Commodore Free 10/Commodore_Free_Issue_10_2007_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.iv hdd64

Text File | 2023-02-26 | 13KB | 456 lines

u      Interview with Nick Coplan
           Creator of HDD64
         http://www.64hdd.com

Q - Please introduce yourself to our
reader

Hi! I'm 38, a mechanical engineer by
profession - but the C64 lets me
follow my true passion which is
electronics and programming. I first
got a C64 when I was in high school,
aged 16.

Q - What is it you do for the
Commodore world

I'm probably most well known for 64HDD
a PC program that lets your C64 use
the PC as a hard disk drive. I also
provide other tools and hardware
stuff.

Q -Please tell our reader about
DriveGhost and 64HDD

64HDD is a program which lets you use
your PC as a hard disk drive for the
C64 and other Commodore computers with
a serial disk port such as the VIC20,
Plus/4, etc. It emulates the native
protocol these machines use to talk to
drives like the 1541 so the computer
doesn't need to be patched or wedged
in order for basic disk commands to
work. It also emulates the various
Commodore disk drives at a basic level
allowing for various disk images to be
used, for example D64, D71, D81.

 It has some more powerful native
modes and can support commands which
were part of the CMD product range. It
lacks a CPU emulation module and as
such cannot run any specialised disk
commands which execute code "in the
drive". All that's needed is a XE1541
cable to connect the PC and Commodore,
the free software download and of
course a PC which can be booted to
MSDOS (you can do that even to modern
PCs with a boot disk)

DriveGhost is a C64 program which
works with the CMD drives and 64HDD
allowing data to be transferred
between these drives. The transfer is
at the disk level (rather than file
level) and so it is an imaging or
"ghosting" system. The idea is to
"image" the CMD drive to the 64HDD PC,
from where it can be burnt to CDROM as
a backup. I've found it most useful as
a means of backing up my RAMLink and
restoring different projects to it
either on a partition or whole device
basis.

Q - Isn't using a PC for backup and
loading applications a little like
worshipping the devil

Some find it a wonderful irony to make
a "modern powerful machine" act as a
slave to a humble 8bit machine from
25+ years ago ;)

Q - Has anyone commented about the use
of a PC

A few do and some don't like the
concept of having to have the PC
hardware ( a second computer) next to
their C64 setup for space reasons. On
the other hand, many have followed my
example and build 64HDD into an
embedded system - that is a box that
needs no screen or keyboard. You can
get those IDE2CF adaptors which means
your PC box can boot and run off a
CompactFlash card making the whole
unit quite compact.

Q - Can the software work on anything
else Mac/Linux/Amiga

Unfortunately not, and I have no
intent to reprogram it to support
these operating systems. The problem
is that because of the very critical
timing protocol, so much of 64HDD's
core is dependent on machine specific
assembler code.

Q - What started you programming

In a general sense? I guess I've
always enjoyed creating things, be
that with Lego, wood, metal, design or
art. Programming was another way to
"create" something. Back when I
started coding (the C64 was my first
computer) I coded mainly applications,
but a few games. I've kept programming
ever since, but usually moved from
project to project once I've taken
something to its finish.

Q - Why are people still producing
hardware/software for the Commodore
64/128 Hardware

It is fantastic that there is still
new stuff coming out! The market is
not that big, but the users out there
I feel want to prove that their C64 is
"still up to the task"

Q - Tell our reader about 64HDD
Speed-Up Cartridges

These cartridges quite simply allow
you to load programs (including
compatible multi-part programs) at
speeds far greater than the normal
1541/IEC protocol allows. They're a
bit like the Epyx FastLoad cart was
for the 1541, but specifically for the
64HDD system.

Q - I have been looking to purchase on
of the "64HDD Speed-Up Cartridges" but
the different configurations confuse
me can you explain what the different
versions are and what our reader needs
to do, for example I think originally
you needed to check various chips
within the C64 is this still the case.

Basically users have two choices -
serial and parallel. The serial
speed-up (Turbo/XE) needs no special
cable since it works perfectly with
the industry standard XE1541 cable.
The parallel options are far faster
than the Turbo/XE, but either require
you build/buy a parallel cable or go
for the Pwr/Link option (which has the
cable interface built-in)

The only time you need a special
version chip of the carts is if you
have both a SuperCPU and RAM/Link -
since this combo reads the IO area of
the expansion port at a faster than
normal rate. The cartridges are far
easier to install than the internal
Kernal ROM upgrade which has been
available for a while. There's a few
other options, but that about
summarizes the basics

Q - Commodore Gaming have introduce a
new line of PC systems with Commodore
logos what are your views on this,
could it be a good thing.

It's always great to see the Commodore
name still in use, but I must admit
that I think of these being "just a
PC". Gone are the days that the
Commodore brand had a different OS and
hardware architecture that meant you
could compare to your friend's Amstrad
or Atari.

Q - We know the Commodore 64 had some
interesting design workarounds (some
would say flaws) also revising models
and changing designs and revisions of
the main board, can you explain about
problems you have encountered getting
your hardware and software to work.

The main challenges I've had have been
due to the different ROM
configurations on the various build
boards, and the lack of consistency
when it comes to whether these chips
are socketed or soldered. This makes
it hard to upgrade some C64s. It also
some makes internal upgrades very
different from machine to machine.
From a programming viewpoint, the main
problem I had was found years ago with
some of my early games and the screen
clear bug which is different between
kernals v1 and v3.

Q - Did you work with Maurice Randall
to produce the GEOS extensions for the
64HDD

The original 64HDD-GEOS drivers were
independently developed on the
reverse- engineered GEOS code produced
by YTM. The GEOS-XP drivers were
re-written from scratch. Maurice's
articles in the Commodore World
magazine provided some helpful GEOS
programming advice, but did not
directly help with building disk
drivers. Maurice has an example of a
Wheels disk driver on his
distribution, but I've not tried any
Wheels programming yet.

Q - Maurice had a special version of
GEOS for the 64HDD what advantage does
the 64HDD provide GEOS (apart from
speed)

The only difference between the
versions of the drivers on the CMDRKEY
website and those on the 64HDD website
is that the former version is
pre-keyed to the GEOS v2.0
distribution which Maurice provides
for free download. Due to GEOS
licensing rights, Maurice does not
allow these to be hosted elsewhere,
but has been kind enough to host them
for me. If users want to try the basic
GEOS config and have no extra licensed
GEOS to key-in its easiest if they try
these D64s from Maurice's site.

Q - Can you explain to our reader some
of your other hardware/ software
products

Other than 64HDD and DriveGhost
relatedE Hmm, well I've built a number
of smaller interfaces for things such
as controllers, etc. There's the
MegaCart V a 1MB cartridge configured
to store upwards of 64 Commodore
cartridge ROMs (in ROM not transferred
to RAM). I've dabbled with DTV,
TurboProcessor, IDE64E The
www.64hdd.com site also has a bunch of
tools I've developed over the years
for my needs which others might find
helpful.

Q - Some of our reader may like to ask
the question "selling all this
hardware and software must have made
you very rich" how big is the
Commodore market

The Commodore market is not very big,
its also seasonal V I find people
stock up just before the northern
winter season so they have something
to do whilst coupled up inside . As
for the money, near all I've made has
been re-invested in my hobby V buying
more Commodore equipment! It's a
classic case of what comes around,
goes around V I've bought things from
near everyone selling new Commodore
developments/projects as well as heaps
from eBay.

Q - Mega Game Cartridge looks like a
great idea, although we have seen
similar ,what is special about your
version.

At the time the MegaCart was released
it was pretty much a first of its
kind. The difference between it and
the followers, for example the
RetroReplay and MMC64 is that various
games are stored in read only memory
(ROM) and the menu system. Being in
ROM, the CRT images do not need to be
patched for the copy protection code
embedded into some of them.

Q - Can the Mega Game Cartridge be
programmed with your own games, If so
how is this done

The MegaCart can be reprogrammed, but
must be done using an EPROM
programmer. The menu then requires a
little bit of reprogramming to setup
titles and cartridge settings such as
/game and /exrom lines. Not exactly do
it yourself. Those that bought the few
I made wanted games in the original
unpatched format in a format that
saved on the storage and wear-n-tear
on their originals.

Q - What is the next project then?

Hard to sayE there's a lot on the go,
but not ready enough to promise. Also,
of late family has taken priority. I
can tell you about some of the
wacky-one-offs which probably won't
see "mass production". There's an
internal 16MB expansion being internal
means the VIC chip can see all of it,
unlike with the SuperCPU in which the
VIC is limited to the standard 64k.
There was the internal 65816
processor. USB interface (hardware
only, never got to the software)

Q - Maurice Randall seem to be over
worked and very slow to deliver
orders, have you ever wanted to
produce "similar" products

I've thought about it, even offered to
build them under licence from Maurice
but that didn't suit him at the time.
Of the CMD products, it's mainly the
SuperCPU which hasn't been matched or
superseded by modern day alternatives.
Unfortunately for the SCPU, GEOS is
the main reason and very little
alternative software has taken
advantage of it. Wings tried, and
Clips looked promising, but was never
finishedE

Q - Have you met Maurice, and have
you asked him about CMD

I met Maurice at the SWRAP expo back
in 2001, and have had correspondence
with him before and since. I've not
specifically talked about CMD, other
than to offer support. He's always
been helpful.

Q - What is the design process for
your hardware projects

Step 1 in the process is to begin with
something I want. I don't usually
design for what I think will sell as
there's no guarantee that the project
will ever get to that stage. If what I
build for me seems popular to others I
consider the options for making more
than the 1-off.

Generally selling volumes are low, so
hand built is the usually production
method. Things like the 64HDD speed-up
carts have proven more popular and so
specialised PCBs have been made
allowing for prices to drop.

Q - How long did let's say the
MegaCart take from design to finished
product

That was one of the quicker onesE I'm
guessing about 3months. The original
was pretty quickly built by recycling
a SuperGames cart, but the more games
/programs I found the more quirks I
found about the memory config these
programs expect at power-on and how
they use this information as a way of
copy protection.

Q - Are you ever 100% happy with your
finished products or do you think, I
wish I had more time to implement
xxxyyy or tweak xxxaaa before having
the item mass produced

Surprisingly I've had very few recalls
or upgrades to existing hardware
products, which I guess means they
were well proven before release. Its
part of the design philosophy of
building to satisfy my needs, before
offering the item for sale. I guess I
must be my own "toughest" customer.
Software upgrades are a different
thing, and that's why both 64HDD
Professional and DriveGhost come with
free upgrades. Mostly the upgrades are
new features, rather than bug fixes.

Q - After the prototype, who do you
contact to create the circuit boards,
and how do you know the amount to
order

I use a mail order company for the
circuit boards, they're reasonably
fast and happy to do small production
runs. It is hard picking a quantity to
order. Order too many means cheaper
price per board, but I can't afford to
stock pile too many. I usually design
the boards to suit a number of
purposes by changing a few jumpers.
This helps increase their adaptability
meaning I can use them for another
purpose if something is not a big
seller. I usually order 20, and if
they get sold, another 20, and so on.

Q - Have you ever prototyped a design
then taken it to be mass produced and
they have said "we can't make that" or
"it will be to expensive"

The mail order place I use has an
on-line quoting system so I'm usually
able to get that info worked out
before going to farE Because of the
low batch sizes price per board needs
to be weighed against the only other
option I would have which is point to
point hand soldering. Sometimes hand
building something works out cheaper
than a simple board.

Thanks for the chance to "talk" to
your readers.


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