We can neither verify the correctness of the data on the tapes nor
get any information about a tape's exact contents, exported symbols,
and dependencies.\\
-So there is a need for the collector to verify, analyze, sort, split, and
+So there is a need for the collector to verify, analyse, sort, split, and
recombine his paper tape software.\\
The \pname program provides a handy approach to
help doing this using a newer computer with an UNIX style operating system,
The Honeywell Series 16 assembly program DAP-16 \cite{ser16:dap16:manual}
and the FOTRAN IV compiler program \cite{ser16:frtn:manual}
read source code from punched paper tape and translate it into relocatable
-object code which is then punched out on paper tape again.
+object code which then again is punched out on paper tape.
See \cite{ser16:progref} for operation details.\\
-The object data is organized in blocks of variable layout and length consisting
-of 16 bit wide native machine words. The block format is described
+The object data is organised in blocks of variable layout and length consisting
+of 16 bit wide native Series 16 machine words. The block format is described
in \cite{ser16:progref}, pages 5-21ff. \\
To store the object blocks on punched paper tapes, each word in the block is
divided into three parts: the first one is 4 bits wide, the second and
Each frame is now translated so that the resulting paper tape frames don't
contain any printable or control characters. Then the block is enclosed by
control characters and sent out to the paper tape punch device.\\
-The resulting ''silent 4/6/6 code'' can be easily processed by the ASR 33
+The resulting ''silent 4/6/6 code'' can be easily processed by the ASR 33/35
printing terminal. It is even possible to mix listing and object code
on one tape because the text between the silent data blocks is
ignored by the loader.\\
concept, but be aware that the translation table in the document contains
\emph{severe} errors.\\
-\subsection{Functional Overview}
-\pname is a program which is capable of analyzing object tapes.\\
+\subsection{\pname Functionality}
+\pname is a program which is capable of object and library tape image analysis.\\
It reads in the data from a file or a serial line, retranslates
-the mangled characters, and reassembles the data blocks into an internal
+the mangled characters (4/6/6 code, see above), and reassembles the data blocks into an internal
representation.\\
The block checksum is checked immediately after a
block has been read in. This provides for immediate error reporting and
-handling. One input data error handling possibility is to immediately
+handling.
+ One input data error handling possibility is to immediately
stop a tape reader connected to a serial port so that the user has a clue
where to look for faulty regions on the paper tape. This is very useful
when reading in last existing copies of old software.\\
After the error-free blocks are present in the program's memory, it is
-possible to do various operations on it. Examples are extracting and
-listing of symbol names, split up the data of a library into several files
-or even reverse assembly and relocating into a virtual Series 16 main memory
-(not in the base variant of the program).
+possible to do various operations on it. Examples are symbol name extraction and listing,
+splitting up a tape image's contents into several distinct files,
+or even reverse assembly and relocating into a virtual Series 16 main memory.
+
projects / h316.git / blobdiff