, in fact, briliant individuals, gifted with the will and ability to make this site the best one in whole known universe. Trust us and support us any way you can!
 Q: Atari8bit Will Never Die! (Not a question ?!)
 A: Sure thing! (Nevermind...)
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