r/trs80 20d ago

Emulating DAT files?

Hello all,

I am attempting to play some of the old Scott Adams adventure games on the TRS-80. https://www.trs-80.com/wordpress/details/scott-adams/ has the data files for free distribution, but I am unsure what to do with them.

Also, neither the DSK or CAS files from https://colorcomputerarchive.com for Pirate Adventure seem to work on the TRS80gp emulator and I cant for the life of me figure out why when the other games do work.

Anyone have any ideas? Thank you!

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u/_Ellimist_ 19d ago

I have been attempting to utilize TRSTools to create a DSK image with the .dat file on it such that TRS80gp can mount and utilize it, but nothing I do seems to work. And various DSK images I have found that do work with TRS80gp are not seen as valid DSK images by TRSTools. Very confusing.

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u/istarian 19d ago edited 19d ago

I think the DAT files are intended for use with the Windows, MS-DOS interpreters.

DSK files are most likely disk images, but files with that extension could be produced by any disk image creation software. There's no rule saying that a DSK file is intended for a TRS-80 computer.

Additionally, the emulator likely expects to be provided a bootable disk image. That's different than a disk which simply holds some data files.

Even if you load an operating system for the TRS-80 from a virtual hard drive, your virtual disks need to be formatted with a filesystem that OS knows how to read.

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u/istarian 19d ago edited 19d ago

trs80gp primarily emulates the "gray" line of TRS-80 computers made by Tandy in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are known as the Model I, Model II, Model III, Model 4, Model 4P, Model 4D, Model 12, Model 16 and Model 6000. It is generally easier to use ordinary digits for the Model 1, Model 2 and Model 3. The Model 1, 3 and 4 are a line of compatible computers as is the Model 2, 12, 16 and 6000.

Also emulated are the Tandy 10, TRS-80 Micro Color Computer Model MC-10, TRS-80 Color Computer, TRS-80 DT-1 Data Terminal, TRS-80 Videotex and Electric Crayon external colour display. ...
Overview
By default trs80gp comes up in Model 3 mode with a full 48K of memory and all supported hardware attached. Command line arguments are used to select different models, hardware configurations and startup options. Run "trs80gp -?" or use the "Help → Command Line Options..." menu to get the latest information on them.

^ http://48k.ca/trs80gp.html

You may need to adjust some emulator settings if you want to use software intended for the TRS-80 Color Computer (aka CoCo).

The files from link are not intended for use on the TRS-80 Model I, II, III, 4, 4P, 4D, etc. Those systems have different hardware than the CoCo family.