(Comp.sys.hp48)
Item: 2567 by jonhiga@phoenix.Princeton.EDU [Jonathan Tomohiko Higa]
Subj: tasc v3beta: ->ASC / ASC->
Date: 05 Jan 1993

[Note: This obsoletes TASC.EXE on Goodies Disk #7.  -jkh-]

TASC (version 3-beta) is an ASC <-> HP48 binary translator.

Why do you want TASC at all?

1. Do the translation on another computer instead of on the HP48.  A
   binary is approximately half the size of its ASC equivalent;
   therefore, you will require less battery power.

3. There's no memory limit.  Some programs are too large to be
   downloaded in ASC form but can still be downloaded in binary form.

Why is this one better than previous versions?

1. It behaves like uuencode to the extent that you don't have to strip
   off the non-ASC parts of a post or message if it contains only one
   ASCed object. I've been using commands like "tasc - newgame.bin"
   within my mail reader to extract HP48 programs with ease.

2. It determines the file type by inspecting the file itself instead
   of the filename extension.

3. It determines how to invent a target file name by knowing the
   source file's type.

4. The target file is overwritten when translation begins, not upon
   program startup as before.


SYNOPSIS
     tasc [opt ...] source [target]

DESCRIPTION
     This program translates HP48 binary files to  and  from  ASC
     format.   It  should  be fully compatible with Bill Wickes's
     original ->ASC-> programs.  The symbol "-"  in  place  of  a
     filename  represents  the terminal.  If a target filename is
     not provided, one will be invented by  changing  the  source
     filename's  suffix  to ".asc" or ".bin".  Note that a target
     filename cannot be invented if the  standard  input  is  the
     source.

OPTIONS
     -d   Force ASC->bin (ASC decoding) mode.

     -e   Force bin->ASC (ASC encoding) mode.

     -q   Don't print reports (quiet).

DIAGNOSTICS
     Returns 0 on success, 1 on error.   On  successful  exit,  a
     BYTES statement is given if not in quiet mode.

AUTHOR
     Jonathan T. Higa (jonhiga@phoenix.princeton.edu)

CREDITS
     - ASC:  Bill Wickes (billw@hpcvdw.cv.hp.com).
     - Cyclic Redundancy Check: da Cruz, Frank.  Kermit:  A File
       Transfer Protocol. Bedford, MA:  Digital Press, 1987.
     - Object structure: HP48 Tools Manual;  "HP48SX  Internals,"
       by Derek S. Nickel.
     - Guidance:  Joe Horn (akcs.joehorn@hpcvbbs.cv.hp.com)
     - Original inspiration: miscellaneous  asc2bin  programs  on
       seq.uncwil.edu

[Note: If TASC.EXE doesn't work on your PC, just recompile it from the
 TASC.C source code.  I compiled it with jump optimization on, and
 with duplicate strings merged, and then compressed it with LZEXE.  -jkh-]