[Coco] Dragon Disk Basic commands/syntax

[Robert Gault]

Phill Harvey-Smith wrote:
> Robert Gault wrote:
> 
>> I was asked to write a program to transfer files from Dragon disks to 
>> Coco disks. I think I now have one ready for use even though all it 
>> does is move the files while making no other changes. Obviously any 
>> Dragon file needs to be altered to some extent to make it usable on a 
>> coco.
> 
> 
> Remember also that Dragon Basic and machine code files have a 9 byte 
> header with things like filetype, load & exec address etc.
> 
>> It is the last statement that I'd like clarified. Is there any Dragon 
>> file type usable on the Coco with essentially no changes? I had 
>> assumed the Dragon could save Basic files in ASCII format but have 
>> been unable to verify this in any of the specs I've found on the Dragon.
>>
>> Is there the equivalent of SAVE"filename.BAS",A on the DRAGON? Is it 
>> possible to create Dragon Basic files in ASCII format by any method?
> 
> 
> It would appear that save"filename",a does not work, and indeed is not 
> documented in the DragonDos manual :) I guess you'd have to write it to 
> the CoCo disk and then re-tokenize it. If you wanted to get cleaver you 
> could always check for the filetype when doing the transfer and 
> retokenize as you copy.
> 
> The other method that may work, is to open a disk file and list the 
> program to it, this however would probably have to be done in machine 
> code / assembler.
> 
> Cheers.
> 
> Phill.
> 

Thanks Phill, I'd more or less come to the same conclusion. MESS 
actually makes the conversion to ASCII trivial because you can LLIST to 
a PC text file. I was hoping that ASCII saves were a function of the 
Dragon DOS so conversions using just Dragon and Coco hardware would be 
simple.