ABC80, Saving and loading programs using soundcard

As a cheap and quick way to get going, using an ABC80 (by Swedish Luxor), you can use a pc with a soundcard to save and load programs, like you normally would do using a tape station.

1 Cable

You need a cable with a 3.5mm audio, stereo plug in one end, and a 5 pin DIN in the other end. The cable should be wired like shown in the image:

 

 

Cable should be connected like this 

2 Audacity

I use Audacity as audio software on the PC. I'm sure there are plenty of other programs that are usable.

Set up audacity like in the images:

• Mono sound
• Set inputs and outputs so you hear output in a pair of headphones, and inputs so a mic gets picked up by the soundcard
• Max levels on record and playback

 3 Save

1. Enter a program in the ABC80. For example
   10 print "Hello world!"
2. Insert 3.5mm audio plug into mic jack and DIN-connector in ABC80
   
3. Start recording in audacity
4. In the ABC80, enter:
   save cas
   
5. Watch the waveform get recorded. 
6. When the waveform ends, stop recording. 
7. Delete the whitespace before and after the waveform.
8. Save as .WAV-file.

 

Saving waveform in Audacity

4 Load

1. Load wave file in audacity
2. Insert 3.5 mm audio plug into headphone jack on PC and DIN-connector in ABC80.
3. On ABC80, enter load cas
4. Start playback in Audacity
   
5. When the program has finished loading, ABC80 will give a new prompt or an error message
6. list or run the program
   

 

Loading program from audio file in Audacity

Good Luck!