baktra

I've released TS 8.3.16. Turbo decoder now can decode Auto Turbo and also both formats used by the Unknown Exterminator copier. The Funny Copy protected format still resists, as it mangles data in the files. I'll try to disassemble and figure out. But if all other copiers use their own custom formats and data mangling, I'll have to give up as I am not much of a cracker. Also the tape image extractor has been improved - it can extract boot files to binary files.

Files are now available at Sourceforge.net. It was a general outage.

You can temporarily try to download from my old-fashioned home site: www.baktra.wz.cz/turgen_system-8.3.14.bin.tar.bz2

Please be patient. Sourceforge.net is playing games with me.

TS 8.3.14 has been released. LST2000 support has been improved. Now one can convert binary files to the "Unprotected Binary" format used by the "Unknown Exterminator copier". Binary files with INIT segments can be loaded. Motor is stopped after each block. Also a rudimentary version of Tape Image Extractor has been added. Next versions will come with Turbo Decoder updates related to LST2000 and Hard Turbo.

I've examined the "Unknown Exterminator" data format. It is fortunately very simple: 1. Standard Cassette boot file with pre-loader 2. Non-Standard FSK block with custom binary loader that displays program name 3. 0xE0,0x02,check sum LOOP { 4. Segment header (4 bytes + check sum) 5. If segment header is all zeros, BREAK LOOP 6. Segment data + check sum } JMP (RUNAD) That custom binary loader does not bother to stop the motor after a segment is loaded. I'll write an open source replacement for the custom binary loader that will load as AUTO-TURBO, so we get rid of those standard FSK records at the beginning.

Turgen System 8.3.13 is out with rudimentary support for conversion to the Auto Turbo format.

I believe that the basic auto turbo format can be decoded by the Czechoslovak Turbo 2000 decoder right now. The protection formats can become a challenge if there are too many of them. And it also depends how the copy protections work. If the principle of the copy protection is only a different file format, it is feasible. If there is some kind of encryption or similar processing hidden in the loaders, then atari800-a8cas would be a better choice. It remains to be seen (6502 disassembler is waiting for the loaders )

Now I get the whole picture. It appears that there is one basic file format (auto turbo) and more custom file formats with various custom loaders. First, I'll take one of the loaders that support binary files with INIT segments and examine its file format. Then I will add another conversion type which will convert input file to that format. A loader in auto turbo format will be prepended before the recording, so everything will work smoothly without 600 bd records. I believe this will be enough for the moment - users will be able to convert their binary files.

I have been disassembling T. Rolewski's Auto-Turbo loader. Next version of Turgen System will have "Lower Silesian Turbo (PL)" plugin, that will offer one conversion type - "Binary file to Auto Turbo". If there are more file formats, I'll add more conversion types as they will be discovered.

There are many loaders in the pigwa.net directory. I assume the correct one is called 'Auto turbo'. It just happens to be already supported by the Turbo 2000 plugin (czech). Just select the Binary file to binary turbo conversion type and it should work. The 'Auto turbo' format has one limitation - Binary files with INIT segments may not work as the INIT segments are just ignored. To check if the binary file has INIT segments, you can just click the blue Input file label in the Playlist item dialog.

I can try D and DNM again.

Since there are loaders and sample tapes, I'll give the Lower Silesian turbo a try.

It is good to hear that TS is working . If there are any problems, please report them at the SourceForge.net tracker. I became familiar with standard tape records just few weeks ago - one never knows what is wrong. I think I will try to create pre-XL computers friendly version of the stdbload binary loader, so owners of such machines will be able to use TS too.

TURGEN SYSTEM is a cross-platform cassette tool written in Java. It has been here for years, but only the most recent versions support standard (FSK, 600 bd) tape records. Prior versions were focused on european turbo upgrades only. It was not worth mentioning them here until now. Standard (FSK, 600 bd) tape records If you have just plain data recorder and XL compatible machine, with most recent version of TURGEN SYSTEM, you can do the following: Convert tape images to WAVE files or output the electric signal directly to your sound card. The baud, fsk and dependent data chunks are supported. Convert plain data and ATARI BASIC files to standard tape records Convert monolithic (one DATA segment, one RUN segment) binary files to boot files Convert also segmented binary files to standard tape records. A custom binary loader has been created for this purpose. In addition, TS has a tool that allows you to embed tokenized BASIC files to binary files and add protection against listing. http://turgen.sourceforge.net/

I'd suspect some kind of uninitialized storage problem - storage used, but not zeroed before or something like that. Try running also under Norton Commander or similar DOS Shell. By the way, how does the correctly drawn level look like?

Hi, Is your DOSBox properly configured? The screenshots indicate that it emulates only 3500 cycles - this is too slow. Did you try to set cycles=auto in your dosbox.conf file? If you have trouble with graphics, did you try to set different machine= values in the dosbox.conf file? Your graphics problems can also indicate flaws in the drawing library that don't surface on a real machine.

There is also another possibility on PCs. Recently released jbxex 1.1 Java applet/application that can embed multiple ATARI BASIC files at once. Source code is available (the applet and ATARI BASIC activation routine skeleton in 6502 assembly)

Hello everybody. I am preparing utility which works like XEX2WAV, but instead of standard 600 bd record, it generates various TURBO records, one of them is KSO turbo. I am from Czech republic, so I don't have KSO-turbo extended XC-12. I've made some tests with Henryk Cygnert's capture utility and it says, that the artifically generated record is OK, but what about real hardware ? Can anybody download this artifically generated record and test it with real hardware ? http://baktra.wz.cz/umonxl.7z (this is compressed wave file) Have Look also here: http://baktra.wz.cz/english/turgen.html (the KSO TURBO SUPPORT IS UNTESTED)

There is new version "C" available at http://www.baktra.wz.cz/software/calomin.html. This version was tested with DOS 2.5 and DOS XE. Previous versions did not work probably with any DOS, only with tape recorders. I've rearranged memory layout. Enjoy the source code