Just Solve the File Format Problem - User contributions [en]

ADFS

2026-03-25T01:29:54Z

JTN: https

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Filesystem
|wikidata={{wikidata|Q379528}}
}}

== Overview ==

The Advanced Disc Filing System (ADFS) is the native filing system in use on 32-bit RISC OS systems. Earlier versions of the filing system were also used on the Acorn Electron and Master Compact 8-bit systems (superseding the [[DFS]] that had been used on even earlier systems). Floppy disks with ADFS filing systems are typically referred to by the disk format that they use, each of which corresponds to a particular disk capacity; for example, L format disks are 640K in size. However, D and E format disks are both 800K in size, but use different directory structures.

On 32-bit RISC OS computers, types of files stored in this file system were designated as [[RISC OS filetype]]s.

''To do:'' Information about hard disks.

== Resources ==

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Disc_Filing_System Wikipedia]
* [https://mdfs.net/Docs/Comp/Disk/Format/ADFS Acorn 8-Bit ADFS Filesystem Structure]
* [https://mdfs.net/Docs/Comp/Disk/Format/Formats Formats] - table of information about various disk formats
* [https://www.adsb.co.uk/bbc/linux/ Reading DFS and ADFS floppy disks under Linux]
* [https://www.boddie.org.uk/david/Projects/Python/ADFSlib/index.html ADFSlib] - a Python module for reading ADFS floppy disk images
* [http://www.wss.co.uk/pinknoise/Docs/index.html Documentation on Acorn Computers]

[[Category:RISC OS]]
[[Category:Acorn computers]]

DFS

2026-03-25T01:24:49Z

JTN: /* Overview */ less sure about double-density 5¼" discs using DFS now

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Filesystem
|wikidata={{wikidata|Q5281381}}
}}

== Overview ==
The Disc Filing System (DFS) was the filesystem format used for floppy disks by Acorn's early 8-bit computers, such as the BBC Micro. Acorn [[Acorn single density 5 1/4" disk|single density 5¼" disks]] would typically contain a DFS filesystem.

DFS was a very simple filesystem, supporting a only small number of contiguous files with 7-character names in a flat structure (although files could be assigned to single-letter "directories", similar to [[CP/M file system|CP/M]]'s user numbers).

DFS was superseded by the [[ADFS|Advanced Disc Filing System (ADFS)]], which was available on Acorn's later 8-bit computers such as the Master Compact (and more commonly used than DFS on that machine's [[Acorn double density 3 1/2" disk|3½" disks]]), as well as the 32-bit Archimedes and later.

== Resources ==
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_Filing_System Wikipedia]
* [https://beebwiki.mdfs.net/index.php/Acorn_DFS_disc_format Acorn DFS disc format] on BeebWiki
* [https://github.com/monkeyman79/dfsimage dfsimage]: Python software which understands the DFS filesystem format

[[Category:Acorn computers]]

Acorn double density 3 1/2" disk

2026-03-25T01:23:42Z

JTN: DFS

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=physical
|subcat=Floppy disk
}}
The '''Acorn double density 3 1/2" disk''' was used with Acorn computers, a line of computers from the UK in the 1970s through 1990s, which included the popular BBC microcomputer, and eventually led to [[RISC OS]]. It succeeded the [[Acorn double density 5 1/4" disk]], and was succeeded by the [[Acorn high density 3 1/2" disk]].

The disks were double sided, with 80 tracks per side and variants having 16 sectors of 256 bytes, and 5 sectors of 1024 bytes, for a total capacity of 640 or 800 kilobytes respectively. [[MFM encoding]] was used.

The [[ADFS]] (Advanced Disc Filing System) was usually used as the file system (although the earlier [[DFS]] could be used), and [[BBC BASIC tokenized file]]s were among the file types stored.

[[Category:Acorn computers]]

Acorn double density 5 1/4" disk

2026-03-25T01:23:10Z

JTN: acknowledge DFS

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=physical
|subcat=Floppy disk
}}
The '''Acorn double density 5 1/4" disk''' was used with Acorn computers, a line of computers from the UK in the 1970s through 1990s, which included the popular BBC microcomputer, and eventually led to [[RISC OS]]. It succeeded the [[Acorn single density 5 1/4" disk]], and was succeeded by the [[Acorn double density 3 1/2" disk]] and the [[Acorn high density 3 1/2" disk]].

The disks had single and double sided variants. The single sided ones had variants with 40 and 80 tracks, each with 16 sectors to the track and 256 bytes per sector, for a capacity of 160 and 320 kilobytes respectively. The double sided variant had 80 tracks per side for a total capacity of 640 kilobytes. [[MFM encoding]] was used.

The standard [[DFS]] (Disc Filing System) could be used as the file system for these disks, but didn't make full use of their capacity; some proprietary DFS variants could. Alternatively, [[ADFS]] could be used as a file system, with full double-density support. [[BBC BASIC tokenized file]]s were among the file types stored.

[[Category:Acorn computers]]

Acorn single density 5 1/4" disk

2026-03-25T01:13:57Z

JTN: link DFS; I don't think ADFS ever came to single-density floppies

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=physical
|subcat=Floppy disk
}}
The '''Acorn single density 5 1/4" disk''' was used with Acorn computers, a line of computers from the UK in the 1970s through 1990s, which included the popular BBC microcomputer, and eventually led to [[RISC OS]]. It was succeeded by the [[Acorn double density 5 1/4" disk]], the [[Acorn double density 3 1/2" disk]], and the [[Acorn high density 3 1/2" disk]].

The disks had two variants, with 40 and 80 tracks, each with 10 sectors to the track and 256 bytes per sector, for a capacity of 100 and 200 kilobytes respectively. They were single-sided disks. [[FM encoding]] was used.

The [[DFS]] was used as the file system, and [[BBC BASIC tokenized file]]s were among the file types stored.

[[Category:Acorn computers]]

ADFS

2026-03-25T01:12:23Z

JTN: acknowledge DFS; RISC OS filetypes aren't universal in ADFS; link Wikipedia

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Filesystem
|wikidata={{wikidata|Q379528}}
}}

== Overview ==

The Advanced Disc Filing System (ADFS) is the native filing system in use on 32-bit RISC OS systems. Earlier versions of the filing system were also used on the Acorn Electron and Master Compact 8-bit systems (superseding the [[DFS]] that had been used on even earlier systems). Floppy disks with ADFS filing systems are typically referred to by the disk format that they use, each of which corresponds to a particular disk capacity; for example, L format disks are 640K in size. However, D and E format disks are both 800K in size, but use different directory structures.

On 32-bit RISC OS computers, types of files stored in this file system were designated as [[RISC OS filetype]]s.

''To do:'' Information about hard disks.

== Resources ==

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Disc_Filing_System Wikipedia]
* [http://mdfs.net/Docs/Comp/Disk/Format/ADFS Acorn 8-Bit ADFS Filesystem Structure]
* [http://mdfs.net/Docs/Comp/Disk/Format/Formats Formats] - table of information about various disk formats
* [http://www.adsb.co.uk/bbc/linux/ Reading DFS and ADFS floppy disks under Linux]
* [http://www.boddie.org.uk/david/Projects/Python/ADFSlib/index.html ADFSlib] - a Python module for reading ADFS floppy disk images
* [http://www.wss.co.uk/pinknoise/Docs/index.html Documentation on Acorn Computers]

[[Category:RISC OS]]
[[Category:Acorn computers]]

DFS

2026-03-25T01:08:17Z

JTN: minimal page

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Filesystem
|wikidata={{wikidata|Q5281381}}
}}

== Overview ==
The Disc Filing System (DFS) was the filesystem format used for floppy disks by Acorn's early 8-bit computers, such as the BBC Micro. Acorn [[Acorn single density 5 1/4" disk|single]] and [[Acorn double density 5 1/4" disk|double density 5¼" disks]] would typically contain a DFS filesystem.

DFS was a very simple filesystem, supporting a only small number of contiguous files with 7-character names in a flat structure (although files could be assigned to single-letter "directories", similar to [[CP/M file system|CP/M]]'s user numbers).

DFS was superseded by the [[ADFS|Advanced Disc Filing System (ADFS)]], which was available on Acorn's later 8-bit computers such as the Master Compact (and more commonly used than DFS on that machine's [[Acorn double density 3 1/2" disk|3½" disks]]), as well as the 32-bit Archimedes and later.

== Resources ==
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_Filing_System Wikipedia]
* [https://beebwiki.mdfs.net/index.php/Acorn_DFS_disc_format Acorn DFS disc format] on BeebWiki
* [https://github.com/monkeyman79/dfsimage dfsimage]: Python software which understands the DFS filesystem format

[[Category:Acorn computers]]

Quetzal

2026-02-19T15:48:52Z

JTN: add some links

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Saved Games
}}
'''Quetzal''' is a saved-game format for [[Z-code]] and [[Glulx]] games.

It was devised for [[Z-code]] in 1997 by Martin Frost, and was universally adopted shortly thereafter. (Prior to its adoption, every Z-code interpreter, including Infocom's, used its own format for saved games, and they were not formally specified or interoperable.)

The same basic format was re-used by the later [[Glulx]] virtual machine (circa 1999). The specification for the Glulx VM describes how Quetzal usage differs for Glulx.

It is an [[IFF]]-based format (FORM IFZS). There isn't a widely-used conventional filename extension.

== Resources ==
* [https://ifarchive.org/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/specification/savefile_14.txt Quetzal v1.4 spec] (covering Z-code)
* [https://www.inform-fiction.org/zmachine/standards/quetzal/index.html HTML version of the same spec]
* [https://www.ifwiki.org/Quetzal Quetzal on the IF Wiki]

[[Category:IFF based file formats]]

CHECK/CHECK2/CHECK3

2026-02-19T15:44:17Z

JTN: /* Links */ missing punctuation

{{FormatInfo
|subcat=Error detection and correction
|released=July 1987
}}
'''CHECK/CHECK2/CHECK3''' was a Type-in Program Validator for (Mallard) [[BASIC]] program listings for the Amstrad PCW which were published in the UK's ''8000 Plus'' magazine (later renamed to ''PCW Plus'').

It generates one 4-hex-digit checksum for every line of program listing, case-insensitively and ignoring spaces. It operates on the ASCII (not tokenised) version of the listing.

== Version history ==
=== Original (buggy) version, 1987–1988 ===
The first version was published in issue 10 (July 1987) p60 of ''8000 Plus'' magazine (as a type-in BASIC listing). It was titled "BASIC Checker" and credited to Adrian Wilkins. All type-in listings in the magazine from this issue through issue 25 were accompanied by checksums generated by this program; the program itself was reprinted every few issues.

Unfortunately, this version was buggy -- while it would flag many mistakes, the checksum ignored every seventh character.

(John Elliott retrospectively refers to this version as 'check1'.)

=== CHECK2/3, 1988–1995 ===
A corrected version was published in issue 26 (November 1988) p64 under the name '''CHECK2.BAS'''; the correction was attributed to Peter Crane.

The checksums produced by this version were of course different from the first version. All type-in listings in the magazine from this issue through ''PCW Plus'' issue 106 (July 1995) were accompanied by these checksums.

(A third and last version of the checker, '''CHECK3.BAS''', was published in issue 43 (April 1990) pp60,63. There was no change to the checksum algorithm; the program just had more options for where to output the checksummed listing. This version was reprinted every few issues while checksummed listings were still being published.)

=== Unofficial versions ===
'''CHECK5''' (1994–5) by John Elliott extends the Mallard BASIC implementation to produce these checksums (compatible with CHECK2/3) directly, rather than having to save the program being keyed and feed it to a separate program. ("CHECK4" was an earlier attempt at the same thing by the same author.) It is downloadable as [https://www.seasip.info/Cpm/software/chek5sea.com chek5sea.com] ([[PMsfx]] self-extracting archive).

== Sample output ==
This is an example of CHECK2 checksums.

[[File:8000_plus_pcw_basic_check2_sample.png|800px|alt=A dot-matrix printed program listing, with a column of checksums to the first. The first line is "140 check%=0 : j%=0" and has checksum "06BD".]]

== Links ==
* [https://www.seasip.info/Cpm/software/typeins.tar.gz typeins.tar.gz] (linked from [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/index.html John Elliott's PCW page]) is a collection of all the type-in listings from ''8000/PCW Plus''; the <tt>Checker</tt> directory contains all the versions of the BASIC checker program, a history, C versions, and the author's own CHECK5.

CHECK/CHECK2/CHECK3

2026-02-19T15:43:42Z

JTN: /* Unofficial versions */ link to chek5sea.com

{{FormatInfo
|subcat=Error detection and correction
|released=July 1987
}}
'''CHECK/CHECK2/CHECK3''' was a Type-in Program Validator for (Mallard) [[BASIC]] program listings for the Amstrad PCW which were published in the UK's ''8000 Plus'' magazine (later renamed to ''PCW Plus'').

It generates one 4-hex-digit checksum for every line of program listing, case-insensitively and ignoring spaces. It operates on the ASCII (not tokenised) version of the listing.

== Version history ==
=== Original (buggy) version, 1987–1988 ===
The first version was published in issue 10 (July 1987) p60 of ''8000 Plus'' magazine (as a type-in BASIC listing). It was titled "BASIC Checker" and credited to Adrian Wilkins. All type-in listings in the magazine from this issue through issue 25 were accompanied by checksums generated by this program; the program itself was reprinted every few issues.

Unfortunately, this version was buggy -- while it would flag many mistakes, the checksum ignored every seventh character.

(John Elliott retrospectively refers to this version as 'check1'.)

=== CHECK2/3, 1988–1995 ===
A corrected version was published in issue 26 (November 1988) p64 under the name '''CHECK2.BAS'''; the correction was attributed to Peter Crane.

The checksums produced by this version were of course different from the first version. All type-in listings in the magazine from this issue through ''PCW Plus'' issue 106 (July 1995) were accompanied by these checksums.

(A third and last version of the checker, '''CHECK3.BAS''', was published in issue 43 (April 1990) pp60,63. There was no change to the checksum algorithm; the program just had more options for where to output the checksummed listing. This version was reprinted every few issues while checksummed listings were still being published.)

=== Unofficial versions ===
'''CHECK5''' (1994–5) by John Elliott extends the Mallard BASIC implementation to produce these checksums (compatible with CHECK2/3) directly, rather than having to save the program being keyed and feed it to a separate program. ("CHECK4" was an earlier attempt at the same thing by the same author.) It is downloadable as [https://www.seasip.info/Cpm/software/chek5sea.com chek5sea.com] ([[PMsfx]] self-extracting archive).

== Sample output ==
This is an example of CHECK2 checksums.

[[File:8000_plus_pcw_basic_check2_sample.png|800px|alt=A dot-matrix printed program listing, with a column of checksums to the first. The first line is "140 check%=0 : j%=0" and has checksum "06BD".]]

== Links ==
* [https://www.seasip.info/Cpm/software/typeins.tar.gz typeins.tar.gz] (linked from [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/index.html John Elliott's PCW page] is a collection of all the type-in listings from ''8000/PCW Plus''; the <tt>Checker</tt> directory contains all the versions of the BASIC checker program, a history, C versions, and the author's own CHECK5.

CHECK/CHECK2/CHECK3

2026-02-19T15:31:46Z

JTN: /* Links */ link to typeins.tar.gz

{{FormatInfo
|subcat=Error detection and correction
|released=July 1987
}}
'''CHECK/CHECK2/CHECK3''' was a Type-in Program Validator for (Mallard) [[BASIC]] program listings for the Amstrad PCW which were published in the UK's ''8000 Plus'' magazine (later renamed to ''PCW Plus'').

It generates one 4-hex-digit checksum for every line of program listing, case-insensitively and ignoring spaces. It operates on the ASCII (not tokenised) version of the listing.

== Version history ==
=== Original (buggy) version, 1987–1988 ===
The first version was published in issue 10 (July 1987) p60 of ''8000 Plus'' magazine (as a type-in BASIC listing). It was titled "BASIC Checker" and credited to Adrian Wilkins. All type-in listings in the magazine from this issue through issue 25 were accompanied by checksums generated by this program; the program itself was reprinted every few issues.

Unfortunately, this version was buggy -- while it would flag many mistakes, the checksum ignored every seventh character.

(John Elliott retrospectively refers to this version as 'check1'.)

=== CHECK2/3, 1988–1995 ===
A corrected version was published in issue 26 (November 1988) p64 under the name '''CHECK2.BAS'''; the correction was attributed to Peter Crane.

The checksums produced by this version were of course different from the first version. All type-in listings in the magazine from this issue through ''PCW Plus'' issue 106 (July 1995) were accompanied by these checksums.

(A third and last version of the checker, '''CHECK3.BAS''', was published in issue 43 (April 1990) pp60,63. There was no change to the checksum algorithm; the program just had more options for where to output the checksummed listing. This version was reprinted every few issues while checksummed listings were still being published.)

=== Unofficial versions ===
'''CHECK5''' (1994–5) by John Elliott extends the Mallard BASIC implementation to produce these checksums (compatible with CHECK2/3) directly, rather than having to save the program being keyed and feed it to a separate program. ("CHECK4" was an earlier attempt at the same thing by the same author.) 

== Sample output ==
This is an example of CHECK2 checksums.

[[File:8000_plus_pcw_basic_check2_sample.png|800px|alt=A dot-matrix printed program listing, with a column of checksums to the first. The first line is "140 check%=0 : j%=0" and has checksum "06BD".]]

== Links ==
* [https://www.seasip.info/Cpm/software/typeins.tar.gz typeins.tar.gz] (linked from [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/index.html John Elliott's PCW page] is a collection of all the type-in listings from ''8000/PCW Plus''; the <tt>Checker</tt> directory contains all the versions of the BASIC checker program, a history, C versions, and the author's own CHECK5.

Error detection and correction

2026-02-19T14:43:31Z

JTN: /* Type-in Program Validation */ lk CHECK/CHECK2/CHECK3 - 8000 Plus / PCW Plus (for the Amstrad PCW)

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|thiscat=Error detection and correction
|image=Error button 2.png
}}
== Error detection only ==
* [[Adler-32]]
* [[Checksum]]
* [[CRC]] (Cyclic Redundancy Check)
** [[CRC-16]]
** [[CRC-32]]
*** [[Brik]]
*** [[Simple File Verification]] (.sfv)
* [[MurmurHash]]
* [[Parity bit]]
* [[xxHash]]
For cryptographic hash functions, see [[Encryption]].

== Error detection and correction ==
* [[ARJ-PROTECT data]]
* [[Hamming code]]
* [[RAR]] recovery record and .rev recovery volumes
* [[Reed-Solomon error correction]]
** [[BlockHashLoc]] (.bhl)
** [[Blockyarchive/blkar]] (.ecsbx)
** [[DVDisaster Error Correction File]] (.ecc)
** [[ICE ECC]] (.ecc)
** [[Mono]] (.mono)
** [[Parity_Volume_Set|Parity Volume Set / Parchive]] (.par, .par2, .par3, pa3, .p??)
** [[Recovery Star]]
** [[RockFAT]]
** [[rsbep]] (.shielded, .frozen.RS)
** [[RSC32]] (.RSC32, .RSE32)
** [[rscode-correction]] (.rsecc)
** [[SeqBox]] (.sbx)

== Type-in Program Validation ==
* [[AccuType]] - Nibble
* [[Apple Checker]] - Nibble
* [[BASIC Editor]] - ANALOG Computing
* [[Bug-Out]] - Home Computer Magazine
* [[Bug Repellent]] - Ahoy!
* [[C:Check/D:Check/ST-Check]] - ANALOG Computing
* [[CHECK/CHECK2/CHECK3]] - 8000 Plus / PCW Plus
* [[Checkbin/Checksoft]] - Core and Hardcore Computist
* [[CheckIt]] - Nibble
* [[Checksummer]] - 64'er and Happy Computer
* [[Checksummer (Frank Brall)]] - Computronic and Compute Mit
* [[Chexsum]] - Melbourne House Publishers
* [[Commodore Dossier Checksum]] - Commodore Dossier
* [[Dataspeeder]] - Commodore Dossier
* [[Edytor BASICa]] - Moje Atari and Bajtek
* [[F64Summer]] - Forum64
* [[Flankspeed]] - Ahoy!
* [[Generator kodów kontrolnych]] - Tajemnice Atari
* [[Get It Right!]] - Atari User, The Micro User
* [[Hex Data Entry]] - Your Commodore
* [[Key Perfect]] - Nibble
* [[KEYO]] - Monitor (UKACOC)
* [[Korrector/Kontrolsum]] - Run (German, Danish and Hungarian editions)
* [[M/L Editor]] - ANALOG Computing
* [[Magazine Entry Program]] - Commodore Magazine
* [[MIKBUG Tape Format]] - Byte
* [[MLX]] - COMPUTE! and COMPUTE!'s Gazette
* [[MSE]] - 64'er
* [[Perfect Typist]] - Run
* [[Program Checker]] - ROM Magazine
* [[Program Perfect]] - Computer Shopper
* [[PROOF-IT]] - Commodore 64 Fun and Games Volume 2
* [[RUN's Checksum]] - Run
* [[Squares Input Program]] - Computronic
* [[Stop Bug]] - Papersoft
* [[SWAT (Strategic Weapon Against Typos)]] - SoftSide
* [[Syntax Checker]] - Your Commodore
* [[Tarkastaja (Inspector)]] - MikroBITTI
* [[The Automatic Proofreader]] - COMPUTE! and COMPUTE!'s Gazette
* [[TYPO (Type Your Program Once)]] - Antic, Page 6, New Atari User
* [[Unicheck]] - ANALOG Computing
* [[Verifizer]] - Transactor

=== General Info about Type-In Program Checkers ===
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type-in_program#Validation_software Wikipedia]
* [https://atariprojects.org/2020/07/25/learn-about-checksum-programs-for-checking-type-in-programs-15-30-mins/ Learn About Checksum Programs for Checking Type-In Programs]
* [https://arstechnica.com/staff/2018/11/first-encounter-compute-magazine-and-its-glorious-tedious-type-in-code/ First encounter: COMPUTE! magazine and its glorious, tedious type-in code]

=== Lost/Apocryphal Type-in Program Checkers ===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190531125324/http://nibblemagazine.com/pc_han5.jpg Code Checker] - PC Hands On (probably related to one of the programs used by Nibble Magazine)
* Spectravideo, MSX, C64 and VIC versions of [[Tarkastaja (Inspector)]]

== See also ==
* [[Error codes and messages]]

== Links ==
* [http://www.avpreserve.com/blog/fixity-and-filesystems-enhanced-system-monitoring-via-inodes-2/ Fixity and Filesystems: Enhanced System Monitoring via inodes]

CHECK/CHECK2/CHECK3

2026-02-19T14:40:48Z

JTN: s/After-market/Unofficial/

{{FormatInfo
|subcat=Error detection and correction
|released=July 1987
}}
'''CHECK/CHECK2/CHECK3''' was a Type-in Program Validator for (Mallard) [[BASIC]] program listings for the Amstrad PCW which were published in the UK's ''8000 Plus'' magazine (later renamed to ''PCW Plus'').

It generates one 4-hex-digit checksum for every line of program listing, case-insensitively and ignoring spaces. It operates on the ASCII (not tokenised) version of the listing.

== Version history ==
=== Original (buggy) version, 1987–1988 ===
The first version was published in issue 10 (July 1987) p60 of ''8000 Plus'' magazine (as a type-in BASIC listing). It was titled "BASIC Checker" and credited to Adrian Wilkins. All type-in listings in the magazine from this issue through issue 25 were accompanied by checksums generated by this program; the program itself was reprinted every few issues.

Unfortunately, this version was buggy -- while it would flag many mistakes, the checksum ignored every seventh character.

(John Elliott retrospectively refers to this version as 'check1'.)

=== CHECK2/3, 1988–1995 ===
A corrected version was published in issue 26 (November 1988) p64 under the name '''CHECK2.BAS'''; the correction was attributed to Peter Crane.

The checksums produced by this version were of course different from the first version. All type-in listings in the magazine from this issue through ''PCW Plus'' issue 106 (July 1995) were accompanied by these checksums.

(A third and last version of the checker, '''CHECK3.BAS''', was published in issue 43 (April 1990) pp60,63. There was no change to the checksum algorithm; the program just had more options for where to output the checksummed listing. This version was reprinted every few issues while checksummed listings were still being published.)

=== Unofficial versions ===
'''CHECK5''' (1994–5) by John Elliott extends the Mallard BASIC implementation to produce these checksums (compatible with CHECK2/3) directly, rather than having to save the program being keyed and feed it to a separate program. ("CHECK4" was an earlier attempt at the same thing by the same author.) 

== Sample output ==
This is an example of CHECK2 checksums.

[[File:8000_plus_pcw_basic_check2_sample.png|800px|alt=A dot-matrix printed program listing, with a column of checksums to the first. The first line is "140 check%=0 : j%=0" and has checksum "06BD".]]

== Links ==
* ''FIXME link to JCE's typeins.tar.gz on seasip.info'', a collection of all the type-in listings from ''8000/PCW Plus'', put together by John Elliott; the <tt>Checker</tt> directory contains all the versions of the BASIC checker program, a history, C versions, and the author's own CHECK5.

CHECK/CHECK2/CHECK3

2026-02-19T14:38:40Z

JTN: initial version without external links

{{FormatInfo
|subcat=Error detection and correction
|released=July 1987
}}
'''CHECK/CHECK2/CHECK3''' was a Type-in Program Validator for (Mallard) [[BASIC]] program listings for the Amstrad PCW which were published in the UK's ''8000 Plus'' magazine (later renamed to ''PCW Plus'').

It generates one 4-hex-digit checksum for every line of program listing, case-insensitively and ignoring spaces. It operates on the ASCII (not tokenised) version of the listing.

== Version history ==
=== Original (buggy) version, 1987–1988 ===
The first version was published in issue 10 (July 1987) p60 of ''8000 Plus'' magazine (as a type-in BASIC listing). It was titled "BASIC Checker" and credited to Adrian Wilkins. All type-in listings in the magazine from this issue through issue 25 were accompanied by checksums generated by this program; the program itself was reprinted every few issues.

Unfortunately, this version was buggy -- while it would flag many mistakes, the checksum ignored every seventh character.

(John Elliott retrospectively refers to this version as 'check1'.)

=== CHECK2/3, 1988–1995 ===
A corrected version was published in issue 26 (November 1988) p64 under the name '''CHECK2.BAS'''; the correction was attributed to Peter Crane.

The checksums produced by this version were of course different from the first version. All type-in listings in the magazine from this issue through ''PCW Plus'' issue 106 (July 1995) were accompanied by these checksums.

(A third and last version of the checker, '''CHECK3.BAS''', was published in issue 43 (April 1990) pp60,63. There was no change to the checksum algorithm; the program just had more options for where to output the checksummed listing. This version was reprinted every few issues while checksummed listings were still being published.)

=== After-market versions ===
'''CHECK5''' (1994–5) by John Elliott extends the Mallard BASIC implementation to produce these checksums (compatible with CHECK2/3) directly, rather than having to save the program being keyed and feed it to a separate program. ("CHECK4" was an earlier attempt at the same thing by the same author.) 

== Sample output ==
This is an example of CHECK2 checksums.

[[File:8000_plus_pcw_basic_check2_sample.png|800px|alt=A dot-matrix printed program listing, with a column of checksums to the first. The first line is "140 check%=0 : j%=0" and has checksum "06BD".]]

== Links ==
* ''FIXME link to JCE's typeins.tar.gz on seasip.info'', a collection of all the type-in listings from ''8000/PCW Plus'', put together by John Elliott; the <tt>Checker</tt> directory contains all the versions of the BASIC checker program, a history, C versions, and the author's own CHECK5.

File:8000 plus pcw basic check2 sample.png

2026-02-19T14:30:44Z

JTN: Sample of CHECK/CHECK2/CHECK3 checksums. (From ''8000 Plus'' magazine, issue 26 (November 1988), p64; this shows the core of the CHECK2 checksum algorithm itself.)

Sample of [[CHECK/CHECK2/CHECK3]] checksums. (From ''8000 Plus'' magazine, issue 26 (November 1988), p64; this shows the core of the CHECK2 checksum algorithm itself.)

Quetzal

2026-02-19T11:45:34Z

JTN: detail

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Saved Games
}}
'''Quetzal''' is a saved-game format for [[Z-code]] and [[Glulx]] games.

It was devised for [[Z-code]] in 1997 by Martin Frost, and was universally adopted shortly thereafter. (Prior to its adoption, every Z-code interpreter, including Infocom's, used its own format for saved games, and they were not formally specified or interoperable.)

The same basic format was re-used by the later [[Glulx]] virtual machine (circa 1999). The specification for the Glulx VM describes how Quetzal usage differs for Glulx.

It is an [[IFF]]-based format (FORM IFZS). There isn't a widely-used conventional filename extension.

== Resources ==
* [http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/specification/savefile_14.txt Quetzal v1.4 spec]

[[Category:IFF based file formats]]

Quetzal

2026-02-19T11:44:44Z

JTN: Category:IFF based file formats

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Saved Games
}}

== Resources ==
* [http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/specification/savefile_14.txt Quetzal v1.4 spec]

[[Category:IFF based file formats]]

IFF

2026-02-17T18:22:17Z

JTN: + Quetzal (IFZS)

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Metaformats
|extensions={{ext|iff}}, many others
|locfdd={{LoCFDD|fdd000115}}
|pronom={{PRONOM|x-fmt/157}}
|released=1985
}}
:''This article is about the generic IFF metaformat. For the IFF '''image format''', see [[ILBM]]. For Sun IFF, see [[Sun TAAC image]].''

'''IFF''' ('''Interchange File Format''') is a general-purpose binary file format introduced by Electronic Arts on the Commodore Amiga computer in 1985. It is sometimes known as '''IFF 85'''.

== Format details ==
An IFF file is composed of elements called "chunks". Each chunk consists of a [[FourCC|4-byte type identifier]] (represented by four ASCII characters), a 4-byte length, and the chunk's payload data. Some types of chunks contain a sequence of nested chunks. Multi-byte numeric values are [[Endianness|big-endian]].

IFF defines a number of standard chunks types. Additional types are invented as needed by IFF-based formats.

Of particular significance is chunk type <code>FORM</code>. Most IFF-based files are formatted as a single <code>FORM</code> chunk. A <code>FORM</code> chunk's data contains a four-byte "FORM type" code, indicating the data type, followed by a sequence of nested chunks.

An IFF-based format whose FORM type is ''xxxx'' might be referred to as "FORM ''xxxx''". FORM types may also be used as filename extensions.

== Identification ==
Most IFF files begin with the ASCII characters "<code>FORM</code>". The file type is then indicated by the 4-byte ASCII code beginning at offset 8.

There are also aggregate formats that begin with "<code>LIST</code>" or "<code>CAT </code>".

== FORM type cross-reference ==
Selected FORM types, and related articles, are listed below. See also [[:Category:IFF based file formats]].

{| class="wikitable"
! FORM type
! Refer to
! Remarks
|-
| <code>8SVX</code> || [[8-Bit Sampled Voice]] || 8-bit sampled sound voice; listed in the original IFF spec.
|-
| <code>ACBM</code> || [[ILBM#ACBM]] ||
|-
| <code>AIFC</code> || [[AIFC]] ||
|-
| <code>AIFF</code> || [[AIFF]] ||
|-
| <code>AMFF</code> || [[Amiga Metafile]] ||
|-
| <code>ANBM</code> || || Animated bitmap; listed in the original IFF spec.
|-
| <code>ANIM</code> || [[ANIM]] ||
|-
| <code>CMUS</code> || [[DeLuxe Music Score]] ||
|-
| <code>CTLG</code> || || Amiga Catalog translaton format
|-
| <code>D3TV</code> || [[D3TV]] ||
|-
| <code>DEEP</code> || [[IFF-DEEP]] ||
|-
| <code>DR2D</code> || [[DR2D]] ||
|-
| <code>FANT</code> || [[Fantavision]] ||
|-
| <code>FAXX</code> || [[FAXX]] ||
|-
| <code>FNTR</code> || || Raster font; listed in the original IFF spec.
|-
| <code>FNTV</code> || || Vector font; listed in the original IFF spec.
|-
| <code>FTXT</code> || [[FTXT]] || Formatted text; listed in the original IFF spec.
|-
| <code>GSCR</code> || || General-use musical score; listed in the original IFF spec.
|-
| <code>ICON</code> || [[GlowIcons]] ||
|-
| <code>IFRS</code> || [[Blorb]] ||
|-
| <code>IFZS</code> || [[Quetzal]] ||
|-
| <code>ILBM</code> || [[ILBM]] || Interleaved raster bitmap image; listed in the original IFF spec.
|-
| <code>IMAG</code> || [[CD-I IFF IMAG]] ||
|-
| <code>LWLO</code>, <code>LWOB</code>, <code>LWO2</code> || [[LightWave Object]]
|-
| <code>MAUD</code> || [[IFF-MAUD]] || Amiga sound format
|-
| <code>MLDF</code> || [[MLDF]] || Unknown graphics format
|-
| <code>PBM</code> || [[ILBM#PBM]] ||
|-
| <code>PDEF</code> || || Deluxe Print page definition; listed in the original IFF spec.
|-
| <code>PICS</code> || || Macintosh picture; listed in the original IFF spec.
|-
| <code>PLBM</code> || || (obsolete); listed in the original IFF spec.
|-
| <code>RGFX</code> || [[RGFX]] ||
|-
| <code>SCDH</code> || || Sim City 2000 saved city (*.sc2)
|-
| <code>SMUS</code> || [[SMUS]] || Simple musical score; listed in the original IFF spec. [http://1fish2.github.io/IFF/IFF%20docs%20with%20Commodore%20revisions/SMUS.pdf]
|-
| <code>SSA </code> || [[IFF-SSA]] || ClariSSA Super smooth Animation
|-
| <code>TDDD</code> || [[TDDD]], [[Imagine Object File]]
|-
| <code>USCR</code> || || Uhuru Sound Software musical score; listed in the original IFF spec.
|-
| <code>UVOX</code> || || Uhuru Sound Software Macintosh voice; listed in the original IFF spec.
|-
| <code>VAXL</code> || [[VAXL]] || Unknown animation format
|-
| <code>VDEO</code> || [[VDEO]] || Deluxe Video Construction Set video; listed in the original IFF spec.
|}

== Variant formats ==
Some other formats are largely or heavily influenced by the IFF standard, but are not compatible. These include, for example:
* Erlang [[BEAM]] compiled modules: Uses 4 byte alignment instead of 2 byte, and the root chunk has a different ID (<code>FOR1</code> instead of <code>FORM</code>)
* Microsoft's [[RIFF]] and [[RIFX]] formats are based on IFF (RIFF uses [[Endianness|little-endian]] byte order instead, and the root chunk is called <code>RIFF</code> instead of <code>FORM</code>)
* Apple's [[AIFF]] and [[AIFC]] formats are similar to IFF/RIFF as well
* [[Maya IFF]]
* [[IFF (The Sims)]]

== Specifications ==
* [http://1fish2.github.io/IFF/ The EA IFF-85 Repository]
** [http://1fish2.github.io/IFF/IFF%20docs%20with%20Commodore%20revisions/EA%20IFF%2085.pdf EA IFF 85] - January 14, 1985 (Updated Oct, 1988 Commodore-Amiga, Inc.)
** [http://1fish2.github.io/IFF/IFF%20docs%20with%20Commodore%20revisions/IFF%20Quick%20Intro.pdf A Quick Introduction to IFF]
** [https://github.com/1fish2/IFF/blob/master/IFF%20retrospective.md IFF Retrospective] by Jerry Morrison, 2013
** [https://github.com/1fish2/IFF/blob/master/64-bit%20IFF.md 64-bit IFF] (abandoned)
* [http://wiki.amigaos.net/wiki/EA_IFF_85_Standard_for_Interchange_Format_Files EA IFF 85] (Updated October, 1988 Amiga, Inc.) - From AmigaOS Documentation Wiki
* [http://www.martinreddy.net/gfx/2d/IFF.txt The original EA spec]
** [http://www.textfiles.com/programming/FORMATS/ea.iff Another copy at textfiles.com]
* [http://www.fileformat.info/format/iff/spec/7866a9f0e53c42309af667c5da3bd426/view.htm IFF.TXT] - A concatenation of about a dozen IFF-related documents, from FileFormat.Info

== Sample files ==
* CTLG: {{DexvertSamples|other/iffCTLG}}

== Links ==
* [http://wiki.amigaos.net/wiki/IFF_FORM_and_Chunk_Registry IFF chunk registry], defining all known chunks
* [http://wiki.amigaos.net/wiki/IFF_Source_Code IFF Source Code]
* [http://rewiki.regengedanken.de/wiki/.IFF REWiki: .IFF]
* {{EGFF|iff|IFF File Format Summary}}, from the [[Encyclopedia of Graphics File Formats]]
* [http://www.textfiles.com/programming/FORMATS/admusfmt.pro 1994 "advanced music formats" discussion that covers some IFF formats]
* [http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/pa-spec16/ IBM developerWorks: The Interchange File Format]
* [http://sandervanderburg.blogspot.com/2012/06/iff-file-format-experiments.html IFF file format experiments]

[[Category:IFF based file formats| ]]
[[Category:Audio and Music]]
[[Category:Graphics]]
[[Category:Video]]
[[Category:Amiga]]
[[Category:Electronic Arts]]

LocoScript

2023-02-28T20:26:17Z

JTN: clarify that LocoScript was an MDA consumer, not creator

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Document
|subcat2=Word Processor
}}
'''LocoScript''' was the word processor bundled with the Amstrad PCW. There were four major versions for the PCW, and two for MSDOS.

8-bit versions ([https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/locohist.html more detail]):
* LocoScript 1 (1985) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 8256/8512 (3" drives) and PcW 9256 and 10 (3.5" drives).
* LocoScript 2 (1987) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 9512 (3" drive) and PcW 9512+ (3.5" drive), and was a common upgrade for the other models.
* LocoScript 3 (1993) was only available separately. It added semi-scalable fonts.
* LocoScript 4 (1996/7) was only available separately. It added support for using images (in [[MDA]] format) and colour printing.

Most PCW documents, on either 3" or 3.5" floppy discs, are thus likely to be in LocoScript 1 or 2 format.

(The PcW 16 did not run LocoScript.)

While standard LocoScript had a relatively [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/PSF/Amstrad/Scrchar/index.html wide range of characters], there were some specialised versions for particular scripts, such as [http://www.fvempel.nl/manuals/araloco.pdf Euro-Arabic LocoScript] ([https://archive.org/details/8000-plus-magazine-37/page/n14/mode/1up see also]) and [http://www.habisoft.com/pcwwiki/doku.php?id=es:aplicaciones:advantage_hebrew_locoscript Hebrew LocoScript].

PC versions:
* LocoScript PC (later LocoScript PC Easy)
* LocoScript Professional

== File formats ==

Each major version of LocoScript changed the file format. Newer versions could read files from older versions, but not vice versa.

* LocoScript 1 is relatively well documented.
** [https://archive.org/details/35_Schneider_PC_International_1988-01 Schneider PC International 1988/01] (pp84-97) has a fairly detailed description of the LocoScript 1 format (in German), and provides Turbo Pascal source for a program LOCOCONV to convert it (updated in the [https://archive.org/details/44_Amstrad_PC_International_1988-10 1988/10 issue], pp92-97). Versions of that program exist in various places:
*** Werner Cirsovius' site ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160311002010/http://cirsovius.de/CPM/Projekte/TURBO-PASCAL/LOCO/LocoConv-en.html on Wayback machine]) had a copy. Wayback Machine doesn't have all the code, but the whole website is archived as a .7z [http://www.classiccmp.org/cpmarchives/index.php here].
*** A modified/translated version is on [http://fvempel.nl/domain.html Frank van Empel's site] (search for LOCOCON).
** Another, briefer description of the [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/ls1frm.html LocoScript 1 file format] (in English)
** The character encoding used for the text portions is the [[Amstrad CP/M Plus character set]], except that the [[C1 controls]] range was used for control codes (different ones from the C1 control standard, which probably didn't exist yet) instead of the box-drawing characters of the CP/M Plus set.
* LocoScript 2 and up: no known descriptions (although plenty of software exists to read them). These versions had a greatly expanded character repertoire, more than can fit in a single-byte character set; see reference from [http://www.seasip.info/Unix/PSF/Amstrad/Scrchar/ John Elliott]. They share some of the same basic structure as LocoScript 1.
** Reportedly, Locomotive/LocoScript Software did produce format documentation for at least Loco 3 and 4 documents, the latter called ''The Structure of LocoScript 4 Documents'' and released under NDA; they don't seem to have made their way online. Refs: David Langford's columns in PCW Plus 114 (March 1996) and [https://archive.org/details/pcw-today-08/page/n37/mode/1up PCW Today issue 8 (Winter 97/98)].

LocoScript documents did not have a conventional file extension. The default filenames it suggested were <tt>DOCUMENT.000</tt>, <tt>DOCUMENT.001</tt>, etc.

== Identification ==

All known (PCW) LocoScript files start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>4A 4F 59</tt> ("JOY"), followed by two bytes identifying the major format version:
* <tt>01 00</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 2 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 01</tt>: LocoScript 1 (emitted by 1.1, 1.11e, 1.20, 1.42H)
* <tt>01 02</tt>: LocoScript 2 (emitted by 2.03, 2.12, 2.16, 2.28b)
* <tt>01 03</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 3 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 04</tt>: LocoScript 3 and 2.5x (emitted by 2.54, 3.06b)
* <tt>01 05</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 4 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 06</tt>: LocoScript 4 (emitted by 4.06, 4.10, 4.11)

In addition, the byte at offset 0x7F must be the 8-bit checksum of the preceding 127 bytes.

PC versions' documents seem to have a similar initial structure but start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>44 4F 43</tt> ("DOC"):
* LocoScript PC 1.08 (© 1990) comes with documents starting "DOC" followed by <tt>01 01</tt>.
* LocoScript Professional 2 Plus for MS-DOS (2.51) emits and reads documents starting with "DOC" followed by <tt>01 03</tt>.

Other files used by LocoScript have a similar header, with their own three-letter identification codes:
* "BMP" - Scalable font bitmap
* "CHR" - Printer font
* "CMB" - Dot matrix printer driver
* "DMN" - Disc Manager data (LocoScript PC)
* "DRV" - Driver
* "EDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "HLP" - Help file (LocoScript PC)
* "KBD" - Keyboard layout
* "KNO" - Settings
* "OML" - Overlay (Mail merge)
* "OSP" - Overlay (Spell checker)
* "OVL" - Overlay
* "PHR" - List of phrases
* "PRI" - Printer driver
* "SCR" - Screen characters
* "SDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "UDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "XCH" - Scalable font

== Converting LocoScript documents ==

Probably the most difficult problem with converting LocoScript documents into more readable formats is not the conversion process itself, but the fact that the majority of LocoScript files were stored on [[three inch disc|3-inch floppy disks]], which are now difficult to access. See the linked page for ideas for how to deal with this.

'''LocoLink''' (and the later 'LocoLink for Windows') is a hardware / software combination that connects a PC parallel port to the expansion connector of an Amstrad PCW, and provides the software tools for both transferring LocoScript documents to the PC, as well as converting them to RTF or TXT formats. Note that the later PcW 16 has part of LocoLink built-in, and while this means documents can be transferred from an older PCW to a PcW 16 and then onto a PC, PcW 16 computers are few and far between, making this option unlikely.

PCW LocoScript used CP/M format for its discs, so LocoScript files are likely to be found in a [[CP/M file system]]. LocoScript only kept live versions of files in CP/M user areas 0-7 (called "group 0" etc by LocoScript); files in user areas 8-15 were "limbo files", previous or deleted versions of documents, that LocoScript would automatically delete when space was needed. User area 8 contained limbo versions of files from user area / group 0, and so on.

Once you are at the stage of having individual document files:

* [https://ai.ansible.uk/ailink.html AILINK] by Ansible Information is former commercial software for Windows, now free, which can convert PCW LocoScript 1-4 documents to more modern formats such as RTF, keeping most of the formatting codes and special characters (not Greek and Cyrillic). It can do bulk conversions. If you're not trying to read actual floppy discs with it, it should work fine under modern Windows. It runs adequately on Linux under [[Wine]].
* The PC versions of LocoScript could read PCW files, and had an export function to other formats such as WordPerfect, but are no longer particularly easy to acquire and run themselves.
* LocoLink for Windows could also convert files that were already on a PC to other formats, although reportedly with less fidelity than LocoScript PC ([https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.amstrad.8bit/c/wCCTSEzkIUc/m/9r4whhKeXrYJ according to Howard Fisher of Locomotive]).

== Links ==
* [http://www.locoscript.co.uk/ Publisher's website]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20141218181748/http://locoscript.co.uk/ 2014 archive]

[[Category:Amstrad]]

LocoScript

2023-02-28T20:24:40Z

JTN: note LocoLink for Windows file conversion, and its limitations

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Document
|subcat2=Word Processor
}}
'''LocoScript''' was the word processor bundled with the Amstrad PCW. There were four major versions for the PCW, and two for MSDOS.

8-bit versions ([https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/locohist.html more detail]):
* LocoScript 1 (1985) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 8256/8512 (3" drives) and PcW 9256 and 10 (3.5" drives).
* LocoScript 2 (1987) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 9512 (3" drive) and PcW 9512+ (3.5" drive), and was a common upgrade for the other models.
* LocoScript 3 (1993) was only available separately. It added semi-scalable fonts.
* LocoScript 4 (1996/7) was only available separately. It added support for images (in [[MDA]] format) and colour printing.

Most PCW documents, on either 3" or 3.5" floppy discs, are thus likely to be in LocoScript 1 or 2 format.

(The PcW 16 did not run LocoScript.)

While standard LocoScript had a relatively [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/PSF/Amstrad/Scrchar/index.html wide range of characters], there were some specialised versions for particular scripts, such as [http://www.fvempel.nl/manuals/araloco.pdf Euro-Arabic LocoScript] ([https://archive.org/details/8000-plus-magazine-37/page/n14/mode/1up see also]) and [http://www.habisoft.com/pcwwiki/doku.php?id=es:aplicaciones:advantage_hebrew_locoscript Hebrew LocoScript].

PC versions:
* LocoScript PC (later LocoScript PC Easy)
* LocoScript Professional

== File formats ==

Each major version of LocoScript changed the file format. Newer versions could read files from older versions, but not vice versa.

* LocoScript 1 is relatively well documented.
** [https://archive.org/details/35_Schneider_PC_International_1988-01 Schneider PC International 1988/01] (pp84-97) has a fairly detailed description of the LocoScript 1 format (in German), and provides Turbo Pascal source for a program LOCOCONV to convert it (updated in the [https://archive.org/details/44_Amstrad_PC_International_1988-10 1988/10 issue], pp92-97). Versions of that program exist in various places:
*** Werner Cirsovius' site ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160311002010/http://cirsovius.de/CPM/Projekte/TURBO-PASCAL/LOCO/LocoConv-en.html on Wayback machine]) had a copy. Wayback Machine doesn't have all the code, but the whole website is archived as a .7z [http://www.classiccmp.org/cpmarchives/index.php here].
*** A modified/translated version is on [http://fvempel.nl/domain.html Frank van Empel's site] (search for LOCOCON).
** Another, briefer description of the [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/ls1frm.html LocoScript 1 file format] (in English)
** The character encoding used for the text portions is the [[Amstrad CP/M Plus character set]], except that the [[C1 controls]] range was used for control codes (different ones from the C1 control standard, which probably didn't exist yet) instead of the box-drawing characters of the CP/M Plus set.
* LocoScript 2 and up: no known descriptions (although plenty of software exists to read them). These versions had a greatly expanded character repertoire, more than can fit in a single-byte character set; see reference from [http://www.seasip.info/Unix/PSF/Amstrad/Scrchar/ John Elliott]. They share some of the same basic structure as LocoScript 1.
** Reportedly, Locomotive/LocoScript Software did produce format documentation for at least Loco 3 and 4 documents, the latter called ''The Structure of LocoScript 4 Documents'' and released under NDA; they don't seem to have made their way online. Refs: David Langford's columns in PCW Plus 114 (March 1996) and [https://archive.org/details/pcw-today-08/page/n37/mode/1up PCW Today issue 8 (Winter 97/98)].

LocoScript documents did not have a conventional file extension. The default filenames it suggested were <tt>DOCUMENT.000</tt>, <tt>DOCUMENT.001</tt>, etc.

== Identification ==

All known (PCW) LocoScript files start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>4A 4F 59</tt> ("JOY"), followed by two bytes identifying the major format version:
* <tt>01 00</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 2 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 01</tt>: LocoScript 1 (emitted by 1.1, 1.11e, 1.20, 1.42H)
* <tt>01 02</tt>: LocoScript 2 (emitted by 2.03, 2.12, 2.16, 2.28b)
* <tt>01 03</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 3 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 04</tt>: LocoScript 3 and 2.5x (emitted by 2.54, 3.06b)
* <tt>01 05</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 4 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 06</tt>: LocoScript 4 (emitted by 4.06, 4.10, 4.11)

In addition, the byte at offset 0x7F must be the 8-bit checksum of the preceding 127 bytes.

PC versions' documents seem to have a similar initial structure but start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>44 4F 43</tt> ("DOC"):
* LocoScript PC 1.08 (© 1990) comes with documents starting "DOC" followed by <tt>01 01</tt>.
* LocoScript Professional 2 Plus for MS-DOS (2.51) emits and reads documents starting with "DOC" followed by <tt>01 03</tt>.

Other files used by LocoScript have a similar header, with their own three-letter identification codes:
* "BMP" - Scalable font bitmap
* "CHR" - Printer font
* "CMB" - Dot matrix printer driver
* "DMN" - Disc Manager data (LocoScript PC)
* "DRV" - Driver
* "EDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "HLP" - Help file (LocoScript PC)
* "KBD" - Keyboard layout
* "KNO" - Settings
* "OML" - Overlay (Mail merge)
* "OSP" - Overlay (Spell checker)
* "OVL" - Overlay
* "PHR" - List of phrases
* "PRI" - Printer driver
* "SCR" - Screen characters
* "SDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "UDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "XCH" - Scalable font

== Converting LocoScript documents ==

Probably the most difficult problem with converting LocoScript documents into more readable formats is not the conversion process itself, but the fact that the majority of LocoScript files were stored on [[three inch disc|3-inch floppy disks]], which are now difficult to access. See the linked page for ideas for how to deal with this.

'''LocoLink''' (and the later 'LocoLink for Windows') is a hardware / software combination that connects a PC parallel port to the expansion connector of an Amstrad PCW, and provides the software tools for both transferring LocoScript documents to the PC, as well as converting them to RTF or TXT formats. Note that the later PcW 16 has part of LocoLink built-in, and while this means documents can be transferred from an older PCW to a PcW 16 and then onto a PC, PcW 16 computers are few and far between, making this option unlikely.

PCW LocoScript used CP/M format for its discs, so LocoScript files are likely to be found in a [[CP/M file system]]. LocoScript only kept live versions of files in CP/M user areas 0-7 (called "group 0" etc by LocoScript); files in user areas 8-15 were "limbo files", previous or deleted versions of documents, that LocoScript would automatically delete when space was needed. User area 8 contained limbo versions of files from user area / group 0, and so on.

Once you are at the stage of having individual document files:

* [https://ai.ansible.uk/ailink.html AILINK] by Ansible Information is former commercial software for Windows, now free, which can convert PCW LocoScript 1-4 documents to more modern formats such as RTF, keeping most of the formatting codes and special characters (not Greek and Cyrillic). It can do bulk conversions. If you're not trying to read actual floppy discs with it, it should work fine under modern Windows. It runs adequately on Linux under [[Wine]].
* The PC versions of LocoScript could read PCW files, and had an export function to other formats such as WordPerfect, but are no longer particularly easy to acquire and run themselves.
* LocoLink for Windows could also convert files that were already on a PC to other formats, although reportedly with less fidelity than LocoScript PC ([https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.amstrad.8bit/c/wCCTSEzkIUc/m/9r4whhKeXrYJ according to Howard Fisher of Locomotive]).

== Links ==
* [http://www.locoscript.co.uk/ Publisher's website]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20141218181748/http://locoscript.co.uk/ 2014 archive]

[[Category:Amstrad]]

VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)

2023-02-28T19:58:00Z

JTN: fix broken "Forensics Wiki" link (dunno if forensics.wiki is legit successor to forensicswiki.org, but it has basically the same content the old site did in 2019)

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Disk Image Formats
|extensions={{ext|vhd}}
}}

==Introduction==

Virtual hard disk formats supported by Microsoft Virtual PC and Virtual Server. Specification freely available.

==Resources==

* [http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=23850 Specs for download in Official Microsoft site]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHD_%28file_format%29 VHD (Wikipedia)]
* [https://forensics.wiki/virtual_hard_disk_%28vhd%29/ Forensics Wiki article]

==See also==
* [[VFD (Virtual Floppy Disk)]]

[[Category:Microsoft]]

VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)

2023-02-28T19:56:53Z

JTN: lk VFD (Virtual Floppy Disk)

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Disk Image Formats
|extensions={{ext|vhd}}
}}

==Introduction==

Virtual hard disk formats supported by Microsoft Virtual PC and Virtual Server. Specification freely available.

==Resources==

* [http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=23850 Specs for download in Official Microsoft site]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHD_%28file_format%29 VHD (Wikipedia)]
* [http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/Virtual_Hard_Disk_%28VHD%29 Forensics Wiki article]

==See also==
* [[VFD (Virtual Floppy Disk)]]

[[Category:Microsoft]]

VFD (Virtual Floppy Disk)

2023-02-28T19:54:28Z

JTN: Minimal .vfd info

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Disk Image Formats
|extensions={{ext|vfd}}
}}
Files with the extension <tt>.vfd</tt> are reportedly used for Microsoft Virtual PC's virtual floppy drive.

Unlike the [[VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)|VHD]] format used in the same context, these files contain no metadata; they appear to be just [[raw disk image]]s ([https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/7118 ref]). So they can be manipulated the same way as those files (e.g., they can be <tt>mount</tt>ed directly on Linux).

== Sample files ==
* [https://www.ohmancorp.com/RefWin-VirtualPC-NetBoot622.asp Virtual PC 2007 - MS-DOS 6.22 Virtual Boot Floppy]

== Resources ==
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHD_(file_format)#Virtual_Floppy_Disk_(VFD) Wikipedia]

== See also ==
* [[VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)]]

Microsoft KWAJ installation compression

2023-02-28T19:34:59Z

JTN: /* Software */ more details on libmspack

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Compression
|extensions={{ext|??_}}, {{ext|??$}}
|pronom={{PRONOM|fmt/469}}
|wikidata={{wikidata|Q105850885}}
}}
'''Microsoft KWAJ installation compression''' refers to a compressed file format used for software installation by Microsoft and their installer tools. "KWAJ" refers to the signature bytes at the beginning of a compressed file.

KWAJ is a relative of some similar formats, most importantly the one known as "SZDD". For the other formats, see [[MS-DOS installation compression]] and [[Microsoft SZ installation compression]].

KWAJ is more sophisticated than SZDD, though the relationship between them is not clear.

== Format details ==
There is a 16-bit field at offset 8 that specifies the compression or encoding method.

{| class="wikitable"
!Compression code !! Description
|-
|0 || Uncompressed (rare)
|-
|1 || [[Exclusive Or|XOR]] (rare)
|-
|2 || [[LZSS (Haruhiko Okumura)|Okumura's LZSS]]
|-
|3 || [[LZ77 with Huffman coding|LZ77 + Huffman]]
|-
|4 || [[MSZIP]] (based on [[DEFLATE]])
|}

== Identification ==
Files begin with bytes {{magic|4b 57 41 4a 88 f0 27 d1}}.

== Specifications ==
* [https://www.cabextract.org.uk/libmspack/doc/szdd_kwaj_format.html libmspack: COMPRESS.EXE file formats]

== Software ==
* [https://archive.org/details/msdn-1996-04 MSDN Library - April 1996] → MSDN15_1.iso → MSDNSMPL/PROD/EISPAK11/DECOMP.EXE - Decompression utility for DOS; supports compression methods 2, 3, 4
* [https://www.cabextract.org.uk/libmspack/ libmspack] → msexpand (decompress only)
* {{Deark}}

See also [[MS-DOS installation compression#Software]].

== Sample files ==
Compression method 2:
* {{CdTextfiles|ccbwindows94/DRIVERS/MOUSE901.ZIP|MOUSE901.ZIP}} → *.??$

Compression method 3:
* {{CdTextfiles|simtel/simtel9606/WIN3/INET/POWERTCP.ZIP|POWERTCP.ZIP}}
* {{CdTextfiles|simtel/simtel9606/WIN3/PRINT/PRTFRM41.ZIP|PRTFRM41.ZIP}}
* {{CdTextfiles|cica/cica9404/WIN3/MISC/NSWP20.ZIP|NSWP20.ZIP}}
* [https://archive.org/download/ms-dos-6.2 MS-DOS 6.2] → *.IMA → *.??_

Compression method 4:
* [https://archive.org/details/MicrosoftWorks3.01994English Microsoft Works 3.0] → MMWORKS300.iso → MSWORKS/*.??_

[[Category:Microsoft]]
[[Category:MS-DOS]]

MS-DOS installation compression

2023-02-28T19:33:45Z

JTN: /* Software */ fix my markup

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Compression
|extensions={{ext|??_}}, {{ext|??$}}
|pronom={{PRONOM|fmt/462}}
}}
'''MS-DOS installation compression''' refers to a family of compressed file formats formats by Microsoft that appear on MS-DOS and early Windows (3.x) installation disks. The formats have no generally agreed-upon name. This article is primarily about the format whose files start with "SZDD". For the other formats, see [[Microsoft KWAJ installation compression]] and [[Microsoft SZ installation compression]].

Compressed files may be generated by the COMPRESS.EXE program (appearing in Microsoft's Setup Toolkit for Visual C++), and decompressed with the EXPAND.EXE program distributed with Windows and MS-DOS. Compressed files have the last character of the file extension replaced with an underscore, or sometimes a dollar sign.


== See also ==
* [[Microsoft KWAJ installation compression]]
* [[Microsoft SZ installation compression]]

This is not the only compressed file format for which the last character of the file extension might be replaced with an underscore. Others include:
* [[InstallShield installer archive]] (<code>_INST32I.EX_</code>)
* [[FTCOMP]]
* [[SQUEEZE (AJP Systems)]]
* [[CAZIP]]

== Format details ==
SZDD's compression format is similar, but not identical, to [[LZSS (Haruhiko Okumura)|Okumura's LZSS]]. There is a byte at offset 8 that specifies the exact type of compression. Most sources say that the only known value for this byte is "A" (0x41), but some report[https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26161] that there is also a type "B", used by Windows 3.1 builds 026 and 034e.

== Identification ==
An SZDD file begins with bytes {{magic|53 5A 44 44 88 F0 27 33}}.

== Software ==
* [https://www.cabextract.org.uk/libmspack/ libmspack] → msexpand (decompress only)
* EXPAND.EXE - utility included with many versions of MS Windows and MS-DOS
** [https://archive.org/details/1996-01-13-windows3.1windowsforworkgroups3.11intl Windows for Workgroups 3.11...] → WFW311/ENG_ARA/EXPAND.EXE - File Expansion Utility v2.10 (for DOS). This version of EXPAND.EXE supports SZDD, as well as KWAJ compression types 2 and 3.
* [ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/CP0982.EXE Setup Toolkit for Visual C++]
* [[7-Zip]]
* [https://github.com/stapelberg/mscompress mscompress] ([ftp://ftp.penguin.cz/pub/users/mhi/mscompress/ original version]) → mscompress, msexpand (compression and decompression)
* [https://www.winehq.org/ Wine]
* {{Deark}}

== Sample files ==
* https://telparia.com/fileFormatSamples/archive/msCompress/

== Links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160527025701/https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/80751 Documentation in Microsoft site] (archived)
* [https://www.cabextract.org.uk/libmspack/doc/szdd_kwaj_format.html SZDD and KWAJ formats description]

[[Category:File formats with too many extensions]]
[[Category:Microsoft]]
[[Category:MS-DOS]]
[[Category:Windows]]

MS-DOS installation compression

2023-02-28T19:33:21Z

JTN: /* Software */ note which Linux tools have compression and decompression; link newer version of mscompress (as packaged by Debian)

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Compression
|extensions={{ext|??_}}, {{ext|??$}}
|pronom={{PRONOM|fmt/462}}
}}
'''MS-DOS installation compression''' refers to a family of compressed file formats formats by Microsoft that appear on MS-DOS and early Windows (3.x) installation disks. The formats have no generally agreed-upon name. This article is primarily about the format whose files start with "SZDD". For the other formats, see [[Microsoft KWAJ installation compression]] and [[Microsoft SZ installation compression]].

Compressed files may be generated by the COMPRESS.EXE program (appearing in Microsoft's Setup Toolkit for Visual C++), and decompressed with the EXPAND.EXE program distributed with Windows and MS-DOS. Compressed files have the last character of the file extension replaced with an underscore, or sometimes a dollar sign.


== See also ==
* [[Microsoft KWAJ installation compression]]
* [[Microsoft SZ installation compression]]

This is not the only compressed file format for which the last character of the file extension might be replaced with an underscore. Others include:
* [[InstallShield installer archive]] (<code>_INST32I.EX_</code>)
* [[FTCOMP]]
* [[SQUEEZE (AJP Systems)]]
* [[CAZIP]]

== Format details ==
SZDD's compression format is similar, but not identical, to [[LZSS (Haruhiko Okumura)|Okumura's LZSS]]. There is a byte at offset 8 that specifies the exact type of compression. Most sources say that the only known value for this byte is "A" (0x41), but some report[https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26161] that there is also a type "B", used by Windows 3.1 builds 026 and 034e.

== Identification ==
An SZDD file begins with bytes {{magic|53 5A 44 44 88 F0 27 33}}.

== Software ==
* [https://www.cabextract.org.uk/libmspack/ libmspack] → msexpand (decompress only)
* EXPAND.EXE - utility included with many versions of MS Windows and MS-DOS
** [https://archive.org/details/1996-01-13-windows3.1windowsforworkgroups3.11intl Windows for Workgroups 3.11...] → WFW311/ENG_ARA/EXPAND.EXE - File Expansion Utility v2.10 (for DOS). This version of EXPAND.EXE supports SZDD, as well as KWAJ compression types 2 and 3.
* [ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/CP0982.EXE Setup Toolkit for Visual C++]
* [[7-Zip]]
* [https://github.com/stapelberg/mscompress mscompress] (ftp://ftp.penguin.cz/pub/users/mhi/mscompress/ original version]) → mscompress, msexpand (compression and decompression)
* [https://www.winehq.org/ Wine]
* {{Deark}}

== Sample files ==
* https://telparia.com/fileFormatSamples/archive/msCompress/

== Links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160527025701/https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/80751 Documentation in Microsoft site] (archived)
* [https://www.cabextract.org.uk/libmspack/doc/szdd_kwaj_format.html SZDD and KWAJ formats description]

[[Category:File formats with too many extensions]]
[[Category:Microsoft]]
[[Category:MS-DOS]]
[[Category:Windows]]

IMG (DOSIMG)

2023-02-28T19:22:19Z

JTN: /* Overview */ lk raw disk image

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Disk Image Formats
|extensions={{ext|img}}
}}

==Overview==
'''IMG''' is an RLE-compressed sector-based disk image format probably used by the DOS program HD-Copy and/or others. It should not be confused with [[raw disk image|raw image files]] (sector dumps).

There is a Pascal program floating around the internet which includes source code and can convert these IMG files to raw sector dumps. It is called '''DOSIMG''' and can be found mainly on various Chinese websites<ref>http://download.pchome.net/system/disk/down-13054-1.html</ref><ref>http://roy.orz.hm/soft/DOSIMG.zip</ref><ref>https://bitbucket.org/snippets/tifan/EeLAay/python-script-to-extract-compressed-img</ref>

''[Ed. note: This article needs a better title. We've named it "IMG (DOSIMG)" because the only thing we know for sure about this format is that it is supported by the DOSIMG utility.]''

==Format description==
{|
!align="left"|byte
!align="left"|description
|-
|0
|last track on the original disk (either 39 or 79)
|-
|1
|number of sectors per track
|-
|2-166
|one byte for each track, 0x01 if the track is included in the file, 0x00 otherwise (empty/unformatted)
|-
|colspan="2"|For each track:
|-
|2 bytes
|compressed size of this track, [[Endianness|little-endian]], not including this size field but including the next byte
|-
|1 byte
|the escape-byte for the RLE coding
|-
|n-1 bytes
|The actual sector data, RLE compressed. Should uncompress to at most num_sectors * 512 bytes, rest is filled with zero.
Each byte is copied 1:1 to the output buffer, except when the escape-byte is encountered. Then, the next 2 bytes specify a byte-value and a count-value. To uncompress, copy the first byte after the escape-byte as many times as the second byte implies to the output buffer.
|}

==References==
<references/>

Disk Image Formats

2023-02-28T19:13:09Z

JTN: /* Amstrad */ lk 3" inch

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|thiscat=Disk Image Formats
|image=Selanit floppy disk download icon.png
}}

[[Filesystem]]s and other file formats described on this page's parent page describe entities that exist on disks as they would normally be used.

However, there are also file formats that allow a physical disk (or tape or other medium) to be "imaged" into a file, either to be re-copied onto a physical disk later, or else used by an *emulator* of the computer system that would have originally used that sort of media.

These file formats represent a data image of one of the physical floppy disk (etc.) formats. In addition to the raw data from the disk/tape/etc, these formats may contain metadata that the corresponding emulator environment uses to correctly access the data.

Typically, when archiving a physical disk for later use, a physical disk will be imaged into one of these file formats. Sub-pages of this page should contain information on the format itself as well as instructions on how to extract a physical disk into that disk image format, including information about what physical drives are required, what software to use and how and what OS that is run under.

See also [[ROM and memory images]] for images of memory, and [[Floppy disk]]s for the physical floppies. See [[Archiving]] for archive and backup formats that are filesystem-based rather than raw-sector-based. See [[Filesystem]] for the filesystems. [[Forensics and Law Enforcement]] has formats for preserving drive contents with metadata for investigations.

==Floppy Disk Image Formats==
Images created directly from floppy disks.
===Generic Sector Images===

====Acorn====

* [[Acorn Archimedes Disk Image]]

====Amiga====

* [[ADF (Amiga)]]
* [[Disk Imploder]] (Amiga) (.dmp, .dex)
* [[Disk Masher System]] (Amiga) (.dms)
* [[WRP]]

====Amstrad====

* [[DSK (CPCEMU)]], used for Amstrad and related disks (typically [[3" disk]]s)

====APF Imagination Machine====

* [[APD]] (APF Imagination Machine emulated disk) (.apd)

====Apple II series====

* [[A2R disk image]]
* [[Apple Disk Image]] (Apple II disk image with header) (.2mg)
* [[Disk Copy 4.2]] (Apple)
* [[Disk Copy 6]] (Apple)
* [[DSK (Apple II)]], used for Apple II disks (typically 5.25" disks)
* [[EDD disk image]]
* [[Nibblized disk image]] (.nib), an Apple II disk image format that works for copy-protected disks
* [[WOZ disk image]]

====Atari====
===== Atari 8-bit =====
* [[ATR]] (SIO2PC)
* [[DCM]] (Disk Communicator)
* [[DI]] (800XL DJ emulator)
* [[PRO]] (APE ProSystem)
* [[SCP]] (Spartados)
* [[XFD]] (Xformer)
===== Atari ST =====
* [[DIM]] (F-Copy)
* [[The JAM Packer]]
* [[MSA (Magic Shadow Archiver)]]
* [[ST disk image]]
* [[STT]] (STEEM)
* [[STX]] (Pasti)

====Commodore 64/128/PET/CBM====

* [[C64 Nibbler Format]] (.nib) (created by mnib)
* [[D64]] and its variants (D71, D81, all with optional error information) from the C64
* [[G64]] C64 raw (GCR coded) disk image

====Macintosh====

* [[Apple Disk Image]] (MacOS or OS X disk image with header) (.dmg, .smi, .img)
* [[DART]] (Apple)
* [[MOOF]]
* [[Sparse image]] (Apple disk image) (.sparseimage)

====MSX====
* [[PDI]] (Protected Disk Image)

====PC (DOS/Windows)====

* [[86F]] (86Box)
* [[CopyQM]]
* [[DDI]] (DiskDupe image file)
* [[Disk Express]] (.dxp)
* [[DSQ (disk image)|DSQ]]
* [[FDF Image]] (EZ-DisKlone)
* [[FDI]] (Formatted Disk Image)
* [[IMA]]
* [[IMD]] (ImageDisk)
* [[IMG (DOSIMG)|IMG]] (HD-Copy disk image)
* [[LoadDskF/SaveDskF]] (.dsk)
* [[Quick Release Sector Transfer]] (Compaq)
* [[RIM]] (EZ-DiskCopy PRO)
* [[TD0]] (TeleDisk)
* [[XPACK disk image]] (.xdi)

====Tandy====

* [[DMK]]
* [[JV1/JV3]]
* [[JVC]]

====ZX Spectrum====
* [[Mirage Microdrive Snapshot]]
* [[TRD]] (see [[TR-DOS filesystem]])

====Misc.====
* [[Anex86 PC98 floppy image]] (.fdi)
* [[D88]] (.d88, .1dd, .2dd)
* [[DiscFerret floppy image]] (.dfi)
* [[DSK (Oric)]]
* [[Famicom Disk System]] (.fds)
* [[LDBS disk image]] (.ldbs)
* [[MESS floppy image]] (.mfi)
* [[Pasopia disk image]] (.d88)
* [[Raw disk image]] (.img) (ie, created with dd)

===Physical (Hardware) Images===

* [[DRAFT]] (Software Preservation Society intermediate format)
* [[IPF]] (Software Preservation Society image format)
* [[KryoFlux]]

==Optical Disc Image Formats==
CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, BluRay, GD-ROM etc. For the physical formats, see [[Optical Discs]].

* [[BlindWrite Image File]] (.bwi, .bwt, .b5i, .b6i) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlindWrite wiki]
* [[CDI]] (Disc Juggler)
* [[CloneCD Control File]] (.ccd, .img, .sub)
* [[C2D]] Roxio
* [[CIF Image]] Roxio
* [[CUE and BIN]]
* [[CyberLink P2I]]
* [[DDP]] (Disc Description Protocol)
* [[DMG]] (Apple)
* [[GI]] (Sonic Global Image File)
* [[ISOBuster Managed Image]] (IBP/IBQ)
* [[ISO image]] (.iso)
* [[ISZ]]
* [[MDF and MDS]]
* [[NRG]] (Nero Burning ROM)
* [[TOAST]] (Roxio Toast)
* [[XDI (Extended Disc Image)]]
* [[TOC]] (CDRDAO)

===Optical Disc Project Formats===
Disc Burning Software Project files

* [[Nero Burning ROM]]
** [[NRI]] (CD-ROM Compilation)
** [[Nero CoverDesigner]]
** [[NSD]] Super VCD Compilation
** [[NRV]] Video CD Compilation
** [[NRE]] CD Extra Compilation
* [[CDL]] (Corel CD Creator)
* [[Easy CD Creator]] (CL2, CL3, CL4)
* [[CL5]] (Roxio EasyCD Creator 5)
* [[RCL]] (Roxio Creator Classic)
* [[ROXIO]] (Roxio Creator Classic/Easy Media Creator)
* [[ROX]] (Roxio Creator NXT)
* [[DMSD]] (Roxio MyDVD)
* [[DISC]] (Roxio TOAST)
* [[DVD Sonic]] (Sonic myDVD .dvd)
* [[NTI CD-DVD Maker]] (.cmd)
* [[Adobe Encore]] (.ncor)
* [[DVD Studio Pro]] (.dspproj)
* [[CyberLink Power2Go]]

==Hard Disk Image Formats==

* [[HDV (disk image)|HDV]]
* [[Raw disk image]] (.img)

==Virtual Machine Disks and Virtualization Image Formats==
* [[OVF (Open Virtualization Format)]]
* [[qcow]] (QEMU)
* [[VDI]] (Virtual Disk Image) (VirtualBox) (.vdi)
* [[VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)]] (Microsoft) (.vhd)
* [[VMDK]] (Virtual Machine Disk) (VMWare) (.vmdk)

==Tape Image Formats==

* [[APT (APF Imagination Machine)|APT]] (APF Imagination Machine emulated tape, logical bits) (.apt)
* [[APW]] (APF Imagination Machine emulated tape, raw audio) (.apw)
* [[CAS (Atari)|CAS]] (Atari; Digital Cassette Image system)
* [[PZX]] (ZX Spectrum)
* [[SIMH TAP]] (SIMH emulator's tape file format)
* [[T64]]
* [[TAP (Oric)]]
* [[TAP (ZX Spectrum)]]
* [[Tap file]] (contains data from Commodore data cassette)
* [[Tape Image Format]] (TIF) (used for seismic data)
* [[TZX]] (ZX Spectrum)
* [[Unified Emulator Format]] (UEF; also does Acorn disks and ROMs)

==Unknown==
* [[lbl]] See here for details: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130103032119/http://classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/2012-December/326747.html]

==Tools==
* [[The Sleuth Kit and Autopsy]] can read raw, [[Expert Witness]], and AFF formats
* [http://www.winimage.com/ WinImage] to read, write and create images, also lots of info
* [http://foremost.sourceforge.net/ Foremost: console tool to recover files from disk images]
* [http://disktype.sourceforge.net/ disktype: detect format of disk or disk image]
* [[TrID|TrID File Identifier]]: recognize many disk image formats
* [https://github.com/bitcurator/bca-webtools bca-webtools]
* [https://github.com/eaas-framework/xmount xmount: emulates various disk image formats for use in emulators requiring them]

See also [[Disk Imaging Software & Systems]], and [[Forensics and Law Enforcement]].

== Links ==
* [http://qanda.digipres.org/20/what-are-the-reasons-for-saving-disk-images?show=183 What are the reasons for saving disk images?]
* [http://ils.unc.edu/digccurr/curategear2016-talks/woods-curategear2016.pdf BCA-Webtools: Accessing and Visualizing Disk Images in a Web Browser]

PMA

2023-02-18T19:34:00Z

JTN: fix copy/paste error

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Archiving
|extensions={{ext|pma}}
}}
'''PMA''' is a variant of the [[LHA]] archiving format, with the same basic structure but a different set of compression types. These compression types originated in the [[CP/M]] archiver PMarc, created by Miyo. PMA was a popular format on MSX computers.

It is not to be confused with the archives of the [http://www.pma.org/news/archives.asp Precision Metalforming Association] or the [http://www.pmanet.org/?cmd=main.category&id_category=58 Pacific Maritime Association] or the [http://www.polishmuseumofamerica.org/v4/EnglishVersion/PMAArchives.htm Polish Museum of America] (all of which may come up in a search for "PMA archive").

== Compression schemes ==
Refer to [[LHA#Compression schemes]] for more information about LHA-style compression schemes.

{| class="wikitable"
! ID !! Description and remarks
|-
|<code>-pc1-</code> || The signature "<code>-pc1-</code>" can appear in CP/M .COM files compressed with the "PopCom" executable compressor, but possibly not in anything resembling a compression ID field.
|-
|<code>-pm0-</code> || Uncompressed
|-
|<code>-pm1-</code> ||
|-
|<code>-pm2-</code> ||
|-
|<code>-pms-</code> || The signature "<code>-pms-</code>" can appear in self-extracting PMA archives, but possibly not in anything resembling a compression ID field.
|}

== Software ==
* [https://github.com/fragglet/lhasa lhasa]
* [http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~am9y-mn/fswlist.htm Original(?) implementations] (Japanese)
* [[Unar]]

Some of the software listed at [[LHA#Software]] supports PMA.

== Sample files ==
* {{CdTextfilesURL|230/EMULATOR/DIVERSE/MSX/TOOLS/}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160902101645/http://msx.hansotten.com/index.php?page=msxutils Some sample PMA files (among other formats)] (archived from the original)
* https://telparia.com/fileFormatSamples/archive/pma/

== Links ==
* [[Wikipedia:LHA_%28file_format%29#PMarc_extensions|Info in Wikipedia]]

[[Category:CP/M]]
[[Category:MSX]]

PMA

2023-02-18T19:33:40Z

JTN: -pc1- vs PopCom

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Archiving
|extensions={{ext|pma}}
}}
'''PMA''' is a variant of the [[LHA]] archiving format, with the same basic structure but a different set of compression types. These compression types originated in the [[CP/M]] archiver PMarc, created by Miyo. PMA was a popular format on MSX computers.

It is not to be confused with the archives of the [http://www.pma.org/news/archives.asp Precision Metalforming Association] or the [http://www.pmanet.org/?cmd=main.category&id_category=58 Pacific Maritime Association] or the [http://www.polishmuseumofamerica.org/v4/EnglishVersion/PMAArchives.htm Polish Museum of America] (all of which may come up in a search for "PMA archive").

== Compression schemes ==
Refer to [[LHA#Compression schemes]] for more information about LHA-style compression schemes.

{| class="wikitable"
! ID !! Description and remarks
|-
|<code>-pc1-</code> || The signature "<code>-pms-</code>" can appear in CP/M .COM files compressed with the "PopCom" executable compressor, but possibly not in anything resembling a compression ID field.
|-
|<code>-pm0-</code> || Uncompressed
|-
|<code>-pm1-</code> ||
|-
|<code>-pm2-</code> ||
|-
|<code>-pms-</code> || The signature "<code>-pms-</code>" can appear in self-extracting PMA archives, but possibly not in anything resembling a compression ID field.
|}

== Software ==
* [https://github.com/fragglet/lhasa lhasa]
* [http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~am9y-mn/fswlist.htm Original(?) implementations] (Japanese)
* [[Unar]]

Some of the software listed at [[LHA#Software]] supports PMA.

== Sample files ==
* {{CdTextfilesURL|230/EMULATOR/DIVERSE/MSX/TOOLS/}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160902101645/http://msx.hansotten.com/index.php?page=msxutils Some sample PMA files (among other formats)] (archived from the original)
* https://telparia.com/fileFormatSamples/archive/pma/

== Links ==
* [[Wikipedia:LHA_%28file_format%29#PMarc_extensions|Info in Wikipedia]]

[[Category:CP/M]]
[[Category:MSX]]

LocoScript

2023-02-18T19:20:32Z

JTN: lk JCE's page on Loco 2+ character set

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Document
|subcat2=Word Processor
}}
'''LocoScript''' was the word processor bundled with the Amstrad PCW. There were four major versions for the PCW, and two for MSDOS.

8-bit versions ([https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/locohist.html more detail]):
* LocoScript 1 (1985) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 8256/8512 (3" drives) and PcW 9256 and 10 (3.5" drives).
* LocoScript 2 (1987) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 9512 (3" drive) and PcW 9512+ (3.5" drive), and was a common upgrade for the other models.
* LocoScript 3 (1993) was only available separately. It added semi-scalable fonts.
* LocoScript 4 (1996/7) was only available separately. It added support for images (in [[MDA]] format) and colour printing.

Most PCW documents, on either 3" or 3.5" floppy discs, are thus likely to be in LocoScript 1 or 2 format.

(The PcW 16 did not run LocoScript.)

While standard LocoScript had a relatively [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/PSF/Amstrad/Scrchar/index.html wide range of characters], there were some specialised versions for particular scripts, such as [http://www.fvempel.nl/manuals/araloco.pdf Euro-Arabic LocoScript] ([https://archive.org/details/8000-plus-magazine-37/page/n14/mode/1up see also]) and [http://www.habisoft.com/pcwwiki/doku.php?id=es:aplicaciones:advantage_hebrew_locoscript Hebrew LocoScript].

PC versions:
* LocoScript PC (later LocoScript PC Easy)
* LocoScript Professional

== File formats ==

Each major version of LocoScript changed the file format. Newer versions could read files from older versions, but not vice versa.

* LocoScript 1 is relatively well documented.
** [https://archive.org/details/35_Schneider_PC_International_1988-01 Schneider PC International 1988/01] (pp84-97) has a fairly detailed description of the LocoScript 1 format (in German), and provides Turbo Pascal source for a program LOCOCONV to convert it (updated in the [https://archive.org/details/44_Amstrad_PC_International_1988-10 1988/10 issue], pp92-97). Versions of that program exist in various places:
*** Werner Cirsovius' site ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160311002010/http://cirsovius.de/CPM/Projekte/TURBO-PASCAL/LOCO/LocoConv-en.html on Wayback machine]) had a copy. Wayback Machine doesn't have all the code, but the whole website is archived as a .7z [http://www.classiccmp.org/cpmarchives/index.php here].
*** A modified/translated version is on [http://fvempel.nl/domain.html Frank van Empel's site] (search for LOCOCON).
** Another, briefer description of the [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/ls1frm.html LocoScript 1 file format] (in English)
** The character encoding used for the text portions is the [[Amstrad CP/M Plus character set]], except that the [[C1 controls]] range was used for control codes (different ones from the C1 control standard, which probably didn't exist yet) instead of the box-drawing characters of the CP/M Plus set.
* LocoScript 2 and up: no known descriptions (although plenty of software exists to read them). These versions had a greatly expanded character repertoire, more than can fit in a single-byte character set; see reference from [http://www.seasip.info/Unix/PSF/Amstrad/Scrchar/ John Elliott]. They share some of the same basic structure as LocoScript 1.
** Reportedly, Locomotive/LocoScript Software did produce format documentation for at least Loco 3 and 4 documents, the latter called ''The Structure of LocoScript 4 Documents'' and released under NDA; they don't seem to have made their way online. Refs: David Langford's columns in PCW Plus 114 (March 1996) and [https://archive.org/details/pcw-today-08/page/n37/mode/1up PCW Today issue 8 (Winter 97/98)].

LocoScript documents did not have a conventional file extension. The default filenames it suggested were <tt>DOCUMENT.000</tt>, <tt>DOCUMENT.001</tt>, etc.

== Identification ==

All known (PCW) LocoScript files start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>4A 4F 59</tt> ("JOY"), followed by two bytes identifying the major format version:
* <tt>01 00</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 2 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 01</tt>: LocoScript 1 (emitted by 1.1, 1.11e, 1.20, 1.42H)
* <tt>01 02</tt>: LocoScript 2 (emitted by 2.03, 2.12, 2.16, 2.28b)
* <tt>01 03</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 3 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 04</tt>: LocoScript 3 and 2.5x (emitted by 2.54, 3.06b)
* <tt>01 05</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 4 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 06</tt>: LocoScript 4 (emitted by 4.06, 4.10, 4.11)

In addition, the byte at offset 0x7F must be the 8-bit checksum of the preceding 127 bytes.

PC versions' documents seem to have a similar initial structure but start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>44 4F 43</tt> ("DOC"):
* LocoScript PC 1.08 (© 1990) comes with documents starting "DOC" followed by <tt>01 01</tt>.
* LocoScript Professional 2 Plus for MS-DOS (2.51) emits and reads documents starting with "DOC" followed by <tt>01 03</tt>.

Other files used by LocoScript have a similar header, with their own three-letter identification codes:
* "BMP" - Scalable font bitmap
* "CHR" - Printer font
* "CMB" - Dot matrix printer driver
* "DMN" - Disc Manager data (LocoScript PC)
* "DRV" - Driver
* "EDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "HLP" - Help file (LocoScript PC)
* "KBD" - Keyboard layout
* "KNO" - Settings
* "OML" - Overlay (Mail merge)
* "OSP" - Overlay (Spell checker)
* "OVL" - Overlay
* "PHR" - List of phrases
* "PRI" - Printer driver
* "SCR" - Screen characters
* "SDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "UDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "XCH" - Scalable font

== Converting LocoScript documents ==

Probably the most difficult problem with converting LocoScript documents into more readable formats is not the conversion process itself, but the fact that the majority of LocoScript files were stored on [[three inch disc|3-inch floppy disks]], which are now difficult to access. See the linked page for ideas for how to deal with this.

'''LocoLink''' (and the later 'LocoLink for Windows') is a hardware / software combination that connects a PC parallel port to the expansion connector of an Amstrad PCW, and provides the software tools for both transferring LocoScript documents to the PC, as well as converting them to RTF or TXT formats. Note that the later PcW 16 has part of LocoLink built-in, and while this means documents can be transferred from an older PCW to a PcW 16 and then onto a PC, PcW 16 computers are few and far between, making this option unlikely.

PCW LocoScript used CP/M format for its discs, so LocoScript files are likely to be found in a [[CP/M file system]]. LocoScript only kept live versions of files in CP/M user areas 0-7 (called "group 0" etc by LocoScript); files in user areas 8-15 were "limbo files", previous or deleted versions of documents, that LocoScript would automatically delete when space was needed. User area 8 contained limbo versions of files from user area / group 0, and so on.

Once you are at the stage of having individual document files:

* [https://ai.ansible.uk/ailink.html AILINK] by Ansible Information is former commercial software for Windows, now free, which can convert PCW LocoScript 1-4 documents to more modern formats such as RTF, keeping most of the formatting codes and special characters (not Greek and Cyrillic). It can do bulk conversions. If you're not trying to read actual floppy discs with it, it should work fine under modern Windows. It runs adequately on Linux under [[Wine]].
* The PC versions of LocoScript could read PCW files, and had an export function to other formats, but are no longer particularly easy to acquire and run themselves.

== Links ==
* [http://www.locoscript.co.uk/ Publisher's website]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20141218181748/http://locoscript.co.uk/ 2014 archive]

[[Category:Amstrad]]

CrLZH

2023-02-18T19:17:29Z

JTN: fix rotted classiccmp.org links

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Compression
|extensions={{ext|?y?}}, {{ext|yyy}}
|released=1989
}}
'''CRLZH''' (or '''CrLZH''') is a single-file compression utility, and its associated file format, devised by Roger Warren and used on [[CP/M]]. The format is often referred to as just '''LZH''', but it's not to be confused with the format used for [[LHA|.lzh]] files.

It came later than [[Squeeze]] and [[Crunch]] and generally achieved better compression than those formats. LZH files occurred standalone and as members in [[LBR]] archives. The underlying compression is based on that used by [[LHArc]].

Similar to [[Squeeze]] and [[Crunch]], these files were signified in CP/M's 8.3 filename format by replacing the middle letter of the extension with Y (.?Y?), with the extension .YYY used for corner cases such as a blank extension.

The compression schemes used by versions 1.x and 2.x are slightly different, but most decompression utilities support both.

== Format details ==
The compression algorithm uses [[LZ77 with Huffman coding|LZ77+Huffman]], with [[adaptive Huffman coding]]. It is derived from the same source code as [[LHA]]'s "lh1" compression, and is presumably quite similar to it. Differences include:
* A 2K window instead of 4K
* A special "EOF" code
* In v2 format, offsets are encoded slightly differently.

== Identification ==
Files begin with bytes {{magic|76 fd}}.

== Specifications ==

* Some format information is in LZHREL.DOC shipped with [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/squsq/crlzh20.lbr CRLZH20.LBR]
** An extracted copy is provided [[CrLZH/LZHREL.DOC|here]].
* Note that the file header follows a similar/compatible structure to [[Crunch]].

== Tools ==

* [[CFX]] (DOS/Unix)
* [http://www.svgalib.org/rus/lbrate.html lbrate] by Russell Marks, c. 2001 (Unix, GPL2)
* {{Deark}}
* [[Unar]]
* On CP/M (or emulators):
** The original tools were those in the CRLZH distribution, e.g. [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/squsq/crlzh20.lbr CRLZH20.LBR]
** The later LT31 deals with extracting from all of [[Squeeze]], [[Crunch]], [[CrLZH]] and [[LBR]] formats. Widely available in CP/M archives, e.g. [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/arc-lbr/lt31.lbr LT31.LBR]
** [http://www.retroarchive.org/cpm/cdrom/ENTERPRS/CPM/UTILS/F/LZH21SRC.LBR LZH21SRC.LBR] - Version 2.x LZH-CP/M source code - R. Warren - 1991-08-23

== Sample files ==
Note that for files in LBR archives, you may have to tell your LBR utility not to decompress them (e.g. <code>lbrate -n</code>).

* [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/squsq/crlzh11.lbr crlzh11.lbr] → *.?y*
* [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/squsq/crlzh20.lbr crlzh20.lbr] → *.?y*
* https://telparia.com/fileFormatSamples/archive/crLZH/

[[Category:File formats with too many extensions]]
[[Category:CP/M]]

Crunch

2023-02-18T19:16:13Z

JTN: fix rotted classiccmp.org links

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Compression
|extensions={{ext|?z?}}, {{ext|zzz}}
|released=~1986
}}
:''This article is about the CP/M compressed file format. See the [[#Disambiguation|disambiguation section]] for other "Crunch" formats.''

[[Crunch]] was a method of compressing single files popular on [[CP/M]], devised by Steve Greenberg circa 1986. It superseded [[Squeeze]] and was succeeded by [[CrLZH]], and crunched files were common in [[LBR]] archives. The underlying compression uses the [[LZW]] algorithm, combined with [[run-length encoding]].

Similar to [[Squeeze]], crunched files were signified in CP/M's 8.3 filename format by replacing the middle letter of the extension with Z (.?Z?), with the extension .ZZZ used for corner cases such as a blank extension.

There are two main versions of the compressed data format, and not all decompressors support both. The new (v2.x) format is apparently more common.

== Disambiguation ==
Not to be confused with:
* The "crunched" compression methods used in [[ARC (compression format)|ARC]] format, though they are related.
* [[Crunch-Mania]] - An Amiga file compression utility
* [[Cruncher]] - An executable compression utility for DOS, by Ori Berger [http://cd.textfiles.com/simtel/simtel20/MSDOS/EXECOMP/CRUNCH10.ZIP]
* CRUNCH - A compression optimization utility for DOS, by Bruce Gavin. It does not appear to have any native file formats. [http://cd.textfiles.com/20mnn/ARCHIVE/CRUNCH10.ZIP]
* Crunch - An old [[ARC (compression format)|ARC]] compression utility by Richard P. Byrne [http://cd.textfiles.com/rbbsv3n1/d86v/crunch.zip]
* CRUNCH - A PKARC automation utility by Chuck Zulker [http://cd.textfiles.com/megarom/megarom1/ARC_LBR/CRUNCH.ZIP]

== See also ==
* [[LZWCOM]] - predecessor
* [[Squeeze]] - predecessor
* [[CrLZH]] - successor
* [[LBR]] - container
* [[ZSQ (LZW compression)‎]] - Similar format
* [[Zoo Z format]] - Same file naming convention

== Format details ==
The file header follows a similar/compatible structure to [[CrLZH]]. It was derived from [[Squeeze]], but bears only a little resemblance to it.

Note that, as explained in the format documentation, the "filename" field contains not only the filename, but also extension data. If extension data exists, the filename extension is padded with spaces until it is exactly three characters long.

In archives originating on CP/M systems, the high bit of each byte in the filename field may contain encoded CP/M file attributes. To extract the original filename, each byte should be masked with 0x7F.

=== Compression ===
V1.x compression is based on [[RLE90]] and [[LZWCOM]], very similar to [[ARC (compression format)|ARC]]'s method #6, except that Crunch reserves code 0 to mean "stop".

V2.x compression is considerably more complex. CRUNCH20.DOC shipped in CRUNCH20.LBR says: ''It embodies all of the concepts employed in the UNIX COMPRESS / ARC512 algorithm, but is additionally enhanced by a "metastatic code reassignment" facility. This is one of several concepts I am developing as part of an effort to advance data compression techniques beyond current performance limits. I believe this is the first time this principle has been proposed or implemented.''

== Identification ==
Files begin with bytes {{magic|76 fe}}.

== Specifications ==

* The file header is described in the text file LZDEF20.DOC shipped with [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/sigm/vol294/crunch20.lbr CRUNCH20.LBR].
** An extracted copy is provided [[Crunch/LZDEF20.DOC|here]].
* [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/squsq/crunch.abs crunch.abs] - "Technical Abstract" by Steven Greenberg, 16 November 1986
* [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/squsq/crunch.izf crunch.izf] → crunch.inf - Collected information about the format

== Software ==

* [[CFX]] (DOS/Unix)
* [http://www.svgalib.org/rus/lbrate.html lbrate] by Russell Marks, c. 2001 (Unix, GPL2)
* [[The Unarchiver]]
* On CP/M (or emulators):
** The canonical tools were CRUNCH and UNCR. Possibly Greenberg's last version (Feb 1988) is v2.4:
*** [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/squsq/crunch24.lbr CRUNCH24.LBR]
*** [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/squsq/crnch24s.lbr CRNCH24S.LBR] (source code)
** The later LT31 deals with extracting from all of [[Squeeze]], [[Crunch]], [[CrLZH]] and [[LBR]] formats. Widely available in CP/M archives, e.g. [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/arc-lbr/lt31.lbr LT31.LBR]
** crunch12.lbr - Crunch 1.2 - Possible sources: [http://gaby.de/ftp/pub/cpm/znode51/pcwworld/u111/user_0/crunch12.lbr], [https://www.worldofsam.org/products/fdos-disk-002-file-compressors-and-archivers]
** [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/sigm/vol294/crunch20.lbr crunch20.lbr] - Crunch 2.0
** [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/squsq/fcrnch11.lbr fcrnch11.lbr] - FCRUNCH v1.1 - An improved version of Crunch 2.x, by C.B. Falconer
* {{CdTextfiles|megarom/megarom1/ARC_LBR/UNCR_DOS.ZIP|UNCR version "UNCR231"}} - Crunch v2 decompression source code by Frank Prindle. Package includes a DOS binary.
** {{CdTextfiles|megarom/megarom1/ARC_LBR/UNCR233.ZIP|UNCR233}} - Based on UNCR231, with modifications by Skip Hansen (source code + DOS binary)

== Sample files ==
* [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/ OAK CP/M archive] → .../*.?z?
* Found in many [[LBR#Sample files|LBR]] files. Note that you may have to tell your LBR utility not to decompress them (e.g. <code>lbrate -n</code>).
* https://telparia.com/fileFormatSamples/archive/crunch/

[[Category:File formats with too many extensions]]
[[Category:CP/M]]

Squeeze

2023-02-18T19:14:25Z

JTN: fix rotted classiccmp.org links

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Compression
|extensions={{ext|?q?}}, {{ext|qqq}}, {{ext|sq}}
|wikidata={{wikidata|Q34745668}}
|released=ca. 1981
}}
:''Distinct from [[Squeeze It]] (SQZ). See the [[#Disambiguation|disambiguation section]] for more similarly-named formats.''

[[Squeeze]] was a method of compressing single files popular on [[CP/M]], devised by Richard Greenlaw circa 1981. It was superseded by [[Crunch]] and later [[CrLZH]]. Squeezed files were common in [[LBR]] archives. It uses [[Huffman coding]] combined with [[run-length encoding]].

Squeezed files were signified in CP/M's 8.3 filename format by replacing the middle letter of the extension with Q (.?Q? -- so FOO.TXT became FOO.TQT), with the extension .QQQ used for corner cases such as a blank extension. Some software for other platforms (e.g. squprt33.ark) appends a .SQ extension instead.

The <tt>/usr/share/misc/magic</tt> file on Linux systems suggests that it was perhaps also in use on the [[Apple II|Apple ][]] platform, and in fact [[Binary II]] files are often found squeezed (as .bqy instead of .bny). Versions for PC/MS-DOS were also in use in the early 1980s before [[ARC (compression format)|ARC]] caught on as the dominant archiver.

== Disambiguation ==
Not to be confused with:
* [[Squeeze It]] (SQZ) - A compression-and-archival format for DOS released around 1992.
* [[SQUEEZE (AJP Systems)]] - A Windows 3.x file compression program and format.
* [[squeeze (Daniel Bernstein)]] - A compressed file format
* Squeez [https://www.sac.sk/download/pack/squeez.zip] - A compression/archiving application for 32-bit Windows, with internal support for several standard formats. By Sven Ritter and SpeedProject.
* Squeez, UnSqueez - Terms used for software and technology associated with [[SQX]] format, by Sven Ritter and SpeedProject.
* [[SQWEZ]] - Compressed archive format and software for DOS, with an emphasis on self-extracting archives.
* [[Vidfern Squeezer]] - Executable compression software for 32-bit Windows. (Maybe also transparent file compression for Mac?)
* [[ARC (compression format)|ARC]] "squeezed" compression - Related, but distinct

== See also ==
* [[SQ2]] - variant
* [[ZSQ (LZW compression)‎]]
* [[Crunch]] - successor
* [[CrLZH]] - successor
* [[LBR]] - container
* [[ARC (compression format)|ARC]], "squeezed" compression

== Format details ==
Note:
* Multi-byte integers are little-endian.
* Some Squeeze software limits the length of a Huffman code to at most 16 bits.

=== File structure ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Field !! Size in bytes !! Description
|-
|signature || 2 || <code>0x76 0xff</code>
|-
|checksum || 2 || Low 16 bits of the sum of the decompressed byte values.
|-
|filename || variable || Original filename, terminated by a NUL byte. (TODO: Find a specification for this field. Some software interprets it in the same way as [[Crunch]], but that might be overkill.)
|-
|compressed data || variable || See below.
|-
|timestamp extension || 8 || Optional timestamp. See below.
|}

=== Compressed data section ===
The "compressed data" section. This part is equivalent to [[ARC (compression format)|ARC]] compression method 4.

{| class="wikitable"
! Field !! Size in bytes !! Description
|-
|node_count || 2 || Number of nodes in the table. Valid values are 0 through 256, inclusive.
|-
|node table || 4 × node_count || The encoded Huffman tree. See below.
|-
|data || variable || Huffman-encoded data. Least-significant bit first. After Huffman decoding, the data is [[RLE90]]-compressed. The data should end with a special "stop" code. However, this compression format could be used in situations where it could also be terminated by other means.
|}

A table node contains two encoded values. Each is a signed 16-bit integer interpreted as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
! Encoded value !! Meaning
|-
| −257 || Stop
|-
| −256 ... −1 || Byte value 255 ... 0
|-
| 0 ... 255 || Pointer to a child node
|}

=== Timestamp extension ===
Format of timestamp extension, taken from SQDATE.DOC (see below). It starts at the first byte boundary after the Stop code. It is present if the signature and checksum are correct.

{| class="wikitable"
! Field !! Size in bytes !! Description
|-
|signature || 2 || <code>0xff77</code> (<code>0x77 0xff</code>)
|-
|date || 2 ||rowspan="2"| [[MS-DOS date/time]] format
|-
|time || 2
|-
|checksum || 2 || Low 16 bits of the sum of the first three fields, interpreted as little-endian integers.
|}

== Identification ==
Files begin with bytes {{magic|76 ff}}.

Note that this does not distinguish them from [[CODEC (Telvox)]].

== Specifications ==
* See the [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/squsq/ SQUSQ] directory on CP/M archives for various source code and documentation (much of it, unfortunately, itself squeezed/crunched).
* {{CdTextfiles|simtel/simtel/DISK1/DISC2/COMPRESS/SQDATE.DOC|SQDATE.DOC}} - Information about the timestamp extension

== Tools ==

* [[CFX]] (DOS/Unix)
* [http://www.svgalib.org/rus/lbrate.html lbrate] by Russell Marks, c. 2001 (Unix, GPL2)
* [[The Unarchiver]]
* {{Deark}}
* On CP/M (or emulators):
** The original tools were SQ/USQ. See for instance the [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/squsq/ SQUSQ] directory of the Oakland CP/M archive.
** The later LT31 deals with extracting from all of [[Squeeze]], [[Crunch]], [[CrLZH]] and [[LBR]] formats. Widely available in CP/M archives, e.g. [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/arc-lbr/lt31.lbr LT31.LBR]
* [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/squsq/squprt33.ark squprt33.ark] - Portable sq/usq, version "3.3 10/29/86"
* {{CdTextfiles|carousel/013B/NSQUSQ.ZIP|NSQUSQ.ZIP}} - Contains NUSQ v1.10 (1984-10-21; By Dave Rand, Paul Homchick and Cliff Sharp) and NSQ v2.01 (1984-10-20; "Originally by Richard Greenlaw") (DOS Software)
* {{CdTextfiles|simtel/simtel20/MSDOS/COMPRESS/SQPC131.ZIP|SQPC131.ZIP}} - SQPC v1.31 (1986-03-02) and UNSQPC v1.36, by Vernon D. Buerg (DOS Software)
* {{CdTextfiles|carousel/013A/ALUSQ11.ZIP|ALUSQ11.ZIP}} - ALUSQ v1.1 (1985-03-04) by Alan Losoff (DOS software, decompression only)

== Sample files ==
* [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/ OAK CP/M archive] → .../*.?q?
* Found in many [[LBR#Sample files|LBR]] files. Note that you may have to tell your LBR utility not to decompress them (e.g. <code>lbrate -n</code>).
* https://telparia.com/fileFormatSamples/archive/squeeze/

== References ==

* [[Wikipedia:SQ (program)]]

[[Category:File formats with too many extensions]]
[[Category:CP/M]]

LBR

2023-02-18T19:08:11Z

JTN: /* Sample files */ fix rotted link

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Archiving
|extensions={{ext|lbr}}, {{ext|lqr}}, {{ext|lzr}}, {{ext|lyr}}
|wikidata={{wikidata|Q6457314}}
}}
[[LBR]] was a container format popular for distributing [[CP/M]] software, designed by Gary P. Novosielski. Since it had no compression of its own, it was common for individual members of .LBR files to be compressed with [[Squeeze]] (.?Q?), [[Crunch]] (.?Z?), or [[CrLZH]] (.?Y?). Alternatively, the whole library could be compressed with one of these methods (leading to the extensions .LQR, .LZR, .LYR).

Under CP/M, the canonical tools for manipulating LBR files were LU.COM and NULU.COM. Other tools, such as NSWP.COM, understood both LBR and some of the closely associated compression formats.

LBR has been implemented on other platforms including PC/MS-DOS, but the [[LBR (Commodore)|Commodore LBR]] format is unrelated and not compatible. (It was common in those days for different platforms to be Balkanized and not have file formats that are in any way compatible with those of other platforms, even when they served similar purposes and were inspired by other-platform formats even to the point of being named after them.)

== Identification ==
LBR files have no signature, but they begin with a "Directory Control Entry" that has a fairly strict format. So, LBR files start with a 0x00 byte, then 11 spaces (0x20), then two 0x00 bytes, then two bytes that are not both 0x00.

== Tools ==

* [[CFX]] (DOS/Unix)
* [http://www.svgalib.org/rus/lbrate.html lbrate] by Russell Marks, c. 2001 (Unix, GPL2)
* [http://www.seasip.info/Unix/Lar/index.html LAR] (Unix, tar-like interface) by John Elliott, based on Stephen C. Hemminger's original
* [http://www.classiccmp.org/cpmarchives/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/arc-lbr/lu310.com lu310.com] (CP/M software)

== Sample files ==
* [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/ OAK CP/M archive] → .../*.lbr
* https://telparia.com/fileFormatSamples/archive/lbr/

== References ==

* .LBR format definition, Gary P. Novosielski, 1984-08-19 -- available as LUDEF5.DOC in many CP/M archives (e.g., [http://www.retroarchive.org/cpm/cdrom/CPM/UTILS/ARC-LBR/LUDEF5.DOC here])
** [http://www.textfiles.com/programming/FORMATS/ludef5.txt This version] renames the extension to .txt so the browser won't try to launch M$ Word to open it.
** '''[http://www.seasip.info/Cpm/ludef5.html HTML version]''' of the above
* .LBR format definition, Gary P. Novosielski, 1984-08-04 -- [http://annex.retroarchive.org/cdrom/nightowl-001/015A/LUDEF4/LUDEF4.DOC an older version of the specification]
* .LBR format definition, Gary P. Novosielski, 1983-08-16 [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/Software/WalnutCD/lambda/soundpot/f/lu300.lbr] use e.g. [[The Unarchiver]] to access the contained files.
* .LBR format definition, Gary P. Novosielski, 1982-11-04 -- [http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/Software/WalnutCD/simtel/sigm/vols100/vol119/ludef1.doc an early version of the specification]
* [[Wikipedia:LBR (file format)|LBR (file format) at Wikipedia]]
* [http://www.textfiles.com/programming/FORMATS/arc-lbr.pro ARC vs LBR comparison (1985)]

[[Category:CP/M]]

LocoScript

2023-02-18T18:59:26Z

JTN: lk JCE's LocoScript version history

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Document
|subcat2=Word Processor
}}
'''LocoScript''' was the word processor bundled with the Amstrad PCW. There were four major versions for the PCW, and two for MSDOS.

8-bit versions ([https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/locohist.html more detail]):
* LocoScript 1 (1985) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 8256/8512 (3" drives) and PcW 9256 and 10 (3.5" drives).
* LocoScript 2 (1987) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 9512 (3" drive) and PcW 9512+ (3.5" drive), and was a common upgrade for the other models.
* LocoScript 3 (1993) was only available separately. It added semi-scalable fonts.
* LocoScript 4 (1996/7) was only available separately. It added support for images (in [[MDA]] format) and colour printing.

Most PCW documents, on either 3" or 3.5" floppy discs, are thus likely to be in LocoScript 1 or 2 format.

(The PcW 16 did not run LocoScript.)

While standard LocoScript had a relatively wide range of characters, there were some specialised versions for particular scripts, such as [http://www.fvempel.nl/manuals/araloco.pdf Euro-Arabic LocoScript] ([https://archive.org/details/8000-plus-magazine-37/page/n14/mode/1up see also]) and [http://www.habisoft.com/pcwwiki/doku.php?id=es:aplicaciones:advantage_hebrew_locoscript Hebrew LocoScript].

PC versions:
* LocoScript PC (later LocoScript PC Easy)
* LocoScript Professional

== File formats ==

Each major version of LocoScript changed the file format. Newer versions could read files from older versions, but not vice versa.

* LocoScript 1 is relatively well documented.
** [https://archive.org/details/35_Schneider_PC_International_1988-01 Schneider PC International 1988/01] (pp84-97) has a fairly detailed description of the LocoScript 1 format (in German), and provides Turbo Pascal source for a program LOCOCONV to convert it (updated in the [https://archive.org/details/44_Amstrad_PC_International_1988-10 1988/10 issue], pp92-97). Versions of that program exist in various places:
*** Werner Cirsovius' site ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160311002010/http://cirsovius.de/CPM/Projekte/TURBO-PASCAL/LOCO/LocoConv-en.html on Wayback machine]) had a copy. Wayback Machine doesn't have all the code, but the whole website is archived as a .7z [http://www.classiccmp.org/cpmarchives/index.php here].
*** A modified/translated version is on [http://fvempel.nl/domain.html Frank van Empel's site] (search for LOCOCON).
** Another, briefer description of the [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/ls1frm.html LocoScript 1 file format] (in English)
** The character encoding used for the text portions is the [[Amstrad CP/M Plus character set]], except that the [[C1 controls]] range was used for control codes (different ones from the C1 control standard, which probably didn't exist yet) instead of the box-drawing characters of the CP/M Plus set.
* LocoScript 2 and up: no known descriptions (although plenty of software exists to read them). These versions had a greatly expanded character repertoire, more than can fit in a single-byte character set; see reference from [http://www.seasip.info/Unix/PSF/Amstrad/Scrchar/ John Elliott]. They share some of the same basic structure as LocoScript 1.
** Reportedly, Locomotive/LocoScript Software did produce format documentation for at least Loco 3 and 4 documents, the latter called ''The Structure of LocoScript 4 Documents'' and released under NDA; they don't seem to have made their way online. Refs: David Langford's columns in PCW Plus 114 (March 1996) and [https://archive.org/details/pcw-today-08/page/n37/mode/1up PCW Today issue 8 (Winter 97/98)].

LocoScript documents did not have a conventional file extension. The default filenames it suggested were <tt>DOCUMENT.000</tt>, <tt>DOCUMENT.001</tt>, etc.

== Identification ==

All known (PCW) LocoScript files start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>4A 4F 59</tt> ("JOY"), followed by two bytes identifying the major format version:
* <tt>01 00</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 2 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 01</tt>: LocoScript 1 (emitted by 1.1, 1.11e, 1.20, 1.42H)
* <tt>01 02</tt>: LocoScript 2 (emitted by 2.03, 2.12, 2.16, 2.28b)
* <tt>01 03</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 3 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 04</tt>: LocoScript 3 and 2.5x (emitted by 2.54, 3.06b)
* <tt>01 05</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 4 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 06</tt>: LocoScript 4 (emitted by 4.06, 4.10, 4.11)

In addition, the byte at offset 0x7F must be the 8-bit checksum of the preceding 127 bytes.

PC versions' documents seem to have a similar initial structure but start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>44 4F 43</tt> ("DOC"):
* LocoScript PC 1.08 (© 1990) comes with documents starting "DOC" followed by <tt>01 01</tt>.
* LocoScript Professional 2 Plus for MS-DOS (2.51) emits and reads documents starting with "DOC" followed by <tt>01 03</tt>.

Other files used by LocoScript have a similar header, with their own three-letter identification codes:
* "BMP" - Scalable font bitmap
* "CHR" - Printer font
* "CMB" - Dot matrix printer driver
* "DMN" - Disc Manager data (LocoScript PC)
* "DRV" - Driver
* "EDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "HLP" - Help file (LocoScript PC)
* "KBD" - Keyboard layout
* "KNO" - Settings
* "OML" - Overlay (Mail merge)
* "OSP" - Overlay (Spell checker)
* "OVL" - Overlay
* "PHR" - List of phrases
* "PRI" - Printer driver
* "SCR" - Screen characters
* "SDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "UDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "XCH" - Scalable font

== Converting LocoScript documents ==

Probably the most difficult problem with converting LocoScript documents into more readable formats is not the conversion process itself, but the fact that the majority of LocoScript files were stored on [[three inch disc|3-inch floppy disks]], which are now difficult to access. See the linked page for ideas for how to deal with this.

'''LocoLink''' (and the later 'LocoLink for Windows') is a hardware / software combination that connects a PC parallel port to the expansion connector of an Amstrad PCW, and provides the software tools for both transferring LocoScript documents to the PC, as well as converting them to RTF or TXT formats. Note that the later PcW 16 has part of LocoLink built-in, and while this means documents can be transferred from an older PCW to a PcW 16 and then onto a PC, PcW 16 computers are few and far between, making this option unlikely.

PCW LocoScript used CP/M format for its discs, so LocoScript files are likely to be found in a [[CP/M file system]]. LocoScript only kept live versions of files in CP/M user areas 0-7 (called "group 0" etc by LocoScript); files in user areas 8-15 were "limbo files", previous or deleted versions of documents, that LocoScript would automatically delete when space was needed. User area 8 contained limbo versions of files from user area / group 0, and so on.

Once you are at the stage of having individual document files:

* [https://ai.ansible.uk/ailink.html AILINK] by Ansible Information is former commercial software for Windows, now free, which can convert PCW LocoScript 1-4 documents to more modern formats such as RTF, keeping most of the formatting codes and special characters (not Greek and Cyrillic). It can do bulk conversions. If you're not trying to read actual floppy discs with it, it should work fine under modern Windows. It runs adequately on Linux under [[Wine]].
* The PC versions of LocoScript could read PCW files, and had an export function to other formats, but are no longer particularly easy to acquire and run themselves.

== Links ==
* [http://www.locoscript.co.uk/ Publisher's website]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20141218181748/http://locoscript.co.uk/ 2014 archive]

[[Category:Amstrad]]

MDA

2023-02-18T18:56:11Z

JTN: note that LocoScript 4 documents could reference MDAs

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Graphics
|extensions={{ext|mda}}, {{ext|mdp}}
}}
'''MicroDesign Area''' ([[MDA]]) and '''MicroDesign Page''' ('''MDP''') are monochrome raster graphics formats with simple lossless compression used by the MicroDesign family of programs on the [[Amstrad PCW]]. MDA represents images of arbitrary size, whereas MDP represents the whole of one of a small set of fixed page sizes, and has a little extra metadata associated with that purpose.

Due to the nature of the Amstrad PCW's display, each pixel in this format should be treated as being twice as tall as it is wide.

The MDA format comes in two related versions: one that was produced/consumed by MicroDesign PCW version 2, and a later one with more compression used by MicroDesign 3.

A few other PCW programs could use images in this format; notably, [[LocoScript]] version 4 documents could reference MDA version 3 files.

(FIXME: do these formats have any resemblance to the .DR(?) format used on the Amstrad CPC [http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/MicroDesign MicroDesign] or [http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/MicroDesign_Plus MicroDesign Plus]?)

== Specifications ==
* MicroDesign Page (.MDP) & Area (.MDA) File Specifications, Creative Technology, 1992
** [http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~jacobn/cpm/mdaspec.html Online HTML version] with extra annotations
** [http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~jacobn/cpm/mdaspec.pdf PDF scan of original]

== Software ==
* [[Netpbm]] includes the [http://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc/mdatopbm.html mdatopbm] and [http://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc/pbmtomda.html pbmtomda] tools to convert from and to these formats.

[[Category:Amstrad]]

LocoScript

2023-02-18T18:54:03Z

JTN: /* Converting LocoScript documents */

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Document
|subcat2=Word Processor
}}
'''LocoScript''' was the word processor bundled with the Amstrad PCW. There were four major versions for the PCW, and two for MSDOS.

8-bit versions:
* LocoScript 1 (1985) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 8256/8512 (3" drives) and PcW 9256 and 10 (3.5" drives).
* LocoScript 2 (1987) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 9512 (3" drive) and PcW 9512+ (3.5" drive), and was a common upgrade for the other models.
* LocoScript 3 (1993) was only available separately. It added semi-scalable fonts.
* LocoScript 4 (1996/7) was only available separately. It added support for images (in [[MDA]] format) and colour printing.

Most PCW documents, on either 3" or 3.5" floppy discs, are thus likely to be in LocoScript 1 or 2 format.

(The PcW 16 did not run LocoScript.)

While standard LocoScript had a relatively wide range of characters, there were some specialised versions for particular scripts, such as [http://www.fvempel.nl/manuals/araloco.pdf Euro-Arabic LocoScript] ([https://archive.org/details/8000-plus-magazine-37/page/n14/mode/1up see also]) and [http://www.habisoft.com/pcwwiki/doku.php?id=es:aplicaciones:advantage_hebrew_locoscript Hebrew LocoScript].

PC versions:
* LocoScript PC (later LocoScript PC Easy)
* LocoScript Professional

== File formats ==

Each major version of LocoScript changed the file format. Newer versions could read files from older versions, but not vice versa.

* LocoScript 1 is relatively well documented.
** [https://archive.org/details/35_Schneider_PC_International_1988-01 Schneider PC International 1988/01] (pp84-97) has a fairly detailed description of the LocoScript 1 format (in German), and provides Turbo Pascal source for a program LOCOCONV to convert it (updated in the [https://archive.org/details/44_Amstrad_PC_International_1988-10 1988/10 issue], pp92-97). Versions of that program exist in various places:
*** Werner Cirsovius' site ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160311002010/http://cirsovius.de/CPM/Projekte/TURBO-PASCAL/LOCO/LocoConv-en.html on Wayback machine]) had a copy. Wayback Machine doesn't have all the code, but the whole website is archived as a .7z [http://www.classiccmp.org/cpmarchives/index.php here].
*** A modified/translated version is on [http://fvempel.nl/domain.html Frank van Empel's site] (search for LOCOCON).
** Another, briefer description of the [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/ls1frm.html LocoScript 1 file format] (in English)
** The character encoding used for the text portions is the [[Amstrad CP/M Plus character set]], except that the [[C1 controls]] range was used for control codes (different ones from the C1 control standard, which probably didn't exist yet) instead of the box-drawing characters of the CP/M Plus set.
* LocoScript 2 and up: no known descriptions (although plenty of software exists to read them). These versions had a greatly expanded character repertoire, more than can fit in a single-byte character set; see reference from [http://www.seasip.info/Unix/PSF/Amstrad/Scrchar/ John Elliott]. They share some of the same basic structure as LocoScript 1.
** Reportedly, Locomotive/LocoScript Software did produce format documentation for at least Loco 3 and 4 documents, the latter called ''The Structure of LocoScript 4 Documents'' and released under NDA; they don't seem to have made their way online. Refs: David Langford's columns in PCW Plus 114 (March 1996) and [https://archive.org/details/pcw-today-08/page/n37/mode/1up PCW Today issue 8 (Winter 97/98)].

LocoScript documents did not have a conventional file extension. The default filenames it suggested were <tt>DOCUMENT.000</tt>, <tt>DOCUMENT.001</tt>, etc.

== Identification ==

All known (PCW) LocoScript files start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>4A 4F 59</tt> ("JOY"), followed by two bytes identifying the major format version:
* <tt>01 00</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 2 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 01</tt>: LocoScript 1 (emitted by 1.1, 1.11e, 1.20, 1.42H)
* <tt>01 02</tt>: LocoScript 2 (emitted by 2.03, 2.12, 2.16, 2.28b)
* <tt>01 03</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 3 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 04</tt>: LocoScript 3 and 2.5x (emitted by 2.54, 3.06b)
* <tt>01 05</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 4 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 06</tt>: LocoScript 4 (emitted by 4.06, 4.10, 4.11)

In addition, the byte at offset 0x7F must be the 8-bit checksum of the preceding 127 bytes.

PC versions' documents seem to have a similar initial structure but start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>44 4F 43</tt> ("DOC"):
* LocoScript PC 1.08 (© 1990) comes with documents starting "DOC" followed by <tt>01 01</tt>.
* LocoScript Professional 2 Plus for MS-DOS (2.51) emits and reads documents starting with "DOC" followed by <tt>01 03</tt>.

Other files used by LocoScript have a similar header, with their own three-letter identification codes:
* "BMP" - Scalable font bitmap
* "CHR" - Printer font
* "CMB" - Dot matrix printer driver
* "DMN" - Disc Manager data (LocoScript PC)
* "DRV" - Driver
* "EDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "HLP" - Help file (LocoScript PC)
* "KBD" - Keyboard layout
* "KNO" - Settings
* "OML" - Overlay (Mail merge)
* "OSP" - Overlay (Spell checker)
* "OVL" - Overlay
* "PHR" - List of phrases
* "PRI" - Printer driver
* "SCR" - Screen characters
* "SDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "UDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "XCH" - Scalable font

== Converting LocoScript documents ==

Probably the most difficult problem with converting LocoScript documents into more readable formats is not the conversion process itself, but the fact that the majority of LocoScript files were stored on [[three inch disc|3-inch floppy disks]], which are now difficult to access. See the linked page for ideas for how to deal with this.

'''LocoLink''' (and the later 'LocoLink for Windows') is a hardware / software combination that connects a PC parallel port to the expansion connector of an Amstrad PCW, and provides the software tools for both transferring LocoScript documents to the PC, as well as converting them to RTF or TXT formats. Note that the later PcW 16 has part of LocoLink built-in, and while this means documents can be transferred from an older PCW to a PcW 16 and then onto a PC, PcW 16 computers are few and far between, making this option unlikely.

PCW LocoScript used CP/M format for its discs, so LocoScript files are likely to be found in a [[CP/M file system]]. LocoScript only kept live versions of files in CP/M user areas 0-7 (called "group 0" etc by LocoScript); files in user areas 8-15 were "limbo files", previous or deleted versions of documents, that LocoScript would automatically delete when space was needed. User area 8 contained limbo versions of files from user area / group 0, and so on.

Once you are at the stage of having individual document files:

* [https://ai.ansible.uk/ailink.html AILINK] by Ansible Information is former commercial software for Windows, now free, which can convert PCW LocoScript 1-4 documents to more modern formats such as RTF, keeping most of the formatting codes and special characters (not Greek and Cyrillic). It can do bulk conversions. If you're not trying to read actual floppy discs with it, it should work fine under modern Windows. It runs adequately on Linux under [[Wine]].
* The PC versions of LocoScript could read PCW files, and had an export function to other formats, but are no longer particularly easy to acquire and run themselves.

== Links ==
* [http://www.locoscript.co.uk/ Publisher's website]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20141218181748/http://locoscript.co.uk/ 2014 archive]

[[Category:Amstrad]]

LocoScript

2023-02-18T18:53:18Z

JTN: /* Converting LocoScript documents */ describe LocoScript's usage of CP/M "user areas", limbo files, etc

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Document
|subcat2=Word Processor
}}
'''LocoScript''' was the word processor bundled with the Amstrad PCW. There were four major versions for the PCW, and two for MSDOS.

8-bit versions:
* LocoScript 1 (1985) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 8256/8512 (3" drives) and PcW 9256 and 10 (3.5" drives).
* LocoScript 2 (1987) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 9512 (3" drive) and PcW 9512+ (3.5" drive), and was a common upgrade for the other models.
* LocoScript 3 (1993) was only available separately. It added semi-scalable fonts.
* LocoScript 4 (1996/7) was only available separately. It added support for images (in [[MDA]] format) and colour printing.

Most PCW documents, on either 3" or 3.5" floppy discs, are thus likely to be in LocoScript 1 or 2 format.

(The PcW 16 did not run LocoScript.)

While standard LocoScript had a relatively wide range of characters, there were some specialised versions for particular scripts, such as [http://www.fvempel.nl/manuals/araloco.pdf Euro-Arabic LocoScript] ([https://archive.org/details/8000-plus-magazine-37/page/n14/mode/1up see also]) and [http://www.habisoft.com/pcwwiki/doku.php?id=es:aplicaciones:advantage_hebrew_locoscript Hebrew LocoScript].

PC versions:
* LocoScript PC (later LocoScript PC Easy)
* LocoScript Professional

== File formats ==

Each major version of LocoScript changed the file format. Newer versions could read files from older versions, but not vice versa.

* LocoScript 1 is relatively well documented.
** [https://archive.org/details/35_Schneider_PC_International_1988-01 Schneider PC International 1988/01] (pp84-97) has a fairly detailed description of the LocoScript 1 format (in German), and provides Turbo Pascal source for a program LOCOCONV to convert it (updated in the [https://archive.org/details/44_Amstrad_PC_International_1988-10 1988/10 issue], pp92-97). Versions of that program exist in various places:
*** Werner Cirsovius' site ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160311002010/http://cirsovius.de/CPM/Projekte/TURBO-PASCAL/LOCO/LocoConv-en.html on Wayback machine]) had a copy. Wayback Machine doesn't have all the code, but the whole website is archived as a .7z [http://www.classiccmp.org/cpmarchives/index.php here].
*** A modified/translated version is on [http://fvempel.nl/domain.html Frank van Empel's site] (search for LOCOCON).
** Another, briefer description of the [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/ls1frm.html LocoScript 1 file format] (in English)
** The character encoding used for the text portions is the [[Amstrad CP/M Plus character set]], except that the [[C1 controls]] range was used for control codes (different ones from the C1 control standard, which probably didn't exist yet) instead of the box-drawing characters of the CP/M Plus set.
* LocoScript 2 and up: no known descriptions (although plenty of software exists to read them). These versions had a greatly expanded character repertoire, more than can fit in a single-byte character set; see reference from [http://www.seasip.info/Unix/PSF/Amstrad/Scrchar/ John Elliott]. They share some of the same basic structure as LocoScript 1.
** Reportedly, Locomotive/LocoScript Software did produce format documentation for at least Loco 3 and 4 documents, the latter called ''The Structure of LocoScript 4 Documents'' and released under NDA; they don't seem to have made their way online. Refs: David Langford's columns in PCW Plus 114 (March 1996) and [https://archive.org/details/pcw-today-08/page/n37/mode/1up PCW Today issue 8 (Winter 97/98)].

LocoScript documents did not have a conventional file extension. The default filenames it suggested were <tt>DOCUMENT.000</tt>, <tt>DOCUMENT.001</tt>, etc.

== Identification ==

All known (PCW) LocoScript files start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>4A 4F 59</tt> ("JOY"), followed by two bytes identifying the major format version:
* <tt>01 00</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 2 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 01</tt>: LocoScript 1 (emitted by 1.1, 1.11e, 1.20, 1.42H)
* <tt>01 02</tt>: LocoScript 2 (emitted by 2.03, 2.12, 2.16, 2.28b)
* <tt>01 03</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 3 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 04</tt>: LocoScript 3 and 2.5x (emitted by 2.54, 3.06b)
* <tt>01 05</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 4 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 06</tt>: LocoScript 4 (emitted by 4.06, 4.10, 4.11)

In addition, the byte at offset 0x7F must be the 8-bit checksum of the preceding 127 bytes.

PC versions' documents seem to have a similar initial structure but start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>44 4F 43</tt> ("DOC"):
* LocoScript PC 1.08 (© 1990) comes with documents starting "DOC" followed by <tt>01 01</tt>.
* LocoScript Professional 2 Plus for MS-DOS (2.51) emits and reads documents starting with "DOC" followed by <tt>01 03</tt>.

Other files used by LocoScript have a similar header, with their own three-letter identification codes:
* "BMP" - Scalable font bitmap
* "CHR" - Printer font
* "CMB" - Dot matrix printer driver
* "DMN" - Disc Manager data (LocoScript PC)
* "DRV" - Driver
* "EDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "HLP" - Help file (LocoScript PC)
* "KBD" - Keyboard layout
* "KNO" - Settings
* "OML" - Overlay (Mail merge)
* "OSP" - Overlay (Spell checker)
* "OVL" - Overlay
* "PHR" - List of phrases
* "PRI" - Printer driver
* "SCR" - Screen characters
* "SDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "UDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "XCH" - Scalable font

== Converting LocoScript documents ==

Probably the most difficult problem with converting LocoScript documents into more readable formats is not the conversion process itself, but the fact that the majority of LocoScript files were stored on [[three inch disc|3-inch floppy disks]], which are now difficult to access. See the linked page for ideas for how to deal with this.

'''LocoLink''' (and the later 'LocoLink for Windows') is a hardware / software combination that connects a PC parallel port to the expansion connector of an Amstrad PCW, and provides the software tools for both transferring LocoScript documents to the PC, as well as converting them to RTF or TXT formats. Note that the later PcW 16 has part of LocoLink built-in, and while this means documents can be transferred from an older PCW to a PcW 16 and then onto a PC, PcW 16 computers are few and far between, making this option unlikely.

PCW LocoScript used CP/M format for its discs, so LocoScript files are likely to be found in a [[CP/M file system]]. LocoScript only kept live versions of files in CP/M user areas 0-7 (called "group 0" etc by LocoScript); files in user areas 8-15 were "limbo files", previous or deleted versions of documents, that LocoScript would automatically delete when space was needed. User area 8 contained limbo versions of files from user area 0 ("group 0" in LocoScript terminology), and so on.

Once you are at the stage of having individual document files:

* [https://ai.ansible.uk/ailink.html AILINK] by Ansible Information is former commercial software for Windows, now free, which can convert PCW LocoScript 1-4 documents to more modern formats such as RTF, keeping most of the formatting codes and special characters (not Greek and Cyrillic). It can do bulk conversions. If you're not trying to read actual floppy discs with it, it should work fine under modern Windows. It runs adequately on Linux under [[Wine]].
* The PC versions of LocoScript could read PCW files, and had an export function to other formats, but are no longer particularly easy to acquire and run themselves.

== Links ==
* [http://www.locoscript.co.uk/ Publisher's website]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20141218181748/http://locoscript.co.uk/ 2014 archive]

[[Category:Amstrad]]

Datastrip Code

2022-11-24T03:28:46Z

JTN: more sources (...I suspect that Softstrip and Datastrip ought to be different pages)

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=physical
|subcat=Bar codes
|image=Datastrip.gif
|released=1985
}}

'''Datastrip Code''', originally Softstrip, is reportedly the first 2D bar code symbology, released in 1985. (But the comedy book, ''The 80s: A Look Back'', published in 1979, had fake 2D bar codes in it.) The intended purpose was as a way for magazines to publish computer-readable data, such as program listings (which, in those days, were commonly printed in computer magazines such that the user would have to type them in).

== Links ==
* [[Wikipedia:Cauzin Softstrip|Wikipedia article (under the title Cauzin Softstrip)]]
* [http://www.google.com/patents/US4728783 US Patent 4,728,783]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/15/science/personal-computers-supermarket-bar-codes-are-applied-to-software.html 1985 ''New York Times'' article]
* [https://archive.org/details/8000_Plus_Issue_015_1987-12_Future_Publishing_GB/page/n39/mode/1up 1987 review] (8000 Plus magazine, issue 15, December 1987, p40) - includes sample barcode
* [https://rich12345.tripod.com/museum2/softstrip.html Pictures of Softstrip hardware and sample barcode]
* [http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/datastrips-2d-bar-code-technology-helps-combat-terrorism-at-sea-exceeding-new-ilo-standards-for-seafarers-identity-documents-70884882.html Combating terrorism at sea with Datastrip (press release)]
* [http://www.barcode.ro/tutorials/barcodes/datastrip.html Datastrip Code info]
* [https://archive.org/details/CauzinSoftstrip Cauzin Softstrip Application Notes & Marketing Material] (1986), at the Internet Archive.
* [https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-115-bob-brass-and-peter-damato-cauzin-softstrip ANTIC Interview 115] - Atari podcast interviews Cauzin staffers Bob Brass and Peter D’Amato (Oct 2015).
* [https://www.insentricity.com/a.cl/265/encoding-software-in-barcodes-the-eight-bit-magazine-way 2016 blog post] by "FozzTexx" (Chris Osborn) reverse-engineering some details
** [https://github.com/FozzTexx/Distripitor Distripitor], a 2016 barcode generator (in Objective-C; apparently depends on [https://github.com/FozzTexx/ClearLake ClearLake] and [https://github.com/FozzTexx/Makefiles Makefiles] from the same author to build)
** [https://sowerbutts.com/cauzcoin/ Description] of decoding a freshly-generated Softstrip as part of a challenge (Will Sowerbutts, Sep 2016). Includes a Python decoder (not fully general).
* [https://stl.htwsaar.de/tr/STL-TR-2018-03.pdf Reverse Engineering The Cauzin Softstrip.] Michael Reimsbach, MSc thesis at Michael Reimsbach. Technical Report – STL-TR-2018-03 (series ISSN 2364-7167). October 2018.
** Describes the Softstrip format in detail, and differences from the later Datastrip format. Points to a corpus of examples (contempory and modern). Describes Softstrip decoder software (not published?).
* [https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-021-09358-z Decoding the Cauzin Softstrip: a case study in extracting information from old media.] Reimsbach, M., Aycock, J. Arch Sci 21, 281–294 (2021).

Datastrip Code

2022-11-24T02:31:29Z

JTN: another modern reference

Datastrip Code

2022-11-24T01:59:19Z

JTN: add some more links, including a generator

Cauzin Softstrip

2022-11-24T01:56:01Z

JTN: #REDIRECT Datastrip Code

#REDIRECT [[Datastrip Code]]

LocoScript

2021-01-16T17:09:12Z

JTN: another reference for Euro-Arabic LocoScript, thanks User:John e

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Document
|subcat2=Word Processor
}}
'''LocoScript''' was the word processor bundled with the Amstrad PCW. There were four major versions for the PCW, and two for MSDOS.

8-bit versions:
* LocoScript 1 (1985) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 8256/8512 (3" drives) and PcW 9256 and 10 (3.5" drives).
* LocoScript 2 (1987) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 9512 (3" drive) and PcW 9512+ (3.5" drive), and was a common upgrade for the other models.
* LocoScript 3 (1993) was only available separately. It added semi-scalable fonts.
* LocoScript 4 (1996/7) was only available separately. It added support for images (in [[MDA]] format) and colour printing.

Most PCW documents, on either 3" or 3.5" floppy discs, are thus likely to be in LocoScript 1 or 2 format.

(The PcW 16 did not run LocoScript.)

While standard LocoScript had a relatively wide range of characters, there were some specialised versions for particular scripts, such as [http://www.fvempel.nl/manuals/araloco.pdf Euro-Arabic LocoScript] ([https://archive.org/details/8000-plus-magazine-37/page/n14/mode/1up see also]) and [http://www.habisoft.com/pcwwiki/doku.php?id=es:aplicaciones:advantage_hebrew_locoscript Hebrew LocoScript].

PC versions:
* LocoScript PC (later LocoScript PC Easy)
* LocoScript Professional

== File formats ==

Each major version of LocoScript changed the file format. Newer versions could read files from older versions, but not vice versa.

* LocoScript 1 is relatively well documented.
** [https://archive.org/details/35_Schneider_PC_International_1988-01 Schneider PC International 1988/01] (pp84-97) has a fairly detailed description of the LocoScript 1 format (in German), and provides Turbo Pascal source for a program LOCOCONV to convert it (updated in the [https://archive.org/details/44_Amstrad_PC_International_1988-10 1988/10 issue], pp92-97). Versions of that program exist in various places:
*** Werner Cirsovius' site ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160311002010/http://cirsovius.de/CPM/Projekte/TURBO-PASCAL/LOCO/LocoConv-en.html on Wayback machine]) had a copy. Wayback Machine doesn't have all the code, but the whole website is archived as a .7z [http://www.classiccmp.org/cpmarchives/index.php here].
*** A modified/translated version is on [http://fvempel.nl/domain.html Frank van Empel's site] (search for LOCOCON).
** Another, briefer description of the [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/ls1frm.html LocoScript 1 file format] (in English)
** The character encoding used for the text portions is the [[Amstrad CP/M Plus character set]], except that the [[C1 controls]] range was used for control codes (different ones from the C1 control standard, which probably didn't exist yet) instead of the box-drawing characters of the CP/M Plus set.
* LocoScript 2 and up: no known descriptions (although plenty of software exists to read them). These versions had a greatly expanded character repertoire, more than can fit in a single-byte character set; see reference from [http://www.seasip.info/Unix/PSF/Amstrad/Scrchar/ John Elliott]. They share some of the same basic structure as LocoScript 1.
** Reportedly, Locomotive/LocoScript Software did produce format documentation for at least Loco 3 and 4 documents, the latter called ''The Structure of LocoScript 4 Documents'' and released under NDA; they don't seem to have made their way online. Refs: David Langford's columns in PCW Plus 114 (March 1996) and [https://archive.org/details/pcw-today-08/page/n37/mode/1up PCW Today issue 8 (Winter 97/98)].

LocoScript documents did not have a conventional file extension. The default filenames it suggested were <tt>DOCUMENT.000</tt>, <tt>DOCUMENT.001</tt>, etc.

== Identification ==

All known (PCW) LocoScript files start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>4A 4F 59</tt> ("JOY"), followed by two bytes identifying the major format version:
* <tt>01 00</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 2 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 01</tt>: LocoScript 1 (emitted by 1.1, 1.11e, 1.20, 1.42H)
* <tt>01 02</tt>: LocoScript 2 (emitted by 2.03, 2.12, 2.16, 2.28b)
* <tt>01 03</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 3 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 04</tt>: LocoScript 3 (emitted by 3.06b)
* <tt>01 05</tt>: Identified by LocoScript 4 as "LocoScript 4 document (Export)"
* <tt>01 06</tt>: LocoScript 4 (emitted by 4.06, 4.10, 4.11)

In addition, the byte at offset 0x7F must be the 8-bit checksum of the preceding 127 bytes.

PC versions' documents seem to have a similar initial structure but start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>44 4F 43</tt> ("DOC"):
* LocoScript PC 1.08 (© 1990) comes with documents starting "DOC" followed by <tt>01 01</tt>.
* LocoScript Professional 2 Plus for MS-DOS (2.51) emits and reads documents starting with "DOC" followed by <tt>01 03</tt>.

Other files used by LocoScript have a similar header, with their own three-letter identification codes:
* "BMP" - Scalable font bitmap
* "CHR" - Printer font
* "CMB" - Dot matrix printer driver
* "DMN" - Disc Manager data (LocoScript PC)
* "DRV" - Driver
* "EDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "HLP" - Help file (LocoScript PC)
* "KBD" - Keyboard layout
* "KNO" - Settings
* "OML" - Overlay (Mail merge)
* "OSP" - Overlay (Spell checker)
* "OVL" - Overlay
* "PHR" - List of phrases
* "PRI" - Printer driver
* "SCR" - Screen characters
* "SDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "UDC" - Spellchecker dictionary
* "XCH" - Scalable font

== Converting LocoScript documents ==

Probably the most difficult problem with converting LocoScript documents into more readable formats is not the conversion process itself, but the fact that the majority of LocoScript files were stored on [[three inch disc|3-inch floppy disks]], which are now difficult to access. See the linked page for ideas for how to deal with this.

'''LocoLink''' (and the later 'LocoLink for Windows') is a hardware / software combination that connects a PC parallel port to the expansion connector of an Amstrad PCW, and provides the software tools for both transferring LocoScript documents to the PC, as well as converting them to RTF or TXT formats. Note that the later PcW 16 has part of LocoLink built-in, and while this means documents can be transferred from an older PCW to a PcW 16 and then onto a PC, PcW 16 computers are few and far between, making this option unlikely.

PCW LocoScript used CP/M format for its discs, so LocoScript files are likely to be found in a [[CP/M file system]].

Once you are at the stage of having individual document files:

* [https://ai.ansible.uk/ailink.html AILINK] by Ansible Information is former commercial software for Windows, now free, which can convert PCW LocoScript 1-4 documents to more modern formats such as RTF, keeping most of the formatting codes and special characters (not Greek and Cyrillic). It can do bulk conversions. If you're not trying to read actual floppy discs with it, it should work fine under modern Windows. It runs adequately on Linux under [[Wine]].
* The PC versions of LocoScript could read PCW files, and had an export function to other formats, but are no longer particularly easy to acquire and run themselves.

== Links ==
* [http://www.locoscript.co.uk/ Publisher's website]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20141218181748/http://locoscript.co.uk/ 2014 archive]

[[Category:Amstrad]]

User talk:Jsummers

2021-01-07T11:51:14Z

JTN: /* BOOZ 1.02 */ too many e.g.s

...

== Very minimalist user page... ==

But it's nice to see people editing this site. Good work! [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 15:14, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

:It's enough to make my username turn blue, which is the important thing. [[User:Jsummers|Jsummers]] ([[User talk:Jsummers|talk]]) 18:01, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

::Instead of "Don't it make my brown eyes blue", it's "Don't it make my username blue!" [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 18:54, 3 March 2013 (UTC)

== Graphics ==

Good work on the graphic section... do you think you can figure out what category some of that long list of uncategorized formats fit in? [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 18:53, 3 March 2013 (UTC)

:Yeah, at some point I'll categorize most of the ones I can identify. [[User:Jsummers|Jsummers]] ([[User talk:Jsummers|talk]]) 20:05, 3 March 2013 (UTC)

== Sorry ==

: Sorry for reverting your edits by mistake then undoing that.. Keep hitting the wrong link when doing this on my iPhone. It should be back to normal now. Good work with those graphic formats. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 17:07, 6 April 2013 (UTC)
(And sorry for putting this comment on the user page by mistake instead of the talk page... I keep messing up here! I was posting from my iPhone before and now from an old clunky PC, after my regular PC died... in a couple of weeks I'll have the new PC I ordered and things will be better!) [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 22:06, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

== Atari disk image formats ==

Perhaps those Atari disk image formats should note which filesystems and physical disk formats they emulate (Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, etc.; 5.25", 3.5") and link to the appropriate articles in the [[Filesystem]] and [[Floppy disk]] sections? [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 18:44, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

:Agreed, and I'll eventually do that for the disk formats where it's easy. But I want to write as little as possible about the annoying raw, headerless formats. I don't know enough about them -- I really only care about the files they contain. [[User:Jsummers|Jsummers]] ([[User talk:Jsummers|talk]]) 22:07, 5 January 2014 (UTC)
::Though, to get at those files it is helpful to know something about the filesystem they're in. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 01:14, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

== Making a monkey out of me ==

Nice work coming up with some actual facts about those MonkeyCard and MonkeyLogo formats (even if still kind of sketchy)... in years of those things sitting around on the list of uncategorized formats, I'd never managed to find very much at all about them, and finally created articles with the extremely fragmentary and doubtful stuff I had. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 19:45, 8 June 2019 (UTC)

:I had no luck in the past, but it was pretty easy to find this time. Could be that Google only just now decided that MonkeyCard/MonkeyLogo is a thing. [[User:Jsummers|Jsummers]] ([[User talk:Jsummers|talk]]) 21:36, 8 June 2019 (UTC)

::Could Google actually be paying attention to this wiki for clues about what subjects are worth indexing? [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 22:49, 8 June 2019 (UTC)

:::I don't want to speculate, but it doesn't sound completely crazy. We know that Google [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19604135 fails to find] some old/unpopular results. [[User:Jsummers|Jsummers]] ([[User talk:Jsummers|talk]]) 19:43, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

== BOOZ 1.02 ==

I see you're doing a lot of work on [[Zoo]]. There's a copy of Rahul Dhesi's BOOZ 1.02 in the CP/M world, with source code and provenance (comp.sources.misc, Aug 1988), if that's of any historical interest? E.g. [http://www.classiccmp.org/cpmarchives/cpm/Software/WalnutCD/enterprs/cpm/utils/a/booz4cpm.lzh this booz4cpm.lzh]. -- [[User:JTN|JTN]] ([[User talk:JTN|talk]]) 11:39, 7 January 2021 (UTC)

User talk:Jsummers

2021-01-07T11:39:31Z

JTN: /* BOOZ 1.02 */ new section

...

== Very minimalist user page... ==

But it's nice to see people editing this site. Good work! [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 15:14, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

:It's enough to make my username turn blue, which is the important thing. [[User:Jsummers|Jsummers]] ([[User talk:Jsummers|talk]]) 18:01, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

::Instead of "Don't it make my brown eyes blue", it's "Don't it make my username blue!" [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 18:54, 3 March 2013 (UTC)

== Graphics ==

Good work on the graphic section... do you think you can figure out what category some of that long list of uncategorized formats fit in? [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 18:53, 3 March 2013 (UTC)

:Yeah, at some point I'll categorize most of the ones I can identify. [[User:Jsummers|Jsummers]] ([[User talk:Jsummers|talk]]) 20:05, 3 March 2013 (UTC)

== Sorry ==

: Sorry for reverting your edits by mistake then undoing that.. Keep hitting the wrong link when doing this on my iPhone. It should be back to normal now. Good work with those graphic formats. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 17:07, 6 April 2013 (UTC)
(And sorry for putting this comment on the user page by mistake instead of the talk page... I keep messing up here! I was posting from my iPhone before and now from an old clunky PC, after my regular PC died... in a couple of weeks I'll have the new PC I ordered and things will be better!) [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 22:06, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

== Atari disk image formats ==

Perhaps those Atari disk image formats should note which filesystems and physical disk formats they emulate (Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, etc.; 5.25", 3.5") and link to the appropriate articles in the [[Filesystem]] and [[Floppy disk]] sections? [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 18:44, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

:Agreed, and I'll eventually do that for the disk formats where it's easy. But I want to write as little as possible about the annoying raw, headerless formats. I don't know enough about them -- I really only care about the files they contain. [[User:Jsummers|Jsummers]] ([[User talk:Jsummers|talk]]) 22:07, 5 January 2014 (UTC)
::Though, to get at those files it is helpful to know something about the filesystem they're in. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 01:14, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

== Making a monkey out of me ==

Nice work coming up with some actual facts about those MonkeyCard and MonkeyLogo formats (even if still kind of sketchy)... in years of those things sitting around on the list of uncategorized formats, I'd never managed to find very much at all about them, and finally created articles with the extremely fragmentary and doubtful stuff I had. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 19:45, 8 June 2019 (UTC)

:I had no luck in the past, but it was pretty easy to find this time. Could be that Google only just now decided that MonkeyCard/MonkeyLogo is a thing. [[User:Jsummers|Jsummers]] ([[User talk:Jsummers|talk]]) 21:36, 8 June 2019 (UTC)

::Could Google actually be paying attention to this wiki for clues about what subjects are worth indexing? [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 22:49, 8 June 2019 (UTC)

:::I don't want to speculate, but it doesn't sound completely crazy. We know that Google [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19604135 fails to find] some old/unpopular results. [[User:Jsummers|Jsummers]] ([[User talk:Jsummers|talk]]) 19:43, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

== BOOZ 1.02 ==

I see you're doing a lot of work on [[Zoo]]. There's a copy of Rahul Dhesi's BOOZ 1.02 in the CP/M world, with source code and provenance (comp.sources.misc, Aug 1988), if that's of any historical interest? E.g. [http://www.classiccmp.org/cpmarchives/cpm/Software/WalnutCD/enterprs/cpm/utils/a/booz4cpm.lzh e.g. this booz4cpm.lzh]. -- [[User:JTN|JTN]] ([[User talk:JTN|talk]]) 11:39, 7 January 2021 (UTC)

Floppy disc

2021-01-03T17:55:33Z

JTN: #REDIRECT Floppy disk -- alternative spelling

#REDIRECT [[Floppy disk]]

Amstrad CP/M Plus character set

2021-01-02T22:14:46Z

JTN: worldofspectrum link had rotted

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Character encoding
}}
The '''Amstrad CP/M Plus character set''', sometimes also called the PCW Character Set, was used with the CP/M Plus operating system on Amstrad 8-bit computers: the CPC, PCW and Spectrum +3. It was a variant of [[ASCII]] that assigned printable renditions to the entire 8-bit character code space from 0 to 255, including control characters, though such controls (e.g., the [[C0 controls]]) were also used as control characters, which could make it hard to type them when you're intending to use them in their graphical form.

Various accented characters, mathematical symbols, and Greek letters were included, as well as line-graphics characters (which were in the [[C1 controls]] range). [[LocoScript]] version 1 used this character set but used the C1 control range for control codes.

== Links ==
* [https://k1.spdns.de/Vintage/Sinclair/86/ZX%20Spectrum%2B3/ZX%20Spectrum%2B3%20CP%3AM%20Manual/appendix2.html Character chart from Spectrum +3 CP/M Plus manual]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_CP/M_Plus_character_set Wikipedia]

[[Category:Amstrad]]
[[Category:CP/M]]

Category:Amstrad

2021-01-02T22:11:01Z

JTN: typo

This category lists topics associated with Amstrad products, such as Amstrad CPC home computers, and Amstrad PCW word processors.

[[Category:Computer platforms]]

Stop Press Canvas

2020-12-28T20:00:41Z

JTN: + monochrome

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Graphics
|extensions={{ext|spc}}
}}
'''Stop Press Canvas''' (extension '''.spc''') is an uncompressed fixed-size monochrome raster image format, originally associated with the Stop Press graphics package for Amstrad PCW computers.

== Format description ==

From [[User:John e|John Elliott]]'s SPC2BMP source code (August 1996):

: SPC format:
: SPC describes a black-and-white picture, 720 pixels across by 256 down. The aspect ratio is similar to the 640x200 CGA mode. The file is stored as 32 blocks of 720 bytes.
: Within each block, eight lines are stored, interleaved. The top line is in bytes 0,8,16,...; the second in bytes 1,9,17,... and so on.
: SPC files work from top to bottom and left to right.

(This is essentially the [https://github.com/Zigazou/amstrad-pcw-technical-info/blob/master/video-memory/README.md in-memory format of the PCW screen].)

== Examples ==

* [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/joyce-z80-2.1.10.tar.gz joyce-z80-2.1.10.tar.gz] - the source code for the Z80 utilities for the Joyce PCW emulator - includes "joyce.spc".

== Links ==
* [https://www.seasip.info/Cpm/software/sp2bmsea.com SP2BMSEA.COM], a CP/M / DOS self-extracting archive containing SPC2BMP (compiled programs and source code), which converts this format to [[BMP]]. (Archive can be unpacked with [[PMA]] / [[LHA]] tools.)
* http://oliwright.pythonanywhere.com/ - converts other image files ''to'' SPC format

[[Category:Amstrad]]
[[Category:CP/M]]

LocoScript

2020-12-28T17:45:48Z

JTN: /* Identification */ another PC version

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Document
|subcat2=Word Processor
}}
'''LocoScript''' was the word processor bundled with the Amstrad PCW. There were four major versions for the PCW, and two for MSDOS.

8-bit versions:
* LocoScript 1 (1985) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 8256/8512 (3" drives) and PcW 9256 and 10 (3.5" drives).
* LocoScript 2 (1987) was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 9512 (3" drive) and PcW 9512+ (3.5" drive), and was a common upgrade for the other models.
* LocoScript 3 (1993) was only available separately. It added semi-scalable fonts.
* LocoScript 4 (1996/7) was only available separately. It added support for images (in [[MDA]] format) and colour printing.

Most PCW documents, on either 3" or 3.5" floppy discs, are thus likely to be in LocoScript 1 or 2 format.

(The PcW 16 did not run LocoScript.)

While standard LocoScript had a relatively wide range of characters, there were some specialised versions for particular scripts, such as [http://www.fvempel.nl/manuals/araloco.pdf Euro-Arabic LocoScript] and [http://www.habisoft.com/pcwwiki/doku.php?id=es:aplicaciones:advantage_hebrew_locoscript Hebrew LocoScript].

PC versions:
* LocoScript PC (later LocoScript PC Easy)
* LocoScript Professional

== File formats ==

Each major version of LocoScript changed the file format. Newer versions could read files from older versions, but not vice versa.

* LocoScript 1 is relatively well documented.
** [https://archive.org/details/35_Schneider_PC_International_1988-01 Schneider PC International 1988/01] (pp84-97) has a fairly detailed description of the LocoScript 1 format (in German), and provides Turbo Pascal source for a program LOCOCONV to convert it (updated in the [https://archive.org/details/44_Amstrad_PC_International_1988-10 1988/10 issue], pp92-97). Versions of that program exist in various places:
*** Werner Cirsovius' site ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160311002010/http://cirsovius.de/CPM/Projekte/TURBO-PASCAL/LOCO/LocoConv-en.html on Wayback machine]) had a copy. Wayback Machine doesn't have all the code, but the whole website is archived as a .7z [http://www.classiccmp.org/cpmarchives/index.php here].
*** A modified/translated version is on [http://fvempel.nl/domain.html Frank van Empel's site] (search for LOCOCON).
** Another, briefer description of the [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/ls1frm.html LocoScript 1 file format] (in English)
** The character encoding used for the text portions is the [[Amstrad CP/M Plus character set]], except that the [[C1 controls]] range was used for control codes (different ones from the C1 control standard, which probably didn't exist yet) instead of the box-drawing characters of the CP/M Plus set.
* LocoScript 2 and up: no known descriptions (although plenty of software exists to read them). These versions had a greatly expanded character repertoire, more than can fit in a single-byte character set; see reference from [http://www.seasip.info/Unix/PSF/Amstrad/Scrchar/ John Elliott]. They share some of the same basic structure as LocoScript 1.
** Reportedly, Locomotive/LocoScript Software did produce format documentation for at least Loco 3 and 4 documents, the latter called ''The Structure of LocoScript 4 Documents'' and released under NDA; they don't seem to have made their way online. Refs: David Langford's columns in PCW Plus 114 (March 1996) and [https://archive.org/details/pcw-today-08/page/n37/mode/1up PCW Today issue 8 (Winter 97/98)].

LocoScript documents did not have a conventional file extension. The default filenames it suggested were <tt>DOCUMENT.000</tt>, <tt>DOCUMENT.001</tt>, etc.

== Identification ==

All known (PCW) LocoScript files start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>4A 4F 59</tt> ("JOY"), followed by two bytes identifying the major format version:
* <tt>01 01</tt>: LocoScript 1 (emitted by 1.1, 1.11e, 1.20, 1.42H)
* <tt>01 02</tt>: LocoScript 2 (emitted by 2.03, 2.12, 2.16, 2.28b)
* <tt>01 04</tt>: LocoScript 3 (emitted by 3.06b)
* <tt>01 06</tt>: LocoScript 4 (emitted by 4.06, 4.10, 4.11)

PC versions' documents seem to have a similar initial structure but start with the three ASCII bytes <tt>44 4F 43</tt> ("DOC"):
* LocoScript PC 1.08 (© 1990) comes with documents starting "DOC" followed by <tt>01 01</tt>.
* LocoScript Professional 2 Plus for MS-DOS (2.51) emits and reads documents starting with "DOC" followed by <tt>01 03</tt>.

== Converting LocoScript documents ==

Probably the most difficult problem with converting LocoScript documents into more readable formats is not the conversion process itself, but the fact that the majority of LocoScript files were stored on [[three inch disc|3-inch floppy disks]], which are now difficult to access. See the linked page for ideas for how to deal with this.

'''LocoLink''' (and the later 'LocoLink for Windows') is a hardware / software combination that connects a PC parallel port to the expansion connector of an Amstrad PCW, and provides the software tools for both transferring LocoScript documents to the PC, as well as converting them to RTF or TXT formats. Note that the later PcW 16 has part of LocoLink built-in, and while this means documents can be transferred from an older PCW to a PcW 16 and then onto a PC, PcW 16 computers are few and far between, making this option unlikely.

PCW LocoScript used CP/M format for its discs, so LocoScript files are likely to be found in a [[CP/M file system]].

Once you are at the stage of having individual document files:

* [https://ai.ansible.uk/ailink.html AILINK] by Ansible Information is former commercial software for Windows, now free, which can convert PCW LocoScript 1-4 documents to more modern formats such as RTF, keeping most of the formatting codes and special characters (not Greek and Cyrillic). It can do bulk conversions. If you're not trying to read actual floppy discs with it, it should work fine under modern Windows. It runs adequately on Linux under [[Wine]].
* The PC versions of LocoScript could read PCW files, and had an export function to other formats, but are no longer particularly easy to acquire and run themselves.

== Links ==
* [http://www.locoscript.co.uk/ Publisher's website]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20141218181748/http://locoscript.co.uk/ 2014 archive]

[[Category:Amstrad]]