Spiro Trikaliotis has compiled OpenCBM 0.4.99.94 into an Windows binary alpha release. This release contains many of the most recent changes and features utilized on the ZoomFloppy USB drive interface. If you’re up for alpha releases, try this out and report your finding to the openCBM mailing list.
Tag: Software Development
uIEC_Man (GEOS Image Manager)
Werner Weicht has released uIEC_Man, a GEOS utility that supports mounting and unmounting different disk images while in GEOS. The utility works with GEOS, Wheels, and Megapatch V3. As Werner notes, users are highly encouraged to read the included manual before starting the utility.
GEOS Support for uIEC Bounty!
One of the most often requested features for uIEC is GEOS support. Given that uIEC emulates a Commodore Disk Drive at the protocol level, not at the hardware level, such support is harder than it sounds. Like many applications of the day, GEOS uses a custom disk drive transfer routine (commonly called a “speeder” or “fastloader”) called diskTurbo to make drive access times more manageable. Since the normal protocol is discarded in favor of a faster variant, successful emulation requires emulating the custom protocol. uIEC uses the sd2iec firmware, which has supported a handful of custom protocols for some time (including JiffyDOS), but does not currently support the GEOS custom protocol.
That may soon change, though. RedumLOA has created a site called “Commodore Bounty” that will allow interested individuals to fund project activities. The first bounty is for sd2iec GEOS support, which has been funded to over $750.00 at the time of this posting. If you are interested in seeing GEOS support on sd2iec and uIEC, please consider a donation.
JiffyDOS Licensing
As announced at the C4 EXPO, I am working with Mark Fellows (Highland IT Solutions) to finalize a licensing agreement for ‘JiffyDOS’ ROM Overlay manufacture and distribution. In addition to hardware ROM enhancement units, I will also offer image downloads for 1541 Ultimate, C64DTV, and emulator users, as well as an amnesty offering for unlicensed copies.
To minimize manual manufacturing processes inherent in the current EPROM-based JiffyDOS offerings, my goal is to utilize the ROM-el EEPROM/FLASH solution for JiffyDOS hardware offerings.