MagiC64 - Could some continue developing it?

[TanZyr]

@HotRod

Are you smoking crack? The A64 package (the FULL hardware/software package) has the ability to directly access 1541/1571 drives via the hardware interface.

Granted, I realize most peoples' only experience with A64 was via the software package, which was at one time available publically on the funet FTP, the same one that holds the HUGE archive of Amiga demos - can't recall the precise URL right now - though I believe that archive was an older version... v 2.02 or somesuch.

For those that are interested, I might be able to scare up a schematic of the hardware interface once I get off work. Interested parties, feel free to post a reply.

[TanZyr]

@Jope

Are you shagging sheep? ;-) As the owner of a HUGE and slowly fading library of C64 originals and [ahem] "other" disks, such an interface is a godsend.

Were it not for people like me converting originals to D64, saving our collections from the ravages of magnetic media fadeout, the rest of you wouldn't have anything to use on your k-rAd, k-k00l, n0n-r0dEnt emulators - and all that speed would amount to ####.

BTW, those that're interested, I'm home now, so will begin seeking the interface schematics. I imagine it's merely a clone of the C64's serial port circuit (like the one I built long ago for use with iec.library's stuff), but I'll have to test it to be certain. :-)

[TanZyr]

@JurassicCamper

The only problem with the IEC.library stuff (from Easy1541 package, I think - at work again, so I can't really check) was that every time it accesses the drive (reading files), it eats a LOT of cpu time, which makes my system act like a CatWeasel S-Class on PIO mode 0 - whole system freezes as the drive's being accessed - causing really jerky mouse movements, etc.

Surely disk operations from a 1MHz system aren't THAT intensive that they need 100% of my 060/66MHz's attention for...? Wish I knew enough about coding in ASM/C on 68k to rewrite the library/tools to multitask properly, or at least stream the damned data to a user-defined buffer (I've got 128+ Megs of ram) in much the same way mp3 players on an 040 (or slower) system would work.

[TanZyr]

@Jope,

re: insults - That's ok. I ran out of civil sounding insults anyway. Glad you weren't taking it seriously. ;-)

re: copius amounts of floppies - The problem for me is that I've got quite a few custom compilation disks from groups like ESI, FBR, etc that have a LOT of stuff single-filed (usually using ISEPIC, but some others that aren't), and a bunch of archived email, stories, and various other writings from "the scene" and other places that even Textfiles.com doesn't have yet. Additionally, I've got quite a few disks full of stuff I typed in from Compute! and Compute!'s Gazette over the years. So I'd like to preserve those... unfortunately, a lot of the IEC stuff won't allow the transfer of non-PRG files (REL/USR/SEQ).

re: hardware interfaces - I apologize for misinterpreting you. I'm not at all against using d64's for emulation - in fact it makes better sense, but I wanted to point out that at least one package makes it more readily accessable. :-)

re: CBM Gear - I've got a ton of it here, also. Need to clear out some desk real-estate and set some of it up again. :-) I know a few people that've really hacked to pieces their 64's into towers, and are even using them over the 'net.

re: CatWeasel - Some may remember me griping about how I couldn't find a nice double-sided drive for use with my CatWeasel MkII S-Class. I still haven't, and I've got precious little time to cobble together a hacked circuit in the 5.25" drive I was using. Unfortunately, I've got a lot of "flippies", yet can't access the back-side of the disks. How's the CW-III working for you? Played with the SID yet?