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From: Chicken (all posts)
Date: 1998-09-10
Subject: 1551 games'n demos

Howdydoodee,
since there have been some postings about the 1551 drive, I like to add the following...

A couple of years ago, when I had only a 1551 drive, many games and demos supported only 1541 drives. Obviously, this was the case because not many active coders had a 1551 drive. Furthermore, there wasn't much documentation around for the 1551. Later, some "legends" like PIGMY and CSORY did some tools and adapted some games and demos for the 1551. In Germany, CEEKAY and STARSOFT (later renamed to PLASMA) did some 1551
programming. However, they quit the scene around 1991. By that time, I had gathered enough knowledge to code 1551 loaders and stuff... Still,
adapting games for 1551 drives is a F***ING boring job to do 'cause most programms are protected and have "custom made" track loaders etc. After gaining access to the actual code, there's still lots of work to do, such as including a 1551 loader, for even finding enough free memory in the first place...BLA, BLA, BLA. Anyway, I adapted some games and demos for the 1551. Now here comes your part... Applause! Thanx, mates! I don't really know if the following list is complete. Guys whose archives include even not-very-well-spread-stuff may update it.

DEMOS

WONDERLAND 4 by NST (A 1551 only version)
HEXEN HEXEN by TDD (A version which now supports both drives)

Dudes, check this out... While including the 1551 routine, I found a typo in the original code ($ff80 instead of $ff08 in a key request routy in the eigth part or so) I'm pretty sure this typo was in the original code and not caused by a disk defect or so. This means that TDD never checked his entire demo and that their are some unintentional "hidden" parts! Of course, I corrected this. So, the "new" version has more "visible" parts!

METALL ASS (or was it FUCK OFF?) (Now both drives)
TECHNO TRANCE by GMS (Now both drives)
and another demo... I can't remember it's name, maybe AMIGAMANIA?

I also have some unreleased stuff, like a COMPY X-MAS II DEMO version,
better packed and 1551 support included... I'll try to finish this. I even might be able to include all parts of COMPY X-MAS I on the same disk!

GAMES HEROIC by EDC (Now both drives)
POLICE ACADEMY (Now both drives)
ATOMINO (Now both drives and SID CARD support, FAR OUT!)
BLOBY by ATI (same as ATOMINO)

On some disks, there might be a "hidden" message... It's not really hidden, but nobody ever really searched for that anyway. Try DLOAD"!*" if there's somekind of DIR DESIGN :)
This reminds meof something else... In TASKFORCE by PLAYERS there's also a hidden message. By the way, TCFS, doesn't "BATTERY I" look quite a bit (or even a byte!) like TASKLFORCE :)?

OK, back to the 1551 drive...
There's a program called "ROMBASE 1551" by CEEKAY. This program lets you print a very abridged ROMLISTING. It just includes some ZERO PAGE addresses etc. There's also an almost complete ROMLISTING (in German,
though. Still, any documentation is better than none at all, right Marko?)
It's split up in several SEQ files (SCRIPT PLUS, I guess) and covers more than 4 disk sides. SOLDER might have it... Though, the best source for
1551 stuff is definitly CSORY. He made the BEST tools for 1551 drives. And his 1551 programs are reliable! I added this not because I'm such a slimeball but because there are quite a few 1551 backups and copy progs around which will definitly screw up your disks!

So long,
CHICKEN