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| 6 | +<title>www.6502.org: André 's CBM hardware modifications</title> |
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| 9 | +<img align="left" alt="logo" src="logo2.png"><A HREF="http://www.6502.org"><br> |
| 10 | +<h1>André 's CBM hardware modifications</h1><h2>(C) |
| 11 | +- André Fachat |
| 12 | + |
| 13 | +[<a href="http://home.arcor-online.de/andre.fachat">Homepage</a>]</h2> |
| 14 | +<p> |
| 15 | +On these pages you will find a number of hacks I applied to my Commodore |
| 16 | +8-bit equipment. Some of them are designed by me, others are taken |
| 17 | +from magazins or the web. If there are no schematics available and |
| 18 | +you desperately need them, mail me and I will (probably) write them |
| 19 | +up and put them here. |
| 20 | + </p><hr><h3>RS232</h3> |
| 21 | +The RS232 interface is a standard interface in the PC world and I use |
| 22 | +it as a terminal connection to my multitasking OS for the C64 or the |
| 23 | +CS/A65 or Gecko computers. |
| 24 | + <ul><li><strong>C64-1</strong> |
| 25 | + : |
| 26 | + The userport of the C64 can do more than the approximately 2400 baud |
| 27 | +the original kernal software can handle. With a small modification, invented |
| 28 | +by Daniel Dallmann, it can do 9600 baud. See |
| 29 | +<a href="http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/documents/projects/rs232/rs232-userport-9600.zip">http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/documents/projects/rs232/rs232-userport-9600.zip</a>.<br><br></li><li><strong>C64-2</strong> |
| 30 | + : |
| 31 | + Originally I built a 6551 interface for the C64 that was mounted between the |
| 32 | +SID and its socket in the C64. Nevertheless, this IC is crap compared to |
| 33 | +the UART 16550A with 16 byte FIFO, especially if you use a |
| 34 | +multitasking OS like my <a href="../osa/index.html">GeckOS</a>. |
| 35 | +So I modified the interface to use an UART. Find the description, schematics |
| 36 | +and some source code in |
| 37 | +<a href="http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/documents/projects/rs232/c64-uart-1.tar.gz">c64-uart-1.tar.gz</a>.<br><br></li></ul><hr><h3>C64 Modifications</h3>Besides the above modifications I did some more. |
| 38 | +Also the original C64 kernal is not very comfortable. So I decided to do some |
| 39 | +modifications to it. |
| 40 | + <ul><li><strong>EPROM</strong> |
| 41 | + : |
| 42 | + First of all, to modify the kernal, you have to replace an 8k ROM chip. |
| 43 | +As, normally, you will not have a ROM, but an EPROM chip, you need an |
| 44 | +adapter. I originally used the Kernal switch adapter of the 64er |
| 45 | +magazin. However, as I am about to overhaul all my CBM devices |
| 46 | +now, I guess I am doing my own one (where all kernals are in one |
| 47 | +EPROM only, saving place and soldering...). |
| 48 | +Wait for the schematics coming soon (I hope).<br><br></li><li><strong>Kernal</strong> |
| 49 | + : |
| 50 | + The software to modify the ROM is a bit of a mess, because it is |
| 51 | +quite old and you have to fit the new code into the holes made by |
| 52 | +removing the tape and/or the old RS232 code. |
| 53 | +Find them on my page with the <a href="kernal/index.html">new C64 kernals</a>. |
| 54 | +I hope I find the time to clean that up a bit. |
| 55 | +It includes drivers for the CBM IEEE488 interface, an UART 16550A |
| 56 | +RS232 driver, function key mapping and a DOS wedge.<br><br></li><li><strong>Burst mode</strong> |
| 57 | + : |
| 58 | + To use the burst mode of the VC1571 in my C128D |
| 59 | +I implemented some schematics to connect the CIA shift registers |
| 60 | +with the IEC bus. I used it in the BDOS |
| 61 | +program, that reads PC disks with the VC1571 and runs on the |
| 62 | +C64 or C128. |
| 63 | +Sorry, no schematics at this time.<br><br></li><li><strong>Modules</strong> |
| 64 | + : |
| 65 | + To be able to switch the IEEE488 ROM off when I like it, |
| 66 | +I built two switches into the C64, that could set the <code>EXROM</code> |
| 67 | +and <code>GAME</code> line to either open, GND, or the module. |
| 68 | +Sorry, no schematics at this time.<br><br></li><li><strong>CS/A65</strong> |
| 69 | + : |
| 70 | + I have built an interface for the C64 expansion port |
| 71 | +to use all the memory and I/O cards of the |
| 72 | +<a href="../csa/index.html">CS/A65</a> computer - which includes |
| 73 | +another video card, extra RAM, IEEE488 and SCSI interfaces. |
| 74 | +For the SCSI interfaces see the <a href="../scsi/index.html">SCSI-64</a> |
| 75 | +pages also. |
| 76 | +For more on the adapter see the <a href="c64csa/index.html">C64-CS/A</a> pages.<br><br></li></ul><hr><h3>VC1541 Modifications</h3>My old VC1541 (a really early one in a white case, fitting the color of |
| 77 | +the VIC20 and not the color of the C128 like later white versions) |
| 78 | +really got some history. First I had speeddos installed, later I |
| 79 | +built the IEEE488 interface into the drive. Then I experimented |
| 80 | +with a DOS-1 (670 blocks free) and a 2MHz modification. |
| 81 | +Also I disabled the original power supply and use a PC power supply. |
| 82 | +I will try to get these things out of my archives and prepare them |
| 83 | +for the web (actually now I don't even remember whether it worked at all...). |
| 84 | + <ul><li><strong>Power supply</strong> |
| 85 | + : |
| 86 | + I removed the power regulators and used a PC-style |
| 87 | +power supply instead. |
| 88 | +Sorry, no schematics at this time.<br><br></li><li><strong>>Write-protect</strong> |
| 89 | + : |
| 90 | + With this switch you could remove the write |
| 91 | +protection of a protected disk. This is a fixed switch, so it has to |
| 92 | +be set back to normal when a disk is changed, to make the VC1541 |
| 93 | +recognize the disk change. |
| 94 | +Sorry, no schematics at this time.<br><br></li><li><strong>LED</strong> |
| 95 | + : |
| 96 | + I removed the power LED and used a two-colored |
| 97 | +LED in the drive only to indicate power and activity (green is idle, |
| 98 | +red is active/error) |
| 99 | +Sorry, no schematics at this time.<br><br></li><li><strong>2 MHz</strong> |
| 100 | + : |
| 101 | + If you use the IEEE488 bus (and not the time-critical serial |
| 102 | +IEC bus) you can speed up the drive - I thought. I tried but yet no |
| 103 | +success. |
| 104 | +Sorry, no schematics at this time.<br><br></li><li><strong>DOS</strong> |
| 105 | + : |
| 106 | + I experimented a lot with the VC1541, but currently only |
| 107 | +the IEEE488 DOS is installed. I see whether I can get the other stuff |
| 108 | +out of the archives. |
| 109 | +<br><br></li></ul><hr><h4>Disclaimer</h4>All Copyrights are acknowledged. |
| 110 | +There is no warranty of any kind attached to the information herein. |
| 111 | +You may use this information for NON-COMMERCIAL use, unless where the |
| 112 | +GNU Public License applies. Then its conditions hold. |
| 113 | + <hr>Contents last modified 15 June 2000 |
| 114 | + </body></html> |
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