sd2iec 0.10.0pre4 released! (Geos/Wheels working on uIEC)

[redrumloa]

Ingo has released sd2iec 0.10.0pre4 which includes improved and possible complete Geos/Wheels support. Geos 2.0 and Wheels 4.1 up should all be working. We need users to report their experience so we may award this bounty. Please visit Commodore Bounty for more information.

http://commodorebounty.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=54&func=view&catid=2&id=123#123

:banana::banana::banana:

[redrumloa]

Wheels 128 v4.4 running on my 128T with SuperCPU and uIEC/CF.

[redrumloa]

:bump:

[desiv]

Looks nice...
So, the Wheels info I've found is a bit lite.  The Wiki page says it's kind of an upgrade to GEOS (which the pic backs up)...

It says it's commercial but the link to the ompany that made/makes it is broken???

It mentions playing MP3s??

Is there any better / more up-to-date information on this OS?

I remember I was quite impressed by GEOS back in the day.

desiv

[redrumloa]

@desiv
Here is a quick reply as my time is short atm. Wheels is indeed an upgrade for Geos by Maurice Randall of Click Here Software. It is commerical, but has not been easily available for some time as Maurice has been missing in action. As an upgrade it is quite impressive. Geos had one single fixed window, Wheels has multiple windows thar are movable and resizeable. While Geos did have 3rd party patches to support expansions, Wheels supports just about everything out of the box. Having a 16MB disk image to work out of for drive A, 4 drives total, a 16MB RAM Disk and 20Mhz accelerator makes for quite a pleasant experience. My problem with Geos back in the day was running on a 64 with one or 2 1541 floppy drives was a painfully slow experience. This is quite the opposite. Even Geos games are improved, let alone the quality (for their age) applications. I plan on making a Youtube video soon.
 
No, there is no MP3 player for Geos to my knowledge. If you saw a mention to "MP3", that refers to Mega Patch 3, which was a competing Geos desktop upgrade.

[desiv]

No, there is no MP3 player for Geos to my knowledge. If you saw a mention to "MP3", that refers to Mega Patch 3, which was a competing Geos desktop upgrade.

I think someone needs to update the Wikipedia article then.  :hammer:

Wheels gives new abilities to the C64 and 128: the ability to play movies and MP3s, graphic web browsing (and limited server abilities), and true multitasking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheels_%28operating_system%29

Looks nice tho..

desiv

[redrumloa]

               Originally Posted by Wikipedia                             
             Wheels gives new abilities to the C64 and 128: the ability to play movies and MP3s, graphic web browsing (and limited server abilities), and true multitasking.

[/I]
 
Oh dear, that is so very misleading. No, scratch that it is plain wrong. Anyhow, I prettied up my desktop a bit.

[desiv]

Wow, that is very nice...
I remember that I actually really liked Geowrite.  I was thinking that if it wasn't swapping out to the floppy frequently, it would have been very nice, especially for an 8-bit OS..

And that was on a plain C64.

desiv

[XDelusion]

How do I load a BIN from an SD card and Jiffy DOS?

[redrumloa]

How do I load a BIN from an SD card and Jiffy DOS?

What do you mean? Do you mean load a fakerom.bin? if so, it would be like this.

@"XR:FAKEROM.BIN"

FAKEROM = name of your fake rom image

[TheGoose]

Cool!

[XDelusion]

I mean what is this exactly, a GUI that can be run off my SD card on my C64? If so, how do I set it up, not a fake rom, but this, the real deal being discussed here.

[yakumo9275]

you need the wheels 4.x disk images and install wheels. or use geos 2 disks and run geos off your SD card.

[redrumloa]

I mean what is this exactly, a GUI that can be run off my SD card on my C64? If so, how do I set it up, not a fake rom, but this, the real deal being discussed here.

• sd2iec is a firmware for many mass storage devices for 8bit Commodore computers which connect to the original IEC (floppy port). Examples are:
• sd2iec - SD card used as mass storage device
• uIEC/SD - SD card used as mass storage device
• uIEC/CF - CF card used as mass storage device
• uIEC/CF + IDE - May use one or both CF and IDE as mass storage device
• Geos is an operating system originally sold by Berkely software in the mid-late 80's.
• Geos had C64 and C128 versions
• Geos had a GUI and many professional applications
• Geos reached version 2.0 in the USA, 3.0 in Germany (IIRC)
• Wheels is an operating system upgrade for Geos 2.0 made by Maurice Randall of Click Here Software in the late 90's
• Wheels supported almost all 3rd party hardware expansions of it's time, including SuperCPU
• The latest version is 4.4 (afaik)
• SuperCPU is a 20Mhz accelerator with C64 and C128 versions
• Optional SuperRAM card allows up to 16MB of RAM
• 20Mhz "Turbo" mode may be switched on or off on the fly
• JiffyDOS is a fast loader and DOS enhancement for Commodore Computers
• JiffyDOS was created and sold by CMD in the 80's
• JiffyDOS is now available legally at Brain Innovations
• Commodore Bounty is a website that allows people to contribute towards bounties for software they would like, which they otherwise would not likely get
• The sd2iec-Geos bounty was set up in the hope of getting Geos and Wheels running on sd2iec based devices, such as the uIEC
• The sd2iec-Geos bounty is completed, Geos 2.0 and Wheels now run on sd2iec based devices

The picture shows Wheels 128 v4.4 running in 80 column mode on a Commodore 128. You access sd2iec based devices such as uIEC the same way you would access normal Commodore floppy drives such as the 1541 with Commodore Basic/DOS commands. For much greater ease and speed, most will use JiffyDOS with these devices. Here are a few JiffyDOS examples.
 
(mount a D64 disk image)
@CD:GEOS64.D64
 
(show a directory of the disk/image)
{F1 Key}
 
(load a file)
/FILENAME
 
I hope this helps.