#! rnews 30246 Path: pravda.aa.msen.com!conch.aa.msen.com!not-for-mail From: brain@mail.msen.com (Jim Brain) Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm Subject: COMP.SYS.CBM: General FAQ, v3.1 Part 7/9 Supersedes: Followup-To: comp.sys.cbm Date: 13 Aug 1996 01:01:37 -0400 Organization: Brain Innovations, Inc. Lines: 719 Sender: brain@msen.com Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Expires: 05 Sep 1996 Message-ID: Reply-To: brain@mail.msen.com NNTP-Posting-Host: conch.aa.msen.com Summary: This posting contains answers to questions that commonly surface in comp.sys.cbm. This posting will tell you enough to get your computer connected to a network, fixed, and/or enhanced. This file should be read by new users of comp.sys.cbm before posting to the group. It should also be proofread by users who are currently active in comp.sys.cbm. Keywords: CBM FAQ Help List C64 C128 VIC Modem X-URL: http://www.msen.com/~brain/ X-Posted-By: YPost, version 0.08 Archive-name: cbm-main-faq.3.1.p7 Comp-answers-archive-name: commodore/main-faq/part7 News-answers-archive-name: commodore/main-faq/part7 Comp-sys-cbm-archive-name: main-faq/part7 Version: 3.1 Last-modified: 1996/08/12 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents (for this file) --------------------------------- 10. Emulators 10.1. What is an emulator? 10.2. What platforms do 64 emulators exist on? 10.3. What platforms do 128 emulators exist on? 10.4. Are any other Commodore computers emulated? 11. Troubleshooting 11.1. What do I do for my ill disk drive? 11.2. What do I do for my ill computer? 11.2.1. What do I do for my ill Commodore 64? 11.2.2. What do I do for my ill Commodore 128? 11.3. What do I do for my ill keyboard? 12. Modifications and Cabling 12.1. How can you alter which side a 1571 reads from? 12.2. How do I open a C128 power supply? 12.3. How do I make a cable to hook my CBM 1902A to my 64 or 128? 12.4. How do I build a simple RS-232 interface cable? 12.5. How do I build a 2400/9600 bps RS-232 interface cable? 12.6. How can I determine how much VDC video memory is in my C128? 12.7. How do I build a GEOCable interface? + 12.8. How do I connect my Commodore printer to an IBM PC? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10. Emulators As time moves on, people move to other computer systems, for business resons or otherwise. However, many still long to play Commodore games, use Commodore software, and enjoy Commodore demos. Thus, emulators were born to bring the non-Commodore computer owner the enjoyment of owning a Commodore. 10.1. What is an emulator? An emulator is a piece of software that runs on a given platform and emulates, or mimics, the operation of another machine. When the emulator loads up a program, the programs runs as though it were running on the emulated platform. | For more information on emulators and their use, please see The Commodore | emulator FAQ, maintained by Ken Gifford (tsrken@voicenet.com). It | can also be found on Jim Brain's MAILSERV server (See Section 6.5.2 for more | information). For those with WWW browsers, the CBM Emulation FAQ is at: | http://www.hut.fi/~msmakela/cbm/faq/ 10.2. What platforms do 64 emulators exist on? 64 emulators exist on the following machines: Amiga IBM Atari ST Macintosh UNIX 10.3. What platforms do 128 emulators exist on? There is a very basic Commodore 128 emulator bundled available for the UNIX platform under X. It is bundled with X64. 10.4. Are any other Commodore computers emulated? There is a commodore product called the PET emulator that remaps a Commodore 64 to emulate a PET 40 column unit (i.e. PET 4032). You can run this program on a C64 to emulate a PET, or you can run this program | on a 64 emulator to emulate a PET on an IBM, for example. + As for VIC-20 emulators, one exists for the Amiga, and there is a program + similar to the PET Emulator that allows a C64 to emulate a VIC-20. For the + UNIX OS, one called VICE is available for machines with X Windows. Contact + Andre Fachat (a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de) for more information. The + emulator is at: http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/~fachat/ Although not necessarily a different Commodore computer, there is a GEOS emulator in the works. It is called GEOS Warp v1.0 and information is available at http://stud1.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426444/geoswarp/index.html. A version for the Apple PowerMac is in the alpha stage, and support for a PC version. Plans for a UNIX/X11 version are still unclear. The author is Andreas Varga, and can be contacted at e9426444@stud1.tuwien.ac.at. 11. Troubleshooting 11.1. What do I do for my ill disk drive? If the drive spins and the LEDs are off: At the back of the 1541 circuit board are two bridge rectifiers - stout epoxy packages with 4 leads each. The innermost one is defective If both LEDs are dim: The 5VDC regulator is bad. If both LEDS are on: Drive did not make it through the power-on reset sequence. Kernal ROM (901229-05) is susepct, as is (in order of expectation): VIA (6522), CPU (6502), RAM (6116 or equivalent), or a "glue" chip in the reset logic If your drive won't even accept input from the computer, and the drive light is making some blinking pattern, then the drive may be telling you what is wrong. No Blink Kernal (E000-FFFF) ROM or 6522 VIA Failure One Blink 6116 RAM Failure Two Blinks Possible Zero Page RAM Failure Three Blinks DOS (C000-CFFF) ROM Failure Four Blinks DOS (C000-CFFF) ROM Failure Five Blinks 6116 RAM Failure Six Blinks 6116 RAM Failure | Six Blinks 2114 RAM Failure at c4 or c5 (8050) Seven Blinks 6116 RAM Failure Eight Blinks 6116 RAM Failure 1541 The most common problem facing the 1541 disk drive is alignment. If your 1541 has trouble reading commercial disks, or reading disks written some time ago, but has less trouble reading recently written disks, chances are that your 1541 is out of alignment. C= service centers will typically align a 1541 for anywhere from $20 to $45. There are also 1541 alignment programs, (e.g. Free Spirit's "1541/71 Alignment System") which allow you to align a 1541 yourself. There are those who claim that this does not produce good results, but there are others who claim to have had satisfactory results with these programs. There were a couple of articles in COMPUTE Gazette and I think RUN on how to do this. The real problem is mechanical in nature and can be over come. Other products are PHYSICAL EXAM 1541 and 1571 versions. 1571 The C=1571 drive is normally a double sided drive. However, it can also emulate a 1541 and read single sided disks. Some of the earlier 1571's had older system chips (ROMs) which caused a couple of problems. One, these older drives were typically very slow when writing to the back side of a disk. Two, it would take these drives ~30 seconds to go into single sided mode. To check your ROM version, read the error channel of the disk drive right after startup. On the 128, just PRINT DS$. On the 64, use: 10 open15,8,15:input#15,a,a$,b,c:close15:printa,a$,b,c | Run the program; if the message says v3.1, you have the newer ROM. | If it has a version 3.0 or older, you have the older ROM. One problem that might occur is not having the head close enough to the disk as required because of the light tension of the spring that pulls the head down. Somewhere I remember that there was supposed to be a replacement part. However, one of the alignment programs suggesting using pennies to weight it down and lo and behold it started working. 1581 The C=1581 drive is a 3.5" drive that uses DSDD 800K disks. It is compatible with both the C64 and C128, although some programs will not work correctly with the 1581. A small number of 1581's were shipped with an early version of a controller chip which has problems with some software. 11.2. What do I do for my ill computer? At times, every computer must be serviced. As the parts supply of Commodore equipment dwindles, servicing becomes harder. However, there are many sources in Section 16.2 that can service your Commodore machine, and here are some things you can do to service it yourself. If the screen is garbled, but BASIC seems to be limping along, and any command is met by an error, RAM could be bad. You can look at bit patterns on the screen by determining screen codes for garbage characters. only bit 4 (32) should be on. After you determine which bits, here is the bit->IC mapping: Bit 7 (128) : U12 Bit 6 (64) : U24 Bit 5 (32) : U11 Bit 4 (16) : U23 Bit 3 (8) : U10 Bit 2 (4) : U22 Bit 1 (2) : U9 Bit 0 (1) : U21 A common problem with the C-64 is it's power supply. The C64 power supplies are not especially powerful, and have this disturbing tendency to fail. If your computer stops working, first check the power supply. Replacement power supplies can be obtained from a number of mail order places (e.g. Tenex, Parsec, Inc.). Additionally, several places advertise "heavy-duty" power supplies that come with warranties, and give the C64 enough power to run a REU. If your power supply goes, it can sometimes take other parts of the computer with it. If your power supply has died, but the C64 continues to fail with a known working power supply, it is likely that a few of your chips got fried. Also, another common problem with the C64 is the fuse inside the computer. If the system power on light comes on, but you get a blank screen, suspect the fuse. It is usually blown by misinsertion of devices into the computer. 11.2.2. What do I do for my ill Commodore 128? Like the 1571, the C-128 has an older ROM and a newer ROM. The differences between the two are less serious than is the case with a 1571. The easiest way to tell the difference is to click down the CAPS LOCK key and hit Q while in BASIC direct mode. If you see a lower case q, then you have an older ROM. If you see an upper case Q, then you have a newer ROM. New ROMs | can be ordered from (e.g. Paxtron Corporation) for about $25. The ROM | chips in the 128 are all socketed, so replacing the chips is relatively | easy. 11.3. What do I do for my ill keyboard? Clean it: Materials you will need: Denatured (rubbing) alcohol, a clean pencil eraser, cotton swabs, a small Phillips head screwdriver, a jewellers size Phillips screwdriver, a solder iron of some type, and a Commodore 64 computer keyboard. Procedure: 1. FIRST AND FOREMOST. Make certain that you have discharged any static electricity in your body by grounding yourself to something like a cold water pipe. Otherwise, you could blow chips in your computer if you were to touch the wrong things. 2. Turn off your computer and unplug any and all cords and connectors, fast-loaders, modems, etc. (just have yourself a naked (if you will excuse the expression) computer). 3. Thoroughly clean all external connectors and ports with the swabs and alcohol. Also, clean all plugs that go into those ports. If the problem you had persists, proceed with the following: 4. On a clean surface, turn your key-board upside-down. Remove the screws in the bottom. 5. CAREFULLY, separate the two halves about an inch. Unplug the connector to the "power" LED on the top of the C-64. 6. Place the two halves flat so that the keyboard is facing you. The two halves will be connected by a wire harness. This harness may be held down by tape that must be removed in order to place the unit flat. 7. Remove the 15 or so brass screws that hold the circuit board under the keyboard. 7a.Unsolder the wires going to the shift-lock key. 8. Turn the circuit board over. You will see the bottom of the keyboard with a rubber "U" under each key, which makes contact with the board. You will also see on the circuit board, a pair of gold contacts for each key on the C-64. 9. CAREFULLY wash ALL the rubber "U"'s and the gold contacts with the swabs and rubbing alcohol. Allow the alcohol to DRY. 10.Gently, clean each gold contact with the eraser. BRUSH AWAY THE ERASER CRUMBS (I use a small hand-held, battery-powered vacuum cleaner). 11.Re-clean the gold contacts with the swabs and alcohol to ensure that you have removed ALL traces of the eraser. 12.Reassemble the C-64 in the reverse order of disassembly. 12. Modifications and Cabling As time wears on, many Commodore owners are turning to themselves to manufacture small interfaces, modify their systems, and perform other enhancements. Here are some common things the user can construct himself or herself. 12.1. How can you alter which side a 1571 reads from? On a 128, you can force the 1571 to go into single sided mode with the drive command "u0>m0". (Issue such a command with open15,8,15,"u0>m0":close15.) On the 64, a 1571 defaults to single sided mode, but you can convert it to double sided mode (and read full double sided disk in 64 mode) with the drive command "u0>m1". While in single sided mode, you can actually format both sides of the disk as separate file systems. The command "u0>h0" selects the regular side of the disk, and "u0>h1" selects the flip side of the disk. Note that the flip side, when formatted this way, cannot be read by a 1541; neither side will be readable by a 1571 when the disk is inserted upside-down. 12.2. How do I open a C128 power supply? First, unplug both leads running from the power supply and turn it upside down. Locate four (4) small circles in the bottom; two are in the corners and two in the other end a bit nearer each other. Find some sharp tool, e.g. pin or nail. In turn, poke it inside each of the cirles, firmly, and pull the caps off gently. They'll come out easily. Breaking the caps should not matter, but there is no need to destroy the casing in process. Unsrew the 4 Phillips headed srews with an appropriate tool. Notes: This does not apply to the C64 brick! Some 128 power supplies do not have rubber feet; rather, they have "L"- shaped extensions on the casing. The caps on these extensions are not made of rubber, but can be removed. 12.3. How do I make a cable to hook my CBM 1902A to my 64 or 128? Here is the diagram used to make a replacement Chroma / Luminence 40 column cable, that the 1902A uses, to connect to the 64 or 128. _______ ________ / 3 \ 1. Not Used / 2 \ *1. Luminance / 2 4 \ *2. Audio / 4 5 \ *2. Ground ! ! *3. Ground ! ! *3. Audio out ! 6 ! *4. Chroma ! 1 6 3 ! 4. Video out ! ! 5. Not Used ! ! 5. Audio in \ 1 5 / *6. Luminance \ 7 8 / *6. Chroma \____n____/ \____n____/ 7. Not used 8. Not used 1902A 64/128 * Actually used 12.4. How do I build a simple RS-232 interface cable? Here are a couple of different interface ideas, and another can be found at ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/CBM/documents/rs232.txt Using MAX-232 IC: Userport C64 C64 RS232 _________ | | PA2 M-----------11-| |-14------------------- TXD (2) PB1 D-----------10-| |--7------------------- RTS (4) PB6 K-----------12-| MAX 232 |-13------------------- CTS (5) FLAG2 B---X--------9-| |--8------------------- RXD (3) PB0 C---| | |--3--|+-| VCC 2-----------16-| |--1-----| DB25-connector GND N------X----15-| | X--|+-2-| |--5--|+-| X--+|-6-|_________|--4-----| | |---------------------------------------- GND (7) -|+- capacitor 22uF/16V - + Using Transistors: RS-232 interface <24 pin edge connector> N <-----------------------+-----------+ / ! 22k !-!>+ ! M <----/\/\/--------! ! !---+ ! 1k \ ! 2 <----/\/\/--------------+------------>-------------------> 2 ! +-----------------+ \ + 8 +---! / H <-----------------+ E <--------------------------------------------------------> 20 C <---+ ! B <---+-------------+ \ +---! 22k !---------------/\/\/------------> 3 + 7 ! +-----> 4 ! +-----> 1 If you are having problems with this circuit as it stands, you may wish to modify it in this way to reverse the clock signal: Disconnect the emitter and collector on the middle transistor of the diagram (the one that goes to the H line on the computer side) Connect the collector to pin 2 on the 24 pin edge connector (the 5v Vcc line), connect the emitter to pin H on the same connector, then connect a 1k ohm resistor to the same pin H and the other end of the resistor to pin N or A. 12.5. How do I build a 2400/9600 bps RS-232 interface cable? A new programming technique makes it possible to acheive 9600 bps on an unexpected Commodore 64 without the use of a Swiftlink cartridge. Daniel Dallmann of Germany is the originator of this technique and is currently writing modem drivers for some of the popular C64 terminal emulation programs to take advantage of this new technique. The interface described below is a little more complex than the one in Section 12.4, but has many advantages: * The interface generates proper EIA232 (RS-232) voltage levels. The one in Section 12.4 relies on the ability of most newer RS232 equipment to handle lower voltages. * The following interface can be used as a direct replacement for the | interface in Section 12.4, and will work will all most telecommunications programs at up to 2400 bps, while providing the necessary interfacing to allow suitably equipped applications to | operate at up to 9600 bps. (Some programs needing DCD and DTR lines | may have problems.) * if you currently own a normal RS232 interface, that interface can be modified to incorporate the new interfacing for 9600 bps operation. (in some cases one line of the old interface has to be disconnected, see note **1 ) 9600 bps is the maximum limit this type of technique due to the timing limitations of the C64. The delay between the activation of the NMI-handler and the falling edge of rxd is too long. The handler must be called in less than 100 cycles. That's no problem at 9600 bps, but for 19200 baud (the next higher baud rate), you have only 50 cycles, and that's impossoble (because of VIC-DMA ). On a C128 in fast mode 38400 baud may be possible, but I don't have a C128, so someone else has to try it out. Schematic of a very simple RS232-Interface: userport MAX232 rs232 9pin 25pin +----------+ ! ! (C) pb0--+ ! ! ! ! /! ! (B) flag2--*--------------------O< !--------- rxd 2 3 ! 9! \! !8 *7* sp2--+ ! ! ! ! *6* cnt2--+ ! ! ! ! ! *L* pb7--+ ! ! ! !\ ! (M) pa2--*--------------------! >O--------- txd 3 2 ! 11! !/ !14 *5* sp1--+ ! ! 74ls00 ! ! +-----+ ! ! ! ! ! !\ ! (D) pb1-*------>O-------------! >O--------- rts 7 4 ! 1! !3 10! !/ !7 +----! ! ! ! 2! ! ! /! ! (K) pb6--------O<-----*-------O< !--------- cts 8 5 6! !4 ! 12! \! !13 ! !--+ ! ! (1) gnd------! !5 ! !--- gnd 5 7 7! ! ! !15 (2) +5V------! ! ! ! (dsr 6 6) 14+-----+ ! ! ! ! (dcd 1 8) ! ! ! ! (dtr 4 20) c2 ! !+ ! ! | (2) +5v------------! !-----! ! (ri 9 22) ! ! 2! ! ! ! c4 +! ! ! ! (1) gnd------------! !-----! ! ! ! 6! ! ! ! c1 ! !+ ! ! +-! !-----! ! ! ! ! 1! ! ! ! ! +---------! ! 3! ! c3 ! !+ ! ! +-! !-----! ! ! ! ! 4! ! ! ! ! +---------! ! 5! ! ! ! (1) gnd--------------------! ! 15! ! ! ! (2) +5V--------------------! ! 16+----------+ (x) - connections required for a normal RS232-Interface. *x* - additional connections to go up to 9600 baud. | remark: The MAX232 needs 4 capacitors to generate +/- 10 volts to | drive the RS-232 unit. The values are as such: (in uF) | IC C1 C2 C3 C4 | ------- --- --- --- --- | MAX232 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 | MAX232A 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 | MAX232E 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 notes : **1 Some other interfaces use this pin. In that case you have to cut the connection and change it to new way. PB7 is normally used to receive the DSR (Data Set Ready) signal from the modem, but this signal isn't supported by all terminal programs. Because of the new wiring DSR will seem to be active to all 'old' programs, so that there won't be any troubles. Top view of the used ICs: 74 LS 00 MAX232 +------+ +------+ inA -!1 \/14!- vcc +cap1 -!1 \/16!- Vcc inA -! !- inC +cap2 -! !- GND outA -! !- inC -cap1 -! !- RS232/txd inB -! !- outC +cap3 -! !- RS232/cts inB -! !- inD -cap3 -! !- TTL/^cts outB -! !- inD -cap4 -! !- TTL/txd gnd -!7 8!- outD RS232/rts -! !- TTL/^rts +------+ RS232/rxd -!8 9!- TTL/rxd +------+ 4 X NAND 2 X RS232 transmitter 2 X RS232 receiver user port (view on C64s backside) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 (top) ------------------------------------ A B C D E F H J K L M N (bottom) 1 - GND A - GND 2 - +5V B - ^flag2 3 - ^reset C - pb0 4 - cnt1 D - pb1 5 - sp1 E - pb2 6 - cnt2 F - pb3 7 - sp2 H - pb4 8 - ^pc2 J - pb5 9 - atn in K - pb6 10- 9V AC L - pb7 11- 9V AC M - pa2 12- GND N - GND 12.6. How can I determine how much VDC video memory is in my C128? Here are two ways to detect whether the C128 VDC chip has 16kB or 64kB of RAM. 1 rem fred's nifty program to determine size of 8563 dram 5 w=dec("cdcc"):r=dec("cdda") 10 bank15: ad=dec("d600"): da=ad+1 :rem setup ml 20 pokead,28: s=peek(da): pokeda,63 :rem select 64k 30 i=16896: sysw,i/256,18:sysw,iand255,19:sysw,85,31 :rem write $55 40 i=16896: sysw,i/256,18:sysw,iand255,19:sysr,,31:rregc1 :rem read here 50 i=17152: sysw,i/256,18:sysw,iand255,19:sysr,,31:rregc2 :rem and here 60 i=16896: sysw,i/256,18:sysw,iand255,19:sysw,170,31 :rem write $aa 70 i=16896: sysw,i/256,18:sysw,iand255,19:sysr,,31:rregc3 :rem read here 80 i=17152: sysw,i/256,18:sysw,iand255,19:sysr,,31:rregc4 :rem and here 90 pokead,28: pokeda,s:sysdec("ff62") :rem restore 16/64k 95 print chr$(14)chr$(147) 100 if c1=c2 and c3=c4 then print "16K": else print"64K" :rem did it echo? 110 end or: POKE DEC("D600"),28:POKE DEC("D601"),63:SYS DEC("FF62"):SCNCLR If you have 16k the screen will fill with zeros; 64k will give you a ready prompt. 12.7. How can I convert my C64 to run on battery power? The July, 1990 issue of 73 Amateur Radio has an article on converting the C64 and 1541 to run on DC power. I'll summarize the C64 portion: DC Power Conversion for the C64 1. Locate component CR4 on the circuit board. Mark the positive hole on the board. Desolder and remove the component. 2. Rest :-) 3. Connect the marked hole to +12V. 4. Desolder and remove VR1. Looking down at the component side of the board, connect a wire from the vacant right hand hole and run it to +12V. 5. Locate L5. It will probably be in one of two locations. On the older version, desolder the right hand leg and lift. On the newer version, desolder the top leg and lift. 6. Connect +5V to the empty L5 hole. 7. Locate the R37 and R100 pads. Use a continuity meter to find the pads that are connected. Desolder and lift these legs. You will insert a 60 Hz clock here. 8. You could generate this clock using a variety of methods. Here's one: +12V __________________________| | | | C1 R1 ______|_______ |-)|-+-/\/\/-+-----|6 8 | | | \ | | | XTAL1 / R2 | MM5369 | | | \ | | |-)|-+-------+-----|5 1|---> 60 Hz (to R37 pad) C2 | 2 | --------------- | GND C1 = 30 pF C2 = 3-15 pF (variable) XTAL1 = 3.57 MHz crystal R1 = 1k R2 = 10M It is suggested that you use a short length of shielded coax cable to connect the 60 Hz output to the R37/R100 pad. Also, it is suggested that you use a frequency counter to tune the above circuit to exactly 60 Hz. This conversion would work well if you wanted to use the C64 in a car or powered by a solar set-up. 12.7. How do I build a GEOCable interface? The interface is simply a cable between the printer and the user port. The pinout is as follows: pin on 64 pin on printer a Ground 33 Grond b Flag 2 11 Busy c PB0 2 Data 1 d PB1 3 Data 2 e PB2 4 Data 3 f PB3 5 Data 4 h PB4 6 Data 5 j PB5 7 Data 6 k PB6 8 Data 7 l PB7 9 Data 8 m PA2 1 Strobe n Ground 16 Ground Superscript uses the same cable, but has the following change: b Flag 2 10 Acknowledge Either wiring will work with either program, but the GEOCable wiring is preferred. + 12.8. How do I connect my Commodore printer to an IBM PC? + Look for the plans for the interface at: + http://www.coast.net/simtel/msdos/info/c64topc.zip -- Jim Brain, Embedded System Designer, Brain Innovations, Inc. (BII)(offline sig) j.brain@ieee.org "Above views DO reflect my employer, since I'm my employer" Dabbling in WWW, Embedded Systems, VR, Old CBM computers, and Good Times! -Me- Jim Brain: BII, VR, and CBM info #! rnews 808 Path: pravda.aa.msen.com!spool.mu.edu!news.sgi.com!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu! howland.erols.net!newsxfer2.itd.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!umcc.umich.edu! umcc. umcc.umich.edu!clay From: clay@umcc.umcc.umich.edu (PakRhat) Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm Subject: Re: PC <==> C64 Date: 12 Aug 1996 23:21:15 -0400 Organization: University of Michigan Computing Club (UMCC) Lines: 10 Message-ID: References: <4unq93$2ug@epimetheus.algonet.se> NNTP-Posting-Host: umcc.umcc.umich.edu X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.0 #1 (NOV) cactus@bengt.algonet.se (Ted Backlund) writes: >Does anyone have any idea how to transfer files both ways, not just >only from C64 to the PC ? >/ Ted.. There is a program called Trans64 that will do this. You should be able to find a copy at frodo.hiof.no #! rnews 33434 Path: pravda.aa.msen.com!conch.aa.msen.com!not-for-mail From: brain@mail.msen.com (Jim Brain) Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm Subject: COMP.SYS.CBM: General FAQ, v3.1 Part 8/9 Supersedes: Followup-To: comp.sys.cbm Date: 13 Aug 1996 01:10:25 -0400 Organization: Brain Innovations, Inc. Lines: 726 Sender: brain@msen.com Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Expires: 05 Sep 1996 Message-ID: Reply-To: brain@mail.msen.com NNTP-Posting-Host: conch.aa.msen.com Summary: This posting contains answers to questions that commonly surface in comp.sys.cbm. This posting will tell you enough to get your computer connected to a network, fixed, and/or enhanced. This file should be read by new users of comp.sys.cbm before posting to the group. It should also be proofread by users who are currently active in comp.sys.cbm. Keywords: CBM FAQ Help List C64 C128 VIC Modem X-URL: http://www.msen.com/~brain/ X-Posted-By: YPost, version 0.08 Archive-name: cbm-main-faq.3.1.p8 Comp-answers-archive-name: commodore/main-faq/part8 News-answers-archive-name: commodore/main-faq/part8 Comp-sys-cbm-archive-name: main-faq/part8 Version: 3.1 Last-modified: 1996/08/12 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents (for this file) --------------------------------- 13. Enhancements 13.1. How do I increase my disk drive's transfer speed? 13.1.1. What is a Fastloader? 13.1.2. What is a ROM replacement? 13.1.3. What are the disadvantages to using a drive enhancement? 13.1.4. What other things can I do to speed up the drive? 13.2. How do I expand my disk drive's capacity? 13.2.1. What is a Hard Drive? Who sells them? 13.2.2. What is 64NET? + 13.2.3. What is SERVER64? 13.3. How do I expand my computer's RAM capacity? 13.3.1. What is a Ram Expansion Unit? 13.3.2. What is a geoRAM Unit? 13.3.3. What is battery backed GeoRAM (BBGRam)? 13.3.4. What is a RAMLink? 13.3.5. What is a RAMDrive? 13.3.6. How do I expand my C128 Video RAM? 13.3.7. How do I expand my C64 internally? 13.3.8. How do I expand my C128 internally? 13.4. How do I increase my computer's speed? 13.4.1. How do I increase my Commodore 64's speed? 13.4.2. How do I increase my Commodore 128's speed? 13.4.3. Can I speed up other Commodore computers? 13.5. How do I increase my computer screen's resolution? 13.5.1. How do I increase my Commodore 64's screen resolution? 13.5.2. How do I increase my Commodore 128's screen resolution? 13.5.3. How do I increase other CBM computers' resolutions? 13.6. How do I increase my computer's serial transfer speed? 13.7. How do I increase my computer's sound quality? 13.8. What other ways can I expand my Commodore computer? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13. Enhancements If you like to tinker with your Commodore to get the best possible performance out of it, these suggestions and products may help you in your quest. 13.1. How do I increase my disk drive's transfer speed? Since the introduction of the Commodore VIC-20 and the slow serial bus, Commodore owners have been plagued by slow disk access. There are two ways to allevaiet this problem, fastloaders and ROM replacements. 13.1.1. What is a Fastloader? The Commodore 1541 drive and any drive attached to a VIC-20, C64, Plus 4, C116, or C16 suffer from very slow read and write times. This is caused by Commodore's haste in "economizing" the IEEE-488 bus used in the PET series of Commodore computers into the serial bus. The IEEE-488 bus transferred 8 bits of data at a time, and performed some synchronization steps, or handshaking, between bytes. Commodore reduced the path to 1 bit but kept most of the original handshaking, most of which is redundant when transferring 1 bit at a time. Early on, some developers noted that, since the 1541 drive was intelligent enough to execute a program loaded into its RAM, and the Commodore operating system calls to do disk I/O could be bypassed, they could write software that sped up the loading process by modifying or completely changing the protocol used on the serial bus. This is the idea behind fastload cartridges like FastLoad, Mach 5, etc... 13.1.2. What is a ROM replacement? As programs became more complex, some programs would not operate with this approach. Thus, the developers then rewrote parts of the Commodore operating system on both the computer and the disk drive, and replaced the parts of them that did disk I/O with new pieces of code. This is the idea behind JiffyDos and others. The basic idea in speeding up the disk drive is to use more than 1 line to transfer data, effectively doubling the transfer speed. Then, reduce synchronization requirements in the protocol to a bare minimum, as synchronizing time is time not being used to do transfers. The fastload cartridges are handicapped somewhat by the need to transfer the portion of the program that runs in the disk drive to the drive using the slow speed evry time the drive is used. This can be alleviated somewhat, but the replacement operating system replacement products like JiffyDos win the race since they do not need to load code into the drive, as it is already there. 13.1.3. What are the disadvantages to using a drive enhancement? The products are not 100% compatible, as they sacrifice reliability for speed somewhat. That means that a program that does not load due to an error while using a fastload product will probably load without the fastloading enabled. Also, some programs can not handle the change in loading or reading speed, so these enhancements yield about 90% compatibility. 13.1.4. What other things can I do to speed up the drive? You can also increase the speed of disk drive operation by organizing consecutive parts of a file on disk to fall a certain number of disk sectors apart. This is called the interleave or interleaving factor. Normally, a 1541 disk drive space consecutive parts of a file 10 sectors apart, but you can change that a little to minimize the time needed to find consecutive parts of a file. Also, the C128 in 128 mode hooked up to a 1571 or 1581 has a built-in fastloading scheme called burst loading. Therefore, if you are in 128 mode and hooked up to a 1581 or a 1571, you already have this feature. However, the 128 in 64 mode reverts back to the old slow serial routines, and the 128 in any mode using a 1541 cannot use the burst load routines. 13.2. How do I expand my disk drive's capacity? Software Support International sells the 1541 RAMBoard, which will increase you 1541's memory. SSI used to market a similar board for the 1571, but they have depleted stock and no longer carry it. You can also expand your disk drives on board RAM capacity, and use that extra memory for better archiving performance. + 13.2.1. What is a Hard Drive? Who sells them? + A hard disk drive is a non-removable ramdom access medium similar that + allows one to store very large quantities of data. Hard disk drives + are mandatory on most newer computer systems, but are usually optional + for Commodore 8-bit computers. However, the faster load time, the + greater capacity, and the ease of use make them desirable. CMD sells hard drives for the Commodore 64 and 128. They range in sizes from 50 Megabytes on up. In comparison, a Commodore 1581 drive holds .8 Megabytes. + 13.2.2. What is 64NET? If you have access to an IBM of some kind (preferrably with a hard drive), you can use a product called 64NET to hook the drive up to the Commodore. 64NET consists of a cable which connects the CBM User Port and the IBM Parallel Port together, and a program that runs on both machines. The program on the IBM is a standard application, but the CBM part is a wedge, so it should integrate seamlessly with some programs. There is now just one copy of the product. Registered users simply receive a 64NET.KEY file that enables SAVING. There is a student discount of AUS$40.00. The product is at version 1.82.62 and has full OPEN/CLOSE/READ/READST support, can support 4 gigabyte IBM partitions, and have a built-in off-board monitor which includes some dos wedge functions. The IBM programs have link-based helpsystems and will run on any IBM machine. The registered version allows saving of files, wheras the PD version does not. The registered version also contains support for GEOS. The registered BETA version is available (with upgrade to final version free) for AUS$50.00, while the unregistered version is free. These prices do not include the cable that is required for operation. The cable, program, and more information can be received from Paul Gardner-Stephen at gardners@ist.flinders.edu.au. Also, the system can be ordered from: In Europe: Performance Peripherals Europe Germany +49 2227 3221 Michael Renz +49 2227 3221 And in Australia from: Russell Alphey +61 3 4278558 (A/H r.alphey@dce.vic.gov.au Paul Gardner-Stephen +61 8 277 7479 (A/H) Versions are available for the C64 and C128, and a C65 version is close to completion. + Also available is an Software Development Kit (SDK) with a CBM + cross assembler. + 13.2.3. What is SERVER64? SERVER64 is a product like 64NET, in that it allows you to use an IBM PC as a large hard drive. However, unlike 64NET, SERVER64 does not require a connection to the user port and a special boot program be run. Instead, the system uses an X1541 cable to attach the Commodore 64 serial port to an IBM parallel port. The product is available at: ftp://ccnga.uwaterloo.ca/pub/incoming/SERVER64.ZIP Documentation is available at: ftp://ccnga.uwaterloo.ca/pub/incoming/SERVER64.TXT Both are expected to move to the /pub/cbm/emulation directory soon. 13.3. How do I expand my computer's RAM capacity? 13.3.1. What is a Ram Expansion Unit? The original form of RAM expansion available to the C64 and C128 were the Commodore REUs (Ram Expansion Units). These REUs plug into the cartridge port, and provide 128K (the C=1700), 256K (the C=1764), or 512K (the C=1750) of additional RAM. This RAM is not true system RAM however; simply adding a 512K REU to your system does NOT mean that your word processor will suddenly be able to edit 512K larger documents. A REU will only be used by a program that was written to take advantage of an REU. As a caveat on this, you can use your REU as additional RAM for a RAMLink . An REU can be used as a Commodore Disk Drive by running the program RAMDOS. This will allow users to save and load files from the REU. If you are using CP/M, the REU can be configured to act like a disk drive under CP/M. Although the C=1764 was originally advertised for the C64, and the 1700 and 1750 for the C128, any of the three RAM expanders will work with either the C64 or the C128. Note that if you want to use any of them on the C64, you need a heavy duty power supply. The 1764 comes with such a power supply. There are hardware hacks that will expand a 1700 or a 1764 to 512K; additionally, a 512K REU can be expanded to 1 Meg or more. The plans are at ftp://ccnga.uwaterloo.ca/pub/cbm/hardware. While it appears completely safe to upgrade your REU to 1 Meg, there have been some reports of problems with REU's upgraded to 2 Megs. Sometimes the REU will work fine for a while, then fail. If you are upgrading your REU, it would probably be wise to stop at 1 Meg. If you are still memory hungry, consider a CMD RAMLink. If you don't wish to do it yourself, there are people who will do it for you, for a fee. The following individual will do RAM expansions on the 17xx series. He Has lots of experience doing these modifications. His current quoted price for expanding a 1750 from 512k to 1 meg is $60. Call for the latest prices. In addition he can do repairs on the RAM. Raymond Day 9601 Morton Taylor Road Belleville, MI 48111-1328 r.day@genie.geis.com (Contact) (313) 699-6727 On a similar note, Software Support International sells a device called the 1750 clone, which functions just like a 1750. It is not as expandable as the real 1750, but can be used where a 1750 is recommended or required. 13.3.2. What is a geoRAM Unit? When Commodore REUs became hard to find several years back, Berkeley Softworks introduced geoRAM, which is a 512K RAM expander. This RAM expander gives you all of the advantages of a 1750 with GEOS. However, it is not 1750 compatible, so it will not work like a 1750 outside of GEOS; it is transparent to other programs. (As a caveat on this, see the info on RAMLink)). DesTerm128 2.0 will not work with a geoRAM plugged in. A special version of GEOS 2.0 (which is bundled with geoRAM) is necessary to use geoRAM. No additional power supply is necessary to use geoRAM. The geoRAM can be upgraded to 2MB also. Contact Jens-Michael Gross at grossibr@buran.fb10.tu-berlin.de for information on upgrading the geoRAM. The geoRAM can be used without GEOS if it is installed in a RAMDrive or RAMLink. See Section 13.3.4 for information. 13.3.3. What is battery backed GeoRAM (BBGRam)? Battery Backed GeoRam is a products marketed by Performance Peripherals Incorporated. The unit is actually a geoRAM clone, but has battery backup included within the unit. The unit can be ordered in the following configurations: 512kBytes $92.97US 1MBytes $123.97US 2MBytes $165.97US 13.3.4. What is a RAMLink? RAMLink (RL) is a RAM expansion devices from CMD. The RAM in these devices can be partitioned into native mode partitions (with dynamically allocated subdirectories), or 1541, 1571, or 1581 emulating partitions. Thanks to the 15x1 emulating partitions, software does not have to be specifically written to run with a RL. The RL devices should appear as a disk drive to most programs. One notable exception is DesTerm v2.00, which does not work with the RL. There are few other exceptions, and no major commercial program has a problem running with an RL . The deciding factor seems to be whether or not the program uses a drive's internal ram. The RL does not 'mimic' having this type of internal drive ram, and if a program relies upon this it will not run. The heavily copy protected Digital Solutions' programs use this drive ram for its burst loading routines. So, even though a Maverick/RamBoard combination will write a copy of it to the RL, it will fail to boot. However, these programs, once booted from a 1571, will use and access all of RL's many functions for lightening fast loads and saves. RL has ts own power sources, separate from the computer. When you turn off the computer, the power to the RL is left on, leaving its contents intact. This power supply always remains on. (For safety from power outages, battery backups are also available.) RAMLink is a powerful, large device. It can be configured from 0 to up to 16 Megs of RAM, using industry standard 1x8 (100ns) 1 Meg and 4 Meg SIMMs.(1x9, and faster Simms can be used.) The RL is constructed so that the user may easily add additional SIMMs at any time. RAMLink has a port into which you can plug a Commodore REU or a geoRAM. You can configure RAMLink to either leave this RAM device alone, or to use the REU/geoRAM's RAM just as if it were part of the RAMLink's RAM. A RAMLink also has a pass-through port, in which you can plug a normal C64/C128 cartridge, and a parallel port for a CMD hard drive. The latter greatly improves the transfer speed of data between your computer and the hard drive. If you have a geoRAM, the geoRAM can be plugged into the RL . the geoRAM then acts as an extra piece of ram-based disk storage. The RL comes with a very well documented, thorough, and easily referenced User Manual. Contact CMD for more details. 13.3.5. What is a RAMDrive? The RAMDrive is similar in function to the RAMLink sold by CMD (see Section 13.3.4). The main differences are the smaller amount of memory (1-4 MB) and the smaller size. At one time, the RAMDrive was sold by CMD, but is no longer available through them. However, Performance Peripherals, Inc. still sells the RAMDrive unit. 13.3.6. How do I expand my C128 Video RAM? The original, "flat" C128's came with an 80 column display that had it's own display RAM that was separate from the system memory of the computer. This "VDC RAM" was 16K in size. After Commodore introduced the C128D, they changed the design and marketed some versions of the Commodore 128D with 64K of VDC RAM. Since them, some programs (e.g. I-Paint, Dialogue128) have come out that either need or support 64K of VDC RAM. Owners of flat 128's can upgrade their video RAM to 64K either by ordering an upgrade plug-in board(e.g. from Software Support International), or by replacing the RAM chips themselves. All that needs to be done is, the two 4416 RAM chips next to the VDC chip need to be replaced with 4464 RAM chips. Note, however, that since this involves soldering in tight quarters on your 128's motherboard, it is very easy to damage the motherboard or the nearby VDC chip. Whenever you wish to use the extra RAM, be sure to set bit 4 in the VDC register 28 (0 = 16kB, 1 = 64kB). 13.3.7. How do I expand my C64 internally? THE TRANSACTOR magazine published two articles written by Paul Bosacki on expanding the Commodore 64. The first article (in Transactor 9.2) described how to expand the 64 to 256kB by swapping RAM chips and contained switches to perform some special options. The second (in Transactor 9.6) describes how to expand the Commodore 64 to 1MB, using a 512kB REU and 512kB on the | motherboard. In addition, this expansion needs no switches to enable options, which is an enhancement to the first article. The Nordic/Finnish MicroBITTI magazine published a two part article by Pekka Pessi on expanding the Commodore 64. Pessi's design (in MicroBITTI Issues 1 and 2 for 1987) split the C64 memory map into 4 16kB pages, which could be each mapped to any 16kB page in 256kB of memory. It uses the same approach of swapping the 64kB DRAMs for 256kB ones, but does the addressing somewhat differently. In 1993, Marko Makela, with help from Pekka Pessi, translated Pessi's article into English and made it available via the Internet. It is now available at ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/cbm/documents/ or ftp://x2ftp.oulo.fi:/pub/cbm/docs/ 13.3.8. How do I expand my C128 internally? Marko Makela has written an article on how to expand the C128 and C128D's memory up to 1024kB. It is compatible with his earlier article on expanding the C64 to 256kB, so programs written for the expanded 64 should run on the expanded 128 in 64 mode. The plan and schematic is available via ftp from nic.funet.fi in directory /pub/cbm/documents/1028. The C-256 and C-512 Twin Cities 128 issues #30 and #31 have a hardware scheme for expanding your 128 to 256K or 512K. To people who understand banking on the 128, the 256K modification adds RAM blocks 2 and 3 to your system. The 512K modification adds four more RAM blocks that can be accessed as alternate RAM blocks 2 and 3, or as a completely separate set of RAM blocks 0-3. As with Commodore REUs, software must specifically support the expanded RAM. Since these modifications are relatively new, there is not much software out yet that supports the additional RAM. However, ACE 128 does support this expansion without any special drivers. The hardware modification, while simple from software's point of view, is rather difficult to perform in hardware. Richard Curcio, the designer of the memory modifications, can modify your 128 for you. See Twin Cities 128 issue #31 for more information.