TAP
|
This article is very short and not very detailed. Please help to improve it. |
A TAP file is a tape image file representing the stream of bits as found on a datasette tape.
File format[edit | edit source]
- Bytes $0000-000B contain "C64-TAPE-RAW"
- Byte $000C is version - either $00 or $01
- Byte $000D-000F: Reserved, currently $00
- Bytes $0010-0013: File size, little endian format.
- Bytes $0014-end: File data
Each subsequent byte represents the time until the datasette sends a pulse. To convert the byte into the number of seconds for a pulse, multiply the byte by 8, and divide by the number of clock cycles.[1]
The exception is $00:
- In version 0, $00 is treated as 256.
- In version 1, the three bytes following $00 represent the exact number of clock cycles to the next pulse.
- In version 2, this is related to a half-wave format in C16 tapes.
Datasette encoding[edit | edit source]
On the datasette, the pulses can identify either a Short, Medium or Long Wave.
A byte consists of a leading Long wave, a Medium wave, eight bits (0= Short followed by medium/long, 1=Medium/Long followed by short), and an odd parity bit.
A block of data ends with a Long wave followed by a Short Wave.
As a quick default, VICE considers a short pulse is between $24 and $36, a medium pulse between $37 and $49, and a long pulse between $4a and $64.
