Reading the VersaDos file format
 

Hi

Some time ago someone asked about reading the VersaDos file format....

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...-format-86596/

I spent some time developing my own reader (I can read contiguous files, but not ISAM yet) only to find this resource;

http://www.gaby.de/ehome.htm

And in particular this;

http://www.gaby.de/edownl.htm

(under "Others"). I've not had time to try it yet but it looks to address the problem completely.

Regards,

Dave

Hi LittleFrog, & welcome to LQ.

Post #1 on the thread you linked us to about versados was dated 2003(!!). You may find these are referred to as 'necro threads'. We still had 32bit pcs, floppy disks, ISA buses and crazy memory allocation as a result of myopic PC design.

Life has moved onwards and upwards A LOT since then. Even the 680xx cpus that the development system was designed for are long gone.

Upon further investigation, it turns out that the VersaDos file reader here;

http://www.gaby.de/edownl.htm

works well with every kind of file I could find.

Regards,

Dave

Great, and glad you found it. Mark this thread solved.

Those "Development Systems" versa dos was written for were little more than an Assembler, a 'Monitor' or supervisor program, and a few simple utilities. They were aimed at the (high spending) software engineer programming MCUs. The 68000 series was one of the very first 16bit devices outside a mainframe, and there was a severe limit on available package sizes for ICs. You could get ICs in 8,14,16,& 40 pin DIL packages. Motorola got an extra big size made - 64 pin (or was it 68?). The other sizes got filled in later, but the variety really started with surface mount. Now, of course, DIL packages are obsolete.

Once C Programming Language and hard disks became common, exorbitantly priced development systems all faded away, being replaced by a pc.