MMBExplorer released!

[robcfg]

Hello everyone!

I recently acquired a ElkSD-Plus1 interface and was looking for tools to create and manipulate MMB files, but all of them seemed pretty old and mostly Windows only.

So I took myself to write a tool to do that and that could be compiled on many platforms, and learn new stuff.

And that tool is MMBExplorer!

You can compile it on MacOS, Linux and Windows systems (even Raspbian!) and can be used as a command line tool or as a full graphical one.

Find all the details on my Github page: https://github.com/robcfg/retrotools/tr ... mbexplorer

I hope you like it!

[KenLowe]

Looks good . I'll give it a test tomorrow.

[daveejhitchins]

Hello everyone!

I recently acquired a ElkSD-Plus1 interface and was looking for tools to create and manipulate MMB files, but all of them seemed pretty old and mostly Windows only.

So I took myself to write a tool to do that and that could be compiled on many platforms, and learn new stuff.

And that tool is MMBExplorer!

You can compile it on MacOS, Linux and Windows systems (even Raspbian!) and can be used as a command line tool or as a full graphical one.

Find all the details on my Github page: https://github.com/robcfg/retrotools/tr ... mbexplorer

I hope you like it!


MMBExplorer_GUI.png

Looks brilliant . . . and on the Mac

What would be the chance of having pre-compiled versions for people, like myself, who just don't have the required skills? Or maybe a step-by-step-by tiny-step guide at least.   

Dave H

[robcfg]

Looks good . I'll give it a test tomorrow.

Thanks!

Looks brilliant . . . and on the Mac

What would be the chance of having pre-compiled versions for people, like myself, who just don't have the required skills? Or maybe a step-by-step-by tiny-step guide at least.

Dave H

Don't worry! I've got it covered

The readme file contains a step-by-step guide, which I think is quite simple, and you can grab MacOS and Windows binaries on the releases page on Github.

Don't hesitate to ask if you have any trouble or question!

Cheers,
Rob

[danielj]

Good work

[robcfg]

Thank you!

Please tell me if there's any feature you'll like to be added that will make it more useful.

Cheers,
Rob

[KenLowe]

Minor point. Running on a Windows 10 x64 system, some of the disk images are not showing the correct directories:

A couple of additional feature requests from me that would be awesome:

• the facility to add / remove individual files from the .ssd images via drag and drop. There is usually a .inf file to go along with the file that specifies the load address, execute address etc, but if that .inf file doesn't exist, then it would be nice to get a pop up which allows that info just to be typed in instead of having to create the file. For example if I use my Windows based eprom reader to read a rom, I can't then just drag it onto an .ssd file. I need to create the .inf file to go along with it. My desktop is cluttered with rom images and their associated .inf files .
• the ability to move disk images from one slot to another would also be very useful, as would the ability to duplicate an image (eg by holding ctrl whilst dragging an image from one slot to another).

[robcfg]

Hi Ken,

Minor point. Running on a Windows 10 x64 system, some of the disk images are not showing the correct directories:

That's interesting. Which language settings are you using on Windows? It looks to me like it's translating regular ASCII characters to a different code table.

A couple of additional feature requests from me that would be awesome:

* the facility to add / remove individual files from the .ssd images via drag and drop. There is usually a .inf file to go along with the file that specifies the load address, execute address etc, but if that .inf file doesn't exist, then it would be nice to get a pop up which allows that info just to be typed in instead of having to create the file. For example if I use my Windows based eprom reader to read a rom, I can't then just drag it onto an .ssd file. I need to create the .inf file to go along with it. My desktop is cluttered with rom images and their associated .inf files .

* the ability to move disk images from one slot to another would also be very useful, as would the ability to duplicate an image (eg by holding ctrl whilst dragging an image from one slot to another).

These should be relatively easy to do, so I'll see to get them implemented when I have a little time.

Thanks for your feedback!

[KenLowe]

Hi Ken,

Minor point. Running on a Windows 10 x64 system, some of the disk images are not showing the correct directories:

That's interesting. Which language settings are you using on Windows? It looks to me like it's translating regular ASCII characters to a different code table.

Hmmm. Not actually what I expected, but I don't think the current settings explain the translation I'm seeing. I'll switch to English (United Kingdom) to see if that makes any difference (it want's me to log out, which is why I've stalled on doing it). Here's my current settings:

[daveejhitchins]

Don't worry! I've got it covered

The readme file contains a step-by-step guide, which I think is quite simple, and you can grab MacOS and Windows binaries on the releases page on Github.

Don't hesitate to ask if you have any trouble or question!

Cheers,
Rob

Working on Catalina Now just waiting to get BeebEm up-and-running and I'm off again

Many thanks, once more

Dave H

[dv8]

Minor point. Running on a Windows 10 x64 system, some of the disk images are not showing the correct directories:

That's interesting. Which language settings are you using on Windows? It looks to me like it's translating regular ASCII characters to a different code table.

It's printing high-ASCII characters because bit 7 of the directory byte is used to indicate locked files.

If d is the directory byte, (d & 0x7f) is the actual directory character and (d & 0x80) is the lock bit.

Locked files should be indicated by printing an L next to the file name.

[robcfg]

Working on Catalina Now just waiting to get BeebEm up-and-running and I'm off again

Many thanks, once more

Dave H

Glad you like it!

It's printing high-ASCII characters because bit 7 of the directory byte is used to indicate locked files.

If d is the directory byte, (d & 0x7f) is the actual directory character and (d & 0x80) is the lock bit.

Locked files should be indicated by printing an L next to the file name.

Oh, I see... I missed that bit (pun intended) while reading the documentation. I'll fix that.

Thanks for your feedback!

[robcfg]

Ok, the issue with directories and the locked flag has been addressed, and the fix has been pushed to the repository.

I'll take on a couple of suggestions more before releasing new binaries.

Thank you fine people!

[daveejhitchins]

Thank you fine people!

NO . . . Thank you

Dave H

[lurkio]

... I took myself to write a tool to do that and that could be compiled on many platforms, and learn new stuff ... And that tool is MMBExplorer!

My heart sank when I realised the pre-built macOS release was Catalina-only. And I groaned when I realised that the only option for me -- as I'm sticking to Mojave (for the sake of Mac BeebEm) -- would be to build the app myself: because I've always hated building, and Makefiles, and libraries, none of which I fully understand, and consequently I've never had much success with using them.

But I always have a go anyway. Fortunately, these days Homebrew makes it easy to find and install the dependencies you need, so, after a quick brew install cmake and a brew install fltk (whatever that means!), I was able to follow the admirably clear build instructions on your Github, and, lo and behold, I had a working app on Mojave! Can't believe it..!

Haven't really played with it much beyond opening a BEEB.MMB file, but it's looking good so far. Thank you!

[BigEd]

(Likewise, I'm on High Sierra, which seems to the one before, but the build was clean and easy. Nice project!)

[daveejhitchins]

Feature Request, please:

Currently using on Catalina.

Could you, please:
Add the facility to select more than one Disc at a time. This would make Locking and Unlocking multiple discs a lot easier.
Enable moving from Disc to Disc using the Cursor Keys. This would make examining Discs quicker.

Thank you - Dave H

[robcfg]

Hi Dave!

I implemented the multiple selection and seems to be working fine. You can also export all selected disks at once to a folder.

I'm struggling with the cursor keys though as FLTK uses them both for the table and the disk content, and there are a lot of unwanted interactions.

The changes are in the repository if you'd like to compile it yourself, or you can wait for the new release this weekend.

Cheers,
Rob

[robcfg]

Hello everyone!

I've just released v1.1 of MMBExplorer, with many fixes and new features.

Code: Select all

* Fixed directory name and added lock flag.
* Multiple selection of disks.
* Pasting of multiple disks.
* Format, locking, unlocking, removing, insertion and extraction of multiple disks.
* Multiple selection of files from a disk.
* Pasting of multiple files.
* Locking, unlocking, removing, insertion and extraction of multiple files from/to a disk.
* Generation of .inf files when extracting files from a disk.

New binaries for MacOS and Windows are available here: https://github.com/robcfg/retrotools/re ... tag/v1.1.0

Please report any bugs you may find, and feedback is always appreciated.

I hope you like it!

[daveejhitchins]

Dave H

[0xC0DE]

I am using the Windows version and am trying to replace the old MMBImager with your tool.
What I really like is that I can use your tool on the commandline or in batch files. That fits my workflow.

I noticed that you can remove disk images from the commandline even when they are locked. Maybe force the user to unlock first?

What I would love to see in the GUI version:
* drag mmb file onto MMBExplorer.exe --> start your program with the selected mmb
* drag mmb file into MMBExplorer window --> opens mmb in an already started MMBExplorer program
* open a context menu when rightclicking a disk image
* drag a disk image out of MMBExplorer
* adjust the disk image grid according to the size of the MMBExplorer window so you only need to scroll in one direction

Thanks for continuing to develop this tool!

[robcfg]

Thank you all for your kind words!

On to your feedback:

What I really like is that I can use your tool on the commandline or in batch files. That fits my workflow.

I also like command-line tools a lot, because I can just integrate them into a string of processes that are done automatically, like compiling code, packing it and inserting the result into a new disk image or a MMB file.

* drag mmb file onto MMBExplorer.exe --> start your program with the selected mmb
* drag mmb file into MMBExplorer window --> opens mmb in an already started MMBExplorer program

These seem trivial to do (famous last words... ).

* open a context menu when rightclicking a disk image

I actually tried that, but encountered a lot of problems. I may take another look at it.

* drag a disk image out of MMBExplorer

I tried that too, but FLTK is limited to dragging only text out, so I haven't managed to do it.

* adjust the disk image grid according to the size of the MMBExplorer window so you only need to scroll in one direction

I can definitely take a look.

[robcfg]

Good evening!

I managed to implement most of your latest suggestions, so there's a new MMBExplorer release here: https://github.com/robcfg/retrotools/re ... tag/v1.2.0

Code: Select all

* Open MMB file if name given as parameter (i.e.: ./MMBExplorer beeb.mmb)
* Dropping an MMB file over the program icon on Windows opens it.
* Slot and disk actions are now available as right-click menus.
* Dropping of MMB files into the slots table to open them directly.
* Reorganization of the rows and columns on window resize so there's scrolling only on one direction.

Regarding the grid adjustment, I think it's pretty useful, but if there's a reasonable amount of people that like the original grid behaviour, I can make it optional.

As for dragging disk images out of the program window, FLTK does not allow it for the time being.

Please give it a try, and as usual feedback is highly appreciated.

Have fun!

[0xC0DE]

That was fast! I wish all developers were like this
I will test it later and let you know!

[0xC0DE]

Just tested it and it's a great update as far as I'm concerned, thanks again!

[robcfg]

Hi Folks!

I just released a small update after realising that the start sector was not recorded properly if over 255, rendering files unusable.

Grab it here: https://github.com/robcfg/retrotools/re ... tag/v1.2.1

Cheers,
Rob

[dsdf323]

Wow Rob, this is exactly what I was looking for.

Thank you very much.

(running on a Mac, Catalina)

[robcfg]

You're welcome!

[Stwert]

Awesome, I don't have to Remote Desktop into my Windows server anymore when I want to mess around with MMB's.

Thank you for taking the time and effort to make this, very much appreciated.

[robcfg]

Thank you for your kind words!

I'm actually super happy about my program being useful

Cheers,
Rob