making Apple II cassette audio using the Epple-II emulator

Screenshot of "Epple-II" Apple II emulator running a 3D sync wav plot in purple
yes, it’s PLOTPOURRI

as requested on reddit:

  • on Linux, you’ll probably need a development system, 6502 assembler and SDL2 libraries: sudo apt install git build-essential autoconf automake libsdl2-dev libsdl2-image-dev libsdl2-ttf-dev xa65
  • download from https://github.com/cmosher01/Epple-II/releases or git clone https://github.com/cmosher01/Epple-II.git
  • similarly, download Apple II ROMs from https://github.com/cmosher01/Apple-II-Source/releases or https://github.com/cmosher01/Apple-II-Source.git
  • build Epple-II: cd Epple-II && ./bootstrap && ./configure && make
  • install Epple-II: sudo make install
  • build ROMs: cd ../Apple-II-Source/ && ./bootstrap && ./configure && make
  • install ROMs: sudo make install
  • comment out demo rom and uncomment your rom choice in /usr/local/etc/epple2/epple2.conf
  • start Epple-II: epple2
    (Don’t try epple2 &; the emulator will hang)
  • in the Epple-II console (F5), create a blank tape image: cassette blank prog.wav
  • in the main Epple-II window, paste in your BASIC source (F7) then save it: SAVE. This may take some time, and there will be a beep
  • back in the Epple-II console, write the tape image: cassette save
  • still in the Epple-II console, close the tape image: cassette eject out
  • your Apple II BASIC program is in the file prog.wav.

For example, here’s Plotpourri‘s BASIC code saved to tape:

It’s also a pretty decent Apple II emulator, too.

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