Just Solve the File Format Problem - User contributions [en]

Punched card

2025-10-01T16:18:17Z

Bsdphk: Update with results of my survey into preservation formats.

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=physical
|thiscat=Punched card
|released=1801
}}

'''Punched cards''', or punchcards, were for many years the major method of providing input to computers. Programs in [[FORTRAN]] or [[COBOL]] or [[RPG]] were punched onto decks of cards (one card per program line) on keypunch machines and handed in to be run in batch-processing mode on the computer, which was too massive and expensive to be made available to individuals other than through the mediation of system operators who eventually handed back the output in printed form. Often the function of the programs was to churn through large amounts of data to do number-crunching or other operations on it; this data might also be provided on punchcards (though [[magnetic tape]] and paper [[punched tape]] were also used). Punchcards could also be found in all sorts of other places, including in the cards you sent back with bill payments (which bore the infamous exhortation, "Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate").

While punchcards are most associated with the "big-iron" mainframe computers of the 1950s through 1970s, they have a 200-year history of use for many applications, from the [[Jacquard Loom]] of 1801 to the "hanging chads" of the 2000 US presidential [[Votomatic card|election]]. In between they were proposed for use in Babbage's never-finished Analytic Engine and used by Hollerith for data-tabulation for the 1890 US Census.

It is possible to read most standard punch cards with a scanner and DataMuseum.dk has developed such a program in python3, aptly named "Florida2000". The source code can be found under the Datamuseum-DK account on github.

A survey (2025-10-01) looking for standarized file-formats, for the digital preservation of punched card contents comes up empty.

The SIMH emulator software implements four different file-formats of which one is translating ("Standard Ascii"), one is limited to only certain kinds of punched cards ("BCD Format"), leaving "Binary Card format" and "CBN Format".

A survey of the contents of BitSavers (2025-10-01) finds 8 artifacts in CBN format and 2600+ in "Binary Card format".

The description of the "Binary Card format" in the Open-SIMH source code (2025-10-01) is somewhat confused:

Binary Card format:
Each record 160 characters.
First characters 6789----
Second character 21012345
111
Top 4 bits of second character are 0.
It is unlikely that any other format could
look like this.

The line "Top 4 bits of second character are 0." is wrong, and should correctly read "The bottom bits of every second character is 0."

* [[Aperture card]]
* [[Hollerith card]]
* [[IBM card]] (original 80-column version)
** [[IBM stub card]]
** [[IBM 96-column card]]
* [[Jacquard Loom]]
* [[Korsakov card]]
* [[Mark Sense card]]
* [[UNIVAC 90-column card]]
* [[Votomatic card]] (used in election ballots)

== Resources ==

* [http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/cards/ The Douglas W. Jones Punched Card Page]
* [http://www.quadibloc.com/comp/cardint.htm The Punched Card]: shows details of a number of card formats and character encoding schemes
* [http://www.masswerk.at/google60/ Google60]: Cute web app showing how Google's interface might have been in the 1960s, complete with simulated keypunch
* [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.03/punchcards.html The little secret that haunts corporate America ... A technology that won't go away.]
* [http://what-if.xkcd.com/63/ If all digital data were stored on punch cards, how big would Google's data warehouse be?]

Intergraph Raster

2025-03-01T19:59:16Z

Bsdphk: /* Software */

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Geospatial
|extensions={{ext|cot}}, {{ext|cit}}, {{ext|rle}}, {{ext|rgb}}, others
|pronom={{PRONOM|x-fmt/229}}
|released=~1986
}}
'''Intergraph Raster''' ('''INGR''') is a raster graphics format associated with geospatial products from Intergraph.

Some sources mention a bi-level format named '''Intergraph File Format''', '''Intergraph''', '''IntergraphRLE''', or '''ITG'''. It's not clear whether this refers to a particular type of INGR file, or to an entirely different file format.

Intergraph Raster is apparently distinct from [[Intergraph Standard File Formats]] (ISFF) [http://dgnlib.maptools.org/dgn.html].

== Identifiers ==
One source gives the following "partial listing" of INGR file extensions: '''.cot''', '''.ctc''', '''.rgb''', '''.ctb''', '''.grd''', '''.crl''', '''.tpe''', '''.lsr''', '''.rle''', '''.cit''', '''.g3''', '''.g4''', '''.tg4''', '''.cmp''', '''.jpg'''.

[[XnView]] also gives '''.itg'''.

LEADTOOLS also gives '''.t27''', '''.t29'''.

[[PRONOM]] gives '''.ing'''.

== Identification ==
The documentation implies that all INGR files begin with {{magic|0x08 0x09}}.

== Specifications ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140903185431/http://oreilly.com/www/centers/gff/formats/ingr/index.htm Intergraph Raster File Format] (from archive.org)
* ''Intergraph Raster File Format Reference'' (formerly at <nowiki>ftp://ftp.intergraph.com/pub/bbs/scan/note/rffrgps.zip</nowiki>)

== Software ==
* [http://www.gdal.org/ GDAL]
* [[XnView]]
* [[Image Alchemy]]

Note that GDAL has removed support for this format in recent versions.

One way to get a version of GDAL which still has support, is to install FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE from the DVD image and install the binary GDAL 3.4.2 package from the DVD.

== Links ==
* [http://www.gdal.org/frmt_intergraphraster.html GDAL: Intergraph Raster Format]
* [https://www.leadtools.com/help/leadtools/v19/main/api/itgfmt.html LEADTOOLS: IntergraphRLE and Intergraph Raster File Formats]
* [[Wikipedia: Intergraph]]

[[Category:Graphics]]
[[Category:File formats with too many extensions]]

IBM Displaywriter

2025-02-21T19:54:55Z

Bsdphk: Created page with "IBM 6580 DisplayWriter A microcomputer for textprocessing which could also be used as terminal to "real" IBM computers. 8" floppy disks for storage, and the character set is..."

IBM 6580 DisplayWriter

A microcomputer for textprocessing which could also be used as terminal to "real" IBM computers.

8" floppy disks for storage, and the character set is some kind of extended EBCDIC or possibly EBCDIC with switchable code pages.

Bitsavers have many documents, but I found non describing the filesystem.

I had reason to reverse engineer a single such floppy, and got far enough to be able to compare the texts on another preservation copy, so all the hard stuff (tab-settings, etc. etc.) are still outstanding.

My code is now part of the "AutoArchaeologist" software tool

SIMH TAP

2020-03-27T22:36:56Z

Bsdphk: Created page with "The SIMH Emulator uses a fileformat called 'TAP' which correctly records blocksizes and the various tape marks, suitable for "professional" tapes from 7-track up to modern..."

The [[SIMH]] Emulator uses a fileformat called 'TAP' which correctly records blocksizes and the various tape marks, suitable for "professional" tapes from 7-track up to modern mainframe cartridge tape formats.

== Format Documentation ==

[http://simh.trailing-edge.com/docs/simh_magtape.pdf SIMH Magtape Representation and Handling (trailing-edge.com)]

Disk Image Formats

2020-03-27T22:32:23Z

Bsdphk: /* Tape Image Formats */

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|thiscat=Disk Image Formats
|image=Selanit floppy disk download icon.png
}}

[[Filesystem]]s and other file formats described on this page's parent page describe entities that exist on disks as they would normally be used.

However, there are also file formats that allow a physical disk (or tape or other medium) to be "imaged" into a file, either to be re-copied onto a physical disk later, or else used by an *emulator* of the computer system that would have originally used that sort of media.

These file formats represent a data image of one of the physical floppy disk (etc.) formats. In addition to the raw data from the disk/tape/etc, these formats may contain metadata that the corresponding emulator environment uses to correctly access the data.

Typically, when archiving a physical disk for later use, a physical disk will be imaged into one of these file formats. Sub-pages of this page should contain information on the format itself as well as instructions on how to extract a physical disk into that disk image format, including information about what physical drives are required, what software to use and how and what OS that is run under.

See also [[ROM and memory images]] for images of memory, and [[Floppy disk]]s for the physical floppies. See [[Archiving]] for archive and backup formats that are filesystem-based rather than raw-sector-based. See [[Filesystem]] for the filesystems. [[Forensics and Law Enforcement]] has formats for preserving drive contents with metadata for investigations.

==Floppy Disk Image Formats==
Images created directly from floppy disks.
===Generic Sector Images===

====Acorn====

* [[Acorn Archimedes Disk Image]]

====Amiga====

* [[ADF (Amiga)]]
* [[Disk Imploder]] (Amiga) (.dmp, .dex)
* [[Disk Masher System]] (Amiga) (.dms)

====Amstrad====

* [[DSK (CPCEMU)]], used for Amstrad and related disks (typically 3" disks)

====APF Imagination Machine====

* [[APD]] (APF Imagination Machine emulated disk) (.apd)

====Apple II series====

* [[A2R disk image]]
* [[Apple Disk Image]] (Apple II disk image with header) (.2mg)
* [[Disk Copy 4.2]] (Apple)
* [[Disk Copy 6]] (Apple)
* [[DSK (Apple II)]], used for Apple II disks (typically 5.25" disks)
* [[EDD disk image]]
* [[Nibblized disk image]] (.nib), an Apple II disk image format that works for copy-protected disks
* [[WOZ disk image]]

====Atari====

* [[ATR]] (SIO2PC)
* [[DCM]] (Disk Communicator)
* [[DI]] (800XL DJ emulator)
* [[DIM]] (F-Copy)
* [[MSA (Magic Shadow Archiver)]]
* [[PRO]] (APE ProSystem)
* [[SCP]] (Spartados)
* [[ST disk image]]
* [[STT]] (STEEM)
* [[STX]] (Pasti)
* [[XFD]] (Xformer)

====Commodore 64/128/PET/CBM====

* [[C64 Nibbler Format]] (.nib) (created by mnib)
* [[D64]] and its variants (D71, D81, all with optional error information) from the C64
* [[G64]] C64 raw (GCR coded) disk image

====Macintosh====

* [[Apple Disk Image]] (MacOS or OS X disk image with header) (.dmg, .smi, .img)
* [[DART]] (Apple)

====MSX====
* [[PDI]] (Protected Disk Image)

====PC (DOS/Windows)====

* [[86F]] (86Box)
* [[CopyQM]]
* [[DDI]] (DiskDupe image file)
* [[FDF Image]] (EZ-DisKlone)
* [[FDI]] (Formatted Disk Image)
* [[IMA]]
* [[IMD]] (ImageDisk)
* [[IMG (DOSIMG)|IMG]] (HD-Copy disk image)
* [[Quick Release Sector Transfer]] (Compaq)
* [[RIM]] (EZ-DiskCopy PRO)
* [[TD0]] (TeleDisk)
* [[XPACK]] (.xdi)

====Tandy====

* [[DMK]]
* [[JV1/JV3]]

====ZX Spectrum====
* [[Mirage Microdrive Snapshot]]
* [[TRD]] (see [[TR-DOS filesystem]])

====Misc.====
* [[Anex86 PC98 floppy image]] (.fdi)
* [[DiscFerret floppy image]] (.dfi)
* [[Famicom Disk System]] (.fds)
* [[LDBS disk image]] (.ldbs)
* [[MESS floppy image]] (.mfi)
* [[Pasopia disk image]] (.d88)
* [[Raw disk image]] (.img) (ie, created with dd)

===Physical (Hardware) Images===

* [[DRAFT]] (Software Preservation Society intermediate format)
* [[IPF]] (Software Preservation Society image format)
* [[KryoFlux]]

==Optical Disc Image Formats==
CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, BluRay, GD-ROM etc.

* [[BWI]] (BlindWrite Image File)
* [[CDI]] (Disc Juggler)
* [[CloneCD Control File]] (.ccd, .img, .sub)
* [[C2D]] Roxio
* [[CIF Image]] Roxio
* [[CUE and BIN]]
* [[DDP]] (Disc Description Protocol)
* [[DMG]] (Apple)
* [[GI]] (Sonic Global Image File)
* [[ISOBuster Managed Image]] (IBP/IBQ)
* [[ISO image]] (.iso)
* [[ISZ]]
* [[MDF and MDS]]
* [[NRG]] (Nero Burning ROM)
* [[TOAST]] (Roxio Toast)

===Optical Disc Project Formats===
Disc Burning Software Project files

* [[NRI]] (Nero Burning ROM)
* [[CDL]] (Corel CD Creator)
* [[Easy CD Creator]] (CL2, CL3, CL4)
* [[CL5]] (Roxio EasyCD Creator 5)
* [[RCL]] (Roxio Creator Classic)
* [[ROXIO]] (Roxio Creator Classic/Easy Media Creator)
* [[ROX]] (Roxio Creator NXT)
* [[DMSD]] (Roxio MyDVD)
* [[DISC]] (Roxio TOAST)
* [[DVD Sonic]] (Sonic myDVD .dvd)

==Hard Disk Image Formats==

* [[HDV (disk image)|HDV]]
* [[Raw disk image]] (.img)

==Virtual Machine Disks and Virtualization Image Formats==
* [[OVF (Open Virtualization Format)]]
* [[qcow]] (QEMU)
* [[VDI]] (Virtual Disk Image) (VirtualBox) (.vdi)
* [[VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)]] (Microsoft) (.vhd)
* [[VMDK]] (Virtual Machine Disk) (VMWare) (.vmdk)

==Tape Image Formats==

* [[APT (APF Imagination Machine)|APT]] (APF Imagination Machine emulated tape, logical bits) (.apt)
* [[APW]] (APF Imagination Machine emulated tape, raw audio) (.apw)
* [[CAS (Atari)|CAS]] (Atari; Digital Cassette Image system)
* [[PZX]] (ZX Spectrum)
* [[T64]]
* [[TAP (ZX Spectrum)]]
* [[Tap file]] (contains data from Commodore data cassette)
* [[TZX]] (ZX Spectrum)
* [[Unified Emulator Format]] (UEF; also does Acorn disks and ROMs)
* [[SIMH TAP]] (SIMH emulator's tape file format)

==Unknown==
* [[lbl]] See here for details: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130103032119/http://classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/2012-December/326747.html]

==Tools==
* [[The Sleuth Kit and Autopsy]] can read raw, Expert Witness, and AFF formats
* [http://www.winimage.com/ WinImage] to read, write and create images, also lots of info
* [http://foremost.sourceforge.net/ Foremost: console tool to recover files from disk images]
* [http://disktype.sourceforge.net/ disktype: detect format of disk or disk image]
* [[TrID|TrID File Identifier]]: recognize many disk image formats
* [https://github.com/bitcurator/bca-webtools bca-webtools]
* [https://github.com/eaas-framework/xmount xmount: emulates various disk image formats for use in emulators requiring them]

See also [[Disk Imaging Software & Systems]], and [[Forensics and Law Enforcement]].

== Links ==
* [http://qanda.digipres.org/20/what-are-the-reasons-for-saving-disk-images?show=183 What are the reasons for saving disk images?]
* [http://ils.unc.edu/digccurr/curategear2016-talks/woods-curategear2016.pdf BCA-Webtools: Accessing and Visualizing Disk Images in a Web Browser]

User:Bsdphk

2020-03-27T22:29:16Z

Bsdphk: Created page with "I am a volunteer in Datamuseum.dk, responsible for our digital archive project."

I am a volunteer in Datamuseum.dk, responsible for our digital archive project.

Punched card

2020-03-27T22:27:00Z

Bsdphk:

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=physical
|thiscat=Punched card
|released=1801
}}

'''Punched cards''', or punchcards, were for many years the major method of providing input to computers. Programs in [[FORTRAN]] or [[COBOL]] or [[RPG]] were punched onto decks of cards (one card per program line) on keypunch machines and handed in to be run in batch-processing mode on the computer, which was too massive and expensive to be made available to individuals other than through the mediation of system operators who eventually handed back the output in printed form. Often the function of the programs was to churn through large amounts of data to do number-crunching or other operations on it; this data might also be provided on punchcards (though [[magnetic tape]] and paper [[punched tape]] were also used). Punchcards could also be found in all sorts of other places, including in the cards you sent back with bill payments (which bore the infamous exhortation, "Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate").

While punchcards are most associated with the "big-iron" mainframe computers of the 1950s through 1970s, they have a 200-year history of use for many applications, from the [[Jacquard Loom]] of 1801 to the "hanging chads" of the 2000 US presidential [[Votomatic card|election]]. In between they were proposed for use in Babbage's never-finished Analytic Engine and used by Hollerith for data-tabulation for the 1890 US Census.

It should be possible to read most standard punch cards with a sheet-fed scanner (simplex is sufficient) and a simple black/white sensing program. DataMuseum.dk has such a program, aptly named "florida2k" written in python3.

* [[Aperture card]]
* [[Hollerith card]]
* [[IBM card]] (original 80-column version)
** [[IBM stub card]]
** [[IBM 96-column card]]
* [[Jacquard Loom]]
* [[Korsakov card]]
* [[Mark Sense card]]
* [[UNIVAC 90-column card]]
* [[Votomatic card]] (used in election ballots)

== Resources ==

* [http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/cards/ The Douglas W. Jones Punched Card Page]
* [http://www.quadibloc.com/comp/cardint.htm The Punched Card]: shows details of a number of card formats and character encoding schemes
* [http://www.masswerk.at/google60/ Google60]: Cute web app showing how Google's interface might have been in the 1960s, complete with simulated keypunch
* [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.03/punchcards.html The little secret that haunts corporate America ... A technology that won't go away.]
* [http://what-if.xkcd.com/63/ If all digital data were stored on punch cards, how big would Google's data warehouse be?]