Re: IIe to ibm file transfer. Help! :)

[sirius@spirit.com.au (Michael Hickey)]

In article <1996060110015879557@digby.compulink.co.uk>,
digbyj@cix.compulink.co.uk (Dr Digby L. James) wrote:

> At present I have a problem - is is possible to convert Apple BASIC
> programs to ASCII ON A PC? I have some that need to go into QBASIC for
> re-writing, and I haven't got access to an Apple II for the purpose of
> saving them as ASCII.

It certainly is possible, but you _will_ need access to an Apple II of
some description!! (Unless you want to retype the entire program into
QBASIC - after all, that _is_ a valid option!)  You cannot simply shove an
Apple II disk into a PC and expect it to work, the arrangement of the data
on the disks are completely incompatible  (see other posts).  

You must get hold of an Apple II (About �30 - �40 second-hand) (Presumably
one with a disk drive AND a serial card AND a suitable cable to do the
Xfers AND a comms program for the Apple II).  See the CSA2 FAQ for the
nitty gritty of this procedure.

When you've overcome this minor hurdle, you'll then find that you can't
simply save AppleSoft BASIC files as text (not like you can in GW-BASIC)
But, it is a simple enough process. 

(This is the helpful bit).  

All you need to do is to include a little routine inside your BASIC
program to capture it to a text file.  

Incidentally, you can later EXEC this text file to turn it back into an
AppleSoft BASIC program.

NOTE:
o You will have already LOADed your BASIC program ready for running this
  routine.
o Make sure you don't overwrite the beginning of your program when you type
  it in.
o LISTING.EXEC is the target file, include full ProDOS pathnames or nominate 
  the correct slot and drive (if necessary).
o You can vary the line numbers in line 5 to include all parts of the BASIC
  program you wish converted to text.
  
(From Chapter 8 of BASIC Programming with ProDOS)

1 REM CAPTURE
2 D$ = CHR$(4)
3 PRINT D$; "OPEN LISTING.EXEC"
4 PRINT D$; "WRITE LISTING.EXEC"
5 LIST 10,32767
6 PRINT D$; "CLOSE LISTING.EXEC"
7 END

Once you've captured your BASIC program as a text file you can xfer it
over via a serial cable or by some other arcane means.

OK?  Have Fun.

CHR$(7)
MH

-- 
                 Michael Hickey, Canberra, Australia
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