Pimpin a Commodore 128D with massive upgrades so I can test my RPG

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Edit: I have found that the Jumper Link does not want to stay plugged into the RAMLink connector when plugging in the RAMLink into the cartridge port but I could not see that with the cover on. If I put a little tension on the wire from inside as I plug the RAMLink in it does not pull to the side and lose contact. I am going to try to attach the wire in the case with some electrical tape to keep this from happening. Those who suggested the Jumper Link were correct I think. I will update this later if anything changes... Earlier: 128 mode RAMLink issue update: a4000t suggested trying it without the SIMM installed and many of you suggested the jumper clip be installed. I had tried the jumper clip during the 2 days I was trying to solve this issue but, since it had no effect, I left it out of the video. I have gone ahead and reinstalled it since it can't hurt and then I turned to the simm. So far, after removing it (And all the external drives) it is running on my bench. I had run a RAM test on the SIMM with no issues found but now, with it removed, things are stable so far. Apparently the RAMLink reserves some memory since the 1760 now reports 1728 blocks free instead of the 1984 it reported with the SIMMM installed.

[@pacbilly]

You now have the greatest 8-bit computer humanly possible. Also, they need to make a special internal HD solution just for the C128D. Plenty-o-room in there.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thanks pacbilly! I think that's an interesting idea. For now what I want to install inside is a fan!

[@Fan-lq6uv]

If only it was easy to get the part to connect hard drive to a Commodore machine. CMD didn't make a lot of the hard drives and the spare part were virtually impossible to get for DIY solution back in the early 90s and even today SD2IEC or pi1541 will be the closest to a hard drive in term of capacity.

[@chaoticsystem2211]

"it's not gonna just used to play games" - every kid in the 80s who wanted to have one

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

True, I was an adult by then but that was the argument I used to get my Grandparents to subsidize the purchase in 1983 (I was 19)

[@FranksRetroLab]

@RavenWolf Retro Tech, always great content. Love that system!! I really enjoy your content! Especially liked the “read the manual” comment. So many of us have been there. 😂. Keep up the great work. Looking forward to seeing more!!

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thanks Frank. I find myself going back to the old way and reading the manual instead of searching the internet. This has bitten me once though with the RAMLinks updated manual and addendum having critical information.

[@PaulHockerOnEarth]

Nice to see another person using my extension for kick assembler

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thank you Paul! The iteration cycle using Kick Assembler, VS code and your extension is literally what is making this possible. I can get done in an hour what used to take 4

[@mcd3379]

Great video - you've got lots of rare hardware too - the hard drive is rare, and even 1581 and a 1571 - especially in working condition - are becoming increasingly difficult to find these days. Great to see the old C128D up and working with all of that hardware!

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thank You! I was very fortunate to find these in the Stone collection. Otherwise this would never have been possible.

[@75slaine]

Very cool and I'm only a tiny bit jealous. As someone that's just got a 128D for the first time after it being on my wish list of many many years, I'd love to see a future video of it being used as a working machine. I absolutely adore my 128D and it feels like a real 8bit work horse, I just need to figure out what I can do with it.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I had a flat 128 back in the day with an external 1571. I do really love the form factor of the 128D but could not justify/afford the extra expense back then. Expect to see the 128D in most, if not all, DDM dev blog posts in the future!

[@10MARC]

The ZuluSCSi can default into a "Fallback" mode where it works more like a SCSI2SD instead of a Zulu or BlueSCSI (which is the .hdf files) - that's probably why yours works. If you took that SD card off a SCSI2SD V 6 it just sees it as a hard drive. I found this out accidentally myself, and confirmed it with Alex Perez. It's not really designed to work in that mode, but it does.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Interesting. I don't actually have another SCSI2SD Device. I am pretty sure what happened was that I accidently put my Amiga SD card onto it because I was later unable to find it when I needed it. It had drive images on it that were formatted using WinUAE IIRC. This was all last year so I am pretty foggy on the detail at this point. Sigh...

[@BustaHymen]

Very cool video, as always! Thanks for sharing :)

[@cbmeeks]

"How to code a modern game in 2024 with $10K worth of vintage equipment". LOL Awesome video. I have a C128D and some 1571's but that 1581 and CMD hardware is uber expensive these days...if you can find one. Fortunately, I have an UltimateII+ and I can quickly send PRG's over to a real C64 with ethernet.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

That sounds like a perfect solution. I only did this because I had the gear from the Stone collection and thought it would be fun to put together a Retro Battlestation that is beyond my dreams back in the day. It will be very useful for testing and I want to make a single disk version of my game that runs off the 1581 for people with the hardware or running in an emulator.

[@stormshadow5555]

Tip: never use Q-tips with isopropyl alcohol on them to clean drive heads. Instead, always use the correct rotating cleaning diskette with the correct, special cleaning solution applied to the actual padded disc part.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

As a consumer this is correct. Improper cleaning could cause damage and there are high voltages in the drive that could cause injury to the unaware. I do use a cleaning diskette regularly, However, the proper way to clean a drive by a technician when servicing is with a swab and alcohol. In fact, in my floppy disk cleaning video there are some instances where the cleaning disk would not clean the heads and even a swab took several minutes to remove the severe contamination from bad disks.

[@yesitreallyisme]

You're only missing the kitchen sink attachment now.

[@nathanbutcher7720]

That would be the Super CPU 128

[@DonnyHooterHoot]

A 128D? Good grief man I junked mine in about 1993. Have fun, I always did with mine!

[@HansCampbell]

This may seem like an odd question, but, why use Jiffy DOS on a Commodore 128 computer and its 1571 Disk Drive? They both have a burst mode (fast made). So, what else is Jiffy DOS used for? 🤔

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Remember that in a list of questions, every other one is odd! Even if the speed is similar, I really love the abbreviated syntax for DOS commands in JiffyDOS. Besides that I have the HD-20 and RAMLink that support JiffyDOS and I don't think I would do well using different command syntaxes for some drives. Then there is the elephant in the room! We all know that most 128s spend the majority of their lives in 64 mode. Back in the day I used 128 mode for 80-column text editing (With Word Writer 128) and Assembly coding (With the LADS assembler). Even then the code I was writing would only run in 64 mode as would most of the software and games I owned,

[@herdware]

Strange problem that in C128 mode. You could try to install a timing jumper clip to see if that remedies things. See the ramlink manual for instructions. The manual also says to try another power supply for the ramlink. CMD was a bit shortsighted when it comes to the parallell cable - you can only add ONE hard drive to parallell. ;-) EDIT: Highest device number for HD/RAMLink (or any C= drive) is 29 if I remember correctly.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I actually did install that and it did not help so I removed it. I do want to look deeper into what that connects to and be sure that I had the correct pin on the PLA. I will look into the PSU and I think I need to look into a newer manual. The original one I have is an early revision. One hard drive. 254 partitions - All the space I will ever need :)

[@michaelb4439]

@@RavenWolfRetroTech There are definitely at least two different RAMLink manuals on the internet, one has much more detail than the other.

[@rickyderocher3181]

The only thing missing is a SuperCPU. 😀

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Yeah, I did look into that but I was unable to work out a trade for one that was available locally. I have little cash but much I can trade 🙄

[@pacbilly]

All you need now is a 1351 and GEOS.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Ohhhh good thought, I do have a 1351 I can add on!

[@LeftoverBeefcake]

Do you have an RR-Net cartridge (and a WiFi bridge / Ethernet to WiFi adapter to connect it to)? That should allow you to use WarpCopy64 and beam a disk image to your 128, so you wouldn't even have to touch the SD card. Although I read that Warp Copy doesn't like the plastic case 128D's for some reason. The 128DCR is the all metal case version I think?

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I don't have one but I don't mind dropping the files I want in dropbox and then grabbing them on an SD card when I am out in my shop.

[@fattomandeibu]

As awesome as all that is, it'd render all my games unplayable, as all my games are on cassette. Over 100 tapes, most of them originals, though a massive number(not quite half, but might be close) are "covertapes", which were cassettes that were taped to the front of magazines, usually having a commercial game demo on one side and a freeware/PD game on the other. Would've loved a setup like that, but I couldn't even muster the cash for a 1541. Of course, I was 5 years old, what'd you expect?

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

If changing the JiffyDoS switch on the RAMLink to disabled did not reenable the cassette port then you could just unplug it. I too used a Datasette for a year before I could scrape up enough to buy a disk drive - and I was 19. It sounds like you have a nice collection!

[@fattomandeibu]

@@RavenWolfRetroTech I think the key thing to keep in mind with C64s and cassettes in England, is game consoles such as the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Master System didn't arrive until 1988, so until then if you wanted to play video games, it was either an Atari 2600 or a computer. Being parents(oftentimes low income, as anyone with more cash would've got an Atari ST or Amiga) looking for cheap toys for their kids, cheap computers like the C64, Sinclair Spectrum and Amstrad CPC started shifting in large numbers, but sans floppy drive to keep cost down. The advantage of cassette, was that the games were ridiculously cheap(and a lot more readily available in shops than disk games) and could go for as little as £1.99(approx. $3). They'd bring out new games in big boxes and sell them for £9.99(about $15), then after they sold, I think 250k copies, they'd put 'em out in regular jewel cases and move them to the £1.99 section. That, combined with how computer magazines would always have a tape stuck to the front cover, meant I could pretty much get at least a new game every week and ended up with a kinda accidental collection.

[@a4000t]

Some Ramlinks were picky on ram,try the older 2k refresh simms i think macs used(newer are 4k). Also,they may not like some 2 chip simms,so you might try 1x8(8 chip simms). The flat 128 usually had a noisy bus but the metal 128dcr was pretty reliable. If its not that i suspect the problem might be in the 128 .

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Good thought, I can try it without any SIMM in it and just use the 1750

[@DanoG_74]

Alright you win the title for sneakiest "like-subscribe" promo. 🤣 you got my sub.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thanks Dan! I really hate to ask but it is fun to hide it as little easter eggs.

[@keyboard_g]

Does the RamLink with additional ram act as one continuous block or would there be separate banks? Would love to see a video of actually working with them.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Yes. The internal RAM is one partition and the REU is another. The one with 1984 blocks free is the REU. I do get a partition 2 with 3968 blocks free as well but it may not have made it into the video. After 2 days messing with the 128 mode issues I ended up with a mess of footage and it looks like it was lost in the sift...

[@LordHasenpfeffer]

If I recall correctly - after some 25 years... If you have 16MB RAM installed and plug, say, a 1750XL 2MB REU into the pass-thru port (I think)... you'll have 16MB RAM in the RAMLink + 2MB RAM in the REU as expected. They do not combine into a continuous total of 18MB, though. GEOS sees them as separate entities. On the other hand - and again, if I recall correctly - plugging the REU into the front cartridge port causes the 2MB RAM in the REU to overlap addresses with 2MB of the RAMLink RAM, effectively giving you 14MB + 2MB of RAM, again, as separate entities. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong about this. I just remember getting different results like that with my 1750XL REU whenever I'd plug it into the different ports. Better to go with the 16MB + 2MB, IMO.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I am in the process of finding the right SIMMs. Once I get them I will do some testing.

[@ralfjung4156]

Wait a minute. You have a 128D, a external 1571, 2 1581, a CMD HD20, a RAM Link, a 1802 monitor *and only a sd2iec ?* Why not a 1541 Ultimate II+ ?

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I kinda spent my wad on the Stone Collection which is where everything except the uIEC/SD came from. I already had the SD2IEC when I bough the Stone Collection. Before the SD2IEC I was using a ZoomFloppy to write real disks from Vice so I don't feel too inconvenienced.

[@CutieHoney]

You probably need the timer clip added.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I did try that but I forgot to add the clip in the shuffle.

[@LordHasenpfeffer]

Where does one obtain the timer clips now? I still have my original RAMLink from 1997 and another one on its way to me right now... but with multiple machines I'd like to have more than 1 or 2. More like 5 or 6 because I'll probably own a few more as time goes on. Also, what are "the rules" about them? I've heard that they're only needed with later model RAMLinks with C64s and C128Ds... The "flat" C128s apparently don't need them. Is that correct?

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

It is simply a pin clip (Grabber) with a single wire to a pin connector. I am going to do a follow-up on this video once I get a few things and I will try to get good specs on it for you.

[@LordHasenpfeffer]

@@RavenWolfRetroTech Right. I just get confused as to which pin it needs to be clipped to. Having a close-up of that on video with some dialog added would be helpful. I have a C128 and I clipped it to that where I thought it needed to go... not realizing a flat C128 apparently doesn't need it... and now the clip won't let go so I can put it on my C64c where it *is* needed. It's the only one I have and I don't know if I'm going to break it and render it unusable if I get too rough with it while trying to remove it. Hardware's never been my thing and I don't know if there's a precaution I need to take while removing it. Simple stuff like that.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Sigh, Every once in a while when I respond in the KZbin app on my phone the reply disappears so sorry for the slow reply. On the 128D it is pin 41 on the PLA but I am not sure that it is even needed on a flat C128. I will try to show these in the follow-up which is waiting on some RAM SIMMs for the RAMLink. Hopefully I will find ones before too long. To remove the clip try releasing it, pushing it in a little bit so the hook clears the pins then rotate 90 degrees so it slides free.