Caslink

Caslink is a software project that allows the unique fusion of the last century's and modern technology. In the past the only source of data for 8-bit home computers was a tape recorder. Computer games and software was loaded mostly from cassette tapes. Disk drives were not that common, especially in Z80 processor based computers. Because of the robust design, many of those computers survived until now. But tape recorders are not common any more, besides cassette tapes are not so reliable when it comes to data storage. To be able to support those old home computer systems the Caslink project was created. It allows to create digital audio files from various MSX computer software. Instead of a tape recorder, any decent audio device may be used to playback those files to MSX via a simple audio cable. Moreover, the use of digital technology allowed to create precise waveforms that helped to increase the loading speed by 50% - from 2400 baud to 3600 baud, the speed that was never before seen on MSX computers. It's really exciting that a 30 year old computer can use a modern iPod or even a mobile phone as the source of data. The project helped many enthusiasts to wipe dust from their old machines and to use them again, for the fun that was almost forgotten during the past decades.
Project Overview
The main goal of CasLink project is to allow loading programs and games to MSX computers from different audio devices. All MSX computers are equipped with a cassette recorder interface that was designed to save and load software from cassette tapes. What CasLink does is basically simulating the cassette interface. CasLink allows to transform any MSX binary and ASCII files into WAV or MP3 files that can be played back to MSX using a PC sound card, a CD or MP3 player or even a mobile phone via a simple audio cable.
CasLink was created primarily for MSX users who don't have floppy disk drives in their MSX computers. It can be also a relief for those, whose disk drives are broken. Those MSX users will be able to play their favorite games on their MSX computers again with the help of Caslink.
Main Features
Caslink supports encoding of files in the following MSX formats:
* BAS - tokenized or detokenized basic programs (ASCII format)
* BIN - binary images of ROM cartridges with startup code
* ROM - pure images of ROM cartridges
* SCR - screenshots
Caslink supports encoding of the following BIN and ROM formats:
* BIN - 8/16/24/32 kb
* ROM - 8/16/24/32 kb
Caslink also supports a multi-file mode that allows to upload games up to 131072 bytes (1 MegaRom) long to MSX. With 3600bps speed it takes about 7 minutes. The multi-file mode supports encoding up to 15 MSX files into a single WAV or MP3 file. The Caslink in multi-file mode allows to upload several binary modules with or without the special basic loader before them (some games do have special basic loaders to properly setup the MSX and load binary files in a specific order). If only binary files are uploaded to MSX, each of them prepares a system for uploading the next binary, so after the first binary is uploaded, all further uploads are handled automatically.
In addition to auto-upload, CRC checking of uploaded modules was added to make sure that the modules are transferred to MSX without errors.
Caslink creates output files in the following formats:
* WAV (8 bit, mono, 11 kHz)
* WAV (16 bit, stereo, 44 kHz)
* MP3 (uses external LAME MP3 encoder)
The following MP3 bitrates are supported:
* 192 kbps
* 256 kbps
* 320 kbps
The following MSX CAS interface speeds are supported:
* 1200 baud
* 2400 baud
* 3600 baud (may not work on certain MSX hardware)
The really new thing in latest version of Caslink project is the ability to create optimized MP3 files for different devices: PC sound card, CD player and MP3 players from 2 major manufacturers: Creative and Apple. During testing it was noticed that Creative and Apple players require different waveform to be created, so Caslink asks for the MP3 player type in order to create the appropriate output file.
Caslink was tested on the following MSX hardware:
* Yamaha MSX1 YIS503II
* Yamaha MSX2 YIS503III
* Yamaha MSX2 YIS805/128
* Various Sony, Panasonic and Casio MSX computers
Caslink was tested with the following MP3 players:
* Apple Ipod Nano (1st model)
* Creative Muvo (64mb)
* Creative Muvo (128mb)
* Creative Zen (1gb)
* Apple iPhone 3GS
* Various other MP3 players
Copyrights and Distribution
The CasLink project was started in 1999 by Alexey Podrezov. The project is distributed with the source code, so everyone can use it to develop his own MSX related tools.
The project files can be put on any public ftp and web servers, however they should be always accompanied by the readme.txt file.
If any part of CasLink source code is used in any third-party utility, please mention the original author's name in the credits. You do not need to ask the author's permission to use Caslink code, however it would be nice to send a message to the author to let him know that his code will be used to keep MSX scene alive.
The only restriction is: CasLink should not be used for commercial purposes.

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