Commander X16 SD Card Starter Kit

This is the repository for support of the Commander X16's "starter kit." This includes a variety of programs to get you started on your X16.

In this kit, you'll find games, music programs, utility programs, and more.

Installation

If you have a previous relesae of the SD card image, we suggest backing up and erasing your card first.

Then, simply unzip to your SD card. FM.PRG and SHELL.PRG can be in the root directory of your card, or they can be placed in a subdirectory named SD or something similar.

Use

• Boot your X16 with the SD card installed. Press F7 to view the directory.
• Type /FM.PRG and press RETURN (or Enter) to load the File Manager.
• Type RUN and press RETURN to start the file manager.

Or...

Press the F7 key to see a listing of your files and directories. Entries with DIR on the right are directories.

Type @CD:directory_name to switch to a directory. For example, @CD:DOCS or @CD:APPS.

You can also "cheat" by moving the cursor up to a directory in the list and typing @CD: at the start of the line, then using the DEL key on the keyboard to suck in the directory name until you have removed the quote, like this:

@CD:DEMOS" DIR

If a directory has an AUTOBOOT.X16 file, you can type BOOT to start the program. Otherwise, look for a .PRG file that seems correct.

Dos Wedge

The @ symbol and the > symbol, when used at the start of the line, are known as the DOS Wedge.

Back in the PET days, the Wedge was an extra utility you had to load each time, and the > symbol activated Wedge commands. You can still use > instead of @. Go ahead, give it a try: >$

The DOS wedge allows you to issue quick commands from BASIC with the > or @ symbol.

Command	Action
/<filename>	Load a BASIC program into RAM
%<filename>	Load a machine language program into RAM (like ,8,1)
↑<filename>	Load a BASIC program into RAM and then unconditionally run it
←<filename>	Save a BASIC program to disk
@	Display (and clear) the disk drive status
@$	Display the disk directory without overwriting the BASIC program in memory
@#<device number>	Change default DOS device
@<command>	Execute a disk drive command (e.g. @S0:<filename>)
><command>	Execute a disk drive command (e.g. >CD:<dir>)

We'll include this listing on the SD Card, for your convenience.

Standards

If a program has multiple executables, we may include an AUTOBOOT.X16 file in the program directory. Just type BOOT to automatically start the correct executable, in that case.

Filename Extensions

• Tokenized BASIC and machine language binaries: .PRG
• Plain-text, line numbered BASIC programs: .BAS
• BASLOAD compatible BASIC programs: .BL
  • The first line should indicate ISO mode and line endings:
• Text files with PETSCII graphics: .PET

You can also hint at line endings and encoding by adding an encoding string at the top of your file:

BASLOAD source code
## BASLOAD PET CR   (Commander)
## BASLOAD ISO LF   (Linux)
## BASLOAD ISO CRLF (DOS/Windows)

Plain text files
## ANSI CRLF        (DOS/Windows)
## ANSI LF          (invalid)
## ISO CRLF         (DOS/Windows)
## ISO LF           (Linux)
## PET CR           (Commander/Commodore)

Note that ANSI LF should never be used, since the ANSI terminal standard requires CRLF to start a new line.

So why have BASLOAD at the start of a BASLOAD source file?

One of my pet peeves when browsing GitHub is to see a repository with no information on how to build a program and what toolchain is needed. However, someone can do a web search for BASLOAD, and the first verbatim link goes to our forums, where Stefan has posted an early beta of his program.

Submissions

We may ask you for permission to include your software in the collection. If you accept, you will be granting us the right to distribute your software on the same terms as listed above. You will still own your full Copyright, with all other rights reserved by you.

To be considered for inclusion, programs should be uploaded to the Commander X16 forum and meet the technical requirements listed below.

In addition, programs should demonstrate one or more of the X16's features in a useful, entertaining, or interesting way.

Complete, arcade-quality video games are likely to be included, as are super useful utility programs, such as the included file manager or CLI Shell. We are not likely to include a 2-frame PETSCII animation or a picture of your cat.

Technical Requirements

Software submitted to this archive must meet certain performance and reliability requirements.

• The program must operate on a 65C02 or 65C816 CPU.
• The program must be usable on a composite monitor.
• The program must operate (not crash) if the Yamaha FM synthesizer is removed from the host computer.

In some cases, composite mode or operating without an FM chip will offer reduced capabilities. For example, we don't expect a music program to play all of the available channels if the FM chip is not present.

If you're not sure how to implement composite-safe video and FM-safe sound, please join us on the forums or the community Discord at https://www.commanderx16.com

Legal Requirements

As always, we can only accept software that is free to use and distribute. You'll retain the full Copyright of your work, but you will be asked to grant us a license to distribute your work for the purposes of including it with a new Commander X16 computer.