Commodore 128D slow loading

djkoelkast · Newbie Joined: 08 Feb 2012 Posts: 4

Hi all,

I've got a Commodore 128D since today. I had a bunch (like 1000) disks already but never really used them because my old C128 was a bit too bulky to set up (separate disk drive, separate power supply).
Now I've hooked up the "new" C128D (it is the first version with fan and carry handle) and started in C64 mode with some of the disks I had.
It seems to load fine, but so slow! I type in C64 mode:

LOAD "*",8,1

Then it says LOADING, I hear the diskdrive click, then about 2 minutes of silence (the DISK LED is on, not blinking), then I will hear the diskdrive again and it will give me READY. Most of the time the program will run fine, but I can not remember it was so slow on loading stuff on a real C64.

Any thoughts on this?

Fröhn · Grandmaster of C64 Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 1965

Yes it was that slow, you simply need a fast loader cartridge. Action Replay or Final Cartridge 3 for example.

adric22 · Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 7:05 pm Post subject: Re: Commodore 128D slow loading

djkoelkast wrote:

Then it says LOADING, I hear the diskdrive click, then about 2 minutes of silence (the DISK LED is on, not blinking), then I will hear the diskdrive again and it will give me READY. Most of the time the program will run fine, but I can not remember it was so slow on loading stuff on a real C64.

Any thoughts on this?

Sounds pretty normal. Although the C128 has fast loading ability, that is disabled in C64 mode. 2 minutes is not unusual to load a regular sized program.

djkoelkast · Newbie Joined: 08 Feb 2012 Posts: 4

Hm I wasn't aware of that, I always remember the C64 was lightening fast (but that was compared to my Canon VC-20 MSX1) so I must be really spoiled when I got my Amiga back in '91 or so.
I think I *might* have some cartridges for the C64, one is called "fast loader" but I remember that one was used with tapes that had a higher baud rate than normal.
I don't know if I ever had (or still have) a Final/AR cartridge, think that would be the next best investment then.

Another thing is that the video seems to do strange things: letters flickering from one place to another, when the machine is on for a while the problem seems to disappear. May be because of bad tuning though, I still have to make me a proper SVHS cable.

mistermsk · Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 7:35 pm Post subject:

djkoelkast wrote:

Hm I wasn't aware of that, I always remember the C64 was lightening fast

Without any fast loader the avg. game takes 1.5 minutes to load. Actually, a few games state that as well. I know JiffyDOS makes it goes up to 10x as fast. You can buy the chips from Go4Retro.com.
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djkoelkast · Newbie Joined: 08 Feb 2012 Posts: 4

mistermsk wrote:

djkoelkast wrote:

Hm I wasn't aware of that, I always remember the C64 was lightening fast

Without any fast loader the avg. game takes 1.5 minutes to load. Actually, a few games state that as well. I know JiffyDOS makes it goes up to 10x as fast. You can buy the chips from Go4Retro.com.

My MSX took at least 6 minutes, IF it went well. Most of the times we had to do it over and over again altering the volume of the cassette recorder...

Fröhn · Grandmaster of C64 Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 1965

mistermsk wrote:

I know JiffyDOS makes it goes up to 10x as fast.

6x, and 3x for single byte IO

ilesj · Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:40 am Post subject:

Hehe, sure one can think C64 being fast when comparing to something even more slow! Six minutes on a C64 tape game would not be anything unusual either... But yeah, loading cracked games on C64 with e.g. Action Replay would be lightning fast compared to that.

djkoelkast wrote:

Another thing is that the video seems to do strange things: letters flickering from one place to another, when the machine is on for a while the problem seems to disappear. May be because of bad tuning though, I still have to make me a proper SVHS cable.

That doesn't sound normal. Characters jumping around screen doesn't sound like bad tuning.

djkoelkast · Newbie Joined: 08 Feb 2012 Posts: 4

ilesj wrote:

That doesn't sound normal. Characters jumping around screen doesn't sound like bad tuning.

It didn't happen again yesterday, so maybe it was something else. I'll keep an eye on it.
It was never on a plain Basic screen though, always somewhere in a screen, in a game or something like that.

Between the 800 or so disks I have (must have got them in a lot years ago) I found a lot of "scene" stuff, Arachnophobia, Napalm and so on. I've seen those disks online too, but what do they actually contain? I found nothing more than some music and some text. Haven't got a clue why someone would want to have this Razz