147 lines
5.3 KiB
Plaintext
147 lines
5.3 KiB
Plaintext
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A2TOOLS Manual for MS-DOS
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NAME
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A2TOOLS.EXE - tools to move data to and from Apple DOS
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3.3 disk images (Tip: To reduce typing on the command line
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it is better to shorten the program name to something like
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A2.EXE.)
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SYNOPSIS
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a2 dir disk_image
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a2 out [-r] disk_image a2_file [target_file]
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a2 in [-r] filetype disk_image a2_file [source_file]
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a2 del filename
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DESCRIPTION
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a2tools is a set of commands that facilitates the transfer
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of data between DOS and the Apple II environment via disk
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images (.dsk files). It is intended for use mainly with
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Apple II emulators.
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Features
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- Works with DOS 3.3-order .dsk disk images.
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- Expands tokenized Integer and Applesoft BASIC pro-
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grams.
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- Knows about sparse files.
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"dir" shows the directory contents of the specified image,
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including the disk volume and number of free sectors.
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"out" writes the file contained in the image to the target
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file if specified, or to the standard output otherwise.
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If the target file exists, it is overwritten. Unless the
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-r option is given, the data will be processed according
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to the file type as follows:
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Text: Output all data from the beginning of the file up
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to the first zero byte. The high bit is cleared
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and linefeeds are substituted for carriage returns.
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BASIC (Integer and Applesoft):
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Expand (detokenize) the program and output it as
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readable ASCII.
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Binary:
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Ignore the first two file bytes (base address), and
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use the next two bytes (length) to produce a binary
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file of the exact original size in bytes.
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Other types:
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Not accepted unless in raw mode (see below).
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If the -r (raw mode) option is given, no postprocessing of
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file data is done. For files of type other than T (text),
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the first 0/0 pair in the track/ sector list is assumed to
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mark the end of file. However, type T files may be
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sparse, with 0/0 pairs marking unwritten segments. Hence,
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this mode will always output type T files in multiples of
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31232 bytes, and others in multiples of 256 bytes.
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"in" writes to a new file in the image the source file if
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specified, or the standard input otherwise. The file must
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not already exist. The filetype argument must consist of
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a single letter denoting the type of the new file. Valid
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values are:
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T,t - text
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I,i - Integer BASIC
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A,a - Applesoft BASIC
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B,b[.addr] - binary (optional base address in hex)
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R,r - relocatable binary
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S,s - type S (obscure)
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X,x - "new A" (obscure)
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Y,y - "new B" (obscure)
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Unless the -r (raw mode) option is given, only types T and
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B are acceptable to a2in. Input processing is as follows:
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Text: Set the high bit and substitute carriage returns
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for linefeeds.
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Binary:
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Set the base address to that given in the filetype
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argument, or to the default of 0x2000. Set the
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file length to the exact length of the standard
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input stream. Since the length field is only two
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bytes wide, file lengths of 64K or more are ille-
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gal.
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In raw mode, the standard input is written directly to the
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file. Zeroes are used to pad any partial last sectors.
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If the new file is type T, blocks containing all zeroes
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are denoted by a 0/0 entry in the track/sector list
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instead of being allocated a sector. That is, sparse
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files will be created.
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MS-DOS NOTES
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Apple DOS 3.3 file names may contain spaces, which are
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separators for command-line arguments in DOS. To prevent
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this interpretation, enclose the entire name in "double
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quotes". A double quote itself may be included by pre-
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ceding it with a backslash.
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Standard input and output cannot be used to transfer
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binary data in DOS, in which case a source or destination
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filename is required.
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EXAMPLES
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Send a readable copy of the BASIC program "PLOT FUNCTION"
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on the disk image "basic.dsk" to the printer:
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C> a2 out basic.dsk "PLOT FUNCTION" prn
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Import the binary file "pics\airplane" into the disk image
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"pics.dsk". Assign it a name of "AIRPLANE" and a base
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address of 0x4000 (second hi- res graphics page):
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C> a2 in b.4000 pics.dsk AIRPLANE pics\airplane
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BUGS
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- Works with 143360-byte DOS 3.3-order images only.
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- Does not tokenize plain-text BASIC source files,
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although this is easily accomplished using the DOS
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3.3 EXEC command on such a file.
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- Doesn't handle multiple files, although it can eas-
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ily be wrapped in shell scripts to enhance conve-
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nience.
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AUTHOR
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Terry Kyriacopoulos <terryk@echo-on.net>
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7 April 2001
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