VICMIDI release date?

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Schema
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Re: VICMIDI release date?

Post by Schema »

alterus wrote:Ok, so I ran the vicmidi.prg and it just gives a READY....
Is it supposed to do something more?
Load it with ,8,1 and then SYS64802 to start it.

It's written as an autostart cartridge image.
alterus
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Re: VICMIDI release date?

Post by alterus »

OK. so there are two files, vicmidi and vicmidi.prg. I loaded the 20 block .prg file and then entered sys64802. it just reset the computer. what am I missing?
brain
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Re: VICMIDI release date?

Post by brain »

load and run vicmidi (change the device number in the basic app from 10 to 8 or 9 if needed)

It will load and run vicmidi.prg

Schema's advice is almost complete. By default, no ram is enabled, so you have to add some RAM to BLK5 before loading the app into BLK5. The vicmidi BASIC program illustrates this. (Schema's test unit had RAM always enabled, production units boot up disabled except for BLK5 ROM active)

JIm
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Re: VICMIDI release date?

Post by brain »

R'zo wrote: I had more time to mess around. The keyboard action is smooth and quick. Channels 1-4 work beautifully. All other channels don't seem to be functioning. I am using a cheap casio keyboard that I bought at target over 6 years ago so it could possibly be the fault of my equipment. When I switch between channels with everything on I get a lot of noise and have to reset the vic and reload vicmidi. If I try to control the vic midi with a sequencer I get a lot of noise as well.

It is wonderful to finally get to hook a keyboard up to my vic and go to town. I have been having a lot of fun with this and can't wait to see what kind of programs people are going to come up with for this. I also can't wait until I can find the time to mess around with programming for it myself.

It would be nice if you could control the volume and bank settings via the vics keyboard. The controls on my usb board are pretty stripped down.
I'd peruse the docs on the git repo:

https://github.com/LeifBloomquist/VICMI ... ICMIDI.doc

volume control is there, not sure about bank.
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Re: VICMIDI release date?

Post by elwee »

I accordance with Jim, I created a first draft for the VICMIDI cart label. First idea is to keep it in the style of application carts from C=. Game cart style is of also possible maybe later.
Due to strange things going on here with the forum frontend I cannot upload the pic into this thread.
So for the time being, it's hosted on postimg:

[outdated]

Your thoughts?
Last edited by elwee on Fri Apr 08, 2016 1:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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ral-clan
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Re: VICMIDI release date?

Post by ral-clan »

R'zo wrote:I had more time to mess around. The keyboard action is smooth and quick. Channels 1-4 work beautifully. All other channels don't seem to be functioning. I am using a cheap casio keyboard that I bought at target over 6 years ago so it could possibly be the fault of my equipment..
Are you using an old MT-260? I just picked one up from a thrift store and the docs say it only transmits and receives channels 1 to 4.
Image Music I've made with 1980s electronics, synths and other retro-instruments: http://theovoids.bandcamp.com
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Schema
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Re: VICMIDI release date?

Post by Schema »

Got mine yesterday!

I've created a dedicated VIC-MIDI forum if folks want to make use of it. That way can create multiple threads for different aspects without having to do so on Denial (the single thread is kind of limiting).

http://forum.jammingsignal.com/board/5/vicmidi
alterus
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Re: VICMIDI release date?

Post by alterus »

Ok, so I was able to get the vicmidi program to run.. Just to be explicit, both the vicmidi and vicmidi.prg are "prg" files. I used Dirmaster to put them on the same d64 image. On the disk they are named "vicmidi" and "vicmidi.prg", both prg files.

So my next question is how do we use the Utilimen part of the cart? How do we enable ram? It appears to be very powerful hardware, but I have no idea how to use it or get it setup. Please provide some detailed instructions for making this work... Thanks!
alterus
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Re: VICMIDI release date?

Post by alterus »

elwee wrote:I accordance with Jim, I created a first draft for the VICMIDI cart label. First idea is to keep it in the style of application carts from C=. Game cart style is of also possible maybe later.
Due to strange things going on here with the forum frontend I cannot upload the pic into this thread.
So for the time being, it's hosted on postimg:

http://postimg.org/image/uljofbfor/

Your thoughts?
I really like this label! I'll see about scavenging an old cart from a duplicate game I have and cut it for the VICMIDI.
brain
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Re: VICMIDI release date?

Post by brain »

alterus wrote:Ok, so I was able to get the vicmidi program to run.. Just to be explicit, both the vicmidi and vicmidi.prg are "prg" files. I used Dirmaster to put them on the same d64 image. On the disk they are named "vicmidi" and "vicmidi.prg", both prg files.

So my next question is how do we use the Utilimen part of the cart? How do we enable ram? It appears to be very powerful hardware, but I have no idea how to use it or get it setup. Please provide some detailed instructions for making this work... Thanks!
From the forum and elsewhere on this forum:

VIC-MIDI supports the UltiMem VIC-20 memory expansion system. In the default setup, VIC-MIDI sports 512kB of FLASH ROM and 128kB of RAM. Memory is broken into 8kB blocks and can be set to appear in any expansion location in the VIC-20. Those areas are:

RAM1,2,3
BLK1
BLK2
BLK3
BLK5
IO2
IO3


One can place either RAM or ROM at any of these areas, and RAM can be read/write or read/only. There are a few constraints:


RAM1,2,3 can only be enabled/disabled/configured as 1 group of locations. If you want RAM at RAM1, you'll get it at RAM2 and 3 as well
IO2/3 can be independently enabled/disabled, but must map to the same area of memory. If you have RAM at IO2 and IO3, they will both map to the same RAM bank in UltiMem
Memory is mapped on 8kB boundaries at all times. Thus, if memory is mapped to RAM1,2,3 or IO2,IO3, the first memory location stored in UltiMem memory will be at the 8kB based offset of the VIC-20 memory location. For example. If IO2 ($9800) is mapped to a RAM bank, a write to $9800 will be stored at offset $1800 in the RAM bank. Normally, this is of no interest, unless you move the RAM bank. If you store data in a bank of data mapped to $9800 and then map it to BLK1 ($2000), the data will be read from $3800 ($2000 base address + $1800). You can use this to your advantage by mapping RAM1,2,3 and IO2/3 to the same bank of RAM or ROM, as none of them overlap within the 8kB address space ($0400), ($0800), ($0c00), ($1800), ($1c00)
registers are located in the top 16 bytes of IO3 ($9ff0-$9fff). Normally, these registers will prevent storage of data or reading of data from $9ff0-$9fff.
However, the registers can be hidden, which will make the memory under these locations appear.
Registers are defined as:
Register 0 (control). bit 7 = hide registers, bit 6= soft reset, bit 2 = switch 1, bit 1 = switch 0, bit 0 = LED
Register 1 (MEMCTRL1): bit 0-1 = RAM1,2,3 config, bit 2-3 = IO2 config, but 4-5 = IO3 config
Register 2 (MEMCTRL2): bit0-1 = BLK1 config, etc.
Register 3 (ID): $11 for VIC-MIDI
Register 4-5: Low/High bank register for RAM1,2,3
Register 6-7: Low/High bank register for IO2/3
Register 8-9: Low/High bank register for BLK1
Register a-b: Low/High bank register for BLK2
Register c-d: Low/High bank register for BLK3
Register e-f: Low/High bank register for BLK5

MEMCTRL bits are: 00 = off, 01 = R/O RAM, 10 = ROM, 11 = R/W RAM

The LED and switches are for user usage.
On boot, BLK5 is set to ROM bank 0. All other banks are disabled

On boot and reset, holding down switch0 will disable BLK5

On reset, bank registers are set to the following values (RAM = 1, IO = 2, BLK1 = 3, BLK2= 4, BLK3 = 5, BLK5 = 0). This is done to ensure that BLK5 will point to the first bank of memory, and that if someone turn on all RAM, the banks will not collide.

After hiding the registers, one can re-enable them by reading $9f55,$9faa, and then $9f01.

Thus, to check for Ultimem capability, one should read from the 3 locations, and then read $9ff3 and check for $11 or $12 (Ultimem versions).

Do not assume RAM is 128kB. Perform a RAM test

Do not assume FLASH ROM is a AM29F040B nor that it is 512kB. FLASH ROM ICs can be queried for size and capabilities.


Jim
alterus
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Re: VICMIDI release date?

Post by alterus »

Thanks for all that info. I'm still not clear how to enable ram though.. Do I need to poke or peek in Vic20 basic to enable, say 32kb or ram? I don't understand how we are supposed to use the thing...

brain wrote: If you want some games/utils on the unit:

downloads flash4file and flash.bin

load and run flash4file and it will store some apps in the flash (not the VICMIDI app, though, need to fix that)

Jim
How do we use these two files? Do we need to setup up something on the VICMIDI first? I put flash4file and flash.bin on a d81 image and ran flash4file and it didn't work.

Thanks for you help.
brain
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Re: VICMIDI release date?

Post by brain »

alterus wrote:Thanks for all that info. I'm still not clear how to enable ram though.. Do I need to poke or peek in Vic20 basic to enable, say 32kb or ram? I don't understand how we are supposed to use the thing...
To enable RAM, you have to decide what RAM to enable, and then set the soft switches.

$9ff1 and $9ff2 are the settings (register 1 and 2): 40945 and 40946

You need to figure out which areas you want RAM to be in, but to turn all RAM on:

poke 40945,63:poke 40946,255

To get BASIC to "see" the ram, follow that up with:

poke 40944,64 (which will perform a reset)
brain wrote: If you want some games/utils on the unit:

downloads flash4file and flash.bin

load and run flash4file and it will store some apps in the flash (not the VICMIDI app, though, need to fix that)

Jim
How do we use these two files? Do we need to setup up something on the VICMIDI first? I put flash4file and flash.bin on a d81 image and ran flash4file and it didn't work.

Thanks for you help.
Rename flash.bin to ultimem.bin and try it. I have both on my sd card and it looks the file needs to be called ultimem.bin

Jim


Jim
alterus
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Re: VICMIDI release date?

Post by alterus »

I was able to get it the menu and games installed by renaming flash.bin to ultimem.bin. Is there information available about how to create our own .bin files with our own selection of games and utils?

It terms of activating the ram, I entered:

"poke 40945,63:poke 40946,255"

then return. This then gives "Ready" I then entered:

"poke 40944,64"

then return. This then gives "Ready" but doesn't reset the machine and the stated ram stays the same. Is this hows its supposed to work? This is my first time using a ram expansion of this type. It would be nice, to have instructions for enabling the different ram values, 3k,8k,16k etc. Also, how do we set the ram so that the Vic20 boots with the expansion enabled?
brain
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Re: VICMIDI release date?

Post by brain »

My apologies. You are correct, I need to finish the manual, but I was in a rush to get the unit out for the few folks who were clamoring for the VIC MIDI part. Thus, you'll have to be patient.

The two switches on the left are enable switches. The one farthest away is the UART enable, while the one closer is the memory enable. Make sure both are pushed as far away from the VIC-20 as possible.

Then, try the pokes again. I just tested them, and they did indeed reset the machine.

However, when you load the menu, pressing run-stop on boot will bring up stock machine, 3 adds 3kB expansion, and 8 does all (not sure how to do just 8kB expansion, I'll check with Marko)

I'll try to upload docs on how to create your own program files.

I am hopeful someone will take the basic menu and expand on it.

Jim
alterus
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Re: VICMIDI release date?

Post by alterus »

Thanks Jim, Now I got it to work! One small thing to add, you can also press the right most user button and reset to bring up the normal unexpanded Vic..

So next question. I want to play VicDoom. It requires 3k+32K. How can I set this up?

Thanks!
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