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APE - To mimic: The Altair Peripheral Emulator

The Altair Peripheral Emulator is a program that allows a Windows PC to emulate up to four floppy disk drives for an Altair 8800 series computer.

Using a "Serial Bus"

The Altair Peripheral Emulator makes use of technology developed for later “consumer” computers such as the Atari 800 and Commodore 64. It employs a cable between a serial port on the Altair computer and a COM port on the Windows PC. A special version of Digital Research’s CP/M 2.2 is available that has been configured to work with APE. This “Serial Bus” is used to transfer disk “sectors” between the Altair and the Windows PC hosting APE.

Altair Requirements

An Altair 8800 series computer:

Actually any 8080/Z80 based microcomputer with at least 32K of RAM.

An Altair 88-2SIO:

Actually any Motorola 6850 UART based, dual port Serial I/O card addressed at the MITS standard ports of 16 and 18 decimal.

A terminal device:

Attached to the Altair’s port 16.

Windows PC Requirements

A serial cable:

Connecting the Altair’s port 18 to an available COM port on the Windows PC.

The Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework:

CP/M Configurations for use with APE

Digital Research CP/M 2.2 is available for use with the Altair Peripheral Emulator in a number of configurations based on the amount of available RAM, the number of available Serial Ports, and the availability of an optional Tarbell Electronics 1011D Floppy Disk Controller.

CP/M Configuration	Console Port	APE Port	APE Disks	Tarbell Disks	RAM in Kilobytes
2.7.007	16	18	3	0	64
2.7.008	16	18	3	0	32
2.7.009	16	18	2	1	64
2.7.010	16	18	2	1	32
2.7.xxx	16	18	Custom	Custom	Custom

Each CP/M Configuration is an APE System Disk file: "APE_System_Disk_kk_An_Tn_ver.ape"

Other configurations of CP/M may be available by sending an email with your required “configuration” to the address below. (More CP/M Configurations here.)

Altair Peripheral Emulator

(APE@officeliveusers.com) or Contact Us.

Quick FAQs

What does it cost?
The Altair Peripheral Emulator is provided without charge and “As Is.” No warranty is provided, expressed, or implied. “Risk of use” of this software lies solely with the user. No support is guaranteed.

If I need Technical Support or have a question?
Limited support may be available by sending an email to:
(APE@officeliveusers.com) or Contact Us.

What is the status of the software?
Since this is the initial release of both the Altair Peripheral Emulator and the matching BIOS for CP/M 2.2 it should be considered as “Pre-release” software at this time. Updates and an actual “Release” will be made available based on user feedback.

More FAQs here.

How do I get the software?

Download the current version of APE Here. (Version 1.0.2.0)

Please send feedback and comments to:

(APE@officeliveusers.com) or Contact Us.

Frank Barberis

APE - To mimic: The Altair Peripheral Emulator