TNT's Z-code interpreter, and FE3

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Diddl
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Post by Diddl »

TNT wrote:Is VIC-20 Block 0 ($0400 - $0fff) mapped to SRAM Bank 0 in SUPER RAM mode? Documentation says it's enabled but doesn't specify where it's mapped.
Yes, Blk-0 is alwyas mapped in Bank-0, so bank 0 is not fully usable cause 3KB appears double if bank 0 is selected.

But you can disable and write protect blk-0.

TNT wrote:edit: Second question - is there a way to get name of current directory or mounted disk image? I'm thinking of scenario where I might want to CD:<-, do something, then CD:back_to_previous_dir.
I have no idea if it is readable. The SD2IEC part of FE-3 is from Unseen. Will ask him.
Diddl
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Post by Diddl »

TNT wrote:edit: Second question - is there a way to get name of current directory or mounted disk image? I'm thinking of scenario where I might want to CD:<-, do something, then CD:back_to_previous_dir.
Unseen says no, firmware itself doesn't know it.
TNT
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Post by TNT »

sd2iec related: I didn't find a method to activate swap list disk changes with software. CD:_+ and CD:_- would be just fine for my purposes ;)
(_ denotes back arrow)

BTW: I had to reset FE3 before bootloader managed to load firmware from memory card. Maybe my SD card wasn't initialized fast enough? If this is a common problem it could be mentioned in sd2iec and/or FE3 docs.
Diddl
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Post by Diddl »

TNT wrote:sd2iec related: I didn't find a method to activate swap list disk changes with software. CD:_+ and CD:_- would be just fine for my purposes ;)
(_ denotes back arrow)

Will make a suggestion to Unseen ... :wink:

see here

TNT wrote:BTW: I had to reset FE3 before bootloader managed to load firmware from memory card. Maybe my SD card wasn't initialized fast enough? If this is a common problem it could be mentioned in sd2iec and/or FE3 docs.

No known problem.

If SD init is too slow you could find out this by pressing F3 for Diskloader delayed. My Firmware doesn't access SD2IEC after reset, only after pressing F3.
Unseen
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Post by Unseen »

TNT wrote:edit: Second question - is there a way to get name of current directory or mounted disk image?
No, the firmware only knows the cluster number of the current directory and only has a file handle for the current disk image. Storing their names would be a waste of memory.
I'm thinking of scenario where I might want to CD:<-, do something, then CD:back_to_previous_dir.
...and this is why I hate it when people just forward me partial feature requests: "cd -" or even pushd/popd functionality is possible without knowledge of the directory/file names involved.
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Post by Unseen »

TNT wrote:sd2iec related: I didn't find a method to activate swap list disk changes with software. CD:_+ and CD:_- would be just fine for my purposes ;)
Why?
Unseen
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Post by Unseen »

Diddl wrote:Will make a suggestion to Unseen ... :wink:
Thank you for wasting my time by making me answer the same question multiple times and by leaving out important details.
TNT
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Post by TNT »

Unseen wrote:
TNT wrote:sd2iec related: I didn't find a method to activate swap list disk changes with software. CD:_+ and CD:_- would be just fine for my purposes ;)
Why?
Beacuse Infocom games don't usually have enough space for save files on data disk, and I guess most FE3 owners have not installed disk change buttons.

There's no need to waste your time on this tho, I will use 1541U until I have found some small pushbuttons for FE3.
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Mike
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Post by Mike »

TNT wrote:Because Infocom games don't usually have enough space for save files on data disk, and I guess most FE3 owners have not installed disk change buttons.
Are you talking about 170K *.d64 images? Unless there's direct access involved, it should be possible to run the game from a *.d71 or even *.d81 image file, giving you 340K, or 800K to play with.

Or mount a subdirectory on the SD card, so then there's ~2 GB available. :P
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Post by Unseen »

TNT wrote:Beacuse Infocom games don't usually have enough space for save files on data disk, and I guess most FE3 owners have not installed disk change buttons.
The Infocom interpreter has a function to send arbitrary commands to the drive? I don't remember anything like that in the original manuals.
Mike wrote:Unless there's direct access involved
A few Infocom adventures were the first test case when I added the U1/U2 commands in sd2iec. The directory of those adventures just contains a small loader that uses direct sector access to load everything else.
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Post by carlsson »

TNT has written his own Z-machine interpreter which runs on PET, VIC-20 and so on.
Anders Carlsson

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Mike
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Post by Mike »

Unseen wrote:A few Infocom adventures were the first test case when I added the U1/U2 commands in sd2iec. The directory of those adventures just contains a small loader that uses direct sector access to load everything else.
Yuk. :shock: In that case, it can be tried to mirror the data into a CBM partition of 35 tracks on a *.d81 image.

I did that once with Space Rogue from Origin, and it worked. :)
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orion70
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Post by orion70 »

I'm VERY interested in this issue. I have a FE3 with no disk switch buttons, and I'd love to play those adventures on a real VIC :D .
To summarize: is it possible to put the interpreter/loader *.d64 and the story disk(s) *.d64 onto a single *.d81 image, and load the game without problems on a FE3? If so, how can I do it? Thanks in advance.
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orion70
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Post by orion70 »

UP! Anyone knows how to make Infocom adventures playable on a FE3, given that I have no disk switch buttons?
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Mike
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Post by Mike »

orion70 wrote:UP! Anyone knows how to make Infocom adventures playable on a FE3, given that I have no disk switch buttons?
PM sent. :)
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