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Jiffy dos for the Vic20

Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 3:50 pm
by KilrPilr
Hey guys i was just reading Comp.sys.cbm and saw this post from Maurice Randall, check it out!!

JiffyDOS for the VIC-20 is currently in the testing and debugging
stage. The VIC-20 powers up fine for the first time today. However,
I've either got to find a way to crunch or stuff 32 bytes somewhere
or eliminate one of the features such as the screen dump feature.
I'm pretty much maxed out on memory. I've been able to retain all
of the other features of JiffyDOS including the built-in file
copier.

Any thoughts on if I should try to leave the screen dump feature
in there? Personally, I've never used it myself. Any input from
VIC-20 users would be appreciated.

-Maurice


If anyone has something to say about it, email the guy now or reply in csc.

Pretty neat.

Leo

Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 4:29 pm
by Schema
:shock: :shock: :o :shock: 8) :lol: :!: :idea:

I swear, I was just thinking about this earlier today. "Why isn't there a JiffyDOS for the VIC20? The Kernals are similar enough..."

This is fantastic news.

I have a lead on a used 20MB CMD Hard drive, plenty of space for lots of VIC games. The subdirectories/partitions would be great for sorting them by 0K/3K/8K/etc. It would be fine with my utility cartridge, but with JiffyDOS would be amazing.

Also, Jim Brain's uIEC works very well with JiffyDOS, so if it ever gets to market this will be a big help.

I'll make a csc post suggesting that Maurice check out this thread.

Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 5:10 pm
by vic user
I have a lead on a used 20MB CMD Hard drive,
where is the envy emoticon?

chris

Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 2:35 pm
by Mikam73
Its disc/tape turbo or is there something extra too?

Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 2:42 pm
by KilrPilr
Hmmm, Doesnt the jdos disable tape loading on the c64? I hope it doesnt do that on the vic 20 or there goes using my library of cassettes. Tape loading is a must have.



Leo

Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 3:56 pm
by carlsson
I thought JiffyDOS was sold on a daughter board with a switch, or is that an optional configuration?

Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 4:03 pm
by KilrPilr
Yes u are right. Does that mean that it goes back to complete stock? I dont know that much about it but I thought it might disable the tape routines.

Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 4:33 pm
by Mikam73
They could do MMC64 for Vic20.. It would be cool.. 8)

Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 4:36 pm
by KilrPilr
Id like to see ide64 for vic20. now that would be sweet. Prolly wouldnt be too hard to do if you are familiar with the hardware and such. Maybe in the future the ide64 guys will come out with something. Even an adapter for c64>Vic20 would be cool.

Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 6:40 pm
by Schema
From what I've read, JiffyDOS is a Kernal replacement. It's compatible with the old Kernal (apparently), but it also has a switch that restores the original, untouched Kernal.

http://cmdrkey.com/cbm/prodinfo/jiffydos.html

Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 7:28 pm
by carlsson
Maybe Maurice will pop in here and will find out that tape routines may be far more important on the VIC-20 than on the C64, and vice versa the amount of original disk releases is much less.

Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 7:30 pm
by KilrPilr
Yes, And really, if he could speed up tape loads with jdos, we would be better off. Having disks load quicker to would just be a bonus but not all that necessary.

Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 8:12 pm
by carlsson
I suppose JiffyDOS is a disk speeder to begin with. To develop a tape turbo would be a brand new task compared to adopting the C64 version to run on VIC-20. There exists tape turbos, but they require the program to have been saved with the turbo in the first place. A bit hard to load a non-turbo program in turbo speed.

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:08 am
by bbell
Hmm, maybe once JiffyDOS is out it might be worth looking at reimplementing the tape routines at the top of expansion memory. I doubt it would take too much memory to do this (maybe 1K max?).

I don't think on an unexpanded VIC jiffydos would be too useful for fastload/save, so in that mode the stock kernel would suffice. But with expanded memory (particularly >8K) I can see how it would be useful, but then there is also extra memory to use to reimplement tape, if necessary.

Does anyone know if there has ever been an attempt to map RAM/ROM into I/O block 2 and 3 ($9800-$9FFF)? I think that would be a real cool and compatible (out of the way) place to put code.

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 9:59 am
by Schema
Maurice just posted in comp.sys.cbm and said the tape routines are removed. You'll have to go back to the original Kernel (flip of a switch) to use tape again.