Sporniket's MO/TO tools

[WARNING] Please read carefully this note before using this project. It contains important facts.

Content

1. What is Sporniket's MO/TO tools, and when to use it ?
2. What should you know before using Sporniket's MO/TO tools ?
3. How to use Sporniket's MO/TO tools ?
4. Known issues
5. Miscellanous

1. What is Sporniket's MO/TO tools, and when to use it ?

Sporniket's MO/TO tools is a python library with a set of command line interfaces that will assist a developper of software running on emulators of the family of computers made by Thomson during the 1980s, models "MO" and models "TO".

The current list of tools :

• Tools for basic language
  • moto_nl : number the lines of a basic source that have line unnumbered ; the command line interface is designed after the command nl.
  • moto_prettier : consistently format the provided utf-8 encoded basic source file
  • moto_bas2lst : convert tokenized or ASCII basic program into an utf-8 encoded basic source file
  • moto_lst2bas : convert an utf-8 encoded source file into tokenized or ASCII basic program
• Tools for manipulating media images (tape, floppy disks) for emulation and exchange
  • moto_tar : list, create or extract *.k7 tape images ; the command line interface is designed after the command tar (Tape ARchives)
  • moto_sdar : list, create or extract *.sd SDDrive disk images (a.k.a. SD ARchives) ; the command line interface is also designed after the command tar

Licence

Sporniket's MO/TO tools is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

Sporniket's MO/TO tools is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

Release notes

v0.0.6

Interim version, moto_fdar, the variant of moto_sdar that handle emulator floppy images, is available.

• Resolves #48 : [moto_tar] Output the list of files when creating or extracting quietly
• Resolves #50 : [moto_fdar] port moto_sdar to process *.fd images
• Resolves #52 : [moto_sdar][moto_fdar] 'auto.bat' file MUST be flagged as tokenized basic file when creating/adding to a disk image archive

v0.0.5

Interim version, moto_sdar is now usable, but archives created with it need to be tested on emulators and real hardware.

• Fixes #35 : [bug][moto_bas2lst] It should not emit empty lines
• Resolves #30 : [moto_sdar][moto_fdar] put content as a new catalog entry
• Resolves #38 : [moto_lib] DiskSector allows to change the data
• Resolves #41 : [moto_sdar][moto_fdar] Create a disk image
• Resolves #42 : [moto_sdar][moto_fdar] display pre- or post- processing of a file
• Resolves #46 : [moto_sdar][moto_fdar] Update a disk image

v0.0.4

Interim version, work has progressed tremendously after a year of hiatus. Tools have limited implementation but are not complete.

Support for python 3.8 and 3.9 is removed ; support for python 3.11, 3.12, and 3.13 is added

• Resolves #12 : [moto_lst2bas][mo5] Convert to tokenized format
• Resolves #14 : [moto_sdar] list the content of a disk archive
• Resolves #15 : [moto_sdar][moto_fdar] A library to handle the data layout of a disk image
• Resolves #17 : [moto_sdar][moto_fdar] A library to handle the file system of the drive operating system
• Resolves #20 : [moto_sdar][moto_fdar] A library to display the content being processed
• Resolves #28 : [moto_sdar][moto_fdar] extract the content of a catalog entry
• Fixes #31 : [bug] block allocation numbering and reserved track
• Resolves #33 : [moto_sdar] extract the content of a disk archive

v0.0.3

• Resolves #6 [moto_prettier] force upper case outside litteral string

v0.0.2

• Resolves #4 : [moto_tar][mo5] adjust the minimal sequence to spot the start of a bloc
• Resolves #5 : [moto_bas2lst] Convert basic ascii file to plain text utf-8 file (#9)
• Resolves #7 : [moto_lst2bas] Convert plain text files into ASCII basic

v0.0.1

The target platform is Thomson MO5.

Provides the following tools :

• moto_tar : create, list or extract files to or from a tape archive format ; the command line interface is designed after the command tar.
• moto_nl : number the lines of a basic source that have line numbers ; the command line interface is designed after the command nl.

2. What should you know before using Sporniket's MO/TO tools ?

Sporniket's MO/TO tools is written in python and supports python 3.10 up to 3.13

It uses the pdm utility to manage its dependencies and management tasks

see README packaging for further details.

Do not use Sporniket's MO/TO tools if this project is not suitable for your project.

3. How to use Sporniket's MO/TO tools ?

From sources

To get the latest available models, one must clone the git repository, build and install the package.

git clone https://github.com/sporniket/moto-tools.git
cd moto-tools
pdm run test
pdm build
pipx install $(ls ./dist/*.whl)

Then, invoke one of the command line interfaces :

python3 -m moto_tools_tar [option] input_file

Using pip

pipx install moto-tools-by-sporniket

Then, invoke the command line interface :

python3 -m moto_tools_tar [option] input_file

4. Known issues

See the project issues page.

5. Miscellanous

Supplemental documentation :

• README packaging : some technical details about packaging this project.
• README cli tar : the manual of the command line interface moto_tar.
• README cli nl : the manual of the command line interface moto_nl.
• README cli bas2lst : the manual of the command line interface moto_bas2lst.
• README cli lst2bas : the manual of the command line interface moto_lst2bas.
• README cli prettier : the manual of the command line interface moto_prettier.
• Tape archive format : the description of the format.

Report issues

Use the project issues page.