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From: ac608@yfn.ysu.edu (Christopher J. Madsen)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl.announce,comp.lang.perl.modules
Subject: ANNOUNCE: LibA2 0.003 (read/write Apple II ProDOS disk images)
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Date: 4 Mar 1997 12:36:21 GMT
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LibA2 0.003 is now available on CPAN, the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network.
You can get it from the CPAN multiplexer at
  http://www.perl.com/CPAN/authors/id/CJM/LibA2-0.003.tar.gz
which will pick an FTP site near you.  If that doesn't work, retrieve
the master list of CPAN sites from
  ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/CPAN

LibA2 provides both end-user utilities and library modules for
accessing files on Apple II ProDOS disk images for use with most Apple
II emulators.  It also includes utilities to read AppleWorks word
processor files and Applesoft BASIC VAR files.

This is a BETA release of LibA2.  There's some documentation, but it's
not complete.  If you want to see the rest of the documentation, then
send email!  Otherwise, I'll probably never get around to writing it.
Until then, use the source, Luke!  There are still probably some bugs,
and the interfaces might still change.  Use at your own risk.  Keep a
recent backup handy.  Wait sixty minutes before swimming.

The included utilities are:
    prodos.pl		version 0.010
	`prodos.pl' is the main end-user utility.  It provides a
	Unix-style shell for accessing ProDOS volumes.  This allows
	you to list the contents of disk images, create
	subdirectories, and copy files to & from disk images.  If you
	have installed the Term::ReadKey and Term::ReadLine modules,
	the shell will have better editing, command & filename
	completion, and a command history.

	The parameters for prodos.pl are:
		prodos IMAGE_FILE

    pro_fmt.pl		version 0.003
	`pro_fmt.pl' creates blank ProDOS disk images.  The images are
	NOT bootable, because they lack the necessary code in the boot
	blocks.  You can copy blocks 0 and 1 from a bootable disk to
	fix this.  The parameters for pro_fmt.pl are:
		pro_fmt VOLUME_NAME  SIZE_IN_BLOCKS  IMAGE_FILE
	This is likely to change in the future.

    pro_opt.pl		version 0.004
	`pro_opt.pl' removes unused space from ProDOS disk images.  This
	is most useful for reducing the size of hard disk images.  It
	doesn't use any form of compression; it simply moves
	everything to the beginning of the disk, squashing out empty
	space caused by deleting files.  Be careful with this, as it's
	likely to have some bugs left.  The parameters for pro_opt.pl are:
		pro_opt SOURCE_IMAGE_FILE  DESTINATION_IMAGE_FILE

    awp2txt.pl		version 0.005
	`awp2txt.pl' converts AppleWorks word processor files into text
	files.  This is a bit out of place in LibA2, because it has
	nothing to do with disk images, but I included it because
	users of LibA2 may find it useful.  The parameters for awp2txt are:
		awp2txt FILE ...

    var_display.pl	version 1.004
	`var_display.pl' lists the contents of an Applesoft BASIC VAR file.
	Currently, it can only display string variables and string arrays.
	Like awp2txt, you must first extract the VAR file from the disk
	image.  The parameters for var_display are:
		var_display FILE

For people interested in writing their own utilities in Perl, LibA2
provides Perl 5 modules that supply classes for accessing ProDOS disk
images.  DOS 3.3 disks are not currently supported (except by
AppleII::Disk, which doesn't care what kind of data is on the disk).

The included modules are:
    AppleII::Disk	version 0.009
	`AppleII::Disk' provides block-level access to disk images.
	It's useful because there are two main formats for Apple disk
	images:  ProDOS order and DOS 3.3 order.  These formats do not
	refer to the operating system used on the disk, but to the
	order in which the data appears.  AppleII::Disk takes care of
	the differences for you.

    AppleII::ProDOS	version 0.026
	`AppleII::ProDOS' provides tools for accessing files on ProDOS
	disk images.  `prodos.pl' is basically just a wrapper around
	AppleII::ProDOS.

LICENSE
	LibA2 is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
	it under the same terms as Perl itself.

	LibA2 is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
	WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
	MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See
	either the GNU General Public License or the Artistic License
	for more details.

REQUIREMENTS
	LibA2 requires Perl 5.  Perl is a freely-available programming
	language that runs on PCs, Macs, and almost any Unix system.
	You can find out how to get Perl for your computer at
	  http://www.perl.com/perl/

-- 
Chris Madsen                                         ac608@yfn.ysu.edu
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