v1.0

Sections

Introduction Downloading Handy Installing Handy Installing Games Setting Up Handy Playing A Game In-Game Screenshots

Introduction

Handy is an Atari Lynx handheld console emulator and is a bloody good one too. The Atari Lynx was released in 1989 to excellect reviews. It was the first colour handheld screen with an LCD display. It supported 4096 colours and also supported 3D graphics. Atari as usual converted most of it's back catalog to the Lynx as well as some of it's more advanced arcade hits of that time. Unfortunately for Atari, Sega released the Games Gear a couple of years later taking away a large chunk of the development companies leaving the superior Lynx with very little new software. Subsequently Atari pulled the plug soon after. Handy is a valiant attempt to emulate the Lynx and does a very good job with fantastic compatability and some good options for the nostalgic. Have fun! Top

Downloading Handy

You can find the latest version of Handy here. You will also need to find the lynx BIOS file called lynx.img. I would suggest trying a search engine like Google using the name Atari Lynx BIOS or lynx.img Top

Installing Handy

To install Handy you will need a copy of Winzip. All you have to do is right click over the zip file, select "Extract To..." and type C:\Handy into to the path area of the window that opens. Here is what the directory structure looks like... A good idea is to create a shortcut on your desktop by simply right clicking over the Handy icon and selecting "Send To..." and then desktop in the menu that appears. You will also have to put the lynx.img file into your C:\Handy folder as well to get handy to run. Top

Installing Games

Check out the links page for the latest information on where to get roms. To install the games you will need to place the zipped roms into the C:\Handy\Roms directory. If you are unsure on how to do this then try the basics tutorial. Top

Setting Up Handy

When you open Handy it opens a file window so you can load a game. If you don't want to open a game press cancel and you'll see this window... As you can see there isn't much too it but here's a complete description of the options you can change... File Menu Load Cartridge Loads a game Load Game Snapshot Saves the game you are playing Save Game Snapshot Loads a saved game BMP Snapshot Saves a snapshot of your game in BMP format. RAW Snapshot Saves a snapshot as raw data. Exit Exits Handy   Options Menu Sound Enable Enable the sound in games Joystick Enable Lets you use your Joypad/Joystick in games Key Definitions Opens this window... This is where you can change your keys. Simply press a button then press the key/joystick button you want to use. Normal Mode Runs your game using any hardware you have. Lynx LCD Emulation Emulates the low resolution LCD screen on a lynx. Eagle Mode Smoothes out the edges of on-screen graphics. GDI Mode Draw the game graphics with no help from hardware. Screen Zoom Expands the game graphics up to 4 times Rotate Screen Rotates the screen so you can play vertical scrolling games. Lynx Background This enables/disable the background image use to enhance Handy. Background Type This is where you select the type of backbround you want to use. You can add a small border to your game like this... Or you can use the image of a Lynx I like this... Or even a Lynx II... Lynx Networking Doesn't work at the moment. Reset Resets the loaded game Pause Pauses the loaded game   Help Menu Emulation Status Tells you how fast your game is running and lets you overclock it a bit. Top

Playing A Game

This is nice and simple and all you need to do is open Handy and select a rom. You should get something like this... You now need to knw some keys... General Keyboard Commands Arrow Keys Joypad movement Z Fire 1 X Fire 2 1 Option 1 2 Option 2 Q Pause F3 Reset Lynx F5 Pause/Run Game Ctrl + S Turns the sound on or off Ctrl + O Opens a game Ctrl + N Opens the Networks Play screen Ctrl + Alt + B Saves a BMP snapshot Ctrl + Alt + R Saves a RAW snapshot Top

In-Game Screenshots

Here are some screen shots of Handy doing it's stuff... Top

©2000-2003 MrV2K