As I build up my tools, I'd like to support a range of file formats in common use. However, my 6502 background is almost exclusively Commodore 64, so the only binary files I end up working with are generally .d64 disk images and .prg files (2 byte loading address, then bytes).

What file formats do the rest of you (especially those working with raw & homemade boards) use for, and to generate, ROM images, bootable images, and loadable programs?

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WFDis Interactive 6502 Disassembler
AcheronVM: A Reconfigurable 16-bit Virtual CPU for the 6502 Microprocessor

I use Intel Hex (.hex) for my 6502 SBC emulator. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_HEX

Internally to the serial EEPROM on the SBC those hex files are stored in binary form stripped of all non Hex, checksum and function. Count 0 record determines program start address and end of file.

I have been asked to provide raw binary files (.bin) for other emulators. They are like .prg without the load address.

edit: corrected internal SBC format.

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6502 sources on GitHub: https://github.com/Klaus2m5

The file formats I’ve been using are:

-plain text (ascii) files (.txt)
-plain binary files (.bin)
-binary files with leading start address in Little Endian. e.g. (.prg)
-and a special file format using Enso’s CHOCHI:

Excerpt:

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Marco

I was going to suggest some of the formats that lordbubsy suggested as well. In addition, i would suggest the ascii hex MEM file format. It is useful for loading programs into FPGA block RAMs without requiring any monitor/loader on the target.

MEM files consist of ascii hex address records followed by ascii hex data records. Address records are preceded by "@", and data records are not. The address records and data records are separated by spaces or newlines. The following is an 8-bit memory example:

Like most binary formats, the MEM file format can simply consist of a single address record, i.e. the load address, followed by the data bytes or words. Usually, no special formatting is applied to the data records, and they can simply be output as ascii hex in natural print order. However, the MEM file can be implemented in a manner similar to that of the intel/motorola ascii hex file formats (without the extended address records).

If you were to include the MEM file format, it would simplify the process of loading your output into an existing FPGA project.

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Michael A.

I almost exclusively work in .prg, mostly since my typical target is the C64, but also because nearly anything can be made to understand it with a trivial loader. Rarely, .bin.

Otherwise, Intel Hex, especially for printed output.

That looks very much like described here.

A little bit O.T.,

Would that also be the way to go for including binaries into the program flash of an AVR? If not, or can be done easier, I’ll ask this at a later time in a separate thread as I need in a ROM less system.

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Marco

I use raw binary for loading the EPROM burner. If I want to transfer a binary to the POC unit I use Motorola S-record format, since it has some error-checking capability.

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

I use San's AP1 format more than anything else, because it works for copy-and-paste into an emulator monitor prompt (sometimes with minor pre-editing). It's a bit inefficient, but I assume that it could be used in a similar fashion on real hardware, via a serial tty-style connection. Error checking is non-existent, however.

Mike

I use the o65 file format, because it's relocatable, for my operating system, and it's optimized for fast loading and small storage reqs and 6502 code.
http://www.6502.org/users/andre/o65/index.html

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Author of the GeckOS multitasking operating system, the usb65 stack, designer of the Micro-PET and many more 6502 content: http://6502.org/users/andre/