Preview: cbmshell, an interactive file processor

[srowe]

I've been developing a general-purpose utility called cbmshell that allows you to manipulate files within disk images. Think of it as a combination of c1541 and petcat but much more open-ended.

It's written in Python so should run on any platform, available from PyPI

https://pypi.org/project/cbmshell/

Documentation available here:

https://cbmshell.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

It's currently alpha quality, please back up any valuable image before trying it out. I plan to keep extending it, next feature will be to also support tape images.

Feedback welcome.

[edit: readthedocs link now live]

[chysn]

I might not have a sufficient Python version, but I'll check it out if I can.

macOS Big Sur has 2.7.16, which seems new enough as far as 2.7 goes, but maybe not new enough for pip. But I'm no Python expert, so I'm not sure.

[srowe]

I might not have a sufficient Python version, but I'll check it out if I can.

macOS Big Sur has 2.7.16, which seems new enough as far as 2.7 goes, but maybe not new enough for pip. But I'm no Python expert, so I'm not sure.

I should have said it requires Python3, Looks like Big Sur includes both Python 2&3.

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questio ... n-for-good

I'd appreciate the feedback if it does work on MacOS.

[srowe]

Latest version now has support for .tap images in read-only mode. You can copy from tape images to disk images and/or the local filesystem.

[srowe]

I've been steadily adding features and fixing bugs to the point I'm going to declare it "Done" (i.e. it satisfies all my needs). It now supports read/write to all disk formats that I'm aware of (except GEOS), read/write to .tap files and read only of T64 and PC64 files.

I'm still open to suggestions for improvements.

[chysn]

make ran successfully under Big Sur. I had to do

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sudo -H make

to avoid macOS complaining about directory privileges.

On the first invocation of cbm-shell, it advised that I needed to install gnureadline, which I was able to do with

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sudo pip3 install gnureadline

And now, when I invoke cbm-shell:

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$ cbm-shell
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/cbm-shell", line 6, in <module>
    from cbm_shell.scripts.cbm_shell import main
  File "/Library/Python/3.8/site-packages/cbm_shell/scripts/cbm_shell.py", line 10, in <module>
    from cmd2.utils import basic_complete
ImportError: cannot import name 'basic_complete' from 'cmd2.utils' (/Library/Python/3.8/site-packages/cmd2/utils.py)

My Python 3 version is 3.8.2. Am I missing another dependency?

[srowe]

My Python 3 version is 3.8.2. Am I missing another dependency?

No, I think it's a compatibility issue with the latest version of the cmd2 module (not one of mine). As a work around for now try

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pip3 install --upgrade 'cmd2<2'

I'll look to fix this properly.

[Edit] Rather than installing this as root (and potentially messing something up) try using a virtualenv. They isolate package installation away from the system.

[srowe]

I've fixed the compatibility issues and released a new version (1.3) that should work with either versions of cmd2.

[chysn]

Yes! I've got a prompt! I'll be playing around with this tomorrow. I've got a stupid Independence Day party to go to today.

Okay, it's not stupid, it's with my wife's friends. But it would be rude to bring my Mac along.

Thank you!

[chysn]

Is there a way to take a standalone PRG file and put it into a newly-created TAP image?

[srowe]

Is there a way to take a standalone PRG file and put it into a newly-created TAP image?

Hum, I thought I'd tested just that but there's a glitch working with an empty TAP file. Just repeat the copy command for now

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(venv) [srowe@gilraen Downloads]$ cbm-shell 
(cbm) attach new.tap
Attached new.tap to 0
(cbm) copy dungeon.prg 0:DUNGEON
EXCEPTION of type 'FileNotFoundError' occurred with message: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'new.tap'
To enable full traceback, run the following command: 'set debug true'
(cbm) copy dungeon.prg 0:DUNGEON
Copying dungeon.prg to ImagePath(0:b'DUNGEON')
(cbm) $
0 <TAP image>
15   "DUNGEON"          PRG
(cbm) quit

[chysn]

Hum, I thought I'd tested just that but there's a glitch working with an empty TAP file. Just repeat the copy command for now

Yep, that's the exception I was getting, and the second copy works as expected. Thanks again, this is awesome!

Enormous-ass feature request: A built-in disassembler to complement list!

[srowe]

Enormous-ass feature request: A built-in disassembler to complement list!

I hadn't thought of that but it would be straightforward enough to do. The main limitation would be handling blocks of embedded data, but that's the same as any simple disassembler.

[Vic20-Ian]

Great idea. Will you enter it into the Vic20 things we want to see / hear competition too? Closes November 30th.

[chysn]

Enormous-ass feature request: A built-in disassembler to complement list!

I hadn't thought of that but it would be straightforward enough to do. The main limitation would be handling blocks of embedded data, but that's the same as any simple disassembler.

I was going to amend my request to "If I were to write a 6502 disassembler in Python 3, could you integrate it?'

And, yeah, data's always going to be an issue. That's the way it goes.