Reading PET tapes (was Re: Apple disk -> MSDOS)

From: M H Stein <mhstein_at_usa.net>
Date: Fri Jan 11 03:30:00 2002

Some questions for the CBM experts:

CBM->PC seems pretty trivial through a Parallel or Serial adapter
(although ML might be tricky 'cause you can't just list it), but how
do you get it back to a CBM?

If you're just archiving, couldn't you just connect the CBM cassette port
to the PC sound card line in&out, with _maybe_ a little padding and/or
shaping since I think CBM, unlike most folks of that era, squared
up the audio a little in the datasette (although ISTR that it usually worked
OK with a normal recorder, and presumably you could set the levels with
the PC volume controls)? Especially if there's an app that
can decode the .wav files, what else do ya need?

Reminds me of the days when I "networked" my PETs with a 40' cassette
"Null modem" cable.

Where could I find that cassette reader & .wav decoder, BTW?

Tell us more!

F'rinstance, I see someone elsewhere on the list looking for Phuzzy-Wuzzy;
I remember it well and probably have it somewhere (although I didn't find it
either in the Cursor tape index). So, if I do find it and this person wants it, how,
specifically, could I email it to him/her in a format that he/she could load into the
PET without having to build anything complicated (or mailing the actual tape)?
Seems to me this goes on all the time in the amazingly active CBM community,
I'm just not sure of the exact details (cable pinouts, required software, etc.)

BTW, need a chiclet keyboard? Just recently tossed my small KB 2001 (yes,
working - I can hear the curses...) but I think I've got at least two almost new
chiclet keyboards (no worn-off legends, protective plastic still on most keys) left
from the days when we were replacing them with the full-size ones (that's me,
toss the good stuff & keep the junk). Mind you, you might have to take the case
with it, along with the funky chopped-up datasette.

Also have a 2001 motherboard, maybe 2.

BTW, speaking of CBM, I recall a recent discussion abt using a US 8032 in the
UK and problems with a wavy screen (not to mention learning a lot about magnetic
shielding); I wasn't positive at the time, but from what I've read there definitely (as
definite as the printed word gets) was a different ROM for 50Hz operation to avoid
that problem.

mike
---------------------Original Message-----------------------
From: Ethan Dicks <erd_6502_at_yahoo.com>
Subject: Reading PET tapes (was Re: Apple disk -> MSDOS)

- --- Sellam Ismail <foo_at_siconic.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 9 Jan 2002, Ethan Dicks wrote:
>
> > My X1541 cable also has a 6-pin C= cassette port on it. I have read
> > many PET tapes directly from DOS with a real C2N tape recorder.
>
> How is the cassette data read by the PC? Does it decode the audio?

Not audio (though there is an app that will decode .WAV files of PET
tapes). Someone wrote a DOS app that reads the parallel port bits
and converts them into a .T64 file directly. For alignment/phase,
there's a graphical mode that scrolls the data up the screen along
with "guard bands" that show where the app thinks a 0 and a 1 are.
You use the cursor keys to align the data from the tape drive and
the guard bands for optimal data parsing. Once you have an offset
from this process, you can use it as a command-line parameter for
bulk reading.

It works well enough, but I really wish the source were available (it
never seems to be for DOS programs, unlike Unix and Amiga software). I
have a small pile of PET Rabbit-format tapes that I want to extract from.
My BASIC 2.0 PET needs repair (keyboard problems), so I can't just read
the data and save it to disk. I have plenty of 8032s, but only one 2001
(got the 80-col PETs from university surplus for $10 a few years ago; we
got the 40-col, 32K PET when I was grade-school for $1175).

- -ethan
Received on Fri Jan 11 2002 - 03:30:00 GMT