notes:misc:type_in_guides
Table of Contents
Type-in software guides - typing retro software with modern text editors
Commodore (petcat)
Prerequisites
- VICE emulator suite - comes with both emulator and petcat
Typing
- Type the Commodore BASIC listing into a text file using a modern text editor.
- Consult this website for a mapping of glyphs to their petcat encoding.
- Consult this website to find out how certain screen codes affect the display - this is useful when they're hard to read.
- Note that typing lowercase for characters which appear uppercase is deliberate.
- Run the following command to convert the BASIC text file into a .PRG:
- Commodore 64, VIC-20/VIC-1001, MAX Machine:
petcat -w2 -o FILE.prg FILE.bas
- Commodore 16:
petcat -w3 -o FILE.prg FILE.bas
- Commodore 128:
petcat -w70 -o FILE.prg FILE.bas
Playing/Testing
- Commodore 64 (Japanese): Open the
x64
VICE emulator, Preferences → Settings, Machine → Model → Japanese, Close, drag .prg file onto emulator window. - VIC-1001 (Japanese): Open the
xvic
VICE emulator, Preferences → Settings, Machine → Model → VIC1001, Memory expansions → Common configurations → 3KiB (block 0), Close, ALT-F9 to soft reset, then drag .prg onto the emulator window.
Family BASIC (VirtuaNES)
Guide provided via Gaming Alexandria.
Family BASIC (fbastool)
Prerequisites
Typing
- Type the Family BASIC program listing into a text file using a modern text editor.
- Use an IME of choice to input Unicode katakana.
- Run
./fbastool basic -e NAME.txt NAME.prg
to create aNAME.prg
file. - Run
./fbastool record NAME.prg
to create aNAME.prg.wav
file - this can then be loaded in Family BASIC using theLOAD
command.
Typing (BG-GRAPHICS)
NOTE: If you can acquire a legal copy of a Family BASIC V3 ROM, the VirtuaNES guide provides a better way to encode BG GRAPHICS.
- Run
./fbastool bgedit NAME.gfx
to open a GUI-based editor following the Micom BASIC layout.- Note that, currently, kana cannot be input in this interface - this is a known issue.
- Run
./fbastool record NAME.gfx
to create aNAME.gfx.wav
file - this can then be loaded in Family BASIC using theLOADS
command.
ZX-81 (zxtext2p)
Preparation
Typing
- Type the ZX81 listing into a text file using a modern text editor.
- Consult the zxtext2p documentation for special characters/inverse video/etc. information.
- Run
zxtext2p.exe -o FILE.p FILE.txt
to convert into a tape file (.p
extension).
Playing/Testing
- Launch EightyOne, File → Open Tape, “FILE.p”
- Wait for the tape to load.
- Press “R” (RUN), then ENTER.
ZX Spectrum (zmakebas)
Prerequisites
-
- TODO: Provide Windows binaries!
- Any ZX Spectrum emulator of choice; the author used ZEsarUX.
Typing
- Type the ZX Spectrum listing into a text file using a modern text editor.
- The zmakebas README lists notes on typing special characters.
- Run
zmakebas -o FILE.tap -n NAME FILE.txt
to convert into a tape file (.tap
extension).
notes/misc/type_in_guides.txt · Last modified: 2022/10/01 13:15 by asie