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Introduction SOURCGEN is a professional Re-assembler, which was marketed by the German Atari Magazin at the end of the 1980s. SOURCGEN creates source-code for any 6502 machine language program, whether it be in RAM (e.g. operating system), or present on a floppy disk or a RAM-disk. The source code generated by SOURCGEN is 100% compatible with the fantastic ATMAS-II assembler, which was also marketed by Atari Magazin. The source code listing you create using SOURCGEN can be assembled without modification using the ATMAS-II assembler. If the listing is too large for ATMAS-II, it can still be assembled on a PC using a cross-assembler. The marketed version of SOURCGEN (also included in the download package) had the version number 2.01. The present version 3.2 has several important improvements. These improvements, marked "(V.3.2)" in this instruction manual, include TURBODOS compatibility, recognition of double density disks, key macros, and the removal of a limitation in the H. HEAD function. How SOURCGEN works When generating source code, SOURCGEN creates automatically all necessary labels. Using the SOURCGEN editor, you can in addition define your own symbols. You will also use the editor to define the way program sections are interpreted and displayed. When you load SOURCGEN, the complete list of official symbols for the system addresses is loaded into the SOURCGEN's symbol-table. In conjunction with the symbols provided in the file OS.SMB, you have a superbly readable source-code listing for the entire ATARI-XL operating system. The symbols in OS.SMB and their respective addresses were taken from the book ATARI 600XL/800XL INTERN (Data Becker). This book contains detailed documentation of the operating system but not the source code itself. With SOURCGEN you have the best means to analyse any machine-language program and thus discover the deepest secrets of assembler programming. You should not, however, expect to get a mistake-free source-code listing at the hit of a single key. You must be familiar with assembly language to be able to interpret the different sections of a program. Neither SOURCGEN nor any other program can do this for you. On the other hand, you would not be interested in a source-code listing if you were not ready and able to analyse it to a certain degree. SOURCGEN is an extremely powerful disassembler and disk-monitor, which can display program code in a genuinely readable form. To learn to use SOURCGEN to the best of its abilities, please study this manual carefully. Ask yourself how each of the functions could best be used. In addition, be sure to examine the SMB-files on the program disk, as these contain a wealth of information.
Richard Jackman |