AXE(1)

NAME
axe - ATR/XFD Editor

SYNOPSIS

axe [-alvtu] [-b newimage] [-D file] [-x file] [-w file] [-c dirname] [-t] [-d sector] [imagefile]

DESCRIPTION

axe allows the user to access files stored inside a single-density Atari DOS 2.0S disk image (ATR or XFD). It can list the directory, copy files into and out of the image, delete files in the image, create a new image (either blank or containing files), and dump various low-level information about the image's filesystem structure.

OPTIONS

  Standard Options:

-b filename
    Create blank ATR image file called filename. If filename already exists, it will be overwritten with no warning.

-c directory
    Create new ATR imagefile with contents of directory. If imagefile already exists, it will be overwritten with no warning. Similar to tar cf.

-D file
    Delete file from imagefile. Ignores "locked" bit.

-t directory
    Extract all files in image to directory, which will be created and must not already exist. Similar to tar xf.

-u  Unix <-> Atari newline/EOL translation (use for text files only; breaks other file types).

-w file
    Write file to imagefile, overwrites if file already exists. Ignores "locked" bit.

-x file
    Extract (read) file from imagefile, write to current directory.

  Debugging Options:

-a  List all directory entries, even deleted/empty ones.

-d sector
    Dump a sector in decimal, hex, and binary.

-l  Trace and print sector links for all files on disk.

-v  Dump VTOC (sector 360) in decimal, hex, and binary.

LIMITATIONS

axe is ancient code, from last century. It has various design flaws and bugs. At this point, it would be better to rewrite it from scratch than to try & fix the existing code.

Only Atari DOS 2.0S and 100% compatible single-density disk images are supported. MyDOS images will work, but there's no support for MyDOS subdirectories. There's no support for e.g. SpartaDOS or Atari DOS 3.0/4.0. Atari DOS 2.5 enhanced density images will work, the same way they work on DOS 2.0S: files using the extra sectors will not be readable, and axe won't write to the extra sectors. Atari DOS 1.0 images (which are very rare) can at least have the directory listed, but I wouldn't recommend writing to them.

The "file locked" (aka read-only) bit is ignored when writing, and there's no way to lock or unlock files, though locked files do appear with * next to the name in the directory listing.

It's possible to create files in a disk image with invalid filenames, e.g. beginning with a number, or containing punctuation. Atari DOS might or might not be able to even delete such files, but axe will be able to if it happens.

axe does nothing with the boot sectors (sectors 1-3) of the disk image. When creating a new image, the boot sectors will be blank (all zeroes), meaning the disk won't be bootable. If DOS.SYS is written to an image with a DOS boot record, the boot record won't be updated with the first sector of DOS.SYS, so the disk won't be bootable.

COPYRIGHT

WTFPL. See http://www.wtfpl.net/txt/copying/ for details.

AUTHOR

B.  Watson <urchlay@slackware.uk>; Urchlay on irc.libera.chat ##atari.

SEE ALSO

a8cat(1), a8eol(1), a8xd(1), atr2xfd(1), atrsize(1), axe(1), bas2aplus(1), blob2c(1), blob2xex(1), cart2xex(1), cxrefbas(1), dasm2atasm(1), diffbas(1), dumpbas(1), f2toxex(1), fenders(1), listbas(1), listamsb(1), protbas(1), renumbas(1), rom2cart(1), unmac65(1), unprotbas(1), vxrefbas(1), whichbas(1), xex1to2(1), xexamine(1), xexcat(1), xexsplit(1), xfd2atr(1), xex(5), atascii(7), fauxtari(7).

Any good Atari 8-bit book: De Re Atari, The Atari BASIC Reference Manual, the OS Users' Guide, Mapping the Atari, etc.