[Coco] .BIN to .ROM

[Chad H]

Well the project I'm working on that allows selection of .ROM from SD in a pak to boot from is still in R&D, but still on.  In light of the complications of .BIN addresses, i thought it might be solved by combining the .BIN to the end of a 'bootloader' code segment and flashing that to EPROM with the bootloader essentially doing what the CLOADM/LOADM do and put the .BIN data where it goes at bootup, then execute.  I think the idea could work, it would be simple I think for some one more knowledgeable in assembly, just pulling from how those built in routines operate.

Sent from my Transformer Infinity

Tormod Volden <lists.tormod at gmail.com> wrote:

>>> On Dec 23, 2013 7:30 PM, "Chad H" wrote:
>>>
>>>> Can someone please advise a simple and reliable method to convert a .BIN
>>>> file to a .ROM file?  I can extract the .BIN on my PC if need be.   I
>>>> seem
>>>> to recall a ROM extraction function in the RETRIEVE.EXE included with
>>>> the CoCo 2 emulator I have that was used for extracting the CoCo ROM
>>>> to a DISK, then you use the RETRIEVE to grab the ROM data off the
>>>> floppy into a  .ROM file on the PC.  I doubt this would work for many
>>>> .BIN files though, especially since many don't start at &HC000.
>>>>

Chad,

If your original motivation is to store programs in a (multi) ROM
cartridge and run them without disk or tape loading, you can consider
a "memory snapshot" solution. (BTW, not unlike Luis' way of running
Dragon programs on a CoCo.) You can take a memory snapshot after the
.BIN file has loaded, before it starts execution. Determine which
parts of RAM have been changed, and store them (compressed) in a
cartridge image which also contains the unpacking routines. So when
the cartridge runs, the original .BIN code gets unpacked to its
original location and the code runs at the location is was made to run
at.

Cheers,
Tormod

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