retro-typein-tools 0.0.5

Debug and conversion tool for 1980s magazine type-in programs

retro-typein-tools

Tools for typing-in, debugging, and converting 1980s magazine type-in games and programs for use with Commodore and Atari emulators and original hardware.

Installation

pip install retro-typein-tools

Tool: debug_tokenize

The debug_tokenize tool is a debugger and converter for Commodore BASIC programs focused on tokenizing magazine type-in programs popular in the 1980s. Given an input text file containing BASIC source code in magazine type-in format, it checks the typed line entries against line checksums that were printed in the magazines to insure program is bug-free. It then outputs two files using the basename from the input file. The first file is for use with a separate tokenizer if desired and the second file is an executable for direct use with an emulator or original hardware.

Usage

After installation, use debug_tokenize directly from the command line - consult the help for the latest usage:

debug_tokenize [-l load_address] [-v basic_version] [-s source_format] input_file

positional arguments:
  input_file            Specify the input file name including path
                        Note:  Output files will use input file basename
                        with extensions '.pet' for petcat-ready file and
                        '.prg' for Commodore executable file format.

optional arguments:

  -h, --help            show this help message and exit

  -l load_address, --loadaddr load_address
                        Specifies the target BASIC memory address when loading:
                        - 0x0801 - C64 (default)
                        - 0x1001 - VIC20 Unexpanded
                        - 0x0401 - VIC20 +3K
                        - 0x1201 - VIC20 +8K
                        - 0x1201 - VIC20 +16
                        - 0x1201 - VIC20 +24K

  -v basic_version, --version basic_version
                        Specifies the BASIC version for use in tokenizing file.
                        - 1 - Basic v1.0  PET
                        - 2 - Basic v2.0  C64/VIC20/PET (default)
                        - 3 - Basic v3.5  C16/C116/Plus/4
                        - 4 - Basic v4.0  PET/CBM2
                        - 7 - Basic v7.0  C128

  -s source_format, --source source_format
                        Specifies the source BASIC file format:
                        pet - use standard pet control character mnemonics
                        ahoy - use Ahoy! magazine control character mnemonics (default)

As an example for an Ahoy! magazine file:

Input:    basename.ahoy

Output1:  basename.bas (VICE petcat-ready BASIC source code with special
characters converted to VICE petcat special character codes)

Output2:  basename.prg (tokenized file that can be run on a Commodore 
computer or on an emulator like VICE)

Using the output files

If installed, you can use the VICE petcat utility to tokenize the BASIC file by typing:

petcat -w2 -o program.prg -- program.bas 

Generates an executable program.prg file that can be run on a Commodore computer or emulator. In this example, it tokenizes for Commodore BASIC v2.

You can also run the .prg file generated directly from the debug_tokenizer program by running it with the following command (must have VICE installed):

x64sc -basicload program.prg &

Of course, you can also use the .prg file to run on original hardware.