srec_formatted_binary (5)

This is the PDP\[hy]11 paper tape format, described in the DEC\[hy]11\[hy]GGPC\[hy]D PDP\[hy]11 "Paper Tape Software Programming Handbook" 1972.

The file starts with a character sequence which appears as an arrow when punched on 8\[hy]hole paper tape.

0x08, 0x1C, 0x2A, 0x49, 0x08, 0x00

Then follows a byte count, encoded big\[hy]endian in the low 4 bits of the next 4 bytes. The high bits should be zero.

Then follows a 0xFF byte.

The data follows, as many bytes as specified in the header.

The trailer consists of the following bytes:

0x00, 0x00,

and then a 2\[hy]byte checksum (big\[hy]endian).

The alternate header sequence

0x08, 0x1C, 0x3E, 0x6B, 0x08, 0x00

is followed by an 8\[hy]nibble big\[hy]endian byte count.

Size Multiplier

In general, binary data will expand in sized very little when represented with this format.

Here is a hex dump of a formatted binary file containing the data "Hello, World!".

0000: 08 1C 2A 49 08 00 00 00  ..*I....
0008: 00 0E FF 48 65 6C 6C 6F  ...Hello
0010: 2C 20 57 6F 72 6C 64 21  , World!
0018: 0A 00 00 04 73           ....s

\*(n) version \*(v)

Copyright \*(Y) Peter Miller

The \*(n) program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details use the '\*(n) -VERSion License' command. This is free software and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; for details use the '\*(n) -VERSion License' command.