Sharp PC-1500/TRS-80 PC-2 : how to transfer programs to/from a PC using the tape interface.

Loading a program from the library to the PC-1500 / PC-2:

• Download and unzip the program (for example, use 7-zip).
• Connect the EAR input of your tape interface to the LINE output of the sound card.
• Enter the appropriate CLOAD command on your pocket computer.
• Play the WAV file on the PC (you can start your tests with a low volume, and adjust it if necessary).

Digitizing a PC-1500 / PC-2 save file:

• Get a digitizing program (such as Audacity) .
• Connect your tape player or tape interface output (MIC) to your sound card MIC input.
• Enter the appropriate CSAVE command or play the tape, and digitize the output in a WAV sound file (11 KHz, mono, 8 bits per sample).

Cleaning/editing your digitized files using WAV2BIN and BIN2WAV:

The Pocket-Tools (WAV2BIN, BIN2WAV, BAS2IMG) are neat utilities that will convert Sharp sound files (WAV) to/from binary files. This enables you to edit a Sharp program on your PC, for example. You can also use them to generate noiseless sound files that will take very little space after zipping...

To get started, here is the procedure for a BASIC program (a detailed description of wav2bin/bin2wav is available on their homepage) :

• Download the Pocket-Tools from pocket or T.Mucker.
• In a DOS shell, type :
    WAV2BIN -timg WavFile BinFile
    where WavFile is the WAV file and BinFile the destination (binary) file.
• Then type :
    BIN2WAV -timg -nSaveName BinFile WavFile2
    where BinFile is the binary file, WavFile2 is the new (clean) sound file, and SaveName is the PC-1500/PC-2 program save name.
• You can now zip WavFile and send it to me (email address at the bottom of site main page) for inclusion in the online library ;-)

Troubleshooting:

You might have to fiddle a bit with the volume settings in the digitizing step (PC-1500 to PC) to produce a usable WAV file. If you don't manage to digitize directly the output of the tape interface (output of a CSAVE command), then save the program to a tape and digitize the tape. That way, you have more control on the volume of the signal sent to the PC.

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