I just wrapped up my latest build, a pi1541.

For those of you who don't know what that might be, it is a cycle accurate Commodore 1541 floppy drive emulator that runs on a Raspberry Pi.

Sure, you could use a cheap sd2iec adapter, but the old Commodore 1541
drives had a MOS 6502 CPU and a few 6522 support chips. They were
essentially computers on to themselves. Lots of software took advantage of
that extra processing power. Sadly, the sd2iec adapters can't do this. While it's great for those stand-alone programs and for copying images onto real floppies, using it as a full-time drive replacement just won't work.

The pi1541 runs some bare-metal software that will not only give you access
to every d64 image ever made, it easily emulates the chipset inside the 1541 providing 100% cycle perfect emulation. I also added a small OLED screen, serial DIN connector (for C64 hook up) and some navigation buttons for real time disk swaps.

If you have a Commodore 64 and are looking for a full drive emulation
solution then look no further, the pi1541 is for you.

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Does this software also runs on RPi zero?
The price tags onb that small computers makes them a great choice for general hardware emulation.

~renos

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/03 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Another Droid BBS # andr01d.zapto.org:9999 (77:2/102)

Does this software also runs on RPi zero?
The price tags onb that small computers makes them a great choice for general hardware emulation.

It sure does. You can find a pi Hat for the zero with the required DIN connector and a small OLED screen from various ebay sellers.

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That is great!
I'm currently looking for a C64 or even 'TheC64' if I am not able to find a good deal for the real thing.

Anyone has any experience with 'TheC64'?

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I'm currently looking for a C64 or even 'TheC64' if I am not able to
find a good deal for the real thing.

I would love to get my hands on TheC64 but we won't be seeing it here in
North America for a few months still.

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* Origin: % disksh0p!bbs % bbs.diskshop.ca % SciNet ftn hq % (77:1/100)

Anyone has any experience with 'TheC64'?

I got one just after christmas, we had to drive about 45 minutes to a
store which had one, and they only had one.

I haven't had a chance to play with it much yet, but it seems good. it
doesn't have all the ports a real one has, only usb and hdmi, so i think
no way to hook up a modem to it :/ but if you just want to play games or
do some c64 programming it should be fine.

Andrew


--- MagickaBBS v0.13alpha (Linux/x86_64)
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No C64 availability over here too. I will have to wait a few months in order
to get one and play with it.

Not having a user port on TheC64 is a real bummer. It would be great to be
able to hook up a wifi modem and connect to a BBS. I have seen some tests
with the keyboard controller which turns out it's actually a typical USB controller and can also be connected to a PC without any issues. I guess swapping out the control board for a RPi might be the next thing to do with
the C64.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/03 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Another Droid BBS # andr01d.zapto.org:9999 (77:2/102)

I got one just after christmas, we had to drive about 45 minutes to a store which had one, and they only had one.

I haven't had a chance to play with it much yet, but it seems good. it doesn't have all the ports a real one has, only usb and hdmi, so i think no way to hook up a modem to it :/ but if you just want to play games or do some c64 programming it should be fine.

No network routines at all which sucks. I'm in the process of bringing back
my first ever bbs that I ran on a C64. I wanted to avoid using real hardware
as to not kill it with being on all the time and all and really wanted to
avoid using VICE.

Why are we in Canada the last to get our hands on these things. It sucks, lol.

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Not having a user port on TheC64 is a real bummer. It would be great to
be able to hook up a wifi modem and connect to a BBS. I have seen some tests with the keyboard controller which turns out it's actually a
typical USB controller and can also be connected to a PC without any issues. I guess swapping out the control board for a RPi might be the
next thing to do with the C64.

That is what I was thinking. I hope that BMC64 (The bare metal C64 emulator
for the Pi) gets networking support soon, it would be a great drop in replacement.

I have also learned that the key caps on TheC64 aren't compatible with a
real 64. That is also too bad as I have a few 64s around here that need some new keys.

|15frank |08// |15netsurge
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--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
* Origin: % disksh0p!bbs % bbs.diskshop.ca % SciNet ftn hq % (77:1/100)

No network routines at all which sucks. I'm in the process of bringing back my first ever bbs that I ran on a C64. I wanted to avoid using real hardware as to not kill it with being on all the time and all and really wanted to avoid using VICE.

I guess that is a problem with using the real hardware. It is doomed to fail
at some point and get you in all sort of trouble to find replacements.

Is there something you don't like about Vice and you want to avoid using it?


~renos

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/03 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Another Droid BBS # andr01d.zapto.org:9999 (77:2/102)

BMC 64 looks promising, although you need a RPi3 to get the full performance. As for the network support the RPi already has the UART broken out to the GPIO headers. No need for any usb<->rs232 conventors, maybe just a max232 to move the voltages up to 12v.


~renos

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/03 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Another Droid BBS # andr01d.zapto.org:9999 (77:2/102)

Is there something you don't like about Vice and you want to avoid using it?

There is nothing wrong with VICE, I just prefer to use original hardware. TheC64 would be a great in-between.

If I was to run a 64 BBS in VICE on a PC or Mac then I might as well run a PC or Mac BBS package.

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* Origin: % disksh0p!bbs % bbs.diskshop.ca % SciNet ftn hq % (77:1/100)

BMC 64 looks promising, although you need a RPi3 to get the full performance. As for the network support the RPi already has the UART broken out to the GPIO headers. No need for any usb<->rs232 conventors, maybe just a max232 to move the voltages up to 12v.

Hardware wise you are correct, it's the BMC64 implementation of VICE that doesn't support RS232 yet.

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There is nothing wrong with VICE, I just prefer to use original

hardware.

I see what you mean. I was asking for Vice since this is the only C64
emulator that I know of and also I am thinking of replacing the 'TheC64' motherboard with a RPi + Vice combo. That is when I actually managed to get
my hands on a 'TheC64' computer.


~renos

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/03 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Another Droid BBS # andr01d.zapto.org:9999 (77:2/102)

On Thursday January 02, 2020, Renos said to Netsurge...

I see what you mean. I was asking for Vice since this is the only C64 emulator that I know of and also I am thinking of replacing the 'TheC64' motherboard with a RPi + Vice combo. That is when I actually managed to
get my hands on a 'TheC64' computer.

Ther is a great C64 emulator of the Mac called VirtualC64 but as far as I know it's OSX only.

[%] frank!netsurge // hysteriabbs.com // zeus 1.7 // amiga 4ooo [%]
. SciNet! . the ftn of the bbs scene . https://scinet-ftn.org .

--- Zeus BBS 1.5
* Origin: hysteria bbs - hysteriabbs.com - amiga powered (77:1/111.0)

I have also learned that the key caps on TheC64 aren't compatible with a real 64. That is also too bad as I have a few 64s around here that need some new keys.

Jim Drew from cbmstuff.com just funded that indiegogo campaign to make keycap sets for C64. So that's an option for your replacement keys now.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
* Origin: % disksh0p!bbs % bbs.diskshop.ca % SciNet ftn hq % (77:1/100)

Jim Drew from cbmstuff.com just funded that indiegogo campaign to make keycap sets for C64. So that's an option for your replacement keys now.

That is awesome to hear. I can revive these 64s I have lying around here.

|15frank |08// |15netsurge
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* Origin: % disksh0p!bbs % bbs.diskshop.ca % SciNet ftn hq % (77:1/100)

Re: Re: pi1541
By: Renos to apam on Tue Dec 31 2019 11:29 pm

No C64 availability over here too. I will have to wait a few months in order to get one and play with it.

Not having a user port on TheC64 is a real bummer. It would be great to be able to hook up a wifi modem and connect to a BBS.

I had *exactly* the same thought/desire!

So the challenge, I hear, is getting tcpser enabled in the custom VICE build used in TheC64(mini). I want this!

digital man

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Re: Re: pi1541
By: Renos to apam on Tue Dec 31 2019 11:29 pm

No C64 availability over here too. I will have to wait a few
months in order to get one and play with it.

Not having a user port on TheC64 is a real bummer. It would be
great to be able to hook up a wifi modem and connect to a BBS.

I had *exactly* the same thought/desire!

So the challenge, I hear, is getting tcpser enabled in the custom
VICE build used in TheC64(mini). I want this!

I have a "TheC64" but it's just sitting in the box as I'm too busy
playing with my z80 machines. If it had a "modem" that would be very
very awesome, other wise it's really just a games machine, but with a
keyboard.

Andrew

--- MagickaBBS v0.13alpha (Linux/x86_64)
* Origin: HappyLand - telnet://magickabbs.com:2023/ (77:3/103)

On 01 May 2020, apam said the following...

I have a "TheC64" but it's just sitting in the box as I'm too busy
playing with my z80 machines. If it had a "modem" that would be very
very awesome, other wise it's really just a games machine, but with a keyboard.

Not to push this off topic, but although pricey the Ultimate 64 now has built in Swiftlink support. Dialing out at high speed with no add ons.. If TheC64
has a cartridge port, you can pick up a Swiftlink plug it in and hook it up
via a special null modem cable to a PC and use TCPSer or BBS Server to
connect to other BBS' or run one yourself...


AL

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/32)
* Origin: The Wrong Number Family Of BBS' - Wrong Number ][ (77:1/137)

Not to push this off topic, but although pricey the Ultimate 64 now has built in Swiftlink support. Dialing out at high speed with no add ons..
If TheC64 has a cartridge port, you can pick up a Swiftlink plug it in
and hook it up via a special null modem cable to a PC and use TCPSer or BBS Server to connect to other BBS' or run one yourself...

As someone who just got into C64 after picking a few original breadbins up... The Ultimate II+ cartridge made by the same people has a built in network
port. I just wired it up and was calling BBSes just a bit ago, and was on IRC with it. There is probably some more it can do but the clients haven't been written yet.

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