atrforge Documentation

Welcome to the comprehensive documentation for atrforge - your friendly neighborhood Atari ATR disk image toolkit. Yes, we know it's 2026 and you're still using 8-bit disk images. We're not judging. In fact, we think it's pretty cool.

What is atrforge?

atrforge is a collection of command-line tools for creating, manipulating, extracting, and converting Atari ATR disk images. Whether you're preserving vintage software, developing new Atari 8-bit programs, or just curious about how these old disk formats work, atrforge has you covered.

The toolkit consists of four main tools:

• atrforge - Create ATR images from files (the star of the show)
• lsatr - List and extract contents from ATR images (the nosy neighbor)
• convertatr - Convert and resize ATR images (the shape-shifter)
• atrcp - Copy files in and out of ATR images (the file courier)

Quick Start

If you're the impatient type (we get it), here's the 30-second version:

# Create a disk image
atrforge mydisk.atr file1.com file2.bas

# See what's inside
lsatr mydisk.atr

# Extract everything
lsatr -X output/ mydisk.atr

That's it. You're now an atrforge user. Congratulations! For the full story, keep reading.

Documentation Index

Getting Started

• Installation Guide - How to build and install atrforge (it's easier than you think)
• Examples - Real-world usage examples that actually make sense

Tool Documentation

• atrforge - Creating ATR images from scratch (or adding to existing ones)
• lsatr - Listing and extracting files from ATR images
• convertatr - Converting and resizing ATR images
• atrcp - Copying individual files to and from ATR images

Technical Reference

• ATR Format - The gory details of the ATR file format
• DOS Formats - Supported filesystems and what they can do
• File Attributes - Making files hidden, protected, or archived
• Boot Files - Creating bootable disk images (the fun stuff)
• UTF8 Conversion - Converting between UTF8 and ATASCII (because modern editors are picky)

Advanced Topics

• Advanced Usage - For when you want to get fancy
• Troubleshooting - When things go wrong (and how to fix them)

Project Information

• Changelog - History of changes, features, and fixes
• Attributions - Credits and acknowledgments

Tool Summary

atrforge

Creates ATR disk images in SpartaDOS/BW-DOS format. You give it files, it gives you a disk image. Simple as that.

Best for: Creating new disk images, making bootable disks, organizing files into disk images

lsatr

Lists and extracts files from ATR images. It's like ls and tar had a baby, but for 8-bit disk images.

Best for: Inspecting disk contents, extracting files, verifying disk images

convertatr

Converts between different ATR formats and sizes. Need a bigger disk? Different sector size? This is your tool.

Best for: Resizing disks, converting sector sizes, batch conversions

atrcp

Copies individual files between ATR images and your host filesystem. Think cp, but for files inside disk images.

Best for: Quick file operations, updating single files, UTF8/ATASCII conversion on the fly

Getting Help

Each tool has built-in help. Just run it with -h:

atrforge -h
lsatr -h
convertatr -h
atrcp -h

For version information, use -v:

atrforge -v

What's Next?

• New to atrforge? Start with the Installation Guide and then check out Examples
• Want to create a disk image? Read atrforge documentation
• Need to extract files? See lsatr documentation
• Working with boot files? Check out Boot Files
• Having problems? Try Troubleshooting

License

atrforge is free software released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). See the main LICENSE file in the project root for details.

Contributing

Found a bug? Have a suggestion? Want to contribute? Check out the main project repository. We're always happy to see improvements (especially if they come with documentation).

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Last updated: 2026. Because we keep track of these things.