Begin3
Title:          GM Sunraycer - 3 Disks.  
Author:         General Motors - PUBLIC Domain Software
Version:        1987.
Entered-date:   26-May-2005.
Description:    100% working / fixed version of all 3 Sunraycer disks.
                These disk images have been 100% checked and verified
                and all work properly under AppleWin and ApplePC.
Keywords:       Sunraycer Solar Race Construction Sun Solar Cell.
Uploader:       moose AT move.to        (Mike "Moose" O'Malley - http://move.to/moose)
                kulasoft AT verizon.net (Mike Ching - http://www.angelfire.com/hi/kulasoft/
                thomas_lai2000 AT hotmail.com (Thomas Lai)
Primary-site:   ftp.asimov.net /pub/apple_II/images/educational/
                  67kB SunRaycer_GM__A_Solar_Triumph.zip
                  72kB SunRaycer_GM__Racing_With_The_Sun.zip
                  45kb SunRaycer_GM__Solar_Racer_Construction_Kit.zip
Platform:       Apple ][/Apple ][+/Apple //e
End

Disk Information:

SunRaycer_GM__A_Solar_Triumph.DSK
SunRaycer_GM__Racing_With_The_Sun.DSK

[ ] GM SUNRAYCER (double-sided, Public Domain, ~1987).
In 1987, the General Motors Sunraycer was the winner out of 24 solar
powered cars in a race across the continent of Australia. This program
explains the principles of solar energy and the winning ideas used in
designing the GM Sunraycer. You will also be given the opportunity
to take the controls of the Sunraycer and try to qualify for the
pole position in the race.  This software was made especially for
Primary School students.


SunRaycer_GM__Solar_Racer_Construction_Kit.DSK

[ ] SOLAR RACER CONSTRUCTION KIT (Public Domain, ~1987).
In this simulation, you build and test your own solar racer making the
same types of decisions that the designers of the Sunraycer had to make.
You choose the parts of your car (type of frame, battery/motor, and
solar panel), then try out your racer on one of fourteen available
test tracks in different kinds of weather.  This software was
made especially for Secondary School students.


Background Information : (short version !! ;) 

For years I have been trying to play SunRaycer again under 
emulation.  NONE of the disk images on Asimov or any other 
sites worked with any Apple 2 emulators (and I have tried 
new and old versions of just about everything out there - 
AppleWin, Apple PC, Apple OASIS, MESS, etc, etc). 
So, I assumed that the disk images were bad.

In Feb, 2005, I stopped in on a round the world trip to visit 
Mike Ching (from Kula Software - http://www.angelfire.com/hi/kulasoft/ )
to pick up a copy of the working disks.  I also spent a few hours 
trying to help Mike get his Apple <-> PC transfers setup and working, 
but something fishy was going on, and ADT wasn't playing ball.

When I got back home to Australia following this trip, I found that 
my Apple ][c no longer worked.  After several months of trying to fix it - 
reseating all of the socketable chips, replacing the Minitor BIOS with 
the self-test version (thanks to David Wilson of Wollongong, Australia), 
etc, etc - I still did not have a working Apple ][, so I could not 
investigate or transfer the working SunRaycer disks.

In the meantime, back in Hawaii, Mike Ching was having problems setting up 
ADT on his Apple ][, so I sent him over my Apple ][ floppy disk containing 
ADT, SST, Copy ][+, DDD, etc.  i.e. everything needed to transfer disk 
images between the Apple ][ and the PC.  The disk image for this disk has 
been available on Asimov since ~1999 :

   ADT_SST_Copy_][+_DDD_BCopy_Locksmith_Autonum_Renum__Mooses_Disk.dsk

Mike tried various methods to transfer the SunRaycer disks but the resulting 
disk images would NOT work under emulation on the PC.  As an experiment, 
he transferred working Sunraycer disks over to the PC as DSK 
(not NIB via SST !!) and then back again to the Apple ][ as DSK, and 
they booted fine on the Apple ][, but still would NOT work under any 
of the Apple ][ emulators out there (AppleWin, Apple PC, Apple OASIS, 
MESS, etc, etc) on the PC.

So, the disks must be using some sneaky or undocumented feature at boot.

There were 2 ways to fix this - fix the disk images or ammend the emulators 
to support whatever is happening.  Seeing it is only 2 disks in this boat so 
far, I reckoned that fixing the disks may be the easiest / fastest way forward.
The emulators could wait until later.  The first step was to find what was going on.

So, I posted a request for help of comp.emulators.apple2, and Thomas Lai 
stepped forward to check out the disks and see if he could fix them.
I emailed them to him that night.

The next morning, Thomas forwarded me working Sunraycer disks.  According 
to Thomas :

"The fix was simple: change the byte (Track$19,
Sector$0A, Address$17) from $E7 to $F7.  The problem
is caused by all of the emulator is not implement
rotating disk model (real floppy drive read different
data when the time between successive read is different)."

So, now we know what is wrong.  If the emulator authors want
to think about adding support for this, then that would be terrific
as well.  The current - unmodified - Sunraycer disk images on Asimov 
might then work.

Credits:
- Mike "Moose" O'Malley  - moose AT move.to
  http://move.to/moose
- Mike Ching at KulaSoft, Hawaii - kulasoft AT verizon.net
  http://www.angelfire.com/hi/kulasoft/
- Thomas Lai - thomas_lai2000 AT hotmail.com

EOF.
