I just ordered a uIEC/SD

Post by **Jeff-20** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:45 pm

I need some general advice. I just ordered a uIEC/SD. I have not used SD memory before. I've been having trouble reading SM cards with my laptop unless I use a USB card reader.

Would this be a good item to get with my new uIEC/SD?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sandisk-8GB-Micro-S ... 1|294%3A50

It's on Ebay. Is this a decent price and a reliable item? My ultimate plan is an internal mounted unit such as Schema's mod. I need enough room for all my junk and all of the GB20 stuff.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:19 am

Jim would better answer the question whether the uIEC supports SDHC cards. If it does not, you are probably limited to 2 GB cards, which should cost you no more than $10 in the supermarket, probably far less than that.

Unseen · Post by **Unseen** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:33 am

carlsson wrote:Jim would better answer the question whether the uIEC supports SDHC cards.

It does.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:12 am

Great to hear. It struck me that Jeff's laptop or external card reader also needs to support SDHC in order to transfer any software to the uIEC interface. Perhaps the USB card reader will handle that.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:07 pm

I picked this auction because it comes with a USB reader. My desktop has no card reader at all, and my laptop has a card reader that doesn't seem to correctly read. I hope the USB reader will solve all of there problems.

Can files be sorted into folders or must everything be in a root directory?

Schema · Post by **Schema** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 3:52 pm

You can sort files into folders. I have GAMES, UTILS, DEMOS, etc. The games are in turn sorted into UNEXPANDED, 3K, 16K, etc.

And you can mix D64s in with PRG files, any way you wish. You just treat the D64s as folders.

You'll definitely want JiffyDOS or EasyLoad to make the folders easy to navigate, though.

Pedro Lambrini · Post by **Pedro Lambrini** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:27 pm

OK. This is going to sound stupid, I'm aware of this so please don't laugh but how do I load a file stored on the uIEC? I tried to LOAD"$",8 to get a list of files but it doesn't work - you probably all know that already!

So, how do I play games from this wee bugger?!

Unseen · Post by **Unseen** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:31 pm

Pedro Lambrini wrote:I tried to LOAD"$",8 to get a list of files but it doesn't work - you probably all know that already!

Maybe you can provide additional details, for example what result you got when you tried that command?

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:47 pm

Pedro Lambrini wrote:I tried to LOAD"$",8 to get a list of files but it doesn't work - you probably all know that already!

Try another device #. The uIEC doesn't ship configured as drive #8.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:58 pm

Schema wrote:You can sort files into folders. I have GAMES, UTILS, DEMOS, etc. The games are in turn sorted into UNEXPANDED, 3K, 16K, etc.

And you can mix D64s in with PRG files, any way you wish. You just treat the D64s as folders.

You'll definitely want JiffyDOS or EasyLoad to make the folders easy to navigate, though.

How would folders be managed on an unexpanded VIC? How would one navigate?

Also, if I wanted the entire know VIC library including every tape and type-in, what size SD card would I need?

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 1:42 am

My uIEC came preconfigured as device 10, which I quickly changed to 9 in order to access it with Action Replay.

Jeff: There is a special DOS command sent to the uIEC device called CD:

OPEN1,10,15,"CD:DIRECTORY":CLOSE1
OPEN1,10,15,"CD:IMAGE.D64":CLOSE1

If you have a DOS wedge you can just type @"CD:DIRECTORY", in quotes due to not mixing it with the @C file copy command.

After issuing a such command, the next $ or LOAD command takes place inside the folder. You use CD:<- to return to previous directory.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 2:20 am

I assume I need separate folders, right? The directory would need to fit into the 3.5k of memory, so each folder should be about the size of a disk in content? I couldn't just have a huge root directory. So, how would I just list the folders? Load $, 8?

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 4:23 am

Yes. You will get a directory listing where folders have the file type DIR instead of PRG.

How many directory entries can you fit in 3.5K of memory? If every entry takes up 20-25 bytes of memory, you should fit ~150 files per folder. I believe the maximum number of files on a real 1541 floppy disk is thereabouts or a bit lower.. can't be bothered to look it up right now.

PaulQ · Post by **PaulQ** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 5:26 am

Jeff-20 wrote:I assume I need separate folders, right? The directory would need to fit into the 3.5k of memory, so each folder should be about the size of a disk in content? I couldn't just have a huge root directory. So, how would I just list the folders? Load $, 8?

It defaults as device 10, so LOAD"$",10 will work.

Unseen · Post by **Unseen** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 5:43 am

carlsson wrote:If you have a DOS wedge you can just type @"CD:DIRECTORY", in quotes due to not mixing it with the @C file copy command.

Quoting CD should only be neccessary if you use a DOS wedge that thinks that it's smarter than you and tries to use its own file-copier when it sees @C - the Action Replay is the only one I know that does that.

How many directory entries can you fit in 3.5K of memory? If every entry takes up 20-25 bytes of memory, you should fit ~150 files per folder

Exactly 32 bytes in memory for each line, even header and footer. It's not optimal, but exactly what a real drive would generate.