| Posted By
SukkoPera
on 2024-06-03
11:45:42
|  WiC+4 - Wireless Interface
I don't know if anyone noticed, but I have made a version of the WiC64 that should work on a +4 (or C16 with 16UP). All infos are here.
For those who don't know, the WiC64 is a wireless interface based on the ESP32 chip, originally designed for the C64 that uses a parallel protocol, in order to work around the ridiculously slow speed of the bitbanged serial communication that is normally used to communicate with modems on that machine. It turns out to be pretty fast and there's quite a bit of software taking advantage of it.
On the +4 we have better and faster serial communication thanks to the integrated ACIA chip, so I'm not sure how much faster parallel communication is going to be, but it was a quick job, since I managed to get the sources of the WiC64 and the way I did the adaptation should require no changes to the board firmware, so I just did it, without too much thinking.
Of course there is no software taking advantage of this board at the moment and I am no +4 developer, so there isn't anything I can do in this regard. The WiC64 developers might help but I guess they have other priorities, so it would be nice if some of our heroes had a go at that. Porting the example software should probably be an easy job but I don't know. As usual, I can get free PCBs shipped to anyone who is interested, but be prepared to do some SMD soldering (0805, not too bad).
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Posted By
Haegar
on 2024-06-03
14:35:26
| Re: WiC+4 - Wireless Interface
I just wrote you an email. Is this something like the Fujinet? After my first quick research, it seems to be able to do even more than the Fujinet.
You write that the device is ready for use and that it still needs suitable software. Which one exactly?
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Posted By
SukkoPera
on 2024-06-05
03:14:05
| Re: WiC+4 - Wireless Interface
TBH, I'd never heard about the FujiNet before, looks interesting. The WiC64 is very popular among C64 users though and I had a request to look at porting it to the +4 and I just did it without too much thinking. So I can't really say what option is better.
The +4 board is complete as far as I'm concerned, meaning that someone should try to use it and let me know if it works or if something needs to be fixed  . Using it means taking this library, making a few changes to it (userport address, control signals, etc, shouldn't be too hard - actually I could probably do this myself) and then using it to actually make something useful.
EDIT:
Ok, I started working on porting the library by myself, it will be fun :). Can someone provide the +4 addresses corresponding to the following C64 addresses?
.tapebuffer = $0334
.basic_end_pointer = $2d
.basic_reset_program_pointer = $a68e
.kernal_init_io = $fda3
.kernal_reset_vectors = $ff8a
.basic_perform_run = $a7ae
Thanks! :)
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Posted By
Haegar
on 2024-06-06
08:12:40
| Re: WiC+4 - Wireless Interface
I'm definitely interested in helping you with the project, but I don't have the time to get involved in it right now. I'll write you an email later.
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Posted By
SukkoPera
on 2024-06-07
03:54:46
| Re: WiC+4 - Wireless Interface
Let me backtrack a bit: I decided to have a go at getting the software to work myself. I MacGyver'ed some hardware together and I managed to get to a point where the WiC would ask me for configuration through a "launcher" program that, as I later found out, is not open source, so I cannot adapt it to the +4.
I respect this choice by the WiC64 dev team, but then please respect my own choice of stopping my involvement with this project here.
I realize it is possible to write new software that does a similar work to the launcher, as all the information required is public, but I am unable to do it. I have improved the readme of my customized version so that someone else can bring this further.
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