Software Preservation

[kolbeck]

I've managed to source around a handful of original tapes for the Lambda / Power - and have started to do preservation, which means

- Preservation of tape to TZX format
- High-res scan of inlay
- Photo of cassette
- Register in ZXDB / Upload to spectrumcomputing.co.uk (SC) (for long term preservation).
- Posting with info in this thread (with link to SC and maybe own site zxinfo.dk)

The intention with this thread, is to keep it simple for people to find the programs (yes, I know only a handful or two programs exists) - of course any help is appreciated.

The tapes for now that will have full preservation in the near future (if the tape loads)
- Squezee Play (SBS)
- Monkey Kong (SBS)
- Invader (SBS)
- Ormen (SBS)
- Tower of Brahma (SBS)
- Space-Hunt (SBS), 2K
- Kampvogn, Lambda 8300 2K
- S.O.S, Power 3000 2K

/Thomas

[kolbeck]

Squeeze Play - Scan-Bit-Software (SBS)

Requires 16K Ram and version 2 of the rom

squeeze play.tzx

(4.72 KiB) Downloaded 209 times

Entry at spectrumcomputing

[mrtinb]

Your work is very much appreciated.

Please know, that the TZX is primarily a format for the ZX Spectrum, and few emulators for ZX81 support it.

Emulators for the ZX81 / Lambda 8300 use the P format.

On top of that, if you want to load into a real Lambda 8300 with a TZXduino, the file has to be in P format as well.

[stefano]

I think I understand the reason for using tzx, it allows the creation of very accurate tape images and allows to pack many program blocks in a single file.
Probably excessive accuracy is even uncomfortable (I'm thinking at the leading noise in a tape), but it is still possible to extract a P file from a TZX. Creating a TZX from P files is obviously possible but with limited results.

Are you using maketzx?

[kolbeck]

I am using the ZX81 Tape Converter found her: https://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/tapeu ... rview.html

It also has the option to save as P file, I just forgot - but will try to remember next time.

Creating a P from TZX should be easy in most cases, but I don’t know of any tools that can do that.

Playing back a tzx into a zx81/Lambda shouldn’t by theory be an issue, if the player is compliant to the tzx specs - they load fine on a real machine using my TZXDuino device

[mrtinb]

I have only used P files with my TZXduino, so I thought it was the only thing working. My mistake.

[kolbeck]

Monkey Kong - Scan-Bit-Software (SBS)

Requires 16K Ram and version 1 of the rom

MonkeyKong(SBS)(Rom v1).p

(10.02 KiB) Downloaded 144 times

MonkeyKong(SBS)(Rom v1).tzx

(10.24 KiB) Downloaded 132 times

Entry at spectrumcomputing

[Buleste]

The latest versions of TZXDuino can play p files and ZX-81 TZX files so should work on the Lambda 8300 but I have a friend testing some just in case.

[Buleste]

The latest versions of TZXDuino can play p files and ZX-81 TZX files so should work on the Lambda 8300 but I have a friend testing some just in case.

My friend has tested .p and .tzx files from here and for the ZX-81 on TZXDuino 1.20 and they work fine as well as in turbo mode.

[kolbeck]

I think I understand the reason for using tzx, it allows the creation of very accurate tape images and allows to pack many program blocks in a single file.
Probably excessive accuracy is even uncomfortable (I'm thinking at the leading noise in a tape), but it is still possible to extract a P file from a TZX. Creating a TZX from P files is obviously possible but with limited results.

Are you using maketzx?

It is actually quite simple. The TZX version is just a P81(the format containing filename at the beginning) file wrapped in a id 0x19 block - main advantage of using TZX from my point, is that it supports multiple programs in one file as you mention - and is supported by various TZX players. From memory many emulators performs a reset when loading .P files, which is a challenge if a program has to be loaded in multiple parts - for example in case of program one being some kind of initializing, and second program the real one. Again, not 100% sure - as I mainly use the real hardware and not emulators

/Thomas