tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17487316.post3556243265765451151..comments2024-01-13T09:14:12.131+00:00Comments on The life of a Games Programmer: XeO3: Please Wait....Loading............Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15958965170878448339noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17487316.post-45908534641544222502007-09-29T17:21:00.000+00:002007-09-29T17:21:00.000+00:00BTW, the Sidewinder would conflict with any device...BTW, the Sidewinder would conflict with any device already attached to that port... which I believe is in use on the Plus/4.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17487316.post-38892833944923864532007-09-29T17:15:00.000+00:002007-09-29T17:15:00.000+00:00Sidewinder appears to use the port built into the ...Sidewinder appears to use the port built into the C64 CPU. It would work on the Plus/4 and C128 as well but not other 6502 system since a standard 6502 doesn't have the same port.<BR/><BR/>Here is another Speccy MMC interface.<BR/>http://www.zxbada.bbk.org/zxmmc/index.htmAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17487316.post-78732838688292765272006-11-26T10:19:00.000+00:002006-11-26T10:19:00.000+00:00Yep that was the compact flash interface I was loo...Yep that was the compact flash interface I was looking at, although I hadn't seen the MMC one before.<br /><br /><br />Thats getting a bit better for price, but to do any real numbers, you'd have to pay out a small fortune....<br /><br />Since it would be a general flash reader (either compact or MMC), perhaps getting people to send one would solve it. Then all your doing is copying on the game, and boot loader.... I dont know... still a lot of work involved in that - and you'd lose the SID card if you used the expansion port (which would allow you to BOOT from it.)Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15958965170878448339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17487316.post-83013950103669174332006-11-25T19:58:00.000+00:002006-11-25T19:58:00.000+00:00I just found this for small, cheap MMC cards. $37 ...I just found <a href="http://www.surpluscomputers.com/store/main.aspx?p=TEXTLISTbody&c=FMMM">this</a> for small, cheap MMC cards. $37 for ten 32 MB cards, free shipping within U.S.A. - just get someone buy them and mail them over to you.<br /><br />-- <br />TNTAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17487316.post-25142986936496292582006-11-25T15:17:00.000+00:002006-11-25T15:17:00.000+00:00After activating my spare brain cell I realized th...After activating my spare brain cell I realized that if you want your cartridge to autostart you need real 8-bit (EEP)ROM. Using serial memory like MMC actually adds components instead of reducing them.<br /><br />If I was building cartridge, I would use something like 29f040 with banking logic. 512KB Flash cartridge is something I would pay 50 euros for without thinking twice. Pre-flashed game would be just nice bonus :)<br /><br />-- <br />TNTAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17487316.post-41202763359925457152006-11-24T09:11:00.000+00:002006-11-24T09:11:00.000+00:00Oh....and thanks for posting the link to the MMC s...Oh....and thanks for posting the link to the MMC stuff.... :)Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15958965170878448339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17487316.post-3088084343476807972006-11-24T08:56:00.000+00:002006-11-24T08:56:00.000+00:00Yep, that MMC is kind-of what I was thinking about...Yep, that MMC is kind-of what I was thinking about....athough I think compact flash gives you 8bit access which might make it easier to map in. I did try looking for small memory cards, and like Chicken - couldn't find any. In fact, once they dipped below 128Mb, the prices started to go up again! I know theres millions of little ones sitting in peoples drawers doing nothing, but I have no idea how to get them :)<br /><br />We did wonder about using a small/cheap EEPROM, FLASH, or even a PIC to do a boot loader on a cartridge which then loaded a file from the compact flash.... but who knows...Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15958965170878448339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17487316.post-29430684846613493912006-11-23T20:06:00.000+00:002006-11-23T20:06:00.000+00:00Won't I still need to open command channel to send...Won't I still need to open command channel to send the code to drive? :)<br /><br />154x/157x/1581 code is basically the same for all drives, there are just some address changes. 1551 code is likely to be something completely different (if I end up writing it).<br /><br />C= 264 series is nearly non-existant here in Finland, so I don't own any myself. I have a borrowed C16, but all loader code has been written with Yape. Drive code is exact copy of my C64 loader, plus/4 code is modified slightly.<br /><br />(I already hear angry mob calling me EmuLamer... :)<br /><br />-- <br />TNTAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17487316.post-57980161753360692392006-11-23T16:17:00.000+00:002006-11-23T16:17:00.000+00:00I found the Sidewinder MMC project address in my e...I found the Sidewinder MMC project address in my emails, and Wayback Machine has the old version <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20050419003502/people.freenet.de/hardwarerobby/c64/documentation.html#top">archived</a>. If you plan to experiment with it, you can use old PC floppy connector as MMC/SD connector. See <a href="http://www.sci.fi/~tenu/c64/sd1.jpg">this</a> and <a href="http://www.sci.fi/~tenu/c64/sd2.jpg">this</a> :)<br /><br />The best source of small memory cards are people upgrading their digital cameras - even some new cameras are still sold with 16 MB card.<br /><br />I use M-R command to detect drive type. Reading reset & IRQ vectors at $fffc-$ffff tells if drive is 154x/157x, 1551 or 1581. One drive signature takes 4 bytes.<br /><br />-- <br />TNTAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17487316.post-58225909591971060132006-11-23T14:34:00.000+00:002006-11-23T14:34:00.000+00:00Yeah, thats about what I was thinking about. Thats...Yeah, thats about what I was thinking about. Thats about the same speed as the 1581 turbo loader you did - which gives around 5 1/2 K a second, which is really good for the cost - and plenty fast enough for a game!<br /><br />The issue actually would be getting small/cheap MMC cards! These days youre almost force into buying 128Mb and above! And these still cost £7-£10. If you could have a large source of 4 or 8Mb ones for £1 each or something... then it would REALLY be worth while doing!<br /><br />do you know the website address? Theres a couple of internet caches that sometimes saves these things....Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15958965170878448339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17487316.post-15514469126316693682006-11-23T14:17:00.000+00:002006-11-23T14:17:00.000+00:00MMC interface can be done with half a dozen wires,...MMC interface can be done with half a dozen wires, three resistor and one voltage regulator if you do low-level transfer with host CPU. That slows it down to one bit every 20 cycles on C= machines, but it's still faster than most disk loaders.<br /><br />There was an interesting DIY project for C64 which used serial register of 6526, speeding the transfer to one byte in 32 cycles. Website seems to have disappeared, sadly.<br /><br /><br />-- <br />TNTAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17487316.post-5852209589745186382006-11-23T13:19:00.000+00:002006-11-23T13:19:00.000+00:00Oh, you should really get a disk drive! They're pr...Oh, you should really get a disk drive! They're pretty cheap on ebay these days- particually the original 1541.<br /><br />Yeah...MMC would be over kill.... But theres a really interesting 8bit Compact Flash interface for the speccy thats "just" a few wires, and no chips. I wonder if I could do that on the +4. 300-400 MMC64's is pretty good as you know these folk are "hard core" C64-ers.<br /><br />Yeah, a poll would be interesting - but at the moment I still think having the front end as part of the main program is the best thing. SOmeone else can detatch it later if they want. :)<br /><br />There are a couple of "compatible" drives out there that I worry about...Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15958965170878448339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17487316.post-11485972553145555142006-11-23T13:11:00.000+00:002006-11-23T13:11:00.000+00:00Has there been a drive poll at Plus/4 World? If fr...Has there been a drive poll at Plus/4 World? If front end takes <1 second with 1581, it's still only two seconds with 1541/1571. I might manage to write 1551 loader as well, and I bet it would be faster than 1541. Supporting 154x+157x+1551+1581 would cover most of the user base, I think. Are there more drives to consider?<br /><br />I think MMC64 prduction runs have been 250 cartridges each, and second run was done in February/March. That would mean something like 300-400 sold MMC64s.<br /><br />Making MMC-cartridge for single game is overkill. If you need it only to stream in data for loader then you can use something like 256/512 KB banked ROM and cut down the cost considerably.<br /><br />-- <br />TNTAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17487316.post-47891342040363551782006-11-23T12:19:00.000+00:002006-11-23T12:19:00.000+00:00Tops! I would certainly buy a cart of XeO3 as I ha...Tops! I would certainly buy a cart of XeO3 as I have no floppy/disk drive :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com