MOS Technology file format
{{short description|Binary to ASCII text format}}
{{Not confuse|Mostek hex format}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020|cs1-dates=y}}
{{Use list-defined references|date=December 2021}}
The MOS Technology file format is a file format that conveys binary information in ASCII text form.
History
The KIM-1 single-board computer specified a file format for magnetic tape and a format for paper tape. The paper tape format was adapted slightly and has been used to interchange files for computers based on the MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor.
The open-source Srecord package simplified this tape format by eliminating the {{char|
Format
Each record begins with a semicolon ({{char|;}}), followed by two hexadecimal digits denoting the length of the data in the record. The next two bytes represent the starting address of the data, in big-endian (most-significant byte first) hexadecimal. Up to 24 bytes of data follow. Then, there is a 2-byte (4-character) checksum: the sum of the other non-{{char|;}} data in the record. Finally, a record ends with a carriage return ({{char|
The last record on the paper tape is empty (its length field is {{mono|0000}}), with the starting address field representing the total number of data bytes contained in the transmission. The file ends with a {{char|XOFF}}.
See also
- Binary-to-text encoding, a survey and comparison of encoding algorithms
- Intel hex format
- Motorola S-record hex format
- Tektronix hex format
- Texas Instruments TI-TXT (TI Text)
References
{{Reflist|refs=
{{cite book |title=KIM-1 − Microcomputer Module − User Manual |chapter=Appendix F − Paper Tape Format |date=August 1976 |edition=2 |publisher=MOS Technology |location=Norristown, Pasadena, USA |id=Publications Number 6500-15B |pages=F-1 − F-2 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/KIM-1_Users_Manual/page/n98/mode/1up |access-date=2020-07-31}} [https://archive.org/download/KIM-1_Users_Manual/KIM-1_Users_Manual_text.pdf][https://web.archive.org/web/20200726160056/http://users.telenet.be/kim1-6502/6502/usrman.html#F]
{{cite book |author-first=Herwig |author-last=Feichtinger |title=Arbeitsbuch Mikrocomputer |trans-title=Microcomputer work book |chapter=1.8.5. Lochstreifen-Datenformate |trans-chapter=1.8.5. Paper tape data formats |language=de |location=Munich, Germany |publisher=Franzis-Verlag GmbH |isbn=3-7723-8022-0 |date=1987 |edition=2 |pages=240–243 [243]}}
}}