Sinclair MDV Builder

A Windows desktop tool to create, inspect, edit, and extract files from Sinclair QL Microdrive images (.MDV). It is a PC-side companion for authoring cartridge images — including ones for the MicroPicoDrive hardware replacement for the QL Microdrive.

Built with C# (.NET 8) + WPF and the WPF-UI Fluent design library, over a GUI-free format engine (MdvCore).

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Screenshots

Home	Browsing a cartridge

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Features

• Create cartridges
  • New empty cartridge (174,930-byte MDV image)
  • New cartridge from loose files
  • New cartridge from a ZIP archive
• Open / Save / Eject
  • Open and save .MDV images (Save / Save As)
  • Eject the current cartridge (with an unsaved-changes guard)
• Inspect
  • Directory listing with file type, length, block count
  • File detail panel: name, type, length, data-space, file number, blocks, CRC-32, and the decoded QL file header (collapsible)
  • Hex / text viewer with search (per-file, opens on double-click, Enter, or Inspect)
  • Sector map: colour-coded used / free / damaged / map sectors, with hover info and per-file highlighting
  • Media info: format, medium name/id, capacity, used/free/damaged counts, file count
• File operations
  • Import file(s) — multi-select; packs in as many as fit, warns about any left out
  • Import from ZIP (and the matching Export to ZIP)
  • Extract a file, or Extract All to a folder
  • Duplicate, Rename, Delete, and Set Exec (toggle executable, prompting for data space)
• QL-aware ZIP — export/import preserve QL file type and data-space via the QDOS 0xFB4A extra field (compatible with the qlzip convention); ordinary ZIPs import as data files
• Sector allocation strategy — Sequential (default, contiguous from the start), Spaced, or Random; selectable in Settings
• Quality-of-life — drag-and-drop (drop files to import, drop an .mdv to open), keyboard shortcuts, light/dark theme, unsaved-changes indicator in the title bar

Note: generated images round-trip through this tool's own loader and test suite, but have not yet been validated on stock QL ROM / an emulator. The DMP and MPD formats, and over-the-air transfer, are not implemented yet.

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Usage

Requirements

• To run: the .NET 8 Desktop Runtime (Windows 11 does not include it by default).
• To build: the .NET 8 SDK.

Run from source

dotnet run --project MdvApp

Build and test

dotnet build                       # build the whole solution
dotnet test                        # run the MdvCore unit tests

Publish a release

Framework-dependent single file (small; needs the .NET 8 Desktop Runtime installed):

dotnet publish MdvApp -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained false -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:DebugType=none

Self-contained single file (large; runs with nothing pre-installed):

dotnet publish MdvApp -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:DebugType=none

The published MdvApp.exe is written under MdvApp/bin/Release/net8.0-windows/win-x64/publish/.

Quick start

1. From Home, choose New Empty Cartridge, New Cartridge From Files/ZIP, or Open cartridge… (you can also drag an .mdv onto the window).
2. On the Cartridge page, use the toolbar to Import File(s) / Import From ZIP / Save / Save As / Export to ZIP / Extract All, or drag files onto the list to import them.
3. Select a file to see its details; double-click (or Enter / Inspect) to view its contents; use Rename / Duplicate / Extract / Set Exec / Delete in the detail panel.
4. Sector Map and Media Info show the layout and properties of the open cartridge.

You can also open an image directly by passing its path on the command line (mdv-builder.exe path\to\image.mdv) or by associating .mdv files with the app.

Shortcuts: Ctrl+O open · Ctrl+N new · Ctrl+S save · Ctrl+Shift+S save as · Enter inspect · F2 rename · Delete remove.

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Licensing & copyright

Copyright © 2026 Arley Silveira. Released under the MIT License — see LICENSE.

This project bundles or builds upon the following third-party components, used under their respective licenses:

Component	License	Copyright
WPF-UI	MIT	© lepo.co (lepoco)
SharpZipLib	MIT	© ICSharpCode
Fluent System Icons (via WPF-UI)	MIT	© Microsoft Corporation
.NET / WPF	MIT	© Microsoft Corporation

The MDV/DMP/MPD on-disk format and the QL-aware ZIP convention were learned from gusmanb/micropicodrive; the format engine in this project is an independent re-implementation.

If you intend to distribute binaries, include the MIT license notices for the components above (e.g. a THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES file) and confirm any attribution requirements of the reference project.