While browsing the net, I could find several programs that allow one to read old data casstettes of early microcomputers . You just attach the cassette recorder to the sound card, read in the cassette files and save it on disk on the PC.

I would request that we consider making a software archive at www.6502.org for cassette based software that we have for computers such as KIM/SYM. I'm saying this because these early microcomputers are easy to emulate and the only I/O they had was hex keyboard/display or serial. The monitor code was extremely small and is in public domain. Thus these programs can be directly run with relatively simple emulators or adapted directly to our 65C02 boards - provided of course that we adapt it to the I/O of our microprocessor boards. There is a lot of software such as cassette Microchess / ADE / BASIC / FORTH and games that is easy to port to other 6502 systems. If Commodore/Apple II users can keep disk images of vintage software on websites, we can at least move in a similar direction for software that we may be directly able to run on our 6502 boards.

Does it have to be limited to cassette? (Understandably you were referring to the ability to play the cassette recorder right into the PC's sound card, but maybe we could keep and distribute stuff that was on discs too, whether 8", 5.25", or even plug-in ROMs. Of course not having the source code for this stuff will in many cases make it extremely difficult to understand in order to modify it for your home-made system.

Does anyone know what the copyright laws say about copying or distributing (not for profit, of course) something from a company that has been out of business for years? Most of the people who owned those companies are still alive; but the reason a copyright would forbid copying is that if I copy my friend's instead of buying my own software package, the company loses a sale they might have gotten from me. But if they're not in a position to sell it anymore anyway...?

Garth

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http://WilsonMinesCo.com/ lots of 6502 resources
The "second front page" is http://wilsonminesco.com/links.html .
What's an additional VIA among friends, anyhow?

>Does it have to be limited to cassette?

Of course not! The reason I'm talking of cassette is that it will make sense to read the cassettes once and save the contents as files on PC even though the old hardware may no longer be with us. Of course we still require the data-cassettes.
Moreover, these early microcomputers used cassette interface widely. The storage format differed among different machines though.

>Does anyone know what the copyright laws say
A lot of software was already released in the public domain. Besides a number of users have written their own software(some of it in BASIC). There should be no problem in posting these programs on the net. The copyright issues pointed out by you are of-course very relevant and I'm trying to get some details by writing to some of these companies' erstwhile owners.

BTW, anyone got a good 6502 BASIC? I'd like to experiment with other BASICs than Wozniak (intbasic) and Micro$oft (Applesoft/fpbasic) on my Apple //e. Any BASIC I can stuff into a few K and use on an Apple, that'd be different than Apple Basic.

Did you check out Lee Davidson's EHBASIC on 6502.org? I haven't actually tried it, but it does have some features that sure would have been nice to have on the C-64, Apple II, etc.! It looks like he has done a really good job.

_________________
http://WilsonMinesCo.com/ lots of 6502 resources
The "second front page" is http://wilsonminesco.com/links.html .
What's an additional VIA among friends, anyhow?

I haven't found a link to the CODE for it. But that's what prompted me to suggest it.

I just looked at it. I guess you'll have to E-mail Lee Davidson. If you go to www.6502.org, click on the "Latest News, Events, and Site Updates" line a few inches from the bottom, and then look at the EHBASIC entry for July 3, 2001. His name is highlighted in the bottom line of that paragraph, so you can click there and write to him directly. I enjoyed a few E-mail exchanges with him recently. I'm sure you'll find him to be a pleasant man to deal with.

_________________
http://WilsonMinesCo.com/ lots of 6502 resources
The "second front page" is http://wilsonminesco.com/links.html .
What's an additional VIA among friends, anyhow?

I wouldn't honestly know what to do with it if I got it. Everything is different on different processors, even if I know where (-756 for Line input, 512-767 for Line buffer, 49152&-16368 for Keyboard, $FDED for Print Char IIRC) the stuff should point, how do I know how to tweak it for the target system?... I don't know a lot about machine code.

Have you tried the asimov ftp site?

It's loaded with lots of apple ][ software. Since you mentioned not knowing how to port a ML program to the Apple platform, one of these might be better suited to you needs.

The site is at: ftp.apple.asimov.net
look in the /pub/apple_II/images/utility/programming/ directory.

I see several Basics, including beagle_basic.dsk.gz & zbasic1.dsk.gz

I'm no expert, but I know there are utilities to convert from MS DOS to Apple disk formats and vice-versa and de-compression utilities too.

Hope this helps!

Daryl

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Please visit my website -> https://sbc.rictor.org/

> I haven't found a link to the CODE for it. But that's what prompted me to suggest it.

The code isn't there yet as it's not quite finished. Work continues though and there are only a few more small pieces to do. If you look at the EhBASIC page you will see that it's been updated a few times recently, the last being the additionof a BITTST() function to complement the BITSET and BITCLR commands.

After the code is finished and rigorously tested (you can write bug free code, just document them and they become 'features') the docs will be finished and the whole lot posted on www.6502.org.

If you, or anyone else who is interested, e-mails me directly I will put you on my list of those to inform when it's out.

Cheers,
Lee.

No use if I can't get the image to my Apple. Beagle Basic, yeah, but it's just an FPBASIC hacker. ZBasic is a bit large. But I have looked.

Hi All,

The Source Code Repository is presently the only structure in place on 6502.org specifically for programs. However, I think the aim of the Repository is significantly different than what we are addressing here.

The Source Code Repository exists for reusable, commented code. Some valid points have been raised though and I think that having a separate area on 6502.org for binaries is a good idea. There are already many sources of software for Apple II, Atari, Commodore, and other 6502-based home computers.

What I would like to propose is that the "Simple Microcomputers and Trainers" section of 6502.org be expanded to also store programs for machines like the KIM-I and SYM-I which are not supported elsewhere. Art Human was kind enough to send me a copy of Jim Butterfield's "First Book of KIM" and I would like to get that online soon. Also, almost all of Leland Goertz's "SYM-PHYSIS" issues are online and there are a wealth of programs there.

So, with that being said, I would like to encourage everyone to send me any programs you have for these machines. Binaries or otherwise are fine. I only ask that you provide a thorough description of the program and how to use it.

With regards to the potential copyright issues, I have taken the following stance on 6502.org: there is no way for me to hunt down all of these authors and companies and ask permissions so I will make no attempt to. Any material will be published online unless I am addressed by the author or copyright holder.

Regards,
Mike

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- Mike Naberezny (mike@naberezny.com) http://6502.org