Posted By
indi
on 2005-11-29
14:35:30
|  Re: Plus4 downloader
Yeah, good to be back....although I don't know how long! 
I think the cable was designed and built by Solder for me years ago, since he sent I got the source to OS96 at the same time, so its probably the same pinout - which saves me the trouble!! :D
Its not a "disk" cable though, it plugs into the Plus/4's userport, and transfers via my own mini program (PC "dos" command and a tiny Plus/4 recieve program). But it saves having to have stacks of floppys when you want to have a quick look at something. OS96 would be better over all as it replaces the tape and will allow multiloads. This is single PRG files only.
I use it on window XP Pro, and it currently transfers at around 6000 a second. It would be quicker, but the plus4 can only transfer "nibbles" rather than whole bytes.
Unles that is....someone knows of a data-direction port like the C64 has that allows full bytes to be sent?
I'm playing with the idea of doing a full "devkit" with a remote debugger, allowing you to single step on the actual machine. This means you "boot" from a floppy, then use the PC to compile, build and debug everything. I actually want to do it for the C64, but since I had this cable, I thought I'd play with the Plus/4 first..The 6502 side will be virtually identical, and the PC side won't care.
The file transfer program is just a side effect, since the first thing I needed to do was be able to squirt down updated transfer code!
Luca: Yeah...I know...I know... The URL was pinched by some domain squatter, so it'd be easier/cheaper thinking up a new name.
I think I may do a C64 game first though....I was looking through my old disks and found the source to Blood Money. Hardware sprites add a lot... 
But...it may never come to pass, as you know me...little or no time. I also have a new "toy" comming to play with over Christmas (www.xgamestation.com), which will keep me busy Im sure... Still. I love writing monitors/debuggers so I may finish this first.
I'll try and set up a page for the programs and upload them for everyone. You will have to either use StarCommander to transfer the C64 one, or type in the HEX. Its only around 245 bytes, so its not too bad.
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