Super Snapshot Substitutes: EasyFlash 3 and SNAPPY2020
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- Опубликовано: 20 июн 2024
- We look at two modern equivalents to the classic Super Snapshot V5 utility cartridge: the excellent EasyFlash 3, and the SNAPPY2020 prototype.
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Buy the Prodigal Electric Eye reissue with NEW C64 Easter Egg: boonesoverstock.com/products/...
Buy EasyFlash 3: store.go4retro.com/easyflash-3/
CRT file format: ist.uwaterloo.ca/~schepers/for...
Follow Adrian Gonzalez (maker of SNAPPY2020): / adrianglz64
Action Replay Info & ROMs: rr.pokefinder.org/wiki/Action...
Super Snapshot Info & ROMs: rr.pokefinder.org/wiki/Super_...
Credits music is "53280" by Bedford Level Experiment: • 53280 (Commodore 64)
More music here: bedfordlevelexperiment.bandca...
Index:
0:00 Intro
1:29 Prodigal: Electric Eye vinyl reissue update
2:59 EasyFlash 3
4:40 Prince of Persia
6:32 Reset, AR & SS slots
8:16 EasyProg: Flashing the EF3
12:11 EF3 + REU + Turbo Macro Pro
15:05 SNAPPY2020 hardware tour
18:03 SNAPPY2020: Turbo Macro Pro
19:54 SNAPPY2020: REU
23:28 Thanks! 
Наука
Awesome that the album was re-released and has your work added. 👍
I would love to see Robin do a deep dive on the BackBit. It can store thousands of cartridge images and boot to any of them.
That Snappy cart looks pretty neat.
Yep, looking forward to that!
i'm very surprised you don't have a 1541 ultimate, it can play all of the easy flash releases and so much more
Yeah but it's 150EUR base price. Convert that to Canadian, and add on the crazy shipping fees these days, and you're looking at close to $300CAD.
The 1541 Ultimate/Ultimate 64 devices offer yet another way to run utility cartridge images on a real C64.
Eventually I'll get one of those!
Also doubles as REU and much more.
Turbo Chameleon 64 as well... though that solution is FPGA based.
@@NemanjaVuj I think it does not work on C128 :-(
Just bought the ultimate plus and it was worth every penny. It really does include every tool you could ever need for your c64
Another example of why this is my favorite channel -- keep 'em coming!
That's so cool, that you're named on the cover notes! Brilliant.
I had a super snapshot with my C64c back in the 80s/90s. Loved it. Dad sold it all and no hard feelings. He still has his Plus 4 though.
My Easy Flash 3 is on the way! Love your videos. Still working on getting my "new to me" C64 running.
CONGRATS on working on the new Electric Eye album! Soooo cool, Robin. Holy crap you ROCK. I'm holding my lighter in the air for you, brother. #C64Forever
Great video 👍! I would love to see a video about the superior features of the Super Snapshot and the strengths of the Action Replay you pointed out at 7:39 .
Great Video! Congrats for being mentioned on the vinyl cover, this is a cool recognition :)
Such super snapshot image would be very useful with 1541 Ultimate as well.
Cool. I didn't know the EF3 (I do have one) could be used that way. SNAPPY2020 is awesome. I will never get tired of all the wonderful retro computer add-ons that creative people are developing with modern tech - amazing. Thanks for another great lesson, Prof. H.
I've been running Super Snapshot on my Easy Flash 3 I bought from Jim for about a week now thanks to your recommendation on Twitter. (or maybe it was here on RUclips or Patreon, I don't recall :-) It works pretty well, definitely looking forward to the Snappy if it gets released.
It does happen to work on my particular 128 in 64 mode. The site says it's not officially supported, so your mileage will vary. Works very well on my Breadbin 64 for sure.
As always, I learn so much in your videos. Thanks for doing what you do! I'm off to eBay to find an REU.
And followed! Thank you for going over these cartridges :-) Looking forward to buying his snappy2020 when available! Plus you gave us bonus assembly to learn :-)
Congratulation for the vinyl! The Snappy2020 is awesome.
Great video as always 👍
_That EasyFlash 3 is one nice cartridge!_
_And I love the translucent colored case!_
Could you do a video about modern day alternatives for a REU (RAM Expansion Unit). Because I think they are very rare too...
It would be awesome for someone to lay out a PCB (PCBWay) and a nice DIY tutorial for a similar cartridge expander. It should be a simple build with only a few dollars in parts.
@@mgas1237 Well, if I'm not mistaken a REU contained a chip to do the copying to and fro. See: codebase64.org/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=base:csg8726techrefdoc-1.0.zip
@@meneerjansen00 Exactly, that's not a simple build with a only a few dollars in parts. Don't know where people get these odd ideas from.
Brilliant! I've been searching and searching for the Super Snapshot. At this point I'm starting to believe that this cartridge actually never existed. Good to see that there are some good alternatives.
Congrats on the album Robin, and thank you for this video! I’ve been trying to get a super snapshot from that guy from TPUG with no luck. I’ve ordered an easy flash!
That album rerelease thanks to your video is quite awesome thing. Who could have suspected that the love for the 8bit computers can resurect a forgotten music album on vinyl? Beautiful!
Best channel on RUclips! 🤗 Thank you Robin. 👍🏻
I remember there being an "option 8" Super Snapshot mod in circulation long ago (90s). You could load a small program into the RAM of the Super Snapshot cartridge, which would install as the eighth option on the freeze menu. It was fairly limited though and I recall making a "screen saver" that would poke 53280 and 53281 with the colours of your choice. Of course, the program is lost when the system is powered down.
Awesome content as usual! Best C64 content on RUclips.
I am a big fan of your clips. Kudos and best wishes
That re-issue is quite an achievement! Love your videos 👍🙏
You sure know your stuff - all these crazy technical details and whatnot. Meanwhile, when I saw "ROR $F000,X" I paused the video thinking "what voodoo is this?"... Very clever indeed. Quick non-random "random" numbers.
Great video! Super Snapshot was (and still is) a great cartridge.
So cool. Congratulations!
So you are DTV Robin , I never knew that , Awesome.
I was hoping to see that WiFi module on the Snappy2020 Demo'd. Nice work Adrian!
congratulations on being published on vinyl!
The snappy sure sounds like a useful and handy project.
Congratulations on the mention on that record, pretty cool.
I am interested in the disk routines the super snapshot uses. Specifically what the reason might be the super snapshot will fail to write a backup to disk when I use it on certain games.
That's just awesome to have your brand new C64 program pressed into vinyl for Commodore enthusiasts to rip to tape and load in through their Datasette just like in the good old days B-)
And that Prince of Persia game is really impressive with how well animated the character is. A lot of sprites went into that.
I've got EF3, 1541U+(batch4 with ethernet port), 1541U2 and U64E. Hands down best stuff are the 'ultimates', they do all this in a single format. No need for any cartridges with Ultimate64/Ultimate64Elite (these FPGA-based computers are simply amazing with HDMI-out, streaming capabilities via LAN and dual SID-sockets) and if you want to run on a real thing: 1541Ultimate (2+ is the latest version?) is the ultimately best solution for any C64. They are all quite expensive but the support and quality is 5/5.
Sure would be cool to put a Snappy 2020 cart or image on the Ultimate 64 wouldn't it?
Great video as usual Robin, I would like to add my voice to seeing you deep dive into BackBit. Anyway, question for you - I always get confused is Final Cartridge and Action Reply the same? If not can you put Action Replay and Final Cartridge into the Easyflash 3?
Never knew you worked on the C64 DTV. I bought 2 of them, first one came in the usual packaging, second one is in a large clear plastic box.
One of my favourite games, other than Pac Man, was Dig Dug. Interesting review of the Snapshot card. I still have one.
Love the SS5. When I first learned to program in Assembly on the C64, I used the SS5 if I recall to create programs. Good times.
Diggin the Snappy2020 and let us know when it is ready please. Any chance he might make a VIC II replacement after the Snappy?
built quite a few easy flash III’s, nice cart.
Good stuff!!!
Note that easy flash 3 doesn’t work with earlier breadbin boards. I learned the hard way! Double check compatibility before you order one.
I can really recommend the video _“How Prince of Persia Defeated Apple II's Memory Limitations”_ . Just google the title. It’s an amazing story. 😀 Jordan Mechner is a genius!
Yes I, on your reccomendation, just watched it and it is very good. Thanks
Peter Leswell I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🤗 All Ars Technica War Stories are good. 👍🏻
Dang, I want to buy Snappy2020. Followed on Twitter. Hopefully he drops it sometime this year.
Think about how few people in this world can say the words "A program I wrote is available on vinyl"!
Nice.
I would think the U2+ supports it as well. It has built in action and retro replay support. You can add in custom cartridges as well. I just use the fastloader on retro replay so I never need to hit the button and it has excellent compatibility so I just leave it on. The U2+ actually does REU as well up to 16MB. I've only ever used it for sam's journey and it can run both REU and RR at the same time. The button order is different though.
In C64 universe the Hello World program is the color border increment (or is it the pseudo random labrynth?); great in depth-review of those cartridges, they may look similar but offer plenty of different options each!
I like the solution from Adrian. If I had the real iron i'd be sold on that one. :)
Wow, that’s cool, cause a rerelease of the album, the group must be chuffed.
Love my SS5 although I haven't fired it up in decades :( A snappy cart might make me get my C128 unpacked, recapped, upgraded PS and working again.
I Vividly remember BEGGING my grandmother for the money to get a supersnapshot!!!
I really hope you can establish a relationship with RetroGames and guide their future development. You reviewed XC-Basic recently and I was really excited about it. I was thinking XC-Basic might be adapted to the C64 itself but even if not, getting retrogames to provide access to that within the emulator host system's OS would be an exceptionally awesome thing. Imagine connecting a USB ethernet device and being able to telnet/ssh into the system, doing the editing and compiling and pushing it into a disk image? It would be quite a development system there. Also on my wish list is "theC64C" and have them make it even more compact than the original. I really want to remove the keyboard from theC64 full size and have it moved into a 3D printed keyboard case and have a USB cable coming out of it. Then I can use a proper keyboard on my desk with far less bulk. So many things to wish for.
You can flash the easyflash with a forked firmware which supports final cartridge iii / plus, you don't even loose any other slots. Not to mention all the great easyflash releases including ultima 5 with with music
Super show.😀
Again great video! I am learning so much from all your videos! Awesome! 🙂
@8_Bit did you try to run this modified super snaphot rom with TMP on a TheC64? My TheC64 freezes when I try to start TMP with that crt-image.
Aha, that actually makes sense that TheC64 would have trouble with that new cartridge image, since a number of devices (including EasyFlash 3, Kung Fu Flash, and probably VICE emulator) had to be updated to handle it due to an old bug or oversight. The reason is that while the real Super Snapshot cartridge hardware has always supported the 128 KB ROM size, this is the first time it's actually been used by anything; those devices/emulators previously were only tested with 64K ROMs.
I'd suggest contacting TheC64 support and asking if they'll do a firmware upgrade to support 128K ROM support for Super Snapshot. There will be code examples of how to fix it in the Kung Fu Flash and VICE project repositories, I believe. It's a very small job once the problem is identified.
@@8_Bit seems like that bug is in VICE
@@8_Bit I did now. Let's see if they respond to that request.
That Prince of Persia looks really good on the c64... One of these days, I'll open up my easyflash cart and get started on that video...
It does, reminds me of Nosferatu from the SNES
Just wondering of you looked at the Back Bit cartridge?
Been watching your videos for a while now and love them. I apologize if you mentioned it in this or a previous video and I missed it, but what is the cartridge you’re using that lets you plug in multiple cartridges?
I believe 8BST is using a CMD EX3 to do multiple cartridges in this video. A newer version of this is avaliable from Jim Brain at go4retro called the 'Xpander3'.
@@jbevren Very cool, thanks!
Definitely interested in Snappy2020, was hoping someone would do a commodore compatible REU in an FPGA with all its performance benefits.
Hi Robin - Just found out the Ultimate 1541 can use a custom retro replay cartridge image wih TMP built in! No more loading it from disk.
Gary are you referring to the turbo action rom? Note that you can use it on the easy flash 3 as well. It contains the turbo assembler version which is scaled down from tmp. If you found another one with the real tmp let me know which one, I’m interested.
Also the problem I’m seeing with the sounddemon one is that switching to the monitor seems to zero out some of the memory which makes it hard to use for assembly programming. Ss5 or other speeder cardridges don’t have that problem.
Wow amazing times :-)
RE: the maze maker assembly code: Awesome! I was going to ask about that as well. But if you wouldn't mind, could you show us how to actually do random numbers from the RNG? I recall you did something using POKEs and I'll try to find that video again as I believe it should be easy enough to adapt that information into assembly language code. I want to make my own screen saver suite one day using techniques from pitfall harry and the maze maker and other things. I have already created a pretty elaborate maze maker in BASIC using randomly selected DATA blocks of "//\//\\\" strings to speed things along. The speed improvement is impressive though I imagine you could to a lot better than I have. (Here's an idea! I could provide you the BASIC code of my maze maker so you can see what I have it doing now and it would be awesome to see what you would do with it!)
Anyway! Keep this up! You're doing amazingly!
Great video. I just started programming in assembly and using TMP with REU. I have U64 and I am using latest Snappyrom version 5.34 which has support for Jiffydos. I have question though. Can Jiffydos cose some problems while developing with TMP in terms of using memory addresses that would otherwise be free with the normal kernel? Having Jiffydos is great for speeding up the disk drive.
The only article I've found describing memory use in JiffyDOS is from Transactor magazine, February 1989, page 72. You should be able to find it online. I'm not sure it's complete, but it's the best I've seen. I've never run into any troubles myself, but I'm sure it's possible to find some compatibility problems.
@@8_Bit Dear Robin, thank you so much. There is indeed the section about compatibility and RAM in the Transactor magazine on page 74. It confirms usage of the datassette memory locations (where there are few useful free bytes I think) and some other locations that are not usually used or pointed to. But now I am wondering if TMP overwrites something when compiling the code as the DOS wedges that were assigned to the function keys do not work anymore when I am back in BASIC. But if I type DOS wedges it works.
@@igork3522 I've noticed that TMP doesn't seem to exit to BASIC as cleanly as it should. Sometimes I just do a reset (either on my cartridge port expander, or C= key + Snapshot button) to clean up BASIC properly. Turbo Macro Pro survives that fine and can be re-entered with the usual SYS after.
Hi robin, could you make a video on how to use the reu files found on the net. All my thanks.
Could to provide a demonstration of how this UART/WiFi connection works? I haven't reviewed your entire collection of videos yet... takes time and I'm just getting started. So if you've already done this could you direct me to it? Otherwise, I'd like to get some impression of how it operates.
Hey Robin great video. I have a question. As a C128 owner I can not use the EF3 as it is not supported on my machine. Do you know if Snappy2020 will have this limitation as well? Thanks!
Snappy2020 should work 100% on C128, Adrian and another friend have been working on that. The C128 is more fussy about cartridges. I've heard a lot of people have had success with using EF3 on the C128, the thing that definitely doesn't work is the KERNAL replacement feature.
@@8_Bit my EF3 works on my 128, but basically only in 64 mode. You can hit "z" at the menu to bypass and boot the 128 in 128 mode without removing the cartridge.
What is the song during the "thanks" scroll?
Do you know a way to let the Super Snapshot cartridge (or any other one, really) stick in TheC64? So that you turn the device on in classic mode and the cartridge is already inserted?
Unfortunately I think you have to select it each time you power up, but if you arrange the contents of your USB stick so the SS .crt file is easy to access (even stick a zero at the front of the filename so it's at the beginning of the list), it's not too bad.
Does the Turbo Macro Pro run from ROM or does it use RAM id est is the area from $8000 to $a000 free for code or used by the assembler?
You should get the BackBit cartridge and try that out too.
Oooohhh, I want a snappy!!!!
Some guy made Prince of Persia for the Atari 8-bit and it's a disk loading game and it's pretty darn awesome!
is kernal a typo?
No that's how it was spelled by Commodore.
Well yes, but actually no.... haha
i dont quite understand the reu-banks : so RAM-Expasion-Banks 01-1F. The other banks mirror snapshot ROM ?
Please add me to the VIP list for the SNAPPY2020. :) Will that network adapter emulate a Swiftlink by any chance?
Just before this video I almost bought an EasyFlash 3. Since this video, I've been waiting for the Snappy2020 to be released. The thing is I can't even find a website for the Snappy2020. Is this thing abandoned already?
Adrian's still working on it; he's currently focused on the firmware. He makes occasional updates on Twitter, follow him there: twitter.com/adrianglz64
@@8_Bit There's still many of us who don't bother with twitter. He should really have some other more reliable contact method.
Please review Snappy 2020 when available
Final Cartridge III vs Super Snapshot 5 vs Action Replay, which is the best?
FC3
Ss5 has been reverse engineered. Search for super clone cartridge. Kicad files, and Gerber files and a BOM are freely downloadable. Available on GitHub - kalidomra
It's hard to get information on how to save the progress of a game with easy flash3 and an SD2IEC floppy drive emulator, I know that snap shot and action replay do that but how?
i don't consider "TheC64" as a modern version of the C64. it probably has its application but it is not a C64
3 years and still no Snappy2020. During this time I bought an IDE64, an EasyFlash 3 and now probably a Kung Fu Flash and yet still there is no update on the Snappy. Is Adrian ok? Is the project abandoned? Why not pass it on to someone else?
If you search online for "snappyrom" you'll find Adrian has released the ROM part of his work on github and it works very nicely on a Kung-Fu Flash which I've shown in a couple recent videos (in passing). I don't know what the fate of the hardware is yet, but at least we can enjoy his ROM upgrades.
but that super snap shot bin file said it was 259 bytes... unless i read it wrong...
Yeah, I didn't clarify that those totals were in Commodore's blocks, which are 254 bytes per block. If you viewed that same SD card on Windows/Mac you could see the exact byte count which should equal e.g. 32768 for a 32K file.
1:07 I spy a Wi-Fi antenna!
1:37 741,297, though it may draw a few more…
3:48 Can you actually swap C64 Kernals using the cartridge port? If you can, then why didn't CMD originally make a cartridge version of JiffyDOS? Because you need to swap the ROM chips in your drive anyway?
13:22 How many instructions worth of tickling do you need to do to the SID chip to get it to spit out random numbers?
13:50 $FFD2 is a relatively slow routine, whether called from BASIC or ML. How fast would things be if you sequentially ran a pointer from $0400 to $07E7 to print the next maze character and then looped over this without scrolling? Or used the REU to do the scrolling?
15:48 If you have a CPLD, could you turn this thing into a Super-CPU replacement?
15:51 That seems kind of bulky for 2 *MEGA*bytes of flash ROM, considering that you can now get 1 *TERA*byte of flash in a MicroSD form factor.
18:49 Is TMP limited to "only" 512KB?
21:41 What happens if you write to the flash ROM? Hopefully, it doesn't change it, since some software tests the amount of REU RAM by writing to each bank and looking for the first failed read or wrap-around to bank 0. 23:00 Good.
23:07 The CPU reads from these ROMs at 1-MB/s as well.
re: swapping the KERNAL with the cartridge port, I think that was a fairly recent innovation/discovery, and there's something so tricky about it that it won't work on the C128 so the feature is disabled.
re: random numbers on SID, I think it's 5 instructions to set the frequency to the maximum and gate the noise channel. If $FFD2 were eliminated and we started STAing directly to the screen it would be much faster, though I think we'd start bumping into the SID's limit of only producing a new number every 16-17 cycles so it might be necessary to artificially slow down a little.
It'd be great if this same hardware could be a SuperCPU replacement. I have no idea if that'd be doable, hopefully Adrian will answer.
Yes, TMP currently has a hard limit of 512KB. It's very rare that I use more than 2 64K banks with it, and I don't know of anybody complaining.
Man, I would love to buy an EasyFlash3, but with shipping and currency conversion, it's about $110 to get one here in Canada. I can't really justify that price for what it does.
The Kung-Fu Flash can also pretend to be a Super Snapshot and it might be a bit cheaper, but not way cheaper. I find both really useful.
I could not get a Super Snapshot v5.22 image to work on EasyFlash3 when used on a flat 128 in 64 mode. Quite frustrating, and I've shelved my efforts until a bigger chunk of time was available to pursue the problem.
There may be a firmware update available for EasyFlash3 that will fix the problem. Otherwise, it might be the timing on the C128 being a bit too far out of spec. The C128 more often has problems with compatibility with more complicated expansion hardware unfortunately.
@@8_Bit I figured it might be something beyond my ability to test. I just obtained a breadbin C64 yesterday and will be checking it over before powering it up and trying the EF3 in it. Can't beat having the real thing, lol.
@@8_Bit I now have a C64C and the Super Snapshot image does not work for it, either; I suspect that installed the wrong file. The one I have identified is 64k (Super_Snapshot_v5.22_1990_NTSC.bin). I've noticed that the Pi1541 does not play nicely with the EF3.
@@8_Bit and now I have accidentally erased the EF3 and cannot re-initialise it using EasyProg on the C64 using the proper CRT file from a Pi1541... I've ordered an SD2IEC from your friend, Jim Brain.
@@8_Bit OK. The breadbin C64 has some issues (keyboard intermittent) but the flat 64C is fine. Finally figured out how to get the EF3's System Area re-flashed using the Win11 PC __BIG BUT__ the EF3 had to be connected to my C128 in order to do so without weird errors. All CRT slots are refilled, plus three default Kernal images and two default Action Replay images. So at least I'm 99% of the way back where I started. However, no combination of hardware that includes a Pi1541 will allow the SS5.22 .bin image to work despite reporting a successful transfer/flash by EasyProg. Additionally, I cannot get a genuine SS5 cartridge to work with the Pi1541 connected.
Whats the title of the song I cant find it?
Hi, the song is called "53280" but it's not on the Bandcamp page yet, but there is a video here: ruclips.net/video/lHOxmXCSqAs/видео.html
@@8_Bit Awesome TY very much and Happy Holidays and a great New Year. That song is groovy love it got a peaceful easy listening feel to it.
I could kick myself now for selling it, but there IS a super snapshot v6. Has silver sticker instead of blue. Can't remember quite the difference, sprite and sound saver?
can you do a video on the commodore dtv please, and whats extra on it, thanks john duncan-wells
I am looking forward to that cartridge it looks like it will be super cool. Someone also cloned the Super Snapshot board and released it on GitHub. I built one up but have to troubleshoot it because it is not working. github.com/Kalidomra/SuperClone-5.0
What about Kung Fu Flash ?
int SETSEED(int VALUE)
{
SEED=VALUE;
return((int)(0));
}
int RAND(void)
{
return((SEED*1103515245)+12345);
}
Here’s some feedback:
I used to watch your videos quite often and followed your channel. Mostly I put them on at night and fell asleep just to continue watching the next night. Still a subscriber. But I stopped watching because of all the adds in between. They make me wake up and destroy the mood that your warm voice adds to the videos. Just for you to know. All the best.
RUclips Premium is available so you can have an ad-free RUclips and us creators still get paid. I'm deliberately turning down some contracting work so I have enough time to make these videos. I enjoy making them, but have a family to support, and only so much time. Thanks for the feedback.
@@8_Bit I see and understand. Well, I already pay for Amazon, Netflix and all these guys. RUclips isn’t so much worth to me to pay for it, too. Although I like your videos and others‘. Good luck, Robin. Wish you many patreons and fans. You’re doing a great job. 👍
I've been posting a bit more on my 2nd channel which is currently unmonetized, for what it's worth. Another ~30 minute video will go up tomorrow. ruclips.net/channel/UCAgWzEh5c8391eJnELDy9OA
@@8_Bit Thank you, Robin!