cbmconvert - create, extract and convert various Commodore binary archives
SYNOPSIS
cbmconvert [ options ] \(file ...
DESCRIPTION
This manual page documents brie(fly the
cbmconvert command.
There are many archiving programs for the Commodore 64, all of which
are incompatible with archiving programs on other systems. The
cbmconvert utility tries to address this problem. It extracts
(files from most known formats and writes them to several different
formats, including some formats used by some Commodore 64 emulators:
Native (raw) (files
Files with just the raw data. Written with the -I and -N
options, read with the -n option.
PC64 (files
Also known as "P00" (files. Written with the -P option, read
with the -p option.
Lynx archives
Lynx was originally developed for the Commodore 64. It modi(fies the
next-sector links in place and combines a number of (files on a
Commodore disk to a single (file that can be transferred e.g. over a
modem connection. Earlier versions of this format do not specify the
length of the last contained (file, not protecting it from padding
that could be introduced e.g. by the X-modem transfer protocol. There
are no checksums on the data either. Lynx archives are written with
-L and read with -l.
Commodore C2N tape archives
Written with -C, read with -c. These (files are raw
dumps of the data format the Commodore KERNAL routines maintain.
Block checksums and countdown leaders (0x89..0x81 for the (first copy
and 9..1 for the second) are omitted, and the blocks are not stored
twice, but only once. The data consists of 192-byte tape header
blocks, 192-byte data (file blocks, and arbitrary-length program
(file blocks.
Commodore 128 CP/M disk images
Written with -M, read with -m.
CBM DOS disk images
Written with -D, read with -d. Commodore 1571 and
1581 support have not been tested properly, and not all 1581 features
have been implemented.
ARC/SDA (Self-Dissolving Archive)
Read with -a. No write support.
Arkive
Archives in this Lynx-like format are read with the -k option.
There is no write support.
T64
This tape format was introduced by C64S emulator. Many variations of
this format exist. These (files are read with the -t option.
cbmconvert reads all (files in all input (files listed on the
command line and writes them in the speci(fied format. As there is
no interactive user interface, the only way to copy only some (files
from a set of archive (files to an archive (file or a disk image is
to extract all the (files to a single-(file format such as the PC64
format, and to copy the desited individual (files to the output
archive with another invocation of cbmconvert.
OPTIONS
cbmconvert follows the usual Unix command line syntax, with
options starting with a dash (`-').
--
Stop processing options. This is useful if the (first (file name
begins with a dash.
-I
Output (files in native (raw) format, with ISO 9660 compliant (file names.
-P
Output (files in PC64 format.
-N
Output (files in native (raw) format.
-L archive.lnx
Output (files in Lynx format.
-C archive.c2n
Output (files in Commodore C2N tape format.
-D4 [ o ] " image.d64"
Write to a Commodore 1541 CBM DOS disk image. The o option
speci(fies that (file name collisions should be resolved by
overwriting existing (files. The default behaviour is keep the old
(files.
-D7 [ o ] " image.d71"
Write to a Commodore 1571 CBM DOS disk image.
-D8 [ o ] " image.d81"
Write to a Commodore 1581 CBM DOS disk image.
-M4 [ o ] " image.d64"
Write to a Commodore 1541 disk image in the Commodore 128 CP/M format.
-M7 [ o ] " image.d71"
Write to a Commodore 1571 disk image in the Commodore 128 CP/M format.
-M8 [ o ] " image.d81"
Write to a Commodore 1581 disk image in the Commodore 128 CP/M format.
-i2
Switch disk images when running out of space or a duplicate (file
name is detected.
-i1
Switch disk images when running out of space. This is the default behaviour.
-i0
Never switch disk images.
-n
Input (files in native (raw) format.
-p
Input (files in PC64 format.
-a
Input (files in ARC/SDA format.
-k
Input (files in Arkive format.
-l
Input (files in Lynx format.
-t
Input (files in T64 format.
-c
Input (files in Commodore C2N format.
-d
Input (files in CBM DOS disk image format.
-m
Input (files in Commodore 128 CP/M disk image format.
-v2
Verbose mode. Display all messages.
-v1
Display warning and error messages. This is the default option.
-v0
Display error messages only.
BUGS
Many of the (file formats lack safety measures, such as storing the
exact lengths of the contained (files, or storing even rudimentary
checksums. Most formats have been reverse-engineered, and there may
be other implementations that accept (files in a stricter format than
cbmconvert produces or produce (files that cbmconvert
does not recognize.
On disk images, it is common to decorate directory listings with
unnecessary entries that contain Commodore-speci(fic graphic
characters. Since subdirectories were not supported by Commodore
until the 1581 disk drive was introduced, the slash character (`/') is
valid in Commodore (file names but not on the Unix system. For these
reasons, it is advisable to avoid the raw (file format and the host
(file system whenever possible, and to convert directly from one
Commodore-speci(fic format to another.
The program lacks an interactive user interface. A shell-like command
line interface could be useful, and a graphical (file manager like
interface could be even better. Are there any volunteers?
More disk image formats should be supported, and the 1571 and 1581
support should be tested extensively. Unsupported formats include the
8050, the 8250, the 2040 and the Commodore 64 CP/M format for the 1541.
AUTHOR
The cbmconvert utility was designed and implemented by
Marko M(:akel(:a <marko.makela@nic.funet.fi>.
Support for Commodore 1581 disk images was programmed by Pasi Ojala
<albert@cs.tut.fi>.
The ARC/SDA dissolving code was originally written by Chris Smeets.