Build-tools pipeline

Build198x

The 198x family's build tools. Convert art and audio, pack data, and master native disk and cartridge images that real hardware boots — deterministic, dependency-light, native output only.

Install the tools Browse the tools GitHub

$ brew install build198x/tap/build198x-adf

$ build198x-adf create game.adf \
    --add game=c/game --startup game
game.adf: created — 880K OFS "Game", 2 files, bootable

$ build198x-adf verify game.adf
game.adf: OK — 880K OFS "Game"

The tools

Everything between authored source and a runnable artifact.

Not assembly (that's Asm198x), not emulation (that's Emu198x) — the conversion, packing, and mastering in between. Every tool emits a native container real hardware and emulators load.

Pipeline CLI

build198x

One tool from authored assets to machine-ready data: convert PNGs to Spectrum SCREEN$, C64 Koala and Art Studio, and Amiga ILBM; render beeper phrases; master bootable disks.

brew install build198x/tap/build198x

Standalone ADF tool

build198x-adf

Master a hunk executable into a bootable Amiga floppy, build arbitrary OFS/FFS volumes, verify a disk’s integrity, and inspect its contents — the ADF half of the pipeline, on its own.

brew install build198x/tap/build198x-adf

ADF library (Rust)

format-commodore-amiga-adf

Read and write Amiga ADF disk images: a panic-free reader, a general volume builder, deterministic byte-stable output. Powers both tools above and stands alone as a crate.

A dependency for your own tools

Install

Install the tools you need.

Install the full build198x pipeline or the standalone build198x-adf tool with Homebrew on macOS (Apple silicon or Intel) and Linux (ARM64 or x86-64). Both also have prebuilt archives, including Windows x86-64. No Rust toolchain is needed.

If you already use Rust, the standalone tool is also available with cargo install build198x-adf.

Pipeline downloads ADF downloads

# the full pipeline
brew install build198x/tap/build198x
build198x --version

# or just the standalone ADF tool
brew install build198x/tap/build198x-adf
build198x-adf --help

Native output

Real formats, never a bespoke one.

Build198x masters to native containers — .prg,.tap, hunk, ADF — and hands off to Asm198x at the program-framing boundary. Nothing here invents a format only these tools understand.

Deterministic

The same inputs make the same bytes.

Output is byte-stable across runs and platforms, so a mastered disk is diffable, cacheable, and reproducible — the same on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

For anyone

Built for the curriculum, useful on its own.

The 198x curriculum is the first consumer, not the boundary. Each tool stands alone as a general utility — install it and build a disk without the rest of the family.