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Need help with custom loaders again

RalfRalf
edited February 2014 in MIA/STP/SDP
Gorski, Lfaria are you still here? :)

I have more MIA software saved with Szybka Pamiec Tasmowa loader.
This is "Czytaj i pisz po angielsku" the last missing title from biggest Polish serie:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0024895

Now, when I got it, it appears that it is a Polish licensed rerelease of Macmillan's "Learn to Read"
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0009123

There are 5 cassettes. I'm uploading the .wav recording of 1st one:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/omgwo6

I'll try to dump the remaining cassettes soon.

Any help with making .tzx out if it deeply appreciated :)
Post edited by Ralf on

Comments

  • gorskigorski
    is here :) Very Nice find Ralf! :) wav is nice and I don't expect trouble, need just some time :) ...
    edited February 2014
    /me is here :)

    Very Nice find Ralf! :)
    wav is nice and I don't expect trouble, need just some time :)

    Greets,
    Gorski
  • RalfRalf
    edited February 2014
    Great!

    Actually I try to filter these recordings so they load into emulator before I upload them :)

    I forgot to add - There are 2 separate programs on the tape. Each of them has standard ROM loader part and custom loader part later.
  • lfarialfaria
    edited February 2014
    Nice! More Polish Soft!

    Grabbed it. Will convert it soon, if Gorski doesn't do it before. ;-)
  • gorskigorski
    edited February 2014
    Hi all :)
    I stuck! and give up :) This is lfaria case :) I'm not have ability to look wav like lfaria and Jose :)

    Greets,
    Gorski
  • RalfRalf
    edited February 2014
    No problem, thanks for trying ! :)

    Some more stuff with the same loader:

    Cassette 2:
    http://www.sendspace.com/file/phnj3k

    Cassette 3:
    http://www.sendspace.com/file/y0rc9v

    In some places I filtered standard loader separately and pasted into the .wav as I was unable to make both standard and custom loader work at the same time.
  • gorskigorski
    edited February 2014
    Hi Ho :)

    lfaria here we have digital sample from save routine (at 62063) inside program if
    You want to count right pilot tones :)
    http://forest.no-ip.org/lfaria/cz.zip

    I get data blocks but unable to understand what crc expect :( how long is first special block 141 bytes ?(loader load 124 bytes at 23610) at start we have ff e6 40 26 ...or I'm wrong ?

    Greets,
    Gorski
  • RalfRalf
    edited February 2014
    Maybe already tzxed programs with this loader could give you some hint???

    See "Smok Wawelski" or Polish versions of "Strike Force Cobra" or "Trap Door".
  • gorskigorski
    edited February 2014
    Hi Ralf :)
    You forgot TrzyWymiary, TestInteligencji, SzybkaPamiecTasmowa :)
    Yes I checked all this good works and unable to find right answers :(
    But lfaria is here :) We will have soon nice and precise tzx files I no doubt about this :)

    Greets,
    Gorski
  • lfarialfaria
    edited February 2014
    Info overload! 8-) (thanks!)
    I've downloaded everything and will now take a look (and pull out my compiler environment).
  • lfarialfaria
    edited February 2014
    Ralf wrote: »
    No problem, thanks for trying ! :)

    Some more stuff with the same loader:

    Cassette 2:
    http://www.sendspace.com/file/phnj3k

    Cassette 3:
    http://www.sendspace.com/file/y0rc9v

    In some places I filtered standard loader separately and pasted into the .wav as I was unable to make both standard and custom loader work at the same time.

    Tell me more about each tape: It has 2 programs (tape 1 has 1 and 2, tape 2 has 3 and 4, tape 3 has 5 and 6):
    On the same side (and again on side B) or one on each side?
    These 'pasted' wav files have random silences in between blocks or you created the same length of silence as in the original tape?

    And one request for next tapes: can you use a higher sample rate? 44100 at least?
  • lfarialfaria
    edited February 2014
    It seems to be the same encoding as Sz-Pa-Tasm but with different timings and number of loops in pilot.

    Here are some rough attempts (all are working except 2-1, that sample is very bad, I'll have to see what I can do with it later):

    Gorski's digital save (equivalent to 1-1 below):
    Cz.tzx: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B__pgwgXQR-bc05yejZqOE5IWmM
    From here we can see the timings:
    ~588t/~1176t and pilots are ~2050 loops long


    Tape 1:
    Czitaj1-1.tzx: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B__pgwgXQR-bbXp6cGxES1F5SVk
    Czitaj1-2.tzx: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B__pgwgXQR-bY2JjQmhIOXNlYVk

    Tape 2:
    (loading error / crash after screen$) Czitaj2-1.tzx: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B__pgwgXQR-bV3JSQS1tVEtHX0k
    Czitaj2-2.tzx: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B__pgwgXQR-bUHV2SlZZTnQxV0U

    Tape 3:
    Czitaj3-1.tzx: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B__pgwgXQR-bX3d2c1NfYjhqaTg
    Czitaj3-2.tzx: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B__pgwgXQR-bZndEQVlXNWFuZkE
  • gorskigorski
    edited February 2014
    lfaria King!:)

    Thanks :)

    http://forest.no-ip.org/lfaria/cz3.zip
    digital tape 2 part 1 :)

    Greets,
    Gorski

    ps.
    140 and 4 bits pfu .. :)
    and pilot pulses are little different because of this I don't have luck may be :)
  • RalfRalf
    edited February 2014
    Tell me more about each tape: It has 2 programs (tape 1 has 1 and 2, tape 2 has 3 and 4, tape 3 has 5 and 6):
    On the same side (and again on side B) or one on each side?

    It has two programs on the same side. Side A= Side B
    These 'pasted' wav files have random silences in between blocks or you created the same length of silence as in the original tape?

    Completely random, unfortunately. I converted loaders with MakeTzx and then played tzx files in emulator and captured output to .wav (whith some random silence at the end). Then I cut original loaders from recording and pasted these restored loaders. As I said, when I filtered custom part to work, the standard part stopped work and I wanted to have a working .wav, that's why I did it.

    If you wish, I could supply original recordings without any filtering and other messing by me but they just won't load into emulator and you would have to filter them yourself. Would you like to have them?
  • lfarialfaria
    edited February 2014
    Thanks for the info, this way I know how to pack the final TZXs.

    I think there's no need for the original stuff.

    Sample the remaining 2 tapes! ;-)

    @Gorski: Thanks for part 2-1! :-) (I'll look at it later)
  • lfarialfaria
    edited February 2014
    Here is the result from Gorski's cz3 (2-1):
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B__pgwgXQR-bWGNENjBHcU0taTg
  • lfarialfaria
    edited February 2014
    As for the timings: From the save routine I get:
    bit 0: 585t
    bit 1: 1170t
    this is used for pilot (0->1->0...), syncs (0,0,1,1) and data.

    The number for the pilot pulses loop is 2050: as it is byte-based and the last byte uses just one nibble leaving the other for the syncs.
    The used constant is 0x200, giving 512 pilot bytes, each one with 8 'levels', so 4 pilot bits, totalling 2048 pilot 'bits'.
    The last pilot byte is 01010011, adding 2 pilot 'bits' to that followed by the syncs.

    In the first 2 blocks (that use ROM timings but not the ROM number of pilot pulses), the pilots are glued to the tail of the preceding data, making it difficult to precisely 'count' the pilot, although a slightly wrong 'count' won't affect loading, obviously.

    I haven't finished the disassembling of the save code yet, as some parts are rather obscure. :(
  • RalfRalf
    edited February 2014
    Thanks for the great work!

    I have cassette 4 and 5 ready. I'll upload them today.

    And as I know it would be all Polish commercial programs made with these loader so the job is almost done ! :)
  • lfarialfaria
    edited February 2014
    Good, let's nail these down. ;)

    As a last note for the curious: the data part for this loader uses bytes with 9 bits (the last one is always 1) with the last 'byte' being the checksum.

    Don't use the 'digital' samples provided by Gorski unless for 'educational interest', because the saved data is mostly but not exactly the same as loaded from the tapes.
  • RalfRalf
    edited February 2014
    Cassette 4 and 5:
    http://www.sendspace.com/file/w0q7rl


    Programs from casette 4 are in one .wav file, programs from casette 5 are in 2 .wav files.

    (14 MB download, sorry ;) )
  • lfarialfaria
    edited February 2014
    Got it, thanks Ralf! :smile:
    Results for tomorrow.
  • gorskigorski
    edited February 2014
    Good Good! :)
    topic go to the end soon :)
    Thanks Ralf and lfaria :)
    We have preserved this tapes for next generations :)
    lfaria share wavscan for this case i save them :)

    Greets,
    Gorski
  • RalfRalf
    edited February 2014
    We have preserved this tapes for next generations

    I recently got even more Polish MIA tapes but the other ones are standard loader and I managed to do them myself.

    I'll upload them all to .tzx team ftp. Don't know when they'll be added to WOS and if ever but I believe I shouldn't worry about it now and just do the job :)
  • lfarialfaria
    edited February 2014
    Czytaj4-1 (7) and Czytaj5-2 (10) done.
    the other two need some deeper analysis as one block (the last one in 4-2 and the second one in 5-1) failed to properly convert.
  • Andrew BarkerAndrew Barker
    edited February 2014
    Just to say, you guys are amazing with these kinds of tricky loaders and indeed all loaders and tapes !

    Keep up the good work, and many thanks.
  • lfarialfaria
    edited February 2014
    Ok, all 5 tapes done. :)
    Will upload the TZXs later today, together with the commented disassembly of the save routine. Stay tuned.

    These TZXs were not retouched (timings beautified and such), but the silence between the two programs is random for some tapes as some WAVs were already modified or already provided in two parts.

    Anyway, if somebody wants a 'perfect' tape, I already mentioned the 'perfect' timings in a previous post: 585t / 1170t (pilot, sync and data use the same)

    @Gorski: I used the same wavscan23spt.c source as before, no modifications.
    The conversion was not automatic for some original tapes because of several WAV artifacts (unknown if from the tape itself of from the sampling process).
  • lfarialfaria
    edited February 2014
    As I promised earlier today, here they are:

    First up, the commented disassemby:
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B__pgwgXQR-baUxwOU5kUUZhTVE

    Tape 1:
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B__pgwgXQR-bM2RidVZFUkNKTG8

    Tape 2:
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B__pgwgXQR-bUzRpT0dHN3N1M28

    Tape 3:
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B__pgwgXQR-ba19aUkRRR0FwcVE

    Tape 4:
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B__pgwgXQR-bMGVleHFkdTl1WFk

    Tape 5:
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B__pgwgXQR-bTzlSVlFtMWVnTk0

    and the extractor code, still the same as in previous attempts for this loader:
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B__pgwgXQR-bd2lyYVhfX2FWazQ

    Hope you like the stuff.
    Many thanks to Ralf for sharing these with us all!
  • RalfRalf
    edited February 2014
    Thanks for your effort too :)

    I uploaded everything to Preservation Team FTP

    I dumped also and uploaded some Polish educational MIA software (made with standard loader):

    You can also check it now here if you wish:

    2h73r5s.jpg

    Download:
    http://www.sendspace.com/file/89180y
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