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  • Converting PETSCII to (animated) GIF or (A)PNG

    From Tristan Miller@3:770/3 to All on Tue Jun 1 09:18:26 2021
    Greetings.

    In the early 1990s I used to run a BBS that hosted many SEQ files
    containing PETSCII graphics, including C64 colour and cursor control
    codes. When the files were transmitted to users at 1200 baud, they
    produced clever and beautiful animations. I'd like to convert these
    animations to a format that can be easily viewed from a modern web browser.

    So does anyone know of a free, preferably command-line tool that will
    convert my PETSCII animations to an animated GIF or APNG? I know I
    could write a simple CBM BASIC program to view the files, run it in
    VICE, capture the emulator output to a video file, extract the
    individual frames with ImageMagick, and then reassemble them into an
    animated GIF using gifsicle. But that's a rather kludgy process that
    requires a lot of manual intervention for each and every file I want to convert; I was hoping there might be some dedicated tool that I could
    just run directly on a given SEQ file and automagically get a GIF or
    APNG as output.

    Regards,
    Tristan

    --
    =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    Tristan Miller
    Free Software developer, ferret herder, logologist
    https://logological.org/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Rob Swindell@1:103/705 to Tristan Miller on Fri Jun 4 21:35:05 2021
    Re: Converting PETSCII to (animated) GIF or (A)PNG
    By: Tristan Miller to All on Tue Jun 01 2021 09:18 am

    Greetings.

    In the early 1990s I used to run a BBS that hosted many SEQ files
    containing PETSCII graphics, including C64 colour and cursor control
    codes. When the files were transmitted to users at 1200 baud, they
    produced clever and beautiful animations.

    Do you happen to have an archive of those SEQ files available for download somwhere? They'd be useful to demo/test the PETSCII support in my BBS software (www.synchro.net).

    Thanks,

    -Rob
    --
    digital man

    Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #67:
    SCFG = Synchronet Configuration Utility
    Norco, CA WX: 61.6øF, 81.0% humidity, 3 mph E wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)
  • From Tristan Miller@3:770/3 to Rob Swindell on Sun Jun 6 20:20:38 2021
    Greetings.

    On 04/06/2021 11.35, Rob Swindell wrote:
    Re: Converting PETSCII to (animated) GIF or (A)PNG
    By: Tristan Miller to All on Tue Jun 01 2021 09:18 am

    > Greetings.
    >
    > In the early 1990s I used to run a BBS that hosted many SEQ files
    > containing PETSCII graphics, including C64 colour and cursor control
    > codes. When the files were transmitted to users at 1200 baud, they
    > produced clever and beautiful animations.

    Do you happen to have an archive of those SEQ files available for download somwhere? They'd be useful to demo/test the PETSCII support in my BBS software
    (www.synchro.net).


    No, just what I have on floppies somewhere. I haven't yet gotten around
    to copying them to a modern PC, in part because I don't have one of
    those specially modified drives that would let me read the flip-side of
    a double-sided disk with Kryoflux.

    Regards,
    Tristan

    --
    =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    Tristan Miller
    Free Software developer, ferret herder, logologist
    https://logological.org/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Rob Swindell@1:103/705 to Tristan Miller on Sun Jun 6 17:23:46 2021
    Re: Re: Converting PETSCII to (animated) GIF or (A)PNG
    By: Tristan Miller to Rob Swindell on Sun Jun 06 2021 08:20 pm

    Do you happen to have an archive of those SEQ files available for download somwhere? They'd be useful to demo/test the PETSCII support in my BBS software
    (www.synchro.net).


    No, just what I have on floppies somewhere. I haven't yet gotten around
    to copying them to a modern PC, in part because I don't have one of
    those specially modified drives that would let me read the flip-side of
    a double-sided disk with Kryoflux.

    I recently used the services at https://www.floppydisk.com/ to restore some 30 year old 5.25" floppies. They did a great job.

    If you ever get those SEQ files online, please let me know. Thanks,
    --
    digital man

    Rush quote #45:
    The treasure of a life is a measure of love and respect
    Norco, CA WX: 70.5øF, 59.0% humidity, 10 mph SE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)
  • From Glenn P.,@3:770/3 to psychonaut@nothingisreal.com on Mon Jun 7 18:10:23 2021
    On 06-Jun-21 at 2:20pm -0000, <psychonaut@nothingisreal.com> wrote:

    ...in part because I don't have one of those specially modified
    drives that would let me read the flip-side of a double-sided
    disk with Kryoflux.

    Regards,
    Tristan

    I say, why couldn't you just turn the disk over...???

    -- %%%%%%%%% "Glenn P.," <C128UserDELETE-THIS@FVI.Net> %%%%%%%%%%%% ===================================================================
    "All of the scenes in this program, whether actual or created,
    depict authenticated facts." ------------------------------------
    --"Mutual of Omaha's 'Wild Kingdom'"

    :: Take Note Of The Spam Block On My E-Mail Address! ::
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  • From Al DeRosa@1:267/157 to All on Mon Jun 7 19:06:13 2021
    On 06 Jun 2021, Rob Swindell said the following...

    No, just what I have on floppies somewhere. I haven't yet gotten aroun to copying them to a modern PC, in part because I don't have one of those specially modified drives that would let me read the flip-side of a double-sided disk with Kryoflux.


    Jim Brain from RetroInovations has what is called a Zoomfloppy device, you install some drivers on your PC and hook this thing up to a USB port and then
    a CBM drive to the zoomfloppy. You can then copy disks to .d64 images. Works great and does a great job getting the disks copied.. That is if you have a Commodore Disk Drive.. If not then the only thing is the Greaseweazel like
    you said....
    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: The Wrong Number Family Of BBS' - Wrong Number ][ (1:267/157)
  • From Robert Roland@3:770/3 to C128UserDELETE-THIS@FVI.Net on Tue Jun 8 12:33:10 2021
    On Mon, 7 Jun 2021 18:10:23 -0400, "Glenn P.,"
    <C128UserDELETE-THIS@FVI.Net> wrote:

    On 06-Jun-21 at 2:20pm -0000, <psychonaut@nothingisreal.com> wrote:

    ...in part because I don't have one of those specially modified
    drives that would let me read the flip-side of a double-sided
    disk with Kryoflux.

    I say, why couldn't you just turn the disk over...???

    Because then the disk spins the wrong way.
    --
    RoRo
    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Myles Skinner@3:770/3 to Robert Roland on Tue Jun 8 18:54:19 2021
    On Tuesday, 8 June 2021 at 06:33:12 UTC-4, Robert Roland wrote:
    On Mon, 7 Jun 2021 18:10:23 -0400, "Glenn P.,"
    <C128UserD...@FVI.Net> wrote:

    On 06-Jun-21 at 2:20pm -0000, <psych...@nothingisreal.com> wrote:

    ...in part because I don't have one of those specially modified
    drives that would let me read the flip-side of a double-sided
    disk with Kryoflux.
    I say, why couldn't you just turn the disk over...???
    Because then the disk spins the wrong way.

    Oh, that's an easy one. Just flip the drive over.

    ms
    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Tristan Miller@3:770/3 to All on Mon Jun 14 09:54:57 2021
    Greetings.

    On 08/06/2021 00.10, Glenn P., wrote:
    On 06-Jun-21 at 2:20pm -0000, <psychonaut@nothingisreal.com> wrote:

    > ...in part because I don't have one of those specially modified
    > drives that would let me read the flip-side of a double-sided
    > disk with Kryoflux.

    > Regards,
    > Tristan

    I say, why couldn't you just turn the disk over...???


    This is explained in the manual that KryoFlux distributes for its
    specially modified 5.25" drives: http://www.kryoflux.com/download/kf_525modded_manual.pdf See in
    particular the section "About flippy disks" on Page 7.

    Regards,
    Tristan

    --
    =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    Tristan Miller
    Free Software developer, ferret herder, logologist
    https://logological.org/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)