Great video as always! Some addenda: 1:10 : MEGA65 will support D64 disk image files in the next system software update (v0.97). This is available for beta testing. 4:32 : The BitBinders dual drives are two independent drives in a single case, each with a separate unit number (8, 9, etc.). The vintage CBM 8050 uses the more obscure method of using a single unit number and two "drive numbers" (the concept elided from this video because these vintage drives are rare). 13:04 : Support for SD card sub-folders is a feature, but it is incomplete and has some counterintuitive limitations. For example, when you mount a disk image from a sub-folder, the mount will stop working the next time you use the Freezer. Also, you can't mount two disk images from separate sub-folders. I hope some day we will rework this feature with more complete intuitive behavior. 13:39 : I'm not aware of any limitation about going only one sub-folder level deep. You may be seeing a different counterintuitive limitation of our incomplete implementation. 19:04 : I don't think this was explicitly mentioned: to mount the internal floppy drive with the MOUNT command, enter the command with no arguments. (Just type MOUNT and press Return.) 22:39 : It's worth clarifying that the SD card "unit 12" only works with the few commands you demonstrate. It doesn't behave like a disk in every way. As shown, DLOAD, DIR, and CHDIR support the U12 argument, and MOUNT with a filename always reads the disk image from the SD card. None of the other disk commands work with U12. 26:08 : RUN accepts the "*" wildcard to load and run the first file on the disk. This is so useful that it is bound to a keyboard macro by default. Press Shift + Run/Stop to quickly execute RUN "*" . 27:23 : The BACKUP command only works with disk images and the internal floppy drive (two images, or one image and the internal floppy). It does not work with an external IEC drive. To copy a disk image to a floppy disk, put the disk in the internal drive, mount the internal drive to unit 8, mount the disk image to unit 9, then BACKUP U9 TO U8. (The internal floppy can only mount to unit 8, not unit 9.) Thanks for catching the error about the COPY command! You can download the latest PDF of the User's Guide at mega65.org/docs .
FYI - I use the COPY command to copy entire disks or directories to external hardware. ie. COPY U8 TO U9. Not really sure what the difference is with the BACKUP command.
Thanks for your kind comment and it's an interesting suggestion. That is, of course, up to the MEGA65 team. I'm still trying to determine how I want to update as new features become available. Maybe just my own retroCombs video appendices. Hmmm…still noodling on that one.
@@retroCombs A taped HD disk is said to be not as reliable as a real DD disk, although all the taped disks had worked for me just fine. I wouldn’t mind if a future firmware version would bring support for the HD format. The A4000 did have that. While a tape gets the job done just fine, I’ve thought that a 3D printed piece to fill the hole might be more elegant.
Well done, there are some commands that I haven't tested yet. Thx. I wish this video existed as my mega was delivered, took me 4 hrs to find out about the tape thingy with the floppy disk because of an old printed manual...😂
Keep in mind that the printed version will have a few things excluded/incorrect since the developers continue to modify features. Not sure the release for V3, but you may want to download the v2 version and wait for V3.
@@retroCombsWell, I already got the pdf version of the 2nd edition and have ordered the printed version of it. It’s still a huge improvement over the 1st.
You are always so generous! Thanks so much for your continued support and recognition of the hours it takes to create these tutorial videos. I love doing them and am just glad that folks find them helpful. On to chapter 7!
Got your vote and added it to my to do list. It will likely be awhile because I need to finish chapter 7 and the appendices of the user's guide series.
Another excellent video! Couple of question; 1) Is there a difference in the BACKUP command vs COPY? If you use COPY U8 to U9 it will copy an entire disk. I noticed you cannot copy from the SD to a real or virtual disk. I just get a DEVICE NOT PRESENT error. 2) One command not addressed is the DISK command. I found it very useful using external devices that support DOS commands like SD2IEC or CMD hardware.
BACKUP sends the Duplicate "D" command to the DOS. Only the "virtual" drive controller supports this, so it is limited to disk images and the internal floppy drive. Technically, a vintage dual drive like the 4040 also supports this; I don't know if this works successfully with a MEGA65. (I think I have one around here somewhere! I just haven't tested it yet. :) ) COPY issues the Copy "C" command to the DOS when duplicating a file on the same device. When copying a file between two devices, it uses a KERNAL routine to read to and write from a data buffer.
Dan took care of the BACKUP command (thanks, Dan!) and I do cover the DISK command briefly as you state. Check Appendix A for more info on the use of the DISK command. Thanks for the questions!
Doing some experiments with my MEGA65 using an external 1581 floppy drive, I've run into issue using the backup and copy commands. While attempting to backup a D81 image on my SD-CARD to the external floppy drive over the IEC connector, the resulting backup was corrupt. I also attempted to use the copy command to copy a file from the SD card to the external floppy and that also resulted in a corrupted file. This is even using the latest development core and system files. I believe there are still some known issues with IEC bus timing that may be to blame.
Agree, I too believe this is a known issue. Seems like I remember reading about some needed IEC development on the Discord. Did you share this in the Discord community? Thanks for sharing your experience with the IEC and original drives.
@@retroCombs The feedback I've received so far from a few members of the Discord is that some fixes are in the works. One of the fixes involved a dedicated circuit on the FPGA core that will handle the timing instead of doing it in software. The next fix is to update the ROM to use the new core circuit. I don't know how long it will be before this is available.
For this project it was important for them to ensure the exact formfactor of the original Commodore 64DX (65). It is possible to add USB but you don't really need it since you have two SD card slots.
Great video as always! Some addenda:
1:10 : MEGA65 will support D64 disk image files in the next system software update (v0.97). This is available for beta testing.
4:32 : The BitBinders dual drives are two independent drives in a single case, each with a separate unit number (8, 9, etc.). The vintage CBM 8050 uses the more obscure method of using a single unit number and two "drive numbers" (the concept elided from this video because these vintage drives are rare).
13:04 : Support for SD card sub-folders is a feature, but it is incomplete and has some counterintuitive limitations. For example, when you mount a disk image from a sub-folder, the mount will stop working the next time you use the Freezer. Also, you can't mount two disk images from separate sub-folders. I hope some day we will rework this feature with more complete intuitive behavior.
13:39 : I'm not aware of any limitation about going only one sub-folder level deep. You may be seeing a different counterintuitive limitation of our incomplete implementation.
19:04 : I don't think this was explicitly mentioned: to mount the internal floppy drive with the MOUNT command, enter the command with no arguments. (Just type MOUNT and press Return.)
22:39 : It's worth clarifying that the SD card "unit 12" only works with the few commands you demonstrate. It doesn't behave like a disk in every way. As shown, DLOAD, DIR, and CHDIR support the U12 argument, and MOUNT with a filename always reads the disk image from the SD card. None of the other disk commands work with U12.
26:08 : RUN accepts the "*" wildcard to load and run the first file on the disk. This is so useful that it is bound to a keyboard macro by default. Press Shift + Run/Stop to quickly execute RUN "*" .
27:23 : The BACKUP command only works with disk images and the internal floppy drive (two images, or one image and the internal floppy). It does not work with an external IEC drive. To copy a disk image to a floppy disk, put the disk in the internal drive, mount the internal drive to unit 8, mount the disk image to unit 9, then BACKUP U9 TO U8. (The internal floppy can only mount to unit 8, not unit 9.)
Thanks for catching the error about the COPY command! You can download the latest PDF of the User's Guide at mega65.org/docs .
FYI - I use the COPY command to copy entire disks or directories to external hardware. ie. COPY U8 TO U9. Not really sure what the difference is with the BACKUP command.
Awesome. Thanks for the additional information. Comment pinned for others.
@@retroCombs I'm looking for the D64 support - thx for your investigations, Dan!
.D64 support should be coming soon.
These videos are tremendous. There should be a link to them in the manual in the next printed edition.
Thanks for your kind comment and it's an interesting suggestion. That is, of course, up to the MEGA65 team. I'm still trying to determine how I want to update as new features become available. Maybe just my own retroCombs video appendices. Hmmm…still noodling on that one.
Another well done Mega65 vid! Nice work!
Thanks so much! Fun to put together. Looking forward to Chapter 7. Cool stuff in that chapter.
Excellent video. I had no idea about the HD versus DD disks. Great to know the trick to make HD disks work with the Mega65.
I'd forgotten about this tip for years, myself. One of the reasons I love creating these videos; bringing back some old memories
@@retroCombs A taped HD disk is said to be not as reliable as a real DD disk, although all the taped disks had worked for me just fine. I wouldn’t mind if a future firmware version would bring support for the HD format. The A4000 did have that. While a tape gets the job done just fine, I’ve thought that a 3D printed piece to fill the hole might be more elegant.
@@terosaarela4555 That has been my experience, on a IIC anyways.
Well done, there are some commands that I haven't tested yet. Thx. I wish this video existed as my mega was delivered, took me 4 hrs to find out about the tape thingy with the floppy disk because of an old printed manual...😂
So glad someone finds these valuable. I'm enjoying and leaning along the way myself.
Thanks for the video! Looking forward to receive the 2nd edition of the manual.
Keep in mind that the printed version will have a few things excluded/incorrect since the developers continue to modify features. Not sure the release for V3, but you may want to download the v2 version and wait for V3.
@@retroCombsWell, I already got the pdf version of the 2nd edition and have ordered the printed version of it. It’s still a huge improvement over the 1st.
Thanks!
You are always so generous! Thanks so much for your continued support and recognition of the hours it takes to create these tutorial videos. I love doing them and am just glad that folks find them helpful. On to chapter 7!
Yes, please do create a future video about autoboot.c65 files. Thank you!
Got your vote and added it to my to do list. It will likely be awhile because I need to finish chapter 7 and the appendices of the user's guide series.
Another excellent video! Couple of question; 1) Is there a difference in the BACKUP command vs COPY? If you use COPY U8 to U9 it will copy an entire disk. I noticed you cannot copy from the SD to a real or virtual disk. I just get a DEVICE NOT PRESENT error. 2) One command not addressed is the DISK command. I found it very useful using external devices that support DOS commands like SD2IEC or CMD hardware.
BACKUP sends the Duplicate "D" command to the DOS. Only the "virtual" drive controller supports this, so it is limited to disk images and the internal floppy drive. Technically, a vintage dual drive like the 4040 also supports this; I don't know if this works successfully with a MEGA65. (I think I have one around here somewhere! I just haven't tested it yet. :) )
COPY issues the Copy "C" command to the DOS when duplicating a file on the same device. When copying a file between two devices, it uses a KERNAL routine to read to and write from a data buffer.
Dan took care of the BACKUP command (thanks, Dan!) and I do cover the DISK command briefly as you state. Check Appendix A for more info on the use of the DISK command. Thanks for the questions!
Doing some experiments with my MEGA65 using an external 1581 floppy drive, I've run into issue using the backup and copy commands. While attempting to backup a D81 image on my SD-CARD to the external floppy drive over the IEC connector, the resulting backup was corrupt. I also attempted to use the copy command to copy a file from the SD card to the external floppy and that also resulted in a corrupted file. This is even using the latest development core and system files. I believe there are still some known issues with IEC bus timing that may be to blame.
Agree, I too believe this is a known issue. Seems like I remember reading about some needed IEC development on the Discord. Did you share this in the Discord community? Thanks for sharing your experience with the IEC and original drives.
@@retroCombs The feedback I've received so far from a few members of the Discord is that some fixes are in the works. One of the fixes involved a dedicated circuit on the FPGA core that will handle the timing instead of doing it in software. The next fix is to update the ROM to use the new core circuit. I don't know how long it will be before this is available.
@@aa7ae Hopefully this'll be completed in 2025. The hard part is mostly done, we just need to wire it up and test it thoroughly.
Why still use floppy disks that are unobtainable instead of using an SSD hard disk?
Is it possible to install USB ports?
For this project it was important for them to ensure the exact formfactor of the original Commodore 64DX (65). It is possible to add USB but you don't really need it since you have two SD card slots.