izapple2/doc/command_line.md

Command Line Configuration Guide

This guide explains how to configure the izapple2 emulator using command line options.

Table of Contents

• Basic Usage
• Models
• Slot Configuration
• Keeping the Disk Images Unmodified
• Simplified Filename Configuration
• Reference
• Examples
• Tips

Basic Usage

izapple2 [options] [files...]

The emulator can be started with various command line options to customize the hardware configuration, and optionally with disk image files to load.

Models

Models are pre-configured hardware setups that define the Apple II variant to emulate. Each model specifies the board type, CPU, ROM, default cards, and other hardware characteristics. It also loads a default set of diskettes.

Available Models

Use the -model flag to select a model:

izapple2 -model=2enh

Available models:

• 2 - Apple ][
• 2e - Apple IIe
• 2enh - Apple //e (default, enhanced version)
• 2plus - Apple ][+
• base64a - Base 64A
• basis108 - Basis 108
• cpm - Apple ][+ with CP/M
• cpm3 - Apple //e with CP/M 3.0
• cpm65 - Apple //e with CPM-65
• desktop - Apple II DeskTop
• dos32 - Apple ][ with 13 sectors disk adapter and DOS 3.2x
• forth - Apple ][+ with FORTH in ROM
• pascal - Apple //e with Apple Pascal 1.3
• prodos - Apple //e ProDOS
• swyft - Swyft
• ultraterm - Apple ][+ with Videx Ultraterm demo

The model none starts from the settings shared by all the models, with no board, ROM or character generator ROM. They have to be given with -board, -rom and -charrom:

izapple2 -model=none -board=2plus -rom=myrom.rom -charrom=mycharrom.rom

For a complete list of available models, see the configs/ directory or run:

izapple2 -h

Custom Models

You can create custom model configuration files (.cfg format) and load them by specifying the filename:

izapple2 -model=myconfig.cfg

Set the IZAPPLE2_CUSTOM_MODEL environment variable to specify a default location for custom model files.

Slot Configuration

The Apple II has 8 expansion slots (0-7) where peripheral cards can be installed. Each slot can be configured independently.

Full Slot Configuration Syntax

The full syntax for configuring a slot is:

-s<slot> <card_name>[,<param1>=<value1>,<param2>=<value2>,...]

Example:

izapple2 -s6 diskii,disk1="mydisk.dsk",disk2="backup.dsk"

Available Cards

Common cards include:

• diskii - Disk II floppy drive controller
• smartport - SmartPort hard disk controller
• mouse - Mouse card
• parallel - Parallel printer card
• vidhd - VidHD graphics card
• fastchip - Accelerator card
• language - Language card (16KB RAM expansion)
• empty - No card installed

For a complete list of available cards and their parameters, see the individual card documentation files in the doc/ directory or run:

izapple2 -h

Slot Defaults

The default model (2enh) configures slots as follows:

• Slot 0: Language card
• Slot 1: Empty
• Slot 2: VidHD
• Slot 3: FastChip
• Slot 4: Mockingboard
• Slot 5: Empty
• Slot 6: Disk II with DOS 3.3
• Slot 7: Empty

Keeping the Disk Images Unmodified

When the software saves, the emulator writes to the disk it was given, in the file it was loaded from. With -saveDir the changes go to an overlay file in that directory instead, and the image is only ever read:

izapple2 -saveDir ~/.izapple2/saves mygame.dsk

The overlay is named after the disk with .ovl added, and holds only the parts the software wrote, so it is small: a few kilobytes for a diskette, and for a 32Mb hard disk only the blocks that were saved. Loading the same disk again puts them back on top of the image.

Because the image is only read, this also makes writable the disks that could not be written at all: the ones inside a zip or a gzip, the ones loaded from an URL, and the ones embedded in the executable.

An overlay carries a checksum of the image it was made from and is refused if it does not match, so it is never applied to a different disk that happens to have the same name.

The cards that write to their disks, diskii, smartport and prodos, take a savedir parameter of their own. It defaults to the -saveDir of the machine, and none writes back to the image even when the machine has one:

# The hard disk keeps its saves apart, the diskette is written in place
izapple2 -saveDir ~/saves -s7 smartport,image1=big.hdv -s6 diskii,disk1=work.dsk,savedir=none

WOZ and NIB diskettes are read only by nature and never write, with or without a save directory.

Simplified Filename Configuration

Positional Filename Arguments

The simplest way to load disk images is to pass them as positional arguments (without specifying a slot):

izapple2 disk1.dsk disk2.dsk

The emulator will automatically configure slots based on file types:

• Diskettes: Configured in slots 6 and 5 (up to 4 diskettes total)
• Block devices: Configured in slots 7 and 5 (up to 8 devices total)
• WAV files: Connected to the cassette tape input (one tape maximum)

How It Works

The emulator automatically:

1. Detects whether each file is a diskette (.dsk, .do, .po in diskette format), a tape recording (.wav) or block device
2. Creates the appropriate card configuration:
   • Diskettes → diskii card in slot 6 (first two) and slot 5 (next two)
   • Block devices → smartport card in slot 7 (first) and slot 5 (remaining)
   • WAV files → cassette tape input, as with the -tape flag

If a tape is the only file provided, no disk card is configured so that the machine goes directly to the BASIC prompt, ready to LOAD from the tape.

Examples

# Single diskette → slot 6
izapple2 mydisk.dsk

# Two diskettes → slot 6 (both disks)
izapple2 disk1.dsk disk2.dsk

# Three diskettes → slot 6 (first two), slot 5 (third)
izapple2 disk1.dsk disk2.dsk disk3.dsk

# Four diskettes → slot 6 (first two), slot 5 (last two)
izapple2 disk1.dsk disk2.dsk disk3.dsk disk4.dsk

# Tape recording → cassette input, no disk card, type LOAD to read it
izapple2 game.wav

Partial Slot Configuration

If the default slot assignment doesn't meet your needs, you can configure specific slots using just filenames. The emulator will automatically detect the file type and create the appropriate card configuration.

Syntax

Instead of the full configuration:

izapple2 -s4 diskii,disk1="disk.dsk"

You can simply use:

izapple2 -s4 disk.dsk

Multiple Files in One Slot

You can specify multiple files separated by commas:

# Two diskettes in slot 6
izapple2 -s6 disk1.dsk,disk2.dsk

# Equivalent to:
izapple2 -s6 diskii,disk1="disk1.dsk",disk2="disk2.dsk"

Limitations:

• Disk II cards support a maximum of 2 diskettes per slot
• You cannot mix diskettes and block devices in the same slot

Disk Aliases

The emulator provides convenient aliases for common disk images:

• dos33 → <internal>/dos33.dsk
• prodos → <internal>/ProDOS_2_4_3.po
• cpm → <internal>/cpm_2.20B_56K.po
• cardcat → <internal>/Card Cat 1.7.dsk

Example:

izapple2 -s6 dos33
# Equivalent to: izapple2 -s6 diskii,disk1="<internal>/dos33.dsk"

Reference

Complete command line options reference:

Usage:  izapple2 [file]
  file
    	path to image to use on the boot device
  -board string
    	main board, can be '2plus', '2e', 'base64a' or 'basis108' (default "2e")
  -charrom string
    	rom file for the character generator (default "<internal>/Apple IIe Video Enhanced.bin")
  -cpu string
    	cpu type, can be '6502' or '65c02' (default "65c02")
  -forceCaps
    	force all letters to be uppercased (no need for caps lock!)
  -model string
    	set base model, 'none' to give the board, rom and charrom as parameters (default "2enh")
  -mods string
    	comma separated list of mods applied to the board, available mods are 'shift', 'four-colors
  -nsc string
    	add a DS1216 No-Slot-Clock on the main ROM (use 'main') or a slot ROM (default "main")
  -profile
    	generate profile trace to analyse with pprof
  -ramworks string
    	memory to use with RAMWorks card, max is 16384 (default "8192")
  -rgb
    	emulate the RGB modes of the 80col RGB card for DHGR
  -rom string
    	main rom file (default "<internal>/Apple2e_Enhanced.rom")
  -romx
    	emulate a RomX
  -s0 string
    	slot 0 configuration. (default "language")
  -s1 string
    	slot 1 configuration. (default "empty")
  -s2 string
    	slot 2 configuration. (default "vidhd")
  -s3 string
    	slot 3 configuration. (default "fastchip")
  -s4 string
    	slot 4 configuration. (default "mockingboard")
  -s5 string
    	slot 5 configuration. (default "empty")
  -s6 string
    	slot 6 configuration. (default "diskii,disk1=<internal>/dos33.dsk")
  -s7 string
    	slot 7 configuration. (default "empty")
  -saveDir string
    	directory to keep what the software writes to the disks, leaving the images unmodified. 'none' to write back to the images (default "none")
  -screen string
    	monitor the screen is shown on, can be 'color', 'colorscanlines', 'green' or 'greenscanlines' (default "colorscanlines")
  -showConfig
    	show the calculated configuration and exit
  -speed string
    	cpu speed in Mhz, can be 'ntsc', 'pal', 'full' or a decimal nunmber (default "ntsc")
  -tape string
    	WAV file with a tape recording for the cassette input (default "none")
  -trace string
    	trace CPU execution with one or more comma separated tracers (default "none")

The available pre-configured models are:
  2: Apple ][
  2e: Apple IIe
  2enh: Apple //e
  2plus: Apple ][+
  base64a: Base 64A
  basis108: Basis 108
  cpm: Apple ][+ with CP/M
  cpm3: Apple //e with CP/M 3.0
  cpm65: Apple //e with CPM-65
  desktop: Apple II DeskTop
  dos32: Apple ][ with 13 sectors disk adapter and DOS 3.2x
  forth: Apple ][+ with FORTH in ROM
  gaming: Apple //e for gaming
  pascal: Apple //e with Apple Pascal 1.3
  prodos: Apple //e Prodos
  swyft: swyft
  ultraterm: Apple ][+ with Videx Ultraterm demo
Custom models may be specified by filename.  Use 'IZAPPLE2_CUSTOM_MODEL' to set default location.

The available cards are:
  brainboard: Firmware card. It has two ROM banks
  brainboard2: Firmware card. It has up to four ROM banks
  dan2sd: Apple II Peripheral Card that Interfaces to a ATMEGA328P for SD card storage
  diskii: Disk II interface card
  diskiiseq: Disk II interface card emulating the Woz state machine
  fastchip: Accelerator card for Apple IIe (limited support)
  forthrom: Firmware card with Forth. It replaces the Basic ROM
  fujinet: SmartPort interface card hosting the Fujinet
  language: Language card with 16 extra KB for the Apple ][ and ][+
  memexp: Memory expansion card
  mockingboard: Mockingboard sound card with two AY-3-8913 sound generators
  mouse: Mouse card implementation, does not emulate a real card, only the firmware behaviour
  multirom: Multiple Image ROM card
  parallel: Card to dump to a file what would be printed to a parallel printer
  prodosblock: ProDOS block device interface card
  prodosromcard3: A bootable 4 MB ROM card by Ralle Palaveev
  prodosromdrive: A bootable 1 MB solid state disk by Terence Boldt
  saturn: RAM card with 128Kb, it's like 8 language cards
  smartport: SmartPort interface card
  softswitchlogger: Card to log softswitch accesses
  swyftcard: Card with the ROM needed to run the Swyftcard word processing system
  thunderclock: Clock card
  videx: Videx Videoterm compatible 80 columns card
  videxultraterm: Videx Utraterm compatible 80 columns card
  vidhd: Firmware signature of the VidHD card to trick Total Replay to use the SHR mode
  z80softcard: Microsoft Z80 SoftCard to run CP/M

The available tracers are:
  cpm: Trace CPM BDOS calls
  cpm65: Trace CPM65 BDOS calls skipping terminal IO
  cpm65full: Trace CPM65 BDOS calls
  cpu: Trace CPU execution
  mli: Trace ProDOS MLI calls
  mos: Trace MOS calls with Applecorn skipping terminal IO
  mosfull: Trace MOS calls with Applecorn
  panicss: Panic on unimplemented softswitches
  rom: Trace monitor ROM calls
  ss: Trace sotfswiches calls
  ssreg: Trace sotfswiches registrations
  ucsd: Trace UCSD system calls

Examples

Basic Examples

# Start with default configuration
izapple2

# Start with a specific disk
izapple2 mydisk.dsk

# Use a different model
izapple2 -model=2plus

# Show current configuration
izapple2 -showConfig

Slot Configuration Examples

# Configure slot 4 with a diskette (simplified)
izapple2 -s4 games.dsk

# Configure slot 4 with two diskettes (simplified)
izapple2 -s4 disk1.dsk,disk2.dsk

# Configure slot 7 with a hard disk (full syntax)
izapple2 -s7 smartport,image1="harddisk.po"

# Configure multiple slots
izapple2 -s4 disk1.dsk -s5 disk2.dsk -s7 smartport,image1="hd.po"

# Mix simplified and full syntax
izapple2 -s4 mydisk.dsk -s6 diskii,disk1="boot.dsk",disk2="data.dsk"

Advanced Examples

# Apple IIe with custom speed and tracing
izapple2 -model=2enh -speed=2.0 -trace=cpu,ss

# Maximum RAM configuration
izapple2 -ramworks=16384

# Custom ROM with RGB output
izapple2 -rom=custom.rom -rgb

# Multiple disks with different configurations
izapple2 -s6 dos33 -s5 disk1.dsk,disk2.dsk -s7 smartport,image1="hd.po"

Positional Arguments Examples

# Boot from a specific disk
izapple2 mydisk.dsk

# Load multiple diskettes
izapple2 boot.dsk data1.dsk data2.dsk

# Combine positional arguments with slot configuration
izapple2 boot.dsk -s7 smartport,image1="harddisk.po"

Tips

1. Flags must come before positional arguments in the command line
2. Use quotes around filenames with spaces: -s6 "my disk.dsk"
3. Boolean flags use true, false or nothing: -showConfig=true is the same as -showConfig
4. View all options with izapple2 -h
5. Test configurations with -showConfig to see the final setup without starting the emulator