New tape cleaner tool

Include new and ported/converted games, and old games/tools. Subjects about CP/M software goes in the CP/M Forum.
Bill B
Posts: 593
Joined: 26 Jan 2014 16:31

Re: New tape cleaner tool

Post by Bill B »

Another one loads :D
Composer001.png
Composer001.png (8.14 KiB) Viewed 15210 times
Composer002.png
Composer002.png (8.82 KiB) Viewed 15210 times
Composer003.png
Composer003.png (8.58 KiB) Viewed 15210 times
Again, it needs somebody to test it and make sure it is all working. Also, I think instructions will be required, Paul do you have any?

The audio file contains four programs: "SCREEN", "PANEL64", "SCREEN" (Again), "MANU64". The two copies of "SCREEN" are just loaders for the programs that follow (screen shot 1). I have separated the second pair into a separate MTX file.
Attachments
Composer512.zip
(110.82 KiB) Downloaded 596 times
Bill B
Posts: 593
Joined: 26 Jan 2014 16:31

Re: New tape cleaner tool

Post by Bill B »

SandL.png
SandL.png (8.29 KiB) Viewed 15206 times

One more success. This is a program in Basic.

The remaining files are proving more challenging.
Attachments
SandL.zip
(35.47 KiB) Downloaded 583 times
Bill B
Posts: 593
Joined: 26 Jan 2014 16:31

Re: New tape cleaner tool

Post by Bill B »

If is anybody else wants to have a play with TapeView, source code and compiled (Linux x86) version attached.

It should be possible to compile for RPi (easy) or Windows (more work required), although I have not done so.

Some cautions:
  • The code is not well structured, it just grew.
  • It is not commented.
  • There is no manual.
  • The UI is not polished.
Attachments
TapeView.zip
(296.47 KiB) Downloaded 589 times
Bill B
Posts: 593
Joined: 26 Jan 2014 16:31

Re: New tape cleaner tool

Post by Bill B »

Patience.png
Patience.png (8.82 KiB) Viewed 15178 times
A last one from me. I never managed to fully read the audio files for Patience. They have relatively large system variables blocks, in which I invariably drop bits. However I think I managed to read the Basic block (with some manual editing of the pulse train). I then turned this into an auto-type file for loading into MEMU.

The game is played by entering one or two character commands. The single letter commands are:

N - Start a new game.
R - Restart the current game.
D - Deal a new card from the pack.

The two character commands are for moving cards from one location to another, the first character specifies the source and the second the destination. The location codes are:

1-7 - The seven columns of partially revealed cards.
P - The pack of cards.
A - The "Aces" piles where cards a played out.

In my quick testing I have found that the program is not well protected against invalid entries, and can be crashed by (for example) specifying a source without a destination.

Also, on occasions it has rejected what I think are valid moves, so it is likely that although the program looks correct and runs there are a few incorrect characters. The program is best spaghetti Basic so I leave the debugging to somebody else.
Attachments
Patience.zip
(4.4 KiB) Downloaded 574 times
Bill B
Posts: 593
Joined: 26 Jan 2014 16:31

Re: New tape cleaner tool

Post by Bill B »

At this point I retire from tape cleaning and move on to something else.

Attached is the latest version of my program. It has some additional scanning modes.

It also the ability to manually edit the pulses. To do so:
  • Choose a scanning mode and parameters to do the best you can in interpreting the file.
  • Lock the detected pulses ("Manual" menu) so that re-scanning does not change them.
  • Zoom the graph in so that the detected pulse edges are shown as grey lines.
  • Left click on the graph to add new edges, or right click to remove edges. You probably want to add or remove two edges at a time.
  • Click the "Scan" button to update the interpretation of the pulses.
Attachments
TapeView.zip
(323.85 KiB) Downloaded 589 times
Martin A
Posts: 799
Joined: 09 Nov 2013 21:03

Re: New tape cleaner tool

Post by Martin A »

A well deserved retirement too! you've done an amazing job. :D
User avatar
thewiz
Posts: 137
Joined: 12 Aug 2012 16:08

Re: New tape cleaner tool

Post by thewiz »

Wow Bill, thats an amazing piece of work.

That is at least one commercial MIA that I know of recovered.

As for Interrupt, unfortunately these wavs are just files I accumulated from various places so I don't know what they are meant to be.
THIS is what Memotech is doing now.
Bill B
Posts: 593
Joined: 26 Jan 2014 16:31

Re: New tape cleaner tool

Post by Bill B »

Attempting to scan a tape audio file for Claus at MemoFest yesterday uncovered a couple of limitations in my TapeView program:
  • The BASIC listing was missing a space before some keywords when they appear in the middle of a statement. This has now been fixed.
  • The listing was failing to recognise NODDY pages, which are stored immediately above the BASIC source. The end of the BASIC code is now correctly recognised, and the NODDY pages are (for now) listed as Hex & ASCII.
I have also made a small user interface enhancement. If the "Go To Byte" feature is used, a yellow highlight is put behind the relevant pulses to confirm the action.

I still need to do some more work on the displaying of assembler and the NODDY pages, based upon the information in Paul's mtx2bas program.
TapeView.png
TapeView.png (108.74 KiB) Viewed 14268 times
Attachments
TapeView_12.zip
(329.34 KiB) Downloaded 510 times
stephen_usher
Posts: 325
Joined: 27 Nov 2016 19:58

Re: New tape cleaner tool

Post by stephen_usher »

It's impressive stuff.
User avatar
Crazyboss
Site Admin
Posts: 274
Joined: 09 Aug 2012 21:45
Location: Sweden
Contact:

Re: New tape cleaner tool

Post by Crazyboss »

Cool need to see if I can find a CPP compiler for windows :)

Happy to see, I am not the only one, dont flood my code with commentaries :)
//CLAUS - Webmaster at www.mtxworld.dk
Post Reply