Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Hi there,
Some weeks ago I „discovered“ the C16/+4 for myself which ultimately led to my first post here.
I’ve spent some time on a fun project which resulted in the Sidekick64 which is an interface for the expansion port of the C64/128 (don’t stop reading yet ) to run a software-define cartridge running on an Raspberry Pi 3. It provides a menu + file browser (to start .PRGs), can emulate, for example, Kernal replacements, a GeoRAM memory expansion, a freezer or Easyflash cartridge, or run a (Dual-)SID plus FM (like the SFX sound expander) emulation.
Recently I extended it to work with a C16/+4 via a simple passive adapter (thus Sidekick264) bringing some of the functionality to those machines: menu/browser PRG launcher, C1lo/high carts, dual-SID emulation ($fd40 and $fe80, also both simultaneously), FM emulation at $fde2, and a GeoRAM-like memory expansion (of course without any software support, window at $fe00-fe7f and registers at $fde8-fdea). For all of these I included some example programs.
Probably much more is possible, but nothing tested intensively. That’s why I’d like to hear what you think. The git-repo can be found here: github.com/frntc/Sidekick64
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Hi frenetic,
I am not so firm on the hardware topic. But however that memory expansion using $fe00 to $fe7f as "ramdrive" may at least have some ( novel ) software supporting it later on this year, or perhaps somewhen within the next year. Nice to hear that you took that oportunity to do a Plus/4 version of your great project! But :( someone (or me, or perhaps Gaia notices this topic) has to extend Yape to support this novel feature, yet..
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge A ram drive was the first use case I had in mind. There is enthusi's NeoRAM-Drive with source, but I think I won't be able to port it to a C16/+4 myself. (there's also a C128 port, so it seems doable)
Having the Sidekick264 ram expansion in Yape would be the highest accolade of course Implementing this feature should be quite simple. I don't know Yape's architecture, but looking at Vice's GeoRAM emulation this is not complicated. In fact you can directly look up all that's needed to be done in the Sidekick source (file: kernel_ramlaunch264.cpp, line 239-264).
If there are better ways of providing the RAM expansion, I'm open to ideas. It's all software defined after all
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Frenetic if you have a working setup with this $80 memory expansion later.. We may try to adapt our current project to it.. But we would've to count on you for testing it with that setup.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Could it be that Mad meant that $80 byte wide memory expansion window that your card pages into the $FE00..$FE7F range?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Well, yes. That's why I wrote expansion window. Capacity obviously should be much larger than that 128 bytes.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Frenetic I first used the term ram drive, which was obviously wrong, it just meant your memory expansion. Sorry for making the same mistake again with the $80 memory expansion term. I am from the "user / coder side" of that. I just see that you built a memory expansion and want to use it.. Dunno if that is possible, perhaps it's best to ask Gaia, the one and only master of Yape, to implement it into Yape, so we wouldn't have this "wrong" communication stuff in between.. But our own projects have some time.. So yeah nice project you do!! Very much appreciated! I am not so much on the "every word must be correct" side of life, sorry, hope that is not a big problem.. Btw... we use the Euro here in Germany, not the Dollar.. So it would be an 80 Euro (€80) device I was referring to :D .. Also my mistake :D..
@Off Btw.. Currently were using an optional Hannes memory expansion "mode" for our project.. Later on there could be a memory expansion only project in the next years, just to show what's possible if you do have some more than the usual 64k memory. Perhaps your "expansion" would be around then, too..
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Sorry to not react to this topic earlier, as the whole project sounds great and very very exciting.
I had some nice impressions about few projects baced on PI beforehand (like 1541 emulator), this level of integration and communication is beyond my imagination. Once I saw a YT video about a BBC Micro using the PI as a cooprocessor, I though wow, but the BBC Micro had such a cooprocessor slot by default.
C='s Sound Expander FM card emulation is especially a sweet spot for me. Yamaha FM chipset has low added value for a C64 (and customers really did not understand why C= released it--> very few sold), but it could have been a great add-on by Commodore to one of the most critised part of the 264 (sound). Now check out the color of the FM cartridge (black, together with the IEEE interface and digitizer) and the Ext.Audio pin on the 264 expansion port: I mean the 264 project team could originally seems to have an idea to use an external audio card... (I suppose after the failure of the 264 series on the market all HW and SW projects quickly stopped to prevent further losses for Commodore).
The SW realized SIDs (especially dual SID) is a great idea, especially at the times SID chips started to cost my kidney
The flexibility of the project sounds great.
Using it as an external cooprocessor? Wow. I saw George's fantastic 3D routine, and the main blocking point was the slow floating point 5 byte arithmetic of the 8501. The 8087 FPU of the 8086 made the 3D rendering 5x gfster, and even the 8086 was not so bad. Imagine a much faster gfx, or even able to do most of the tricks inat the border, like SW-sprite. Such an external FPU/GPU like expansion unit could make all the 264 gfx shine.
Ideas? -Maybe mapping the PC mouse to the Plus/4? Could be mapped as an 1351 mouse, same address as NST's SID card using. Although I was thinking a little on that (how to optimize BSZGG's code) and maybe 1 byte precision for the X coordinates could be enough for the 264 series (160 positions), it would be 1 pixel step in multicolor, and 2 pixel step in HIRES. Actually the RS232 mouse is available only for the +4 only due to user port, while this card would make the mouse more available (not only for +4), not to mention the current price of the 1351 mouse (but real RS232 mouses became really expensive too). I remember how easy was to work with PC Norton Commander when used the character screen mouse, or programming with Plus4emu.
Few comments: The GeoRAM was a cheaper method to provide big enough memory for GEOS users without the extra price or REU. Yes, with NeoRAM it could be extended to 2MB, that sounds great. On the other hand, GeoRAM told to be a kind of slower approach without MMU, and the small 256 bytes long blocks seems to be a little weird for me, though it is told to be easy to program. http://www.cbmhardware.de/show.php?r=1&id=4/Georam
Does it have any benefits VS the Hannes RAM expansion unit?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge MMS yeah the same view here. About that Hannes stuff.. A "sliding" window (128 byte or 256 byte) has advantages over the Hannes mode. With Hannes you only have the lower 16k (or 4k) for shared usage. Which is some pain to code. For instance if you switch the 64k page, you also switch the interrupt vectors and the displayed image since the TED gets other bitmap data. Actually that 128 / 256 byte stuff is exactly what you want as a coder.. A 16k window like the Csory expansion provides is also cool, but Csory's one seems not widely supported.
With that 16k Csory you could switch the video ram on every scanline to do some cool effects.. I think there are movie players out there who just feed the TED with different data per scanline, but with the Hannes 64k(48k) window that is almost not possible, though..
I have to say that I am really happy with that small "sliding" window stuff! Now have to look on how to support it..
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @Plus4World.. Since the SIDCard also may be a candidate for support.. Does anyone know a musician for very tiny SID tunes and a tiny Player for that? Or perhaps someone knows a musician who can produce tiny SID tunes in whatever way? Everyone knows these full blown SID tunes, but sadly we have no memory budget for that.. I am happy with TED only if that SID stuff is not possible with our budget..
edit: $0d80 for music and player together.. Dunno if that is possible.. edit2: just looked at an older game seems the tunes (with player) took around $0900 so yeah perhaps $0d80 is already a good portion of memory? Can't remember that..
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @Mad: with bit 6 of the Hannes RAM expansion control register you can tell TED to always use the default memory bank.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Mad wote: Does anyone know a musician for very tiny SID tunes and a tiny Player for that? ...
The participants of the two Tiny SID compos (see https://csdb.dk/event/?id=850 and https://csdb.dk/event/?id=1004) most certainly are capable of making size limited SID tunes. I do remember Empty (512 bytes) by 4-Mat to be quite nice. The question is whether any of them could be convinced to help out with you project or not?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge siz pm sent! (I tried that with no luck some months ago, if I remember right.. I only use Yape to test it here.. It's not critical but would be a help for later projects..)
gerliczer Yeah I think that seems to be the real problem! Find people to offer their spare time for some Plus/4 projects.. Seems I have to cut this idea! :)
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Actually if you allow it, those musics could be released on the CSDB, as the SID music is definitely a C64 platform, and need to be converted to be SID card compatible. So from that point onwards it is not a Plus/4 only project, but their own release.
gerliczer: those chiptunes are pretty nice! Thanks for the links! Just running in the background. XL5 is really TED-ish
my 2 Cents (not being a programmer or musician ): PS OFF1: If you need a professional music for a start-screen with few moving parts/effects, and you have a specific sound in your mind to create the atmosphere, there is the option to use Digital Composing kit, using samples. Supposely you know it is from Prieth, Christian (Apos). It supports the 8bit output of the SID Digiblaster. Last, but not least: Made in Germany In his demos his musics requires huge memory (speech, etc), but you can use mini chiptune samples, could be created as a simple waveform, or rip from mini chiptune MOD. Or may digitize sound from my MiniMoog VST (very cool analoge sound) As I see, it is easier to create a music in this way, than with SID editors. These mini chiptune MODs typically take with the mini samples 10-30KB. yeah it is bigger than 1-1.5KB, but I think for a started screen it could be OK. (Secret gardens.mod is my fav (18KB) )
PS OFF2: did you know that VLC media player is a really capable SID-player? I was kind of shocked...
PS ON: Yamaha FM could be one of the dream come true, though it told really hard to program, harder than SID.
IDEA: The Digiblaster address is so-calle standard, and supported with emulators. Few Demo supports it too. So could be a standard feature? What is your vote? Ok, it is only 1 channel 8 bit sound, but eh, still better than the 5.5 bits we have, and need less transformation to send a pure 8 bit sample to an 8 bit D/A channel, than to use converter tables. Not to mention, that the original and legendary Soundblaster 2.0 also had this amount of 8 bit digital channel (1x), and it produced epic sounding games, like Dune2 "Dune, the land of sand..." :-)
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @MMS yeah cool ideas! Perhaps that digiblaster stuff may be add to the sidekick cartridge? About music, also cool ideas.. Let's see what this will bring..
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Adding digiblaster support should be trivial... I wasn't aware that there is actually support. Do you have some links to prods which use it? Then I can give it a try...
Regarding using a PC mouse: the problem is not mapping it to the SID cards addresses. The problem currently is that the USB communication on the Raspberry Pi requires interrupts and these mess with the FIQ (fast interrupts) for the communication with the C16/+4. I read that there is only one (or two) programs on the +4 with mouse support, is that correct?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Frenetic: thank you for your great support. It really contributes to the scene
Apos had some nice releases supporting the Digiblaster. Great coder. He told 2/3 of the rastertime took by the the digi/MOD player. Could be no prob with an external cooproc..... :-D
Sorry for my English. I need inner disinfectifaction by vodka to prevent corona, next to vitamin D and C and I listen to Slipknot, does not help either
UPDATE mouse support: As there is no native method in +4 for mouse support, no programs created When the SID card created, there was a SID music demo, could be handled with 1351 mouse. AFAIK no other program supporting mouse even via SID card. The 1351 became rather rare and expensive at that Time. Although there is an adapter could be connected to the C64 port to handle PS/2 (usb?) Pc mouses.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @MMS I added Digiblaster support, which took 5-6 lines of code -- adding the feature with volume control to the Sidekick264 menu will be the most work (will do this at some point and add it to the Git repo)
Since my C16 is running on a 6510 I did not try FirstMOD, as I assume it uses fast loaders which then do not work. Need to put back in my fragile 8501 :-/
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge WOW! I am 110% impressed.
OFF Still my 8501 is working in my C16 (no heatsink yet), though I have 64K SRAM under my TED, but I understand your feelings regarding fragile 8501... I am kind of prepared, but my 6502 based card needs some soldering on mobo, but I am far from professional...
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Hello Plus4World people..
I made a cartridge image of Alpharay and one of Pets Rescue.. Only a .prg and a Sidekick264 is needed to use them. And I modified YapeSDL, so I could test these images.
Saving scores is currently disabled, though..
Would be cool to add the Sidekick264 as option to the real Yape. Or at least it's Neoram feature. I would be there for implementing it into Yape if that is ok for Gaia..
This Sidekick264 cartridge seems to be good to have many of the Plus/4 extensions directly accessible by one single device..
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge I had the pleasure to test Mad's images on real hardware - and both work fine. Really impressive how he did that so quickly!
I consider adding this ".PRG + NeoRAM Image" as a category for Sidekick's menu to start them with one keypress from the main screen. One could also think of putting the start code into the memory expansion as well so that it can be started with SYS 65024 or so (which I can of course automate from the Sidekick, too).
I hope that the NeoRAM feature makes it to Yape, because then it becomes much easier to port games...
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge I just wanted to let you know that there's a new release for Sidekick264.
Best news first: it comes with Alpharay and Pet's Rescue! Ported in amazingly short time by Mad, I'm very impressed! (he also made a Yape version with preliminary NeoRAM support to port the games). I can faithfully say, these two games are the most impressive pieces of software that I've seen on this platform, and everyone should support the creation of such master pieces (hint: Psytronik -- and note: proceeds are donated for charity upon request of the creators).
Some other things have been added: - Digiblaster emulation (MMS ), and TED sound emulation (so that you can have all sound sources on one output) - fixes for handling resets on the +4 (as there is no way to reset the machine from the expansion port there)
Thanks also go to Retrofan for designing a new logo
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @Frenetic: Thank you for the great news! So if I summarize the current state of SideKick264: -Working 264 converter board -PI Zero required (based on the pictures) CORRECTED: PI 3A+ or 3B+ required -2MB or NeoRAM -Digiblaster emulation -SID emu -Alpharay -Pet rescue
@Mad: Thank you for your great and lighting fast support! (unfortunately I can give only moral support )
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @MMS: Thanx, extremely appreciated! I am happy that Psytronik is such a cool company.. They let us release the software in the open space and even allow these experiments! In the 80s or 90s that wouldn't have been possible.. Happy to support this scene! Perhaps more "module" stuff to come by some day!
Yes, all seems to be working fine. But you'll need a Raspberry Pi 3A+ or B+ (the "3" and the "+" are important). The Pi Zero is not fast enough to handle the bus communication.
NeoRAM can do 4MB currently, but it can easily be extended to more. It's rather the use case that is lacking
I also made a 8x SID emulation to play Tuneful 8 on the C64... maybe someone ports the player to the Plus4 at some point
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Thanks for the clarification! It sounds great !
I think the 4MB is more than enough, as I do not expect a new GUI OS for the plus/4, but would be great to convert the GeoRAM driver to GEOS (and forget 1551)
I was looking for the type of board as I looked for a potential case just in case Yeah, I was surprised how strong the Zero is. I checked the photos and on the photo I saw a board with very similar layout to a Zero, but I did not check the + versions' layout of PI boards. So definitely it was not a PI Zero
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Unfortunately NO. I am just a fan of the project, because really like what I see. Unfortunately I do not have the skills for that activity, including soldering...
I am a pretty good tester and able to create rather good test/release reports how to reproduce failures, etc (I was responsible for that activity as a group leader at Philips DVD players, Recorders, Home Theatre sets at Pre-Production stage). But AFAIS it is not required here, already seems to be a very mature product
So I will wait till the KIT could be ordered, maybe forever
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Hi Frenetic, how to connect the Sidekick64 with the C16 adapter? Do you solder a connector on it? Do you have a pic?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Hi there,
I don’t know if posts like this one are appreciated (if not, please delete). Since there have been inquiries I thought I’d let you know that Bobbel from forum64.de runs this shop https://restore-store.de and he has Sidekick-kits (SMD-parts already soldered), fitting TFT displays and of course the C16/+4 adapters. They are not yet listed, but already available on demand for fair prices (just contact him).
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Yeah, absolutely fair price. I am definitely after this very nice expansion.
TBH right now the benefits for C64 is much higher, but I see the future potentials in it for +4 too. (did I mention Sound Expander? Would be great if more games could use the new memory system, as it seems to be more flexible for the programmers than the original 256KB expansions. (especially that nice racing game came into my mind...)
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge I need to know.. How many Sidekick264 carts floating around? Please throw up your hands in the air if you have one or planning to make/buy some! Thanks!
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge I would eventually buy one, just for curiosity, didn't undestand if I need some extra stuff or I purchase a thing-of-itself which works once plugged in.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge I took a cursory glance at this thingy in the shop but I'm not quite sure how this should work. Suppose I buy the SK+adapter. What else do I need, if anything, and what do I do with all the bits and pieces to make the expansion work? Could someone enlighten me, please?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge gerliczer: Most importantly a raspberry pie 3 model A+ or B+, a power supply for the raspi, a micro sd card, a 4 pin 3.5" jack rca cable for audio (if you plan to use any of the audio emulation) and a sd card reader optionally for the pc.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @Chronos There are 5 Sidekickcart's on their way. I asked a friend to solder the SMD IC's while I don't have enough skill/experience with that. So I am waiting for their return.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Ok guys, thanks for the feedback!
I haven't been up and running for a week, I've only tested it for a few hours so far, but I've had some good and not so good experiences, which I'll summarize in a video later.
As you probably know, Sidekick works well mainly with C64, and has much more software support on that machine.
Obviously we'll have to improve these for the plus/4 version, and it's good to know that there will be more of us
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Great that you guys start playing with the SK! A few parts of the 264 firmware are a bit behind, compared with the C64 branch. Which problems did you find? I'm sure there are plenty , the 264 version was not as intensively tested as the others.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge I recommend anyone with a C16 and still using the original power supply unit to upgrade it to something like a ZX Spectrum 48k PSU, One with more amps. The C16 one is about .800amp while the ZX one is 1.4amp.
The more you add to a computer the more it puts a strain on the computers PSU. Any unexpected issues may/can be down to a lack of power and the original C16 PSU can be iffy at times.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge frenetic: my biggest complain is that my sid autodetect / all of sid detect routines doesn't work that works on my sid card and therefore my intros swithes back to frq or/and other programs remain silent. Other thoughts: cannot make sid support permanent, i need to switch it all the time on from the menue. magic cart image / some other crt images doesn't work, there is no info what do i wrong (docs is rather thin )
i think most of my problems can be fixable through the community and by the time
anyway, great toy with a lot of potential, congrats!
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge SID detection: there's a very simple explanation for this -- it's not implemented in the 264 branch I'm not really familiar with 264 games, intros etc. and obviously I wasn't aware of your intros, all SID-using software I found was SID-exclusive. Since the emulation and bus communication runs asynchronously the detection needs to be implemented explicitly. Code for this exists in the C64 branch and in my SIDKick (https://github.com/frntc/SIDKick). Which detection method are you (and others on the 264s) using?
SID support permanent: if I get you right, that's only a UI thing?
CRTs: magic cart didn't exist for the 264 when I last touched the code, but should be easy to do (need to check how easy with SID emulation in parallel). What other CRTs do not work?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @Frenetic: I think most SID detection routines check if SID pot values ($19 and $1a) are both $FF.
But while you are at that I'd really like to ask for implementing read for the FM emulation too. (for example using addresses $fde2-$fde4 instead of $fde2/$fdf2/none). Without that we can't detect the FM emulation and we should ask the user if he has it enabled like animals.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge I also plan to order my Sidekick, certainly with the Plus/4 adapter. I find this upgrade for our computer quite fascinating, especially the Sound Expander possiblitiy (when realized on this platform too) (BTW it could emulate a 64K expansion for the C16 too? would be nice but maybe it is impossible in this way)
Actually I write a little about C16 PSU (I think because of the easy exchange of the PSU and more space in the housing the C16 better fits for modding) ZX Spectrums had several PSUs, and some of them are little misleading.
I found a great video on YT from JoulesperCoulomb, he explained the differences (it is important to mention, that some of the ZX Spectrum PSUs rated as 1.0A, are only 0,7 Amps in reality). As a conclusion the brownish grey 2.1A PSU with red text would be the best (certianly it has the same jack with the polarity as the C16), ut the bigger grey block is OK too with the 1.4A or 1.85A. It worth to mention, that due to the work of these PSUs the bigger ones generate a little more heat within the C16 housing. MceS' new ROM modules could definitely decrease the general wattage of the C16, and a weaker external PSU could do the job quite well.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @siz: ok, that kind of "SID detection" is trivial. I mixed this up with SID-type-detection (https://codebase64.org/doku.php?id=base:sid_programming#sid_model_detection). Since potentiometers are not supported, the reading of these registers returns ... whatever, need to check
FM-addresses: that's easy to change... and I assume there is not really software outside which would be affected by a change of addresses (I didn't expect anyone besides me to ever use that)
@MMS: afaik 64k on the expansion port is something that is not working reliably as the internal 16k are wrapped around and signals on the bus conflict (= you should not do that).
But in general, if there are interesting features to be added, I'm curious to know more!
..and yeah, its trivial If you fix sid detection it is dramatically enhances usage. On the other hand yes, i need a slight ui change, to save "my sid on" as preference.
MMS: I didnt get the point about your psu collection , but just for my two cents, you must need an external psu for the raspi, and i recommend a modern, ic driven 1,5a-2a 9v power supply for the c16 and forget about these 30+ years old ones..
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @Frenetic: There is one thing with the Sound Expander for the C64 I always had hard to accept: the necessity of having three addresses for accessing the registers. I do understand that one is for selecting the YM3812's register for I/O, one is for writing into the selected register and the third is for reading from said register. But couldn't the last two have been combined into one? The R/W signal on the Expansion Port always marks the direction of I/O. What did they gain constructing the device that way? And is it really necessary to replicate that for the 264 series machines or could it be done in a way that's more sparing with address space resources, as in two addresses and the second is bidirectional?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @Chronos: yeah, you can find also stabilized output voltage PSUs. (these are not, same as C16's one) Of course I could tell, it is the real retro feeling to use 30 yo PSUs for our 30yo machine. But nope.
One of the main reasons, as you can find on ebay such modern PSUs (fits for ZX and C16 too), but some of them look to be a cheap build.
There are some with professional build from a reliable source (I just checked it, and those are 30-40% of the offers are like that, a nice change compared to the 2 years ago situation), but not cheap. You can buy an 8 bit ZX computer for that price (with tested PSU!)
So maybe worth to give a chance to the old ones too.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Just don't buy a so called modern day PSU from flea-bay. Cheap Chinese fake crap. I bought a new 9volt PSU for a Casio keyboard, said to be the right one and while it did fit there were strange electrical interference and buzzing sounds coming out of the speakers when nothing was being played. I went back to using the old multi ended brick I had from the 80's and thankfully no damage was done to the keyboard.
Only buy from a trusted source, but yeah the old stuff was better made.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge partially OFF (updated) @MIK: I had a very similar experience with my Yamaha PSS-102, it ate a lot of batteries, so I decided to buy a much cheaper Chinese fake PSU from flea-bay. No harm done, but a similar strong buzzzz, then nothing. so I went back to the batteries...
Would be too bad, if something wrong would happen with my seriously upgraded C16.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge If you add too much tech to a C16 and use a "bad" PSU it could become self-aware and you know what that means...
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @MIK LOL, oh no, nothing like that! It just wants to flirt with me I consider calling her Denise (than Paula), as she looks better that voice she has
@zzarko: Very nice project, thank you for supporting the 264 series. Though we may have issues to fill all those big EPROMs with goodies :-) (From PCBWay I ordered in the past few great "TED protector circuits", and they are really high quality (due to my bad soldering skill they are still not populated...) )
One question: Does the Magiccart and the Sidekick264 coorelates? Or I just missed an important information? AFAIS you cannot use BOTH cartridges at the same time and the designs look really different.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge > @gerliczer There is one thing with the Sound Expander for the C64 I always had hard to accept: the necessity of having three addresses for accessing the registers.
You are right, on the PC the AdLib (and all of the AdLib compatibles) can do that with two addresses. But I don't have a problem with 3 "registers". (And yes, I also raised my eyebrows on the similar design of the Digimuz which uses separate addresses for reading and writing the AY chip registers which also shouldn't be necessary)
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @Chronos: thanks for code snippet, next time I'll have my C16 set up, I'll make sure the SID detection works. Does the SID model detection play a role on 264s?
As said, Magic Carts can't work right now, as they didn't exist for the 264s when I touched the code last time.
@zaarko, thanks for the links -- I think I've found them here in the forum a while ago and put that on my list (admittedly with a bit lower priority, as launching files is something the Sidekick can do pretty well -- but since there are so few cartridge types for the 264 I should see to support them all )
@gerliczer @siz I guess the 3 registers on the C64 SFX Sound Expander are just a consequence of the FM chip already being there, and any additional decoding logic would have created additional cost. When you have a IO1/2 device on the C64 you typically don't have another one in the same 256 byte window, so simplicity in the decoding was always preferred.
In principle I could do any mapping, but when "defining" it there should be consensus in the incredibly large user base
I haven't seen many FM players on the Commodore machines, but my guess is that porting any to the 264 in principle means changing three addresses and it does not matter much to what. Using three registers would be a bit more consistent with the traditional cartridge though. Happy to take suggestions...
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Frenetic: Thanks in advance! No, sid model detection doesn't used anywhere if i recall correctly so does not matter. Magic Cart support is not a big deal either, i can live without it, but it will be a nice addon
@siz: similar design of the Digimuz DIGIMUZ is an ever worse offender in my eyes. It is mapped right into the address window of the 364 speech synthesizer and it even collides with the first instance of the T6721A's register file, which, at least, it should have left untouched.
/ON
@Frenetic: The previous thoughts reminded me that SK264 maybe could have, if information is not too scarce, a T6721A emulation mapped into its rightful place. The speech ROM is available somewhere on the Internet, IIRC. YAPE has it already, so it looks feasible to me. And while you would already be expanding the feature set, maybe AY/YM emulation too. Of course in a sane manner, not like DIGIMUZ.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @Frenetic: > Does the SID model detection play a role on 264s? I do detect SID type in my programs with the following routine but AFAIK no one does anything differently based on the SID type on our platform. (And most of the SID cards use 8580 anyway)
detsidtp: // Set a low freq. for Osc. // (Voice 3) #$0200 which is // somewhere between B-0 and // C-1, according to demo
ldy #15 lda #$02 sta (sidptr),y
// Set Sawtooth and Triangle // waveforms for voice 3 and // start release of ADSR
ldy #18 lda #%00110000 sta (sidptr),y
// Check if output of voice 3 // ever goes higher than $80. // It's only possible on new // SID chip (8580) and never // on the old one (6581)
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge SID detection: there's a very simple explanation for this -- it's not implemented in the 264 branch I'm not really familiar with 264 games, intros etc. and obviously I wasn't aware of your intros, all SID-using software I found was SID-exclusive. Since the emulation and bus communication runs asynchronously the detection needs to be implemented explicitly. Code for this exists in the C64 branch and in my SIDKick (https://github.com/frntc/SIDKick). Which detection method are you (and others on the 264s) using?
SID support permanent: if I get you right, that's only a UI thing?
CRTs: magic cart didn't exist for the 264 when I last touched the code, but should be easy to do (need to check how easy with SID emulation in parallel). What other CRTs do not work?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Hi Frenetic,
I have bought Sidekick cartridge, but unfortunately without Plus/4 adapter board. Somehow I found about that after the buy. Just wanted to say: Great piece of hardware+software!
I will see to obtain the adapter and to try it out on Plus/4 too.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Dear Frenetic! Although I have only had a short time to test the new software, i have noticed that when playing ted and sid music i hear sound drop outs, and in sid music i hear high-pitched chirping sounds. Maybe there is some software fine tuning, trick, setting for this?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge hm, maybe I screwed something up when packaging the release, let me check on the weekend. I assume you just updated your SD card (overwriting all files)?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @Frenetic: I cannot test it for a while as I'm moving and most of my stuff is in a warehouse. But I had similar experiences when I last tried (around last August/September) so it's definitely not this version. I bought mine from RestoreStore.de and put it on a Raspberry PI 3B+ with only the D3 jumper present. (And changed the config file). Did I miss something?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge I was able to run a quick test. Indeed I hear some crackling (besides the annoying whistling of the RPis PWM audio jack), but only on the first run of the emulation. When I go back to the menu, and launch again, the artifacts seem to be gone. Can you confirm this?
Have you tried clocking the RPi slower/faster? (see sidekick264_rpi3.txt)
If not, would you be able to record the problem?
I'll have a look at the first-run problem, and once I have some time add audio output via HDMI...
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Unfortunately I won't be able to test it for a while. Until then... Would it be possible to route the analogue audio output to the External Audio In pin of the expansion port? Or is it already done and I'm missing that too?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @Chronos, thanks! You can send me the video/a link to my email address (in the source files), then we can also iterate quicker if necessary!
@siz I have not tested this, but the external audio pin is routed on the adapter PCB. I have no experience what voltage levels are expected, if suitable, you could go from the RPi's audio jack to that one. Are the levels compatible?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @Frenetic: I'm pretty sure that it's not public yet but there is the intent to publish it after some cleanup. But there is no magic in that: I load the tune from the .SID file, play it and copy the contents of $d400 to $fd80 after every player call. So if a music writes the SID multiple times in a single call (there are some of them) only the last one will be written to the SID card. That's why BSz SID card is preferred: it can listen to writes to $d400 so I don't have to copy the data (yeah, the other way would be to patch the player to write to $fd80 directly but that would need a much more complex routine to analyze and modify the player code).
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @siz I will have a look whether it’s possible to listen to $d4xx -- that's why I need input from people who actually know and use these machines
I just downloaded and tried Sizplay 1.4 and it played without any audio glitches via Sidekick264 (3 or 4 tunes did not load or where reported as RSID-not supported).
So I assume it must be some setting issue or maybe a mixture of versions of RPi-firmware and Sidekick-firmware. Do you want to send me your config.txt and other settings? Did you overwrite all files on your SD-card that are contained in the latest release?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge I overwrote it, but it could be a config problem.I'll delete the whole thing over the weekend and check it with stuff copied from 0.
***
(Using a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+)
Some more tests. I've formatted my sd card, unpacked Sidekick64-0.49.zip and uncommented this: # recommended: RPi 3A+/3B+ (slight overclocking, see file) #include sidekick264_rpi3.txt
no other modifications made.. here is the results:
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge ok, I can hear the glitches in the first 2 videos (*), but let me first talk about the third
I found this particular SID-tune (crosswords) and tried playing it with Sizplay and various emulators, and now I'm puzzled. Firstly, my observation is that crosswords only plays correctly when pitch and speed are correct (or in correct relation), probably because of some note restarts or so.
I tested: Vice-Plus4-Emulator with TED-clock for SID: it plays without glitches and at the same pitch as on Sidekick, but a bit slower (*) Vice-Plus4-Emulator with C64-clock for SID: lower pitch, horrible artifacts (yet somewhat similar to what you had), but I think same speed as original HW with SK264 Yape: lower pitch (for both TED and C64 clock), again same horrible artifacts, again same speed as original HW Vice-C64-Emulator: different speed, different pitch, of course no artifacts
So which one is correct? How does it sound with a real SID-card? (can someone provide a direct/good quality audio recording for comparison?)
btw. is there a _working_ tool which converts a .sid to .prg for C16? I tried PSID16 and PSID2BIN and both failed on crosswords
(*) this is a different issue that I'll have a look at, meanwhile you could try to disable FM emulation and use higher overclocking settings (sidekick264_rpi3.txt)
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Luckily i also have a bsz sid card, so i'll do it for you today. it's a random song, but since it throws the bug pretty well, it's perfect for testing. I use sidplay2w.exe to convert music from .psid -> .prg. just a click or two.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge hm, I can't find any option to save as PRG in SIDPlay/w!? (neither for C64 nor C16)
I think what you hear in Crosswords is not a bug per se, but an inconsistency in timing (the different results across emulators hint to that). The glitch in the other two examples is most likely a missed SID-register write (and you can blame SK264 for it )
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Well, that may have been an unfortunate choice of music, i have to admit. Even the SID card from BSZ has problems. it may be because Laxity wrote it on 6581 originally and now we are trying to play it on 8580.. One more thing i didn't write before but it's important: for some reason the audio output of the sidekick is terribly quiet compared to the BSZ card. I'll look for another test music and i want to make another ted sound video also because there is some sounds missing too.
for sidplay: file/save as/ file type drop down menu ... c64 data file. and that's all.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Ok, that supports my assumption even more thanks for testing + recording!
I'll have a look at the other glitches. Regarding audio output: yes, the RPis audio jack is known to have real bad quality and low volume. I can add HDMI output which solves both issues, but obviously it's not analogue anymore and possibly requires a HDMI audio extractor (5-10€) to connect to amplifiers etc.
Have you tried disabling FM and increasing clock rate?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge I incorporated the refined emulation code from the Sidekick64-part (the 264 code was a bit uncared-for as the need seemed to be less ) and added an optional HDMI-output (48kHz). Here's a video.
I also adjusted the pitch so that it matched Yape (as far as I can tell).
Note that you hear a few 10s of milliseconds of the previous sound output before the music of every newly started program begins. This is a peculiarity of the cheap USB-HDMI-grabber I used to record the audio stream. I'll fix that along with other small things, then I can make the update available.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @Frenetic: I have a few questions about Sidekick usage in C128 mode, and I do not want to spam those questions here. Is there a way to contact you via email? If yes, mine is zzarko at infamous gmail...
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Waiting for my 2 Sidekick64s from restore-store.de (link) with adapters to use on my C16 64K and VIC20 , I'm very excited to play with !
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge I was wondering this week, since a lot of people have started messing around with bbs lately, do you have tcp ip support in your future plans?
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge actually there is a version with added network support by emulaThor for both C64/C128 and C16/+4. I told him about his forum, let's see if/when he shows up
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Hi, I have been summoned to comment on network support for Sidekick264.
Regarding BBS access via Sidekick264, all I can offer at the moment is the following:
As to my understanding the existing terminal software for the Plus/4 is using the userport+ACIA for communication. I don't know any BBS software that would communicate via expansion port (like Swiftlink/TurboLink on the C64 where no ACIA exists inside the C64). Please correct me if there is a BBS software for a modem connected to the expansion port.
I have built myself a userport sidekick "bridge" consisting of a userport plug with a USB FTDI dongle connected to the RS232 lines. This FTDI dongle plugs into Sidekick264 via USB. This makes it possible to use a modem emulation that I have implemented in Sidekick64/264s experimental network kernel.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Forgot to mention: Sidekick264 with experimental network kernel uses the WLAN (or LAN port) of the Raspberry Pi to give network access to the Plus/4. When using classic BBS software, this has to go through the Userport via the "bridge" described above.
But content from the web can also be displayed directly in the Sidekick menu without launching a BBS program. Another video to illustrate that the screen content of the Plus/4 can be loaded via WLAN and the AnyKey PRG can be launched straight from CSDb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gRiGNYindk
Those videos are pretty old now, I will do a fresh one once I have something better to show.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge Hi, I need some advice on Sidekick64 on C16. I prepared an SD card, switched the jumper on the Sidekic64 board to D3 booted, but I have a problem, when I put the filebrowser on, I can't see any files on the card, I can't even browse the directories on the card, while I have files uploaded to the specified directories on the card. Some of the pre-set programs that are part of the card work, but I can't see my files on the card, could someone tell me what I'm doing wrong? I also tried overclocking the Rpi as mentioned on the site but nothing..... I also edited the config.txt file according to the site uncommented sidekick264.txt and commented out #sidekick64.txt I'm testing on an RPi3+.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @JackFree: Kind of late answer: If you have the menu on Sidekick264 running then it's already working great. So it is only a small configuration issue and a change of overclocking is not necessary.
Did you put the PRGs into folder PRG264, the D64 files into folder D264 and CRT files into CART264? If so, the should be listed oncy you open the F7 browser (is it F7 key? Don't remember.) Additionally, the main menu's Favorites can be configured by changing the file SD:C16/sidekick264.cfg.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge The Sound Expander cart we all know had a very similar sound as Adlib. But did you know, that several built in sound is exactly the same as one of the most expensive synth of the era, the legendary Yamaha DX7? I am quite fascinated by the test.
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @Frenetic finally I managed to build the Sidekick64. It's working very nice. Some functions are not clear to me.
When starting up a program from the program mannager there is no SID emulation, is that correct?
So you have to go into SID emulation mode, but then you can only startup a game from floppy disk?
Also the CRT start up does not function. I put the .crt files in de cart264. But they don't startup.
>> the question about the SID emulation is already answered for me, the CRT not yet
>> the question about the CRT is solved also: only no space in the filename, only lower case characters, none behing the pathname for low rom only
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge @emulaThor have you booked any progress with the sk264_net kernal? I really like to work with it on Plus/4 as with the C64.....
Re: Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge You need to enable the sid/audio function in menu before entering the file browser. The programs with sid autodetect function still remains silent..
Sidekick264 - software defined cartridge
) to run a software-define cartridge running on an Raspberry Pi 3. It provides a menu + file browser (to start .PRGs), can emulate, for example, Kernal replacements, a GeoRAM memory expansion, a freezer or Easyflash cartridge, or run a (Dual-)SID plus FM (like the SFX sound expander) emulation.
) software supporting it later on this year, or perhaps somewhen within the next year. Nice to hear that you took that oportunity to do a Plus/4 version of your great project! But :( someone (or me, or perhaps 
)
