"Ultimate Expansion" - new firmware for FE3

[srowe]

Thanks for your reply. The FE3 Starts. But when i mount a .d64 disk i can not see the files at the disk loader. Are there any orher settings to make in the VICE?

If you press F7 then use the $ wedge command do you get a directory listing? What is the contents of your loader file?

[mathom]

I'd like to hear if the NTSC image works with real hardware, or if there are compatibility issues with loader files.

I just noticed this in the original post and wondered if you have gotten feedback on this. I can say it is working fine on my NTSC system. Although I have not done any exhaustive testing I can confirm that it generally works. I absolutely love the batch flashing feature. I had been struggling with management of the flash storage and this solves the problem neatly.

[srowe]

I just noticed this in the original post and wondered if you have gotten feedback on this. I can say it is working fine on my NTSC system. Although I have not done any exhaustive testing I can confirm that it generally works. I absolutely love the batch flashing feature. I had been struggling with management of the flash storage and this solves the problem neatly.

That's great, thanks for the feedback. The batch flasher has some limitations but allows a degree of automation. There's still some space left for additional features, can you think of anything?

[MrSterlingBS]

I probably don't understand the application?
If I had real hardware, a Vic, a 1540 floppy and a final expansion. How can I transfer programs from the floppy to the flash card?
There is no explanation in the manual.

Or did i not found them?

BR
Sven

[MrSterlingBS]

This shows the screen after attached the the minigrafik.d64

[srowe]

I probably don't understand the application?
If I had real hardware, a Vic, a 1540 floppy and a final expansion. How can I transfer programs from the floppy to the flash card?
There is no explanation in the manual.

With real hardware you typically do the following:

• Using a Windows/Mac/Linux computer download files and copy them on to an SD card
• Put the SD card into the FE3
• Write a loader file with entries for each program and save it to the SD card
• Boot the FE3

You can now use either the Disk Loader menu to run from the SD card or the Cart Flasher to save them to the flash in the cartridge.

Loader files are explained on page 28 of the manual.

https://eden.mose.org.uk/download/FE3%2 ... 0Guide.pdf

[MrSterlingBS]

Hi,

thank you for your time and explanation.
I do not have an original VIC at the moment. The market for good hardware is empty and i wait for an serious offer.

So, I need to use the VICE emulator.
I start the VICE with a batch file and integrate the final expansion. A 1541 is integrated as a floppy. I can look at these files after jumping into the basic wedge. See picture in previous post. So far everything works.

Now my crucial question.
How can I save the programs and files from the floppy disk to the internal flash memory 512k (480kb free ???) without using an SD card? Is this possible? And how are these files stored permanently? How works the memory management unit on the 512kb flash. Do i need an extra command to save the files on a specific block?

Best regards
Sven

[MrSterlingBS]

okay, isee your link guide me to some extra guide.

Yesterday, I have downloaded the VIC-20 Final Expansion User Manual and this is a diffeent version like the FE3 User Guide.

Thanks for the link. I read the guide after work...

[srowe]

thank you for your time and explanation.
I do not have an original VIC at the moment. The market for good hardware is empty and i wait for an serious offer.

The price of hardware seems to have gone up a lot recently. I noticed a VIC-20 on eBay yesterday for more that €300.

How can I save the programs and files from the floppy disk to the internal flash memory 512k (480kb free ???) without using an SD card? Is this possible?

Sure, you just use the emulated floppy drive as if it was the SD card. Attach a .d64 image to device 8.

And how are these files stored permanently? How works the memory management unit on the 512kb flash. Do i need an extra command to save the files on a specific block?

Yes, to persist the changes you make you also need the -fewriteback parameter. I would copy the initial ROM image and name it so you remember it has your images in it. So something like

Code: Select all

xvic -pal -cartfe fe3_with_flash_images.bin -fewriteback

You can experiment with the examples disk image that is included in the zip file.

[srowe]

A new release (1.6) with another new feature. I've added a simple directory/image navigator (F2 from the main menu).

This allows you to easily traverse a directory tree on the SD card, including entering images, and then boot to BASIC without needing loader files.

Download link:

https://eden.mose.org.uk/download/final-expansion.zip

[srowe]

I've updated the user guide I wrote to include all the new features

https://eden.mose.org.uk/download/FE3%2 ... 0Guide.pdf

[mathom]

This is good stuff. I really like the navigator. I'll be using that a lot!

[srowe]

A new release (1.7) with another new feature. I've added a Minipaint image slideshow viewer to the "FE3 Utilities" menu (F5). Each file is displayed in turn, key press/joystick moves to the next image. Press [STOP] to exit.

[Mike]

I've added a Minipaint image slideshow viewer to the "FE3 Utilities" menu (F5).

[telengard]

I'm having some issues, hopefully someone can help out.

I had been running a previous version of this firmware (Ultimate), and turned on my Vic-20 today and I get no menu etc, just a BASIC prompt. I want to upgrade to 1.7 so I have to use the flasher.prg as I have no menus of any kind.

When I run flasher.prg I see

**** SYSTEM FLASH ****
LOAD_FILE
<FE3FIRMWARE>

CURRENT VERSION: ????
NEW VERSION: 1.7N
VENDOR:20 DEVICE:20
ERASING ... OK
BLANK CHECK ... FAIL

Not sure how to deal with this error. I tried copying the original FE3 contents I had onto the SD card and that doesn't present a menu either (via the loader).

Any ideas on how to update and get this working again?