c64 - its back and its badass!

[LoadWB]

Just another reason to hate microshaft... Can't even be a file server for a 20 year old c64 correctly!

Tons of others make it work... I don't think this is a Microsoft problem :razz:

[commodorejohn]

I guess I'm not 100% clear on what's going on here. The disk images having truncated filenames is just an annoyance, but if (as it sounds) the C64 isn't actually getting the full directory (when you LOAD "$") there's bigger issues at play. If VICE loads them properly, then I would assume something's screwy with either your cable or transfer software. It sounds like the transfer program is DOS software; have you tried A. running it from MS-DOS mode (i.e. rebooting into DOS rather than running it in a DOS box from Windows,) and B. double-checking the cable and any applicable port settings? (Is this a parallel-port cable? If so, check what parallel-port modes it's compatible with, and make sure your BIOS/controller supports and is set to a compatible mode.)

[Amiga_Nut]

Doesn't windows 98 only support LFN in certain situations? ie if a program is set to run in DOS mode then when you double click it from win98 it runs a full screen DOS window and shows the long filenames (and also loads a basic mouse drive too), as  opposed to dropping out of windows into DOS which can only show the truncated filenames? I know it works on the DOS shell program when run inside windows...can the software not be run from the DOS shell CLI whilst win98 is running?

[Duce]

Any reason why you are forcing yourself to use Windows 98?

Wouldn't have the issue if you were not using a 25 year old OS.

[Thorham]

Wouldn't have the issue if you were not using a 25 year old OS.

What does that have anything to do with it? You wouldn't have the issue if you were using Amiga OS 3.0, unless you set things up improperly, and that's probably what's going on here.

[smerf]

Hi,

@haywirepc,

Ok, I am confused here, how did you get Winblows 95 to run on a C64, I want to know how to do this magic trick since I have one, and that would really be great to see a c64 with 64k of memory running Winblows 95.

I really must be forgetting a lot in my old age, because this is one trick I would like to see. By the way, why do you call it a bread box 64?   Am I missing something here.

[LoadWB]

Doesn't windows 98 only support LFN in certain situations? ie if a program is set to run in DOS mode then when you double click it from win98 it runs a full screen DOS window and shows the long filenames (and also loads a basic mouse drive too), as  opposed to dropping out of windows into DOS which can only show the truncated filenames? I know it works on the DOS shell program when run inside windows...can the software not be run from the DOS shell CLI whilst win98 is running?

This.  If you restart in DOS mode, LFNs are not recognized.  So long as you're running the program from within Windows, LFNs are supported.

[koaftder]

OMG that was my windows 95 desktop... really. I remember being all groovy having the plus additions. That was science I think... I used it alot

lulz, I thought the same thing. I used the nature theme and my dad used the science theme on his pc.

[commodorejohn]

Any reason why you are forcing yourself to use Windows 98?

Wouldn't have the issue if you were not using a 25 year old OS.

Not entirely true. DOS software with no LFN support will have no LFN support no matter what version of Windows it's run on. As for 98, it's actually the last really good choice for esoteric hardware hacks like this cable; XP supports that kind of stuff better than 2000 did, but 98 is far and away the most liberal-minded modern-ish Windows for that purpose.

[haywirepc]

To be clear I'm not running windows on a c64 doh.

I'm using c64hdd as a virtual floppy of sorts or file server for the c64...
http://www.64hdd.com/64hdd.html

I have yet to get the lfn support working. Still using vice to view the contents of a disk image (The disk image contents won't display on the c64, just the first line for some reason, probably related to the lfn problem)

c64hdd is a dos program that won't run in winnt,2k,xp,vista,7,8 etc. I also happen to just be using a win98 machine for fast tracker II and dos games so I thought that would be okay...

If I can't get it working soon I'm just going to buy one of the cf card readers... that supports lfn... But I'd rather get this working since the windows 98 pc next to the c64 is here to stay. Have to try and recopy all my c64 disk images with the lfn tools... grrr...

[commodorejohn]

Hmm, okay. The LFN issue should not affect anything on the C64 end of things at all, unless you're using the program's option to mount a DOS filesystem directly as a virtual drive. If you're not doing that and only using disk images, there should be no reason the LFN issue would affect it, which leaves either the disk image, an issue with the program, or an issue with the hardware. The disk images ought to be good if they work in VICE, so we can probably rule that out. If you haven't already, try rebooting into DOS mode (either by pressing F5/F8 just when the BIOS starts booting Windows, or using a separate MS-DOS boot disk) and see if the program gives better results that way (a lot of hardware-hacky software really prefers vanilla DOS, and the C64HDD manual says it can be very timing-sensitive.) Also, as mentioned, check the parallel-port mode in the BIOS; it sounds like the program is more compatible with older parallel ports, so try setting it to SPP.

[Britelite]

If I can't get it working soon I'm just going to buy one of the cf card readers... that supports lfn... But I'd rather get this working since the windows 98 pc next to the c64 is here to stay. Have to try and recopy all my c64 disk images with the lfn tools... grrr...

The 64HDD is pretty outdated and doesn't work that well. Even if you get it to work, it won't cope with fast loaders used in some games and pretty much all multiload demos.

If you can afford it, I seriously recommend getting either a 1541-ultimate or Chameleon (both work as diskdrive-emulators with images on SD-cards). Both can fully emulate the 1541 diskdrive, and can even cope with fast loaders.

[commodorejohn]

Even just a 1581 + 1541 combo (or a single 1571, if you can get a 5.25" drive for your PC) would simplify things enormously.

[danwood]

Any reason why you are forcing yourself to use Windows 98?

Wouldn't have the issue if you were not using a 25 year old OS.

1998 = 25 years ago?... I think your maths are off a bit there.

But yeah, depending on the specs of the machine, upgrade it to 2000 or XP, they don't run on top of DOS so you shouldn't have the issue any more.

[commodorejohn]

No: they don't run on top of DOS, so you will have even more issues. I like 2000 and XP just fine, but they're not OSes you want to do anything DOS-based and hacky on - 2000 especially. They don't give DOS programs the relatively free reign that 95-98 do, and while that's not too big an issue for something like ZZT, it's a big problem for the kind of program that hacks up a CBM serial-port emulation by manually bit-banging a cable attached to the parallel port. Kids, do not try this at home.

[danwood]

No: they don't run on top of DOS, so you will have even more issues. I like 2000 and XP just fine, but they're not OSes you want to do anything DOS-based and hacky on - 2000 especially. They don't give DOS programs the relatively free reign that 95-98 do, and while that's not too big an issue for something like ZZT, it's a big problem for the kind of program that hacks up a CBM serial-port emulation by manually bit-banging a cable attached to the parallel port. Kids, do not try this at home.

Ah I stand corrected then.

I just use an X1541 cable hooked up to a 1541 floppy drive to write disk images, doesn't take long at all and works great.

You can get a 1541 for pennies on ebay these days.