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| | I have found a way to convert the PPG Library into .WAV files and plan
to provide the complete library here over time. To reach that goal, I need some
help - I don't have all disks, and of the ones that I have some are already
partially defective. To all PPG Waveterm disk owners - please contact
me and send me copies of your disks - together we'll make it.
All files have been created in 16 bit, 22050Hz, mono. This doesn't
necessarily match the original sample rate. Should the original sample rate be
available on the Waveterm diskettes, I haven't found it yet.
The currently available files are downloadable here.
Do-it-yourself
For do-it-yourself types who have a PC with a 5 1/4" drive and Windows
95/98/ME, there's another method:
I have written two programs that can process Waveterm disk images:
These programs can process disk images that have been created by
 Anadisk
(or
Pascal Thiault's programs). Both programs allow the selection of files and can export T-files into .WAV
files using the "Disk" popup menu (or with the context menu
accessible with the right mouse key). Calling them with the additional command
line parameter "/full" reveals other options; these are mainly useful
for debugging purposes.
 Both programs can play back
transient sounds at all (sound card-supported) original sample speeds now!
Anadisk
Here's a little instruction on how to create disk
images with Anadisk:
 | put the PC into DOS mode. With that, I mean real DOS, not a DOS
prompt in Windows... like in "Restart PC in DOS mode", or
"Insert DOS Boot Disk and restart the PC". |
| Insert PPG Disk into the 5 1/4" drive and start Anadisk. As this is a
shareware version, a nag screen appears. |
| First, a SCAN has to be done, otherwise the following disk reading step
won't work. This seems to be a program error, but at least it can be circumvented. So: start SCAN, select the correct disk drive. Let SCAN read
about 2-3 tracks, then press ESC-ESC to return to the main screen.
SCAN should determine the following values:
Waveterm A: 16 sectors with 256 bytes each per disk side
Waveterm B: 4 sectors with 1024 bytes each per disk side
Note: some drives can read Waveterm A disks, some can't. If SCAN determines
that there are 16 sectors on each side and they are numbered 1-16 on side 0,
17-32 on side 1, it's OK; if some phantastic values appear, the
drive/controller combination unfortunately can't read Waveterm A disks.
All drives that I've tested so far can at least read Waveterm B disks. |
| After the SCAN, you can create a DUMP of the diskette (on the far right of
the main screen). Anadisk then queries the image file name. Enter xxxxx.WTA
for a Waveterm A disk or xxxxx.WTB for a Waveterm B
disk here. In principle, the extension is freely selectable, but my programs
like it better if the predefined extension is there :-)
In any case, instruct it to DUMP tracks 0 to 76 afterwards; Waveterm disks
always have 77 tracks. DON'T include additional sector information!
We want a plain dump of the disk contents, we are no computer forensics lab
personnel. Or are you? :-) |
| Anadisk then slowly but steadily works its way through the diskette...
after 2-3 minutes, the image is ready and can be processed by the
corresponding program.
If an error occurs while reading the diskette, the image unfortunately can't
be used, since Anadisk quietly skips the bad sector in such a case, thereby
ruining the layout of the disk image. |
TeleDisk
For archiving purposes, you can also use an old DOS program called TeleDisk.
TeleDisk is a close relative of AnaDisk, made by the same company. Its main
purpose isn't as forensics-oriented as AnaDisk's, but it allows to create disk
images and to restore them back to diskettes. To help the "Tele" in
TeleDisk, disk images are created in a compressed format, which unfortunately
makes them unusable for my programs. Pascal Thiault, however, has created a
program that can convert TeleDisk images into normal disk images (see below).
Here you can download a
shareware version 2.12 of TeleDisk. There's a version 2.16 floating around in
the vast spheres of the Internet, but that one isn't shareware, so I won't
present it here... but you can find it quite easily with every better search machine (www.google.com,
for example).
Pascal Thiault's Programs
Pascal
Thiault has written two programs that can read and write Waveterm A
and B disks, which is a big improvement over the Anadisk method. In the
.Zip
file you can find a README.TXT that details the usage. As an additional
bonus, these programs work much faster than AnaDisk.
Pascal has created another
program, that can convert disk images created by TeleDisk using normal
compression into the DUMP-Format used by AnaDisk. The
.Zip
file an be downloaded here.
Sample Images
To be able to check what your PC can do, here are some sample images:
Have fun!
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Last update:
02/19/07 |
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