Burn me a custom cartridge

shellfritsch · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 10:03 pm Post subject: Burn me a custom cartridge

Hello!

I am looking to make an arcade cabinet from a c64, but I would like it to auto-load a .PRG...
Can someone here burn me a custom EPROM?
PM me to discuss details.

Thanks,
Sean

ZenEmu · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 10:43 pm Post subject:

Buy an easy flash?
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Zen

shellfritsch · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 10:50 pm Post subject:

I looked into that briefly, but it seemed overkill, no?

mrsid · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 6:10 am Post subject:

Burning an eprom seems overkill to me.

ZenEmu · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 6:19 am Post subject:

shellfritsch wrote:

I looked into that briefly, but it seemed overkill, no?

How so?

You can put numerous games on it and an appropriate kernal. They are cheap too!
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Zen

shellfritsch · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:55 pm Post subject:

I found an easyflash1 kit for about 40 bucks & easyflash 3 for about $60...
but for my purposes, it seems like an iUEC/SD might be more functional at the same price.

ZenEmu · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:16 pm Post subject:

Possibly, but you would still want to replace the kernal with an auto boot to load the first file on the uiec (I believe someone has created a modified version of Jiffydos to do this which should be uiec compatible) - a file explorer or menu system of some kind. The easiest way to do that is with an easy flash.
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Zen

davidcallan · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:22 pm Post subject:

Easyflash doesn't have a fully unattended mode, so it's not suitable.

Callan

edit: It is one awesome piece of kit, tho!

brain · C64 Enthusiast Joined: 20 Jun 2004 Posts: 770

davidcallan wrote:

Easyflash doesn't have a fully unattended mode, so it's not suitable.

Well, I wouldn't say that.

The default startup is just a ROM image that sits in the first slot. So, with a bit of tweak, you can make a different one that always boots something, and replace it with the easyprog util.

However...

On a JiffyDOS-equipped 64, hitting run-stop and 'commodore' keys will load the first app on disk. Not to plug the uIEC/SD, but something like it, and a small relay that closes the 4 wires that correspond to the 2 switches for a bit on bootup would work too.

If you're doing a cab, you should be up to splicing into the 4 wires and wiring them to a relay. Somewhere you should be able to grab a 120V relay that has a timer to go off, or something like that.

Jim

davidcallan · Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 1:48 am Post subject:

brain wrote:

The default startup is just a ROM image that sits in the first slot. So, with a bit of tweak, you can make a different one that always boots something, and replace it with the easyprog util.

Of course.. Hadn't thought of that - silly me. It's a bit messy to set up, but by no means impossible.

I've been hacking the JiffyDOS kernel to autostart a program if the shift key (or, for unattended operation, Shift-lock) is pressed.
Boy there's bugger all free space in there!! - I've a rough proof of concept working (through warm start, i ran out of space to do the cold-start version), but had to disable a couple of lesser-used commands to free up the space for the already-compact code (I only needed 27 bytes). JiffyDOS is very re-entrant, which makes it a REAL pain to perform surgery on it Smile

I've held off further work on it, as I'm not sure of the legalities (and appropriateness) - of letting a modified jiffyDOS into the wild, PARTICULARLY as it has some functions disabled (currently nothing has left my desk). Perhaps Jim could clarify.

Callan

brain · C64 Enthusiast Joined: 20 Jun 2004 Posts: 770

Posting a modified JiffyDOS for free access would not be legal, but posting a "diff" of the modifications would be OK. (In the latter case, you're not distributing a ROM, but just some object code that is not copyrighted.)

Distributing a complete modified JiffyDOS to licensed users is hard to recommend, as you need to verify that the person owns a legitimate copy. It can be done, but I think you'd have better luck with a "diff" file.

Jim

davidcallan · Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 4:31 am Post subject:

Ah - thanks. I had thoughts along similar lines.
What I had recently thought of was a short program (basic or ML, doesn't matter) - that reads an EXISTING inplace KERNEL rom to RAM, POKE's in the changes, then writes out a BIN file to disk from the modified copy. Not too many people here would have the experience to patch a binary using a Unix .DIFF file, so that seems a simpler way of doing it, whilst still distributing only my OWN code, rather than CMD/your code.

BTW, the Easyflash3 is an awesome device for developing kernels on. Sure some stuff can be done in VICE, but being able to quickly work on/test stuff on the real silicon is magic!.

Callan