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SPConv
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1995-05-31
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SPCONV(1) Unix Programmer's Manual SPCONV(1)
NAME
spconv - Convert snapshot files (.SNA, .SP, .Z80, .PRG, .ACH, .ZX and
RAW)
DISCLAIMER
This programs are Public Domain, and because of that I will not be liable
for any damages resulting from use of this software.
SYNOPSIS
spconv <infile.EXT> <.EXT>
spconv <infile.EXT> <outfile.EXT>
DESCRIPTION
Spconv is a utility to convert between various snapshot formats. Snapshot
files are created by various spectrum emulators. SPCONV converts between
.SNA, .SP, .Z80, .PRG, .ACH and .ZX files.
Wildcards for the infile or outfile parameters are not accepted, an error
message is displayed if either * or ? is found in one or both the
filenames. The outfile parameter is either a full filename or only the
suffix .SNA, .SP, .Z80, .PRG, .ACH or .ZX. The prefix is taken from the
first parameter in that case.
Normaly the <infile> and <outfile> are not of the same type. If they are
you will get a error message. This is so unless both files are of the .SP
or .Z80 type. In case of .SP format the converter will convert an old
style .SP file to a new style .SP file or from a new style .SP file to an
old style .SP file, depending on the input. The old style .SP file is
used by VGASPEC, with seems to be an unauthorised version of the spanish
"SPECTRUM" program. The "SPECTRUM" program will use the new style .SP
files.
In case both files are of the .Z80 format spconv will read the .Z80 file
and will output a .Z80 file in the version 1.45 .Z80 format. This enables
conversion of normal 48K Spectrum files made by Z80 version 2.01 or 3.0
to the older format so they can be loaded in a version 1.45 Z80 or 2.01
Z80 emulator. Of course additional information that can only be stored in
the version 2.01 and 3.0 files is lost. Therefore spconv will check if
the .Z80 file is for a 48K Spectrum and check if the Interface-1 rom was
not paged in. If the check fails an error message is given and the
conversion is terminated - no output will be produced. Spconv will only
output version 1.45 .Z80 files since these are compatible with old and
new Z80-emulator versions. If Spconv encounters a .Z80 format file that
seems to be newer than version 3.0, Spconv will attempt to convert it
anyway in the hope that it is upwards compatible. A warning will ge given
in that case.
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SPCONV(1) Unix Programmer's Manual SPCONV(1)
CONVERSION NOTES
[.SP files - Used by the Spanish "SPECTRUM" and "VGASPEC" programs.]
Conversion to/from .SP files may not always work. It is not clear to me
how IFF, IFF2 and the interrupt mode are stored in the .SP file. Since
version 1.02 I have made some improvements to this type of conversion
however, it sould work now, but I have not enough .SP samples to fully
test it. Note that crashing of a converted image may also be caused by
bugs in the SPECTRUM emulator. Conversion to .SP will work if the image
is converted from a RAW image (see later).
[.Z80 files - Used by the Dutch "Z80" programs. This format is also
usable for 128K Spectrum images.]
[.SNA files - Used by the Norwegian "JPP" PC-program; the "Spectrum"
program for the Amiga; the "XZX" X-Windows program and a lot more. This
is the most supported format since it originated from the Mirage-
Microdirver format.]
Conversion between .SNA and .Z80 and from .Z80 to .SNA should be no
problem, both formats are sufficiently described in the documentation of
JPP (the norwegian emulator) and Z80 (the dutch emulator).
[.PRG files are loaded by a PC-emulator from Ireland. This emulator can
not save in this format.]
Conversion to/from .PRG files should work fine also. I don't have a
description of that format, but I think I figured it all out by looking
at some samples. I only don't know where the border colour is stored. The
specem emulator (an Irish emulator) doesn't show the border, so I can't
find out by trail and error.
[.ACH files are used on Archimeds computers by an emulator called
"Speculator" or "!Speccy"]
Since version 1.07 Conversion should work without problems. The
conversion is patterned after a program (also called Spconv) and a BBC-
Basic program from John Veness (supplied to me by Mike Borcherds). I also
got a .ACH file snapped just after startup which was most helpfull. Since
the programs I got were written independently but had all registers at
the same place (but one got her accent registers swapped with the normal
registers), I think it is pritty save to assume that the format is
correct now. The previous version of this converter got register 'I' from
the wrong spot, and more important, I forgot to set the interrupt mode
when converting to .ACH file format.
It is also tested now with a fair collection of snaps. The .ACH extension
is my own invention to cope with the MS-DOS naming conventions. I named
them this way because the samples I had ended in ".archimedes" and use of
.ARC as extension didn't sound like a good idea. I don't have an
archimedes computer to test it but somebody else (Adrian Jackson) did it
for me. For proper conversion you need the spectrum rom because that is a
part of the archimedes image (don't blame me). The ROM must be named
'spectrum.rom' and be located in the working directory or in the same
directory as spconv.exe. If no ROM is found the converter will insert
31th May, 1995 2
SPCONV(1) Unix Programmer's Manual SPCONV(1)
NULL bytes.
[.ZX files are used by the KGB emulator on a Commodore Amiga]
Conversion to/from .ZX files should work, Peter McGavin send me the
definition of the format as used in the KGB emulator. I implemtented it
that way but I don't have an Amiga with a KGB emulator so it is untested!
I previously used the information about the format of the file from a
VAX-Basic program supplied to me by Jason Brown and most information
correlated so I'm hopefull that it works. Please send me feetback if it
works so I can put it here in the documentation. Oh, before I forget, the
.ZX format contains the last 132 bytes of the spectrum rom (don't ask me
why) so spconv will look for "spectrum.rom" in the working directory or
in the same directory as spconv.exe is located. If absent than the first
132 bytes will be NULL bytes.
[RAW files are created by saving the whole ram on a real spectrum to the
RS232 port of Interface-1 from basic]
Spconv can also be used to convert a raw spectrum image to a snapshot
file. The image has to be captured with via the RS232 connetion on
Interface-1. Some tools to do this are in an archive called "SPEC232". A
program called "SLOAD" will read from the RS232 link to a file on the
MSDOS-PC. At the Spectrum side the the command
SAVE *"b"CODE 16384,49152
HAS to be used. Spconv will convert the file is such way that it will
continue in the basic interpreter after the snapshot is loaded. so
SAVE *"b"CODE 16384,49152:PRINT Hello, World!
will after conversion to a snapshot file and loading it in the emulator
begin with printing "Hello, World!". A description how to wire the RS232
cable is also in the "SPEC232" package.
EXAMPLES
Converting a .SNA JPP file to the .Z80 Dutch emulator: spconv game.sna
game.z80 or spconv game.sna .z80
DIAGNOSTICS
0 - OK: The program finished without problems
1 - USAGE: The program was called incorrectly:
- Wrong number of parameters
- Wildcards on the command-line
- Input and output are of the same type (not for .SP and .Z80)
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SPCONV(1) Unix Programmer's Manual SPCONV(1)
2 - READ_ERROR: There was a problem while reading the input file:
- Error while reading the input file
- Error while fseeking the input file
3 - WRITE_ERROR: There was a problem while creating the output file:
- Error while writing the output file
- Error with opening/reading the spectrum.rom needed for the output
file.
4 - FILE_ERROR: There was a problem with the input or output file
format:
- Input file does not exist
- Type of input or output file not known
- Input file is:
+ A newer version of an existing type
+ Corrupt
+ Not in the expected format (RAW and new .SP types)
+ Not a 48K spectrum file (in .Z80 files)
- Input file snapshot was taken while the interface-1 was paged in (in
.Z80 files). The other file formats can not cope with this
(including the version 1.45 .Z80 files).
- Undocumented page number in .Z80 files (file corrupt).
- Decompression of .Z80 file failed (file corrupt).
PORTABILITY
The program should be portable. Assumptions about endian-ness are avoided
and I ensured clean compilation with Turbo-C++ 1.0 (with all warnings
enabled). Chris Wells used this command line of GCC on this program (and
gave feetback until it gave a clean compile):
gcc -ansi -pedantic -Wall -Wwrite-strings -Wshadow -Wformat
-Wpointer-arith -Wconversion -Wstrict-prototypes
-Wmissing-prototypes -o spconv spconv.c
I also ensured that the identifiers used in the program are uniq in the
first 8 characters. I don't expect much problems when compiling the
program with other compilers. The code does make assumptions about path
names. Using the program on a VAX will give problems with recognizing
directories e.t.c. especially for finding "spectrum.rom", I leave a fix
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SPCONV(1) Unix Programmer's Manual SPCONV(1)
for this as an exercise...
BUGS
Conversion to/from .SP files may not always work.
THANKS TO
Thanks for suppling information and for creating these spectrum
emulators:
Arnt Gulbrandsen (author of JPP)
Ramco v.d. Woestijne (supplied new .SP format);
Gerton A. Lunter (author of Z80);
Pedro Gimeno (author of SPECTRUM);
Kevin J Phair (author of SPECEM);
Mike Borcherds (suppied the archimedes file format);
Jason Brown (suppied the initial KGB file format);
Peter McGavin (suppied the complete KGB file format);
John Veness (reverse engineerd the ACH file format);
Adrian Jackson (send me a near perfect .SNA to .ACH converter);
Chris Wells (ran the program through GCC in pedantic mode and supplied
the UNIX man page and Makefile).
31th May, 1995 5