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I'm looking for a program for Windows (or the commadn line) that will convert ATASCII text files to ASCII. Mostly what I'm concerned with are carriage returns and line-feeds (and maybe tabs?). I want to edit and print the ASCII file on the PC when I'm done-- a program that would allow translate in both directions would be useful too.

 

Any links would be very helpful.

You could try MemoPad. If you have the unix tr command you could translate atascii.txt to ascii.txt like this:

 

tr '\233\177' '\12\11' < atascii.txt > ascii.txt

And translate back like this:

 

tr '\12\11' '\233\177' < ascii.txt > atascii.txt

Octal codes:

 

\233 - ATASCII End of Line

\177 - ATASCII Tab

\12 - ASCII Line Feed

\11 - ASCII Vertical Tab

Edited by Xuel

Russ Gilbert wrote some using GBASIC IIRC, ata2asc runs from the command prompt and asks for the name of the atascii file to convert, if found it then asks for the name of the ascii file you would like it saved to. asc2ata does essentially the same thing but in reverse. So I contacted him way back in the day to see if he could alter them to run from a batch file without requiring input and he sent me ata2asc2 as well as asc2ata2 which will do that giving the same filename to the one pointed to in the batch file but with either .asc or .ata as the extension for the result file. Just as asked for it does EOL and TABS too. Find all four together in the genuine zip file below. Only trouble I had with XP was that I had shared my system folders, C:\Windows\TEMP to be precise and was trying to work from there and ran into permission problems which were solved by cutting back on sharing permissions with system folders and moving the operation to a folder of my own making that the system didn't care so much about. Thanks Russ!

 

 

Ata2asc.zip

Russ Gilbert wrote some using GBASIC IIRC, ata2asc runs from the command prompt and asks for the name of the atascii file to convert, if found it then asks for the name of the ascii file you would like it saved to. asc2ata does essentially the same thing but in reverse. So I contacted him way back in the day to see if he could alter them to run from a batch file without requiring input and he sent me ata2asc2 as well as asc2ata2 which will do that giving the same filename to the one pointed to in the batch file but with either .asc or .ata as the extension for the result file. Just as asked for it does EOL and TABS too. Find all four together in the genuine zip file below. Only trouble I had with XP was that I had shared my system folders, C:\Windows\TEMP to be precise and was trying to work from there and ran into permission problems which were solved by cutting back on sharing permissions with system folders and moving the operation to a folder of my own making that the system didn't care so much about. Thanks Russ!

 

 

attachicon.gifAta2asc.zip

You're quite welcome. However, they don't work in a Windows 8 command prompt window, or, maybe it is because my PC is 64 bit. Either one, they won't work in modern PC command prompt.

You can make them work if you use 'DOSBOX', a DOS emulator for win 7/8 probably Vista. Back to the drawing board.

I do some Windows programming now in Visual BASIC, maybe I'll get on that and see what I can do, although I'm pretty sure some Euro version is available, somebody will point to them.

It probably was GBASIC I used back then.

(thinking again).

I wrote those conversion programs for the A8. So another approach would be to use my Atari programs in a modern A8 emulator (altirra, atari800winplus4).

(spent an hour looking for my A8 ASC<>ATAS programs.) I found my ASCII to ATASCII A8 BASIC program.. But the Original Poster wanted ATASCII>ASC converter and I can't find that one.

It is a fairly simple thing to do, going both ways, Just can't find them at the moment. What I'm thinking is to dig up or write my Atari ones and the OP can use those in an emulator. But somebody else

probably has those utils, they are so obviously useful.

Edited by russg

I'm looking for a program for Windows (or the commadn line) that will convert ATASCII text files to ASCII. Mostly what I'm concerned with are carriage returns and line-feeds (and maybe tabs?). I want to edit and print the ASCII file on the PC when I'm done-- a program that would allow translate in both directions would be useful too.

 

Any links would be very helpful.

 

If you use AspeQt it is as easy as dragging the file from the .atr or folder image (where it resides) to your desktop. Open the Explorer window for the .atr or folder, click the "Text Conversion" button before dragging..... to convert from ASCII to ATASCII, just drag and drop the file back into the explorer window from desktop after you are finished editing.

 

post-15627-0-38383500-1401163446_thumb.jpg

Edited by atari8warez
  • Like 1

Yeah, 64 bit is the problem there, no 16 bit apps will run under a 64 bit Windows OS without a third party emulator that you have to wrangle with some I imagine. 7 was the last of optional bit width Windows, 8 only comes in the 64 bit flavor.

 

Thanks for the heads up on that bug, James. I saw that feature in there, but hadn't tried it out yet. I'll just make other plans now and save myself some grief.

I'm looking for a program for Windows (or the commadn line) that will convert ATASCII text files to ASCII. Mostly what I'm concerned with are carriage returns and line-feeds (and maybe tabs?). I want to edit and print the ASCII file on the PC when I'm done-- a program that would allow translate in both directions would be useful too.

 

Any links would be very helpful.

 

For years I utilize Dratex 1.6 written by Raster in 2007. I converts a stack of files in one rush, very handy.

 

http://raster.atariportal.cz/english.htm

 

Works on Win7-64.

 

Edited by GoodByteXL
  • Like 2

You're quite welcome. However, they don't work in a Windows 8 command prompt window, or, maybe it is because my PC is 64 bit. Either one, they won't work in modern PC command prompt.

You can make them work if you use 'DOSBOX', a DOS emulator for win 7/8 probably Vista. Back to the drawing board.

I do some Windows programming now in Visual BASIC, maybe I'll get on that and see what I can do, although I'm pretty sure some Euro version is available, somebody will point to them.

It probably was GBASIC I used back then.

(thinking again).

I wrote those conversion programs for the A8. So another approach would be to use my Atari programs in a modern A8 emulator (altirra, atari800winplus4).

(spent an hour looking for my A8 ASC<>ATAS programs.) I found my ASCII to ATASCII A8 BASIC program.. But the Original Poster wanted ATASCII>ASC converter and I can't find that one.

It is a fairly simple thing to do, going both ways, Just can't find them at the moment. What I'm thinking is to dig up or write my Atari ones and the OP can use those in an emulator. But somebody else

probably has those utils, they are so obviously useful.

 

 

Here they are. ATA2ASC.BAS, ATA2ASC.OBJ (compiled) ASC2ATAS.BAS. ATASCII<->ASCII. They are fresh off the emulator, so you're a beta tester. It was a lot easier to do A8 than PC.

 

 

ATASASC.zip

Edited by russg

 

Notepad++ allows conversion between ATASCII and ASCII?

I have a few plug-ins for it. The Hex-Editor plugin lets me do a HEX search & replace, but even without it, Notepad++ will show the Atari's EOL character, and allows it to be highlighted for doing a ctrl+H (search & replace).

  • Like 1

I would recommend any decent free hex editor as the quick and painless Windows based solution. I use Cygnus. It is free and works like a charm. Simply search and replace 9B with OD OA and your ATASCII file is now ASCII. Do the reverse, and you have the ATASCII back.

 

Happy converting!

  • Like 1

I would recommend any decent free hex editor as the quick and painless Windows based solution. I use Cygnus. It is free and works like a charm. Simply search and replace 9B with OD OA and your ATASCII file is now ASCII. Do the reverse, and you have the ATASCII back.

 

Happy converting!

my ata2asc does that (9b to 0d,0a ie. 155 to 13, 10. And then there are all those special characters. So I also replace greater than 127 (inverse) with normal characters (subtract 128) and those less than 32

with a space (32). No muss no fuss with hex editor and it saves the conversion file directly rather than saving a modified copy. The reverse (asc2ata) removes the 13,10s with 155s and I forget what else.

(nope just checked, just replace 13,10 with 155). My programs are slow BASIC (one compiled a little faster), but still easier and quicker than hex manipulation, I would guess for the average person.

Edited by russg
  • Like 1

If your running from an emulator, just enable text printer and list to P: for source code. You lose the inverse, etc, but it gets the main job done just fine. With Atari800macX it will open up in TextEdit which you can copy from.

Even MS-Word can do it by:

 

1. Selecting visible "Right Wedge" with mouse

2. replacing=("Ctrl+H" keystroke) it with (^l ie Carret="Shift+6" and "L" but small letter)

3. Press "Replace All" button.

 

Also reversing of procedure will work.

Thanks for all the suggestions on how to convert ATASCII files. They've been great!

 

I ended up going with ATASCIIView by Lee Hanken. I don't think that this program was mentioned. I use version 1.3.

It is available here:

http://www.hanken.co.uk/atascii/index.htm

ATASCIIView allows you to load up ATASCII files and view them exactly as they would look on an Atari. Memopad (a similar program that was mentioned) also does this, but you can't print with Memopad. In both programs all ATASCII codes are visible.

Yesterday I noticed that ATASCIIView allows me to load ATASCII files and then save them as ASCII and vice-versa. It's as simple as loading up any ASCII program in Windows Notepad, and then resaving it.

  • Like 3

I do also use ATASCIIView and MemoPad from time to time. Memopad has a bug, if a file is in windows format (lines end with CR/LF) sometimes the file only loads up to the first CR and the rest of the file is ignored. it also crashes under certain conditions when editing text, has no line-wrap option, it feels like it is more of a little experiment in text editing than an actual application.

Thanks for all the suggestions on how to convert ATASCII files. They've been great!

 

I ended up going with ATASCIIView by Lee Hanken. I don't think that this program was mentioned. I use version 1.3.

 

It is available here:

 

http://www.hanken.co.uk/atascii/index.htm

 

ATASCIIView allows you to load up ATASCII files and view them exactly as they would look on an Atari. Memopad (a similar program that was mentioned) also does this, but you can't print with Memopad. In both programs all ATASCII codes are visible.

 

Yesterday I noticed that ATASCIIView allows me to load ATASCII files and then save them as ASCII and vice-versa. It's as simple as loading up any ASCII program in Windows Notepad, and then resaving it.

Yes. That's a really nice ATASCII viewer for PC. It has complete fonts for Atari ATASCII characters. It is beyond my ability. You can even print ATASCII program listings, including Atari inverse and special characters.

I guess it has that ability (to print ATASCII inverse).

Edited by russg

We need one of these for OSX. I talked to the memopad author a while ago. It was on his radar, but not a priority. Any others out there I may not know about?

 

Maybe I can pull something together with Qt that can run on all three platforms, not a promise though, just a thought at this point :-D. In the meantime you can use AspeQt to convert between CR/LF's (Windows), LF (Unix/Linux/OS X), and 0x9B (Atari) if you have your file on an .atr or a PC folder.

Edited by atari8warez
  • 2 months later...

In case it is of interest to anyone reading this thread, there is now an OS X version of AtasciiView

 

AV.png

 

Currently Intel Mac only, and only tested on Mavericks. Mark Simonson's fonts must be downloaded separately from here.

 

Awesome, thank you! :)

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