A new program has been uploaded to the google code repository that converts a bitmap file to a Peggy2 program. No programming necessary!

http://code.google.com/p/peggy/downloads/list

Mickey,
Neat idea! Any way to pull out the DOS-dependent library ( conio.h ) to make it gcc compatible?

Absolutely. Just remove the include and the one call to _getch(). I only added it so that if Windows users double-click on the app, it displays the quick ref and waits for a keystroke instead of flashing a command window and disappearing.

Okay-- I got it to compile and execute, but there seems to be some additional platform dependence here. Trying it with the syntax in the readme, I get the error "Incorrect Format, File: Einstein.bmp"

Removing that check traps at "Unsupported Format," so it looks like there are deeper issues.

Hmm. Could be integer sizes or structure alignment. I thought that #pragma pack(2) was gcc compatible. I will find a Linux VM and see what I can do. It works in Windows, but I should have known the Arduino crowd were Linux fans!

Windell,
I got it to run just fine. This is what I did:
* Downloaded a Linux ISO and installed a VM
* Removed the include of <conio.h> and the _getch(); line from bmp2peg.c
* Uploaded bmp2peg.c, bmp.h and einstein.bmp to the VM
* Typed "gcc bmp2peg.c -o bmp2peg"
* Typed "bmp2peg einstein.bmp"
* And, presto - the program worked and displayed the Peggy program.

This was the first time I have used Linux, but the process seemed pretty straightforward. Please let me know if you are still having trouble getting it to run.

-Mark

Hmmm... Maybe I'll have to try this on Linux, then...

Oh, are you on a Mac? Maybe the OS added a Mac resource fork to the file that my program is not expecting. Can you send me the exact file as it is on your machine so I can code around the issue (if indeed that is the issue)?

Yes, able to run this fine on Linux.

I was actually able to compile and run it on a Mac. I uploaded an updated version that has instructions for Linux and Mac users. It also includes a Mac executable. It was compiled on OS X 10.4/Tiger, but I think it should run on all OS X Macs.

By the way, thanks for mentioning me and bmp2peg in your blog!

I am not sure if this has anything to do with what your talking about but i am on a PC and i cant get this to work to save my life! i have the .bmp ready an everything and i type in the code like you put in your example but i put in the name of my file and it says there is a syntax error. any ideas? I have tried everything i can think of. I am new to Command Prompt so any help would be great.

Chris, Can you post the exact command line you are typing and the exact error you are getting?