atrcopy/README.rst

ATRCopy
=======

Utilities to list files on and extract files from Atari 8-bit emulator disk
images.  Eventually, I hope to add support for these images to pyfilesystem.

Prerequisites
-------------

Starting with ATRcopy 2.0, numpy is required.


References
==========

* http://www.atariarchives.org/dere/chapt09.php
* http://atari.kensclassics.org/dos.htm
* http://www.crowcastle.net/preston/atari/
* http://www.atarimax.com/jindroush.atari.org/afmtatr.html


Supported Disk Image Formats
============================

* ``XFD``: XFormer images, basically raw disk dumps
* ``ATR``: Nick Kennedy's disk image format; includes 16 byte header

Supported Filesystem Formats
----------------------------

* XEX format: Atari executable files
* Atari DOS in single, enhanced, and double density
* KBoot format: a single executable file packaged up into a bootable disk image


Example Usage
=============

To extract all non SYS files while converting to lower case, use::

    $ python atrcopy.py /tmp/GAMES1.ATR -x -l -n
    GAMES1.ATR
    File #0 : *DOS     SYS  039 : skipping system file dos.sys
    File #1 : *MINER2       138 : copying to miner2
    File #2 : *DEFENDER     132 : copying to defender
    File #3 : *CENTIPEDE    045 : copying to centiped.e
    File #4 : *GALAXIAN     066 : copying to galaxian
    File #5 : *AUTORUN SYS  005 : skipping system file autorun.sys
    File #6 : *DIGDUG       133 : copying to digdug
    File #7 : *ANTEATER     066 : copying to anteater
    File #8 : *ASTEROIDS    066 : copying to asteroid.s


Example on Mac OS X
-------------------

OS X supplies python with the operating system so you shouldn't need to install
a framework version from python.org.

To prevent overwriting important system files, it's best to create a working
folder: a new empty folder somewhere and do all your testing in that folder.
For this example, create a folder called ``atrtest`` in your ``Documents``
folder.  Put a few disk images in this directory to use for testing.

Download or copy the file ``atrcopy.py`` and put it the ``Documents/atrtest``
folder.

Since this is a command line programe, you must start a Terminal by double
clicking on Terminal.app in the ``Applications/Utilities`` folder in
the Finder.  When Terminal opens, it will put you in your home folder
automatically.  Go to the ``atrtest`` folder by typing::

    cd Documents/atrtest

You should see the file ``atrcopy.py`` as well as the other ATR images you
placed in this directory by using the command::

    ls -l

For example, you might see::

    mac:~/Documents/atrtest $ ls -l
    -rw-r--r-- 1 rob  staff  92176 May 18 21:57 GAMES1.ATR
    -rwxr-xr-x 1 rob  staff   8154 May 18 22:36 atrcopy.py

Now, run the program by typing ``python atrcopy.py YOURFILE.ATR`` and you should
see the contents of the ``ATR`` image in the familiar Atari DOS format::

    mac:~/Documents/atrtest $ python atrcopy.py GAMES1.ATR
    GAMES1.ATR
    File #0 : *DOS     SYS  039 
    File #1 : *MINER2       138 
    File #2 : *DEFENDER     132 
    File #3 : *CENTIPEDE    045 
    File #4 : *GALAXIAN     066 
    File #5 : *AUTORUN SYS  005 
    File #6 : *DIGDUG       133 
    File #7 : *ANTEATER     066 
    File #8 : *ASTEROIDS    066 

Without any additional arguments, it will not extract files.  To actually pull
the files out of the ``ATR`` image, you need to specify the ``-x`` command line
argument::

    mac:~/Documents/atrtest $ python atrcopy.py -x GAMES1.ATR
    GAMES1.ATR
    File #0 : *DOS     SYS  039 : copying to DOS.SYS
    File #1 : *MINER2       138 : copying to MINER2
    File #2 : *DEFENDER     132 : copying to DEFENDER
    File #3 : *CENTIPEDE    045 : copying to CENTIPED.E
    File #4 : *GALAXIAN     066 : copying to GALAXIAN
    File #5 : *AUTORUN SYS  005 : copying to AUTORUN.SYS
    File #6 : *DIGDUG       133 : copying to DIGDUG
    File #7 : *ANTEATER     066 : copying to ANTEATER
    File #8 : *ASTEROIDS    066 : copying to ASTEROID.S

There are other flags, like the ``-l`` flag to covert to lower case, and the
``--xex`` flag to add the `.XEX` extension to the filename, and ``-n`` to skip
DOS files.  So a full example might be::

    mac:~/Documents/atrtest $ python atrcopy.py -n -l -x --xex GAMES1.ATR
    GAMES1.ATR
    File #0 : *DOS     SYS  039 : skipping system file dos.sys
    File #1 : *MINER2       138 : copying to miner2.xex
    File #2 : *DEFENDER     132 : copying to defender.xex
    File #3 : *CENTIPEDE    045 : copying to centipede.xex
    File #4 : *GALAXIAN     066 : copying to galaxian.xex
    File #5 : *AUTORUN SYS  005 : skipping system file autorun.sys
    File #6 : *DIGDUG       133 : copying to digdug.xex
    File #7 : *ANTEATER     066 : copying to anteater.xex
    File #8 : *ASTEROIDS    066 : copying to asteroids.xex


Command Line Arguments
----------------------

The available command line arguments are summarized using the standard ``--
help`` argument::

    $ python atrcopy.py --help
    usage: atrcopy.py [-h] [-v] [-l] [--dry-run] [-n] [-x] [--xex] ATR [ATR ...]

    Extract images off ATR or XFD format disks

    positional arguments:
      ATR            a disk image file [or a list of them]

    optional arguments:
      -h, --help     show this help message and exit
      -v, --verbose
      -l, --lower    convert filenames to lower case
      --dry-run      don't extract, just show what would have been extracted
      -n, --no-sys   only extract things that look like games (no DOS or .SYS
                     files)
      -x, --extract  extract files
      --xex          add .xex extension
      -f, --force    force operation on disk images that have bad directory
                     entries or look like boot disks