parallel 1541 - which DOS?

Romppainen · Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 9:17 pm Post subject: parallel 1541 - which DOS?

Just a simple question: There is plenty of replacement C64 kernal/1541 DOS combinations for systems with parallel modded drive, but which one would be most useful and reliable one? I've heard good things about SpeedDos, but as I haven't found much info about it nor other options I'd like to hear some user opinions and such.

Jurbo · Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 6:57 pm Post subject:

There seems to be a good deal of German information on parallel connected DolphinDOS at
http://www.tim-schuermann.de/c64/de/index.html
I don't have personal experience of the DOS, but the link seems worth checking. They are talking about good compatibility.

Personally, I added a parallel port to a 1541-II just for fast transfering of d64-files from PC (30 seconds for a disk side, that IS fast). My main C64 has JiffyDos and serial connection, which is good enough for me...

Unseen · Über Groupie Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 370

Romppainen wrote:

I've heard good things about SpeedDos, but as I haven't found much info about it nor other options I'd like to hear some user opinions and such.

SpeedDos is rather slow for a parallel speeder - in some benchmarks JiffyDos is actually a tad faster than SpeedDos.

DolphinDos 2 is quite fast, but requires additional hardware in the drive (8K extra RAM and ROM).

groepaz · Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 10:58 pm Post subject:

Quote:

Personally, I added a parallel port to a 1541-II just for fast transfering of d64-files from PC (30 seconds for a disk side, that IS fast).

for a parellel connection that is actually quite slow... 30 sec can be achived with decent serial routines already (warpcopy does that for example). with parallel you can get pretty close to the physical limit, which is around 7 seconds (nibtools for opencbm get quite close to this afaik)
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Romppainen · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 7:48 pm Post subject:

Back to revise old thread with a bit more accurate question: Which is the most recommendable (and preferrably fastest) parallel speeder that doesn't require any other onboard replacements on 1541's side except drive ROM?

LordCrass · Forum Junkie Joined: 04 Jan 2002 Posts: 529

I don't know if I've actually seen what I'd refer to as a "decent" parallel speeder for the 1541 yet that DIDN'T require some extra hardware (ROM, 8k RAM, overclocked drive CPU, or hardware GCR table).

DigiDOS claimed to be fast, but from basic testing in Vice seems to be more of a derivative of SpeedDOS. Perhaps the files have to be saved with a different interleave to get maximum speed, but this makes it more inconvenient.

I always thought of writing a fast loader that utilized a generic parallel cable and was interleave independent, but didn't think many people would have parallel equipped drives and be interested in this.

Edit: replaced RapiDOS with DigiDOS as that's what I was thinking of.

Romppainen · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 12:28 am Post subject:

LordCrass wrote:

I don't know if I've actually seen what I'd refer to as a "decent" parallel speeder for the 1541 yet that DIDN'T require some extra hardware (ROM, 8k RAM, overclocked drive CPU, or hardware GCR table).

Just to clarify things up I didn't line out replacement ROM as I'm probably getting stock/Jiffy/parallel combo chip anyway, just more complex things like additional boards and RAM expansions.

LordCrass · Forum Junkie Joined: 04 Jan 2002 Posts: 529

They all have an extra ROM to my knowledge, but all the good ones require the other custom hardware too.

These are the only parallel speeders I know about (slowest to fastest, with the last two being equally fast AFAIK):

SpeedDOS/DigiDOS: c64 & drive ROM
RapiDOS: c64 & drive ROM, 6522 VIA
DolphinDOS 2/3: c64 & drive ROM, 8k drive RAM, 6522 VIA on board
Prologic DOS: c64 & drive ROM, 8k drive RAM, 2MHz drive CPU
ProfessionalDOS/RapidDOS Pro/Disk Demon: c64 & drive ROM, 8k drive RAM, hardware GCR table.

I believe having the 6522 moved to the add-on board was just cleaner than running extra cabling back to the standard VIA, and not for any additional performance gains.

Unseen · Über Groupie Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 370

LordCrass wrote:

DolphinDOS 2/3: c64 & drive ROM, 8k drive RAM, 6522 VIA on board

DolphinDOS 2 uses 8K extra RAM and a total of 24K ROM, but works fine with a standard SpeedDOS-compatible parallel cable connected to the VIA.

DolphinDOS 3 also uses 8K extra RAM, not sure about the ROM, 2MHz for the 6502 and connects the parallel cable to an extra 6821(?) PIA instead of the standard VIA.

Quote:

ProfessionalDOS/RapidDOS Pro/Disk Demon: c64 & drive ROM, 8k drive RAM, hardware GCR table.

IIRC it also uses 2MHz

There is also the TurboTrans from Rossmöller - 256 or 512K RAM in the drive to cache an entire disk or two.
_________________

Code:

10 a=rnd(-1294):fori=1to52:a=rnd(1):next
20 fori=1to5:printchr$(rnd(1)*11+69);:next
30 printint(rnd(1)*4711)-3590

sd2iec homepage

LordCrass · Forum Junkie Joined: 04 Jan 2002 Posts: 529

I had read a description of Dolphin 3 that seemed to hint it was just a manufacturing improvement of Dolphin 2, and worked with more drives and a c128 without having different models for each. From this page, it seems that the 2MHz mode was only on the 1571.

I'm pretty sure the Professional DOS doesn't have a 2MHz CPU, as it would be unnecessary since the GCR tables already provide a means of real-time GCR decoding. ProLogicDOS did the real-time decoding by using the faster CPU instead.

I don't personally own any of these, and they are incredibly hard to get ahold of, it seems. Anyone out there own some of these and can comment on them?

JimDrew · Master of C64 Joined: 15 May 2012 Age: 48 Posts: 1242

I have the ROM images for all of these, and somewhere in my mess the actual boards and cables. I tried to collect a lot of the euro stuff.

groepaz · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 7:14 am Post subject:

Quote:

I'm pretty sure the Professional DOS doesn't have a 2MHz CPU, as it would be unnecessary since the GCR tables already provide a means of real-time GCR decoding.

correct, professional DOS only uses the decoder-ROM. (and it loads as fast as the physical limits allow, so no point to speed up even further)
_________________

http://www.hitmen-console.org http://rr.pokefinder.org
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Unseen · Über Groupie Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 370

LordCrass wrote:

I'm pretty sure the Professional DOS doesn't have a 2MHz CPU

The reverse-engineered schematics on WoMos page seem to confirm a 2MHz mode.
_________________

Code:

10 a=rnd(-1294):fori=1to52:a=rnd(1):next
20 fori=1to5:printchr$(rnd(1)*11+69);:next
30 printint(rnd(1)*4711)-3590

sd2iec homepage

LordCrass · Forum Junkie Joined: 04 Jan 2002 Posts: 529

Is the 2MHz clock just for the nibble-decoder part of the circuit, or does it affect the 6502 CPU as well?

Krill · Newbie Joined: 18 Apr 2002 Posts: 7 Location: Germany

With this knowledge: http://linusakesson.net/progra...index.php, somebody please make a parallel DOS that reaches the physical limits, transferring an entire track in one revolution, without any hardware modifications other than the parallel cable. Smile