Ah, thanks for the explanation.

Another happy pre-orderer raises his hand

By the latest news development of the device seems to be going very well, can't wait to get my hands on this: I had high hopes for SDHC compatibility and it seems to be already under construction, if G64/41 image support will become true aswell I can't really imagine much more features this gadget would lack anymore. However, I'd like to see more accurate description about upcoming REU mode in "+" model: Will it be configurable to emulate directly existing expansion units like 17xx or will it have some sort of own adressing system?

I believe it was the vic that caused additional problems (on top of what you describe) preventing the internal cpu from accessing the sram. Gideon should know more details as he tackled the problem. The big change is we needed more pins to do proper arbitration between sram, internal cpu, and expansion port.

_________________
Regards,
Erno

It is 100% compatible with 17xx. No own addressing mode.
The biggest incompatibility should be the capacity. But that will be configurable.

_________________
Regards,
Erno

So there is also the DMA controller implemented on the FPGA?

What about a possibility of using two computers - one to control the operation with the device plugged into its expansion port and another that actually uses it for disk operations and connects only via serial cable?

But did I read something about changing images and navigating directories being doable without any software on the computer but an "extended" DOS on the emulated drives?

_________________
Commodore 128 Programmer
City of Kouvola, Finland

http://mydarkgothvampiricplace.endofthe ... Commodore/

Ofcourse, all emulated hardware is contained by the FPGA.



That works fine.



The cartridge has an emulated 1541 drive. To insert disks in 'stand-alone'-mode there is a second drive interface. This is not an emulated drive but a simple IEC to SD card interface. It has it's pwn DOS. This DOS understands some special commands that allows you to 'mount' D64 files as a disk in the emulated 1541. Buttons can be used to mount the next or previous file in a directory. This is because you cannot use the IEC as a command interface when you are in a game that asks to insert the next disc.

A cartrige that simplifies basic commands is recommended (as build-in) since sending IEC commands stock basic requires quite some typing.

Hope this answers your questions.

_________________
Regards,
Erno

Ah. Cool! So I see some thought has been put into this product. I'm starting to understand the thing now. Thank you very much for explaining this. Still the price is quite high for me...

_________________
Commodore 128 Programmer
City of Kouvola, Finland

http://mydarkgothvampiricplace.endofthe ... Commodore/

No problem.

Currently we are in the progress of ironing out the last major bugs. Then the first version will be ready for release. We expect it to be ready the coming weeks. Sadly there are some software difficuties left. So the first version will definately not be the final for both the basic and the plus as we are not satisfied feature wise.

As for cost price; if the number of hours spent on this product should have been payed in salary the device should cost a fortune. The volume is too low to justify development costs. So this is almost a charitiy project as it is.

Even Jens said it will never take production out of our hands as it is just not feasable to make a profit on this complex design in these low volumes.

I've been able to use the device from the first prototype over a year now and I can assure you; once the last unit is sold these devices will be highly sought after by enthausiasts.

But no worries, wait for the new generation of FPGA's and we are bound to come up with some other crazy idea we might put up for sale

_________________
Regards,
Erno

you need this tool for the bug i works better than a iron

Thanks I got them last evening. Tonight I'll add features to the IEC/SD interface again. Got some nifty tools to do that?

_________________
Regards,
Erno

Maybe this one ?

Thanks. Two bugs remaining. Will get them sometime this week.
Check here!

_________________
Regards,
Erno

doppie1200, I just read Gideon's update on the site. Things are sounding promising. Just wanna thank you guys for all your work, you're putting into this.

Same here !!

Hehe, cool bug. Undocumented opcodes are called illegalz for a reason.