Atari Extensions...PB?

[chessplayerjames]

Hello again everybody.

 

I pondered whether I should open a new thread or not, but I couldn't really find this anywhere on the internet...

 

Does anybody know what the .pb extension is or how to load it? I have a floppy disk with demo1.pb, demo2.pb, etc., but at boot time there is nothing that boots, and if I load DOS and try to LOAD "D:DEMO1.PB" it doesn't do anything (Error 21). How can one load these files?

 

Thanks for any and all help,

James

[+Stephen]

I believe error 21 means that you are trying to load a binary file from BASIC. I would go to DOS, and use the "L" command, or if using a real DOS with a command line, simply type "demo.pb".

[chessplayerjames]

Thank you for your reply. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but if I put L for "Load Binary File", I input the name of the file, it looks like it does do some loading, but it never does anything. What should I do then? Unfortunately, I can't find any DOS with a command line...

[+Stephen]

Can you perhaps post the disk (ATR) here? It's possible that these may be files that are needed by some other program. ".pb" is not a standard file extension - I don't recall ever seeing it on the Atari.

[chessplayerjames]

Unfortunately, I still have no way of allowing the Atari (or disk drive) to communicate with the computer in any way Thanks anyway for your help.

[Roydea6]

C

DEMO.PG,E:

 

This will view the file with the E: editor and maybe recognizable, as text, or graphics..

[chessplayerjames]

Thank you for your reply. I did try, (presumably in DOS) and I did C and then DEMO1.PB,E: and I got a bunch of gibberish characters, but nothing really interesting. I have the impression that it's a graphic or something, but I have no clue on how to open it.

[+CharlieChaplin]

Afair,

 

the PCS (Pinball Construction Set) used *.pb as an extension for the PinBalls that are on the original diskette. If someone created his own pinballs and saved them on a separate disk, he might have used that pb extension also. You can boot the PCS and try to load these files, if loading works, you can also save these files as pure binary files (COM/EXE/XEX). Not that PCS pinballs would be very interesting or hard to find (there are more than 100 in the wild), but maybe worth a try...

 

If loading of these .pb files does not work with PCS then they might be of another type, I do not know atm. A screenshot of the "gibberish characters" may also help us identifying what it could be...

Edited March 9, 2017 by CharlieChaplin

[chessplayerjames]

Interesting, I do have a disk that says "Pinball Construction Set" on it. I attempted to load it (I think it needs a translator) but I was unsuccessful. I did look at the contents/files on the disk, and they were indeed the same as the other disk I was mentioning. It must have something to do with the Pinball. Thanks.

[+CharlieChaplin]

The PCS normally works fine on the XL/XE and does not require a translator disk. Hold down the Option key while booting to disable Basic (and if it is an original + copy-protected disk, you may have to slow down any floppy-enhancements, like Happy, Speedy, etc.).