Using 'acx'
acx is a new command-line tool for AppleCommander. This tool is subcommand based (think git pull and git commit) and is expected to allow more nuanced command activities.
Overview / Asking for help
All commands and subcommands will show options and command structure with the --help flag.
$ acx --help
Usage: acx [-hVv] [--debug] [--quiet] [COMMAND]
'acx' experimental utility
Options:
--debug Show detailed stack traces.
-h, --help Show this help message and exit.
--quiet Turn off all logging.
-v, --verbose Be verbose. Multiple occurrences increase logging.
-V, --version Print version information and exit.
Commands:
compare Compare two disk images.
convert Uncompress a ShrinkIt or Binary II file; or convert a
DiskCopy 4.2 image into a ProDOS disk image.
copy, cp Copy files between disks.
create, mkdisk Create a disk image.
delete, del, rm Delete file(s) from a disk image.
diskmap, map Show disk usage map.
dump Dump a block or sector.
export, x, get Export file(s) from a disk image.
dups Find duplicate files.
help Displays help information about the specified command
import, put Import file onto disk.
info, i Show information on a disk image(s).
list, ls List directory of disk image(s).
lock Lock file(s) on a disk image.
mkdir, md Create a directory on disk.
read Read a block or sector.
rename, ren Rename file on a disk image.
rename-disk Rename volume of a disk image.
rmdir, rd Remove a directory on disk.
unlock Unlock file(s) on a disk image.
write Write a block or sector.
When looking for options for a subcommand, the help subcommand may be used as an alternate (acx copy --help or acx help copy are both valid).
$ acx copy --help
Usage: acx copy [-fhr] -d=<disk> -s=<sourceDisk> [--to=<targetPath>]
[<globs>...]
Copy files between disks.
Parameters:
[<globs>...] File glob(s) to copy (default = '*')
Options:
-d, --disk=<disk> Image to process [$ACX_DISK_NAME].
-f, --force Overwrite existing files.
-h, --help Show help for subcommand.
-r, --recursive Copy files recursively.
-s, --from, --source=<sourceDisk>
Source disk for files.
--to, --directory=<targetPath>
Specify which directory to place files.
Identifying a disk
acx differs from ac in that the primary disk image is always specified by the -d flag. However, this can be painful when running a series of commands. To simplify usage, the environment variable ACX_DISK_NAME can be set to simplify scripting.
This means that a sequence of commands that look like this:
$ acx create -d disk1.po --prodos
$ acx copy -d disk1.po --from ProDOS_2_4_2.dsk PRODOS BASIC.SYSTEM
$ acx list -d disk1.po --native
File: disk1.po
Name: /NEW.DISK/
* BASIC.SYSTEM SYS 021 05/23/2022 01/13/2018 10,240 A=$2000
* PRODOS SYS 035 05/23/2022 01/13/2018 17,128
ProDOS format; 111,104 bytes free; 32,256 bytes used.
Can also be specified in this manner:
$ export ACX_DISK_NAME=disk2.po # This sets the environment variable with the disk name
$ acx create --prodos
$ acx copy --from ProDOS_2_4_2.dsk PRODOS BASIC.SYSTEM
$ acx list --native
File: disk2.po
Name: /NEW.DISK/
* BASIC.SYSTEM SYS 021 05/23/2022 01/13/2018 10,240 A=$2000
* PRODOS SYS 035 05/23/2022 01/13/2018 17,128
ProDOS format; 111,104 bytes free; 32,256 bytes used.
$ unset ACX_DISK_NAME # This removes the environment variable
Creating a bootable disk
acx introduces experimenal capability to create bootable disks. Note that this is only viable for writeable disks (DOS, ProDOS, and Pascal).
$ acx create -d disk1.po --format ProDOS_2_4_2.dsk --prodos --size=140kb
$ acx create -d disk2.dsk --format original332sysmas.nib --dos --size=140kb
$ acx create -d disk3.po --format UCSD\ Pascal\ 1.2_0.DSK --pascal
Note that Pascal doesn't copy any files. Looking for feedback or PR's to correct this!
For ProDOS and Pascal, the boot block is copied over and in the ProDOS case, STARTUP and BASIC.SYSTEM as well. For DOS 3.3, tracks 0-2 are copied and marked as used.
Dumping a block or sector
acx can dump any sector or block in a hex format:
$ acx dump -d ProDOS_2_4_2.dsk --block 2
Offset Hex Data Characters
======= ================================================ =================
$000800 00 00 03 00 FC 50 52 4F 44 4F 53 2E 32 2E 34 2E ....|PRO DOS.2.4.
$000810 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 33 21 10 13 2....... ....3!..
$000820 00 00 C3 27 0D 13 00 06 00 18 01 1B 56 49 45 57 ..C'.... ....VIEW
$000830 2E 52 45 41 44 4D 45 00 00 00 00 FC 16 01 01 00 .README. ...|....
$000840 00 02 00 2D 24 09 09 24 00 E3 01 08 2F 21 1A 09 ...-$..$ .c../!..
$000850 02 00 1A 42 49 54 53 59 2E 42 4F 4F 54 00 00 00 ...BITSY .BOOT...
$000860 00 00 FF 3D 00 01 00 6D 01 00 2D 24 09 09 24 00 ...=...m ..-$..$.
$000870 21 00 20 2F 21 31 09 02 00 1B 51 55 49 54 2E 53 !. /!1.. ..QUIT.S
$000880 59 53 54 45 4D 00 00 00 00 FF 27 00 01 00 38 00 YSTEM... ..'...8.
<snip>
Disassembling the boot sector
acx can dump any sector or block in a disassembled format:
$ acx dump -d ~/Downloads/ProDOS_2_4_2.dsk -t 0 -s 0 --disassembly
0800- 01 ---
0801- 38 SEC
0802- B0 03 BCS $0807
0804- 4C 32 A1 JMP $A132
0807- 86 43 STX $43
0809- C9 03 CMP #$03
080B- 08 PHP
080C- 8A TXA
080D- 29 70 AND #$70
080F- 4A LSR
0810- 4A LSR
0811- 4A LSR
0812- 4A LSR
0813- 09 C0 ORA #$C0
0815- 85 49 STA $49
0817- A0 FF LDY #$FF
0819- 84 48 STY $48
081B- 28 PLP
081C- C8 INY
081D- B1 48 LDA ($48),Y
081F- D0 3A BNE $085B
0821- B0 0E BCS $0831
0823- A9 03 LDA #$03
0825- 8D 00 08 STA $0800
<snip>
File listings by name pattern
A new feature when listing files is that acx allows "glob" pattern matching ("*" wildcard matching). (Be careful with the usual shell expansion issues.)
For example, to list files that might be run at startup (*.SYSTEM):
$ acx ls -d ProDOS_2_4_2.dsk --globs "*.SYSTEM"
File: ProDOS_2_4_2.dsk
Name: /PRODOS.2.4.2/
* QUIT.SYSTEM SYS 001 09/15/2016 01/13/2018 56 A=$2000
* BASIC.SYSTEM SYS 021 08/30/2016 01/13/2018 10,240 A=$2000
* FASTDSK.SYSTEM SYS 004 05/04/2009 01/13/2018 1,402 A=$2000
ProDOS format; 0 bytes free; 143,360 bytes used.
File listing as JSON or CSV
Like ac, acx allows file listings to be written out as structured text. Specifically, with JSON output, secondary processing tools can be used to extract information. Here's a sample using the jq tool:
$ acx ls -d ProDOS_2_4_2.dsk --json | jq '.disks[].files[] | select(.name == "BASIC.SYSTEM")'
{
"locked": "*",
"name": "BASIC.SYSTEM",
"type": "SYS",
"blocks": "021",
"modified": "08/30/2016",
"created": "01/13/2018",
"size": "10,240",
"auxType": "A=$2000"
}
Find duplicate files
acx can look for duplicate files:
$ acx dups -d "Beagle Bros Tip Disk #1.dsk"
Differences:
/mmmmmmmm TIP BOOK #1 mmmmmmmmm has the following duplicates:
- /mmmmmmmm TIP BOOK #2 mmmmmmmmm
- /mmmmmmmm TIP BOOK #3 mmmmmmmmm
- /mmmmmmmm TIP BOOK #4 mmmmmmmmm
/TIP DISK #1 has the following duplicates:
- /D2
... and a partial directory listing:
$ acx ls -l -d "Beagle Bros Tip Disk #1.dsk"
File: Beagle Bros Tip Disk #1.dsk
Name: DISK VOLUME #254
* A TIP DISK #1 703 004 T19 S15 A=$0000
T mmmmmmmm TIP BOOK #1 mmmmmmmmm 0 001 T20 S15 A=$0000
* I INT TO FP CONVERT 217 002 T21 S15 A=$0000
* A FP TO INT CONVERT 193 002 T22 S15 A=$0000
* A DENSITY 891 005 T23 S15 A=$0000
* I INTEGER FLASHER 347 003 T24 S15 A=$0000
<snip>
T mmmmmmmm TIP BOOK #2 mmmmmmmmm 0 001 T9 S15 A=$0000
* A VISI-SORT 759 004 T8 S15 A=$0000
<snip>
A D2 703 004 T14 S8 A=$0000
* A HELP 14,065 056 T13 S5 A=$0000
DOS 3.3 format; 29,440 bytes free; 113,920 bytes used.