Info on the Portfolio

• The PofoWiki is a rich source of information around the Portfolio. You can find a number of revised articles (in German) out of the PofoInfo journal there

• My Assembler course from the journal "PofoInfo" of the Portfolio Club Deutschland (PCD):
  Part 1 (from issue 2/97)
  Part 2 (from issue 3/97)
  Part 3 (from issue 1/98)
  Part 4 (from issue 2/98)
  

• Interesting data for programmers:
  IO-ports of the parallel interface and an alternative PutPixel routine, which is approx. 4x as fast as funktion 0Ch of the BIOS-interrupt 10h.


• The joystick adaptor enables the use of digital joysticks (Eighties home computer type) with the Portfolio and the parallel interface. It's based on a scheme designed by Jan Sedlak. The adaptor can be emulated by a PC running JOYEMU.COM, connected to the Portfolio with a laplink cable for the parallel port. The cursor keys of the PC will then replace the Joystick.
  


• The most important software development tool:
  

My Portfolio software

• Connect a Zip 100 drive to the Portfolio using PofoZip.


• TransFolio is a command line tool for Linux and Windows which - as did Atari's DOS program FT.COM - enables data transfer between the PC and the Portfolio. The full description in German is available at www.pofowiki.de.

  After version 0.9 proved to be quite stable for a decade, finally version 1.0 has been released in February 2018. It fixes a few minor issues.



• A few utilities: Almboost, Bestform, Chime, Morse and Phonetmr.
  

  Bestform 1.1 is a bugfix release to avoid 512 bytes of wasted memory on the RAM card. Bestform 1.2 allows to optimize drives other than A:



• How about a game? Arcade feeling will arise with Phoenix!
  
  After more than 10 years of development and numerous usability tests, Phoenix 2003 offers smoother graphics, enhanced controls, automatic clockspeed compensation and more.
  (For comparison: old version dated 1996)


• Yet another game: FoliDash, a Boulderdash® clone.
  Latest release: Version 1.35 (2007-03-18)
  Please note: Never press both keys U and K (or even M) at the same time during the game!
  For comparison: Old version 0.91 of FoliDash.
  Screenshot of the title screen, ...
  ... the options menu ...
  ... and a cave.


• Only for geeks: RC turns your little Atari into a programmable infrared remote control (Parallel port and a small circuit required).
  Version 1.0 (2006-03-04): Enhanced device compatibility and usability.
  Note: The data file "RC.DAT" generated by the old version 0.96 can not be read by RC 1.0!
  

  	During normal sending mode all user defined hotkeys for the active device are visible.
  	The help screen shows RC's main menu.
  	The diagnostics mode informs about the current memory allocation. It also features a graphical display of every recorded remote control signal.
  	Among other settings, you can select one out of four different carrier frequencies in the options menu.
  	A device list as well as a command list help to keep track.
  	Parallel port plug with integrated foto transistor and infrared diode.



• Owners of the PCD EPROM card can use CCMIMAGE to read and write Flash memory. Supports bank switching for chip capacities beyond 128 KByte.
  


• F-METER and a simple adaptor (German description) turn the Portfolio into a helpful capacitor tester.
  The programm is not yet perfect, but already usable.
  


• Finally, there's two diagnosis tools: POFOTEST.ZIP.
  With LCD_TEST.COM you can check the speed of your Portfolio's LCD controller. There is a German description how to use the program.
  RAM_TEST.COM may help you in case of memory problems. Again, only a German manual is available.

More software

• Lutz Herrmann has developped Gofolio, a special programming language for the Portfolio. Get the compiler and a runtime library from his homepage.


• PL1 (not PL/1) is another programming language for the Portfolio. It's an interpreter with "semi-compiled" code and Forth-like syntax.


• Although not specifically designed for the Portfolio, this utility program is quite small and helpful: PACKDISK can defragment memory cards and release stale clusters, which CHKDSK fails to do. (Note: Naturally, defragmenting will not speed up access times for RAM cards.)


• Peter Faasse wrote DDT, a symbolic debugger. Pretty nice and only 6K in size! Download version 0.87: DDT.ZIP (40K)
  Peter also developped an IDE-interface that enables attaching a harddisk to the Portfolio! I have put together a hardware description. Download version 0.86 of the driver: POFOIDE.ZIP (71K)

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