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Commodore B Series SID Jukebox? | by Bill Degnan - 03/05/2016 08:11 |
Commdoore B-128 reading off a uIEC SD card disk drive. Ah modern conveniences. Click for larger image.
Directory listing of the SD card in the uIEC drive. These are files I use with my C-64, they are not compatible to run on the B-128, but the point was to make the connection. I was able to load and run 10TO8.PRG which re-assigns the drive number.
This thread will document my efforts to turn a Commodore B-128 into a SID jukebox. The B-128 has a SID chip just like the C-64 with the big difference being that it can run it 2x the speed, like a built-in SuperCPU. Step 1 SID Mass Storage: Today I got my B-128 to talk to a uIEC SD drive. Not sure if anyone has done this before using the Anderson Fast Bus. The docs say that it only works with a 1571 or 1581, but I guess the uIEC is compatible enough for the Fast Bus to access the drive and at run programs from it. This will allow me to store a lot of SID files! Plus, now I can work on the jukebox programming on my modern PC and transfer to the B-128 for execution vIA SD card. Without this I would be required to either write the software on the B-128 itself, or add a bunch of in-between steps to copy programming files to the IEEE bus using the Zoom Floppy. For mass storage I still will use the D9090 hard drive but they're a sketchy piece of hardware, even when new. For more info see Steve Gray's page about http://www.6502.org/users/sjgray/computer/cbm2/. Unfortunately the link he provides to Michau's CBM-II.COM site is dead, supposedly Michau was able to get the uIEC to work, or something like it. The Anderson Fast Bus System is documented here. NEXT, find a good SID file music player for the C64 and edit it to use the B-128 memory map. If possible find a player that is compatible with the SuperCPU. Reply |