Apple II Core

[akeley]

Managed to get the SDRAM code stable.

Does it mean floppy saving is possible now?

[Newsdee]

(Tangent: I just saw the "profile pic" on his Columbia website and realized that I'd seen it before. He's one of Terasic's featured reviewers of the DE10-Standard board. The one with the parka and the (McChicken? Filet-O-Fish?) sandwich. )

I wonder if he knows about MiSTer

[Newsdee]

Managed to get the SDRAM code stable.
Added a 16MB Ramworks card emulation too.
(Most software will only see 8MB though).

Wow! Well done!

Does anybody have a good tutorial of using a RAMDisk for games?
I imagine it can speedup running some of them if they access the disk frequently?

[RedskullDC]

Hi Breiztiger,

perhaps a bug

https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=75630

this doesn't restart correctly after one run, have scramble caracters at buttom

run well in core 21.10.18

Tested with the latest build, working now that SDRAM is stable.

Regards,
Red

[RedskullDC]

Hi All,

I've added the Open/Closed Apple Key functionality to the Left/Right ALT keys respectively.

Also changed the Shift-3 key from '£' to '#' .
(That's a temporary fix, as there should be a switch to select either)

Pic showing the RamWorks card in action:

RW-16MB.jpg (3.39 MiB) Viewed 14640 times

Another pic showing the Self-test routine running:

self-test.jpg (3.61 MiB) Viewed 14640 times

(Hold down Left and right ALT keys, then press the reset button)

I don't have a real //e at the moment to check, but I don't remember seeing text at the bottom of the self-test screen?

Perhaps a soft-switch is not being correctly set by the reset.

Enjoy.
Red

https://github.com/RedskullDC/Apple-II_MiSTer

[RedskullDC]

Hi Akeley,

Managed to get the SDRAM code stable.

Does it mean floppy saving is possible now?

Not quite yet.
Next on the list.

Regards,
Red

[thorr]

Hi All,

I've added the Open/Closed Apple Key functionality to the Left/Right ALT keys respectively.

Also changed the Shift-3 key from '£' to '#' .
(That's a temporary fix, as there should be a switch to select either)

Pic showing the RamWorks card in action:

Another pic showing the Self-test routine running:

(Hold down Left and right ALT keys, then press the reset button)

I don't have a real //e at the moment to check, but I don't remember seeing text at the bottom of the self-test screen?

Perhaps a soft-switch is not being correctly set by the reset.

Enjoy.
Red

https://github.com/RedskullDC/Apple-II_MiSTer

Awesome! I don't have a chance to try it quite yet, but is there a keyboard key for Reset? If not, can you please add one? F1 would be my pick since it is near the location of Reset on an Apple II.

[breiztiger]

hi

sorry but with your last core a get that at boot on hdmi output

20211116_181933-screen.png (242 Bytes) Viewed 15952 times

is it normal ?

ps : i only have 32mo is it ok ?

[RedskullDC]

hi

sorry but with your last core a get that at boot on hdmi output
20211116_181933-screen.png
is it normal ?

ps : i only have 32mo is it ok ?

I set the code to only use 32MB, so that it would be compatible with all the SDRAM expansions.
I have a 128MB card, but it (theoretically) should work fine with the 32MB card.

Can I trouble you to run the memtest core in the utility directory?
Let me know what the maximum clock speed you are able to achieve is?

I may have to dial back the clock speed going to the SDRAMs a little .

Cheers,
Red

[RedskullDC]

Hi Breiztiger, et al.

ps : i only have 32mo is it ok ?

I've reduced the SDRAM clock.

Can you try the latest RBF?

Regards,
Red
https://github.com/RedskullDC/Apple-II_ ... r/releases

[breiztiger]

with memory test for 5 min result 160 without error

same with last build

[RedskullDC]

with memory test for 5 min result 160 without error
same with last build

OK, so no problem with the memory.

Does the core work for you apart from the graphics issue?

What params are you using for HDMI output in your .INI file?
(I have mine set at 1920x1080 so it translates well to a 4K monitor).

Cheers,
Red

[cathrynmataga]

Oh, this is odd for me. with 211117, If I boot this prodos 2.5 version 8 with the core as the first floppy, then I select basic system, then I press catalog a few times, it eventually does something weird at some point. Either it fails to load, or the catalog fails. I can go back to the old core with no reset and it works fine.

I was able to boot some hard disk games with your core without problems. I think floppy related?

https://prodos8.com/releases/prodos-25/

For me, HDMI is fine. I set min/max resolution to 1080p and refresh to 60hz. (Since this matches my actual screen.)

[Newsdee]

Does the core work for you apart from the graphics issue?

I'm having issues with the new core as well - they were particularly noticeable in Hard Hat Mack level 2

I managed to take a screenshot of some of it (the dots), but there was more than that happening randomly:

• Dots and lines appear in random places
• Randomly died instantly once
• Some sprites started to glitch (e.g. the "stamp press" on the right had its pole drawn vertically all across the screen)

This is with 128MB of RAM, using an output resolution of 1720x1440

20211118_114707-screen_bugs.png (2.7 KiB) Viewed 15709 times

[Newsdee]

This is with 128MB of RAM, using an output resolution of 1720x1440

I've ran memtest, and I can only go up to 138Mhz

I'm also using the latest core bulld (Nov 17th)

[AmintaMister]

Hi Akeley,

Managed to get the SDRAM code stable.

Does it mean floppy saving is possible now?

Not quite yet.
Next on the list.

Regards,
Red

It would be FANTASTIC for the adventure games!

[Newsdee]

This thread went quiet ... I hope it's just lack of time rather than a major blocker...

[RedskullDC]

Hi Newsdee, et al.

This thread went quiet ... I hope it's just lack of time rather than a major blocker...

Just lack of time at the moment.
I work in transport, December/XMAS is our busiest time of the year.

Been home for exactly 4 hours in the last 3 weeks

Will get back to it soon...

Cheers,
Red

[Newsdee]

Just lack of time at the moment.

No worries, glad it's still on track

[aenoxi]

Hi Red,

Just lack of time at the moment.
I work in transport, December/XMAS is our busiest time of the year.

Been home for exactly 4 hours in the last 3 weeks

Will get back to it soon...

I hope you managed to get some rest after Christmas! Thank you for all of your hard work on the core. I am reliving some long-forgotten memories via the Mister

I had one question: is it possible to auto-mount an HDV hard disk image when the core starts? I'd really love to have the Mister boot up into the Total Replay image. Right now you have to go to the menu, select mount hdv and choose the file and then go back into the menu and cold reset - which is a bit of a challange for my kids.

I know you can auto-mount a floppy and boot into that automatically by renaming the floppy file boot.rom, but this doesn't seem to work for HDVhard disk images...

Wishing you a restful, happy and prosperous 2022!

[nemopapa]

For someone who wants to use US keyboard based on 20220219 build.

[akeley]

It's great to hear about Apple IIGS core in the works, but I really hope somebody can tackle floppy write in this one at some point too. Without it, a large chunk of the important titles from its library is useless, and in general a computer without a save ability is a sad puppy.

And it's been a few months since we heard from @RedskullDC...hope they're ok.

[AmintaMister]

It's great to hear about Apple IIGS core in the works, but I really hope somebody can tackle floppy write in this one at some point too. Without it, a large chunk of the important titles from its library is useless, and in general a computer without a save ability is a sad puppy.

And it's been a few months since we heard from @RedskullDC...hope they're ok.

I agree. The historical preservation of Apple II is enormously diminished without the floppy writing function.

[Newsdee]

Here is a test build by alanswx that I've been testing recently,
adding a second floppy drive and the ability to save disks in .nib format to the SD card!

I was able to play Adventure Construction Set and Ultima II with it so far.

It needs disks to be in .nib to write back to them. This is an acceptable trade-off since this is not a copy-protected format anyway; and it also helps keep your files tidy on your SD card e.g. all saves in a separate folder. I would also recommend preparing save disks in AppleWin first since it formats and copies data much faster than MiSTer (which operates at original speed).

To help using the Apple II core with this I started making an archive of .nib save disks ready for use.
For example, I added four "save slots" for Ultima II by making a player disk and duplicating it before creating a character.
What are your favorite games and which save files would you like to see added to this archive?


Files:

Apple-II_disk_write_20220415.rbf

(3.43 MiB) Downloaded 305 times

Saves (Player Disks).zip

(359.24 KiB) Downloaded 318 times

[Newsdee]

I've created a github page to house the .nib disks, this will make it easier to add your own (by pull request):
https://github.com/Newsdee/apple2saves

[virtuali]

Great work with the disk write!

It's possible to convert .DSK to .NIB using this utility:

https://github.com/slotek/dsk2nib

It must be compiled from source, but it's extremely easy to do, since it's a single .C file with no strange dependencies. I did it in Windows under Linux/Ubuntu terminal mode, but I guess it could be done directly from Mister, although it will likely be slower.

Download the dsk2nib project from Github, open the linux console and compile it this way:

Code: Select all

make all -f Makefile.txt

This assuming you have gcc and make installed. If not, just apt-get install gcc and apt-get install make. On my Windows Linux subsystem, I had to do an apt-get update first, to get all updated repositories.

If the compilation went well, you should have the dsk2nib executable ready. Be sure it's marked executable ( it not, do a chmod +x dsk2nib ), then you can do a batch conversion. Assuming you have a bunch of *.dsk files in the same folder you compiled the utility, this line will convert them all to .nib:

Code: Select all

for f in *.dsk; do ./dsk2nib "$f" "$(basename "$f" .dsk).nib"; done

[AmintaMister]

Here is a test build by alanswx that I've been testing recently,
adding a second floppy drive and the ability to save disks in .nib format to the SD card!

I was able to play Adventure Construction Set and Ultima II with it so far.

It needs disks to be in .nib to write back to them. This is an acceptable trade-off since this is not a copy-protected format anyway; and it also helps keep your files tidy on your SD card e.g. all saves in a separate folder. I would also recommend preparing save disks in AppleWin first since it formats and copies data much faster than MiSTer (which operates at original speed).

To help using the Apple II core with this I started making an archive of .nib save disks ready for use.
For example, I added four "save slots" for Ultima II by making a player disk and duplicating it before creating a character.
What are your favorite games and which save files would you like to see added to this archive?


Files:

Apple-II_disk_write_20220415.rbf

Saves (Player Disks).zip

THANKS! This is an enormous work!

[AmintaMister]

Here is a test build by alanswx that I've been testing recently,
adding a second floppy drive and the ability to save disks in .nib format to the SD card!

I was able to play Adventure Construction Set and Ultima II with it so far.

It needs disks to be in .nib to write back to them. This is an acceptable trade-off since this is not a copy-protected format anyway; and it also helps keep your files tidy on your SD card e.g. all saves in a separate folder. I would also recommend preparing save disks in AppleWin first since it formats and copies data much faster than MiSTer (which operates at original speed).

To help using the Apple II core with this I started making an archive of .nib save disks ready for use.
For example, I added four "save slots" for Ultima II by making a player disk and duplicating it before creating a character.
What are your favorite games and which save files would you like to see added to this archive?


Files:

Apple-II_disk_write_20220415.rbf

Saves (Player Disks).zip

OK, tonight I've tested some games... The problem is that games that load, work, but there are many games that load with regular core and not with yours, eg Transylvania 1985, The Oregon Trail (hangs on first picture), "Birth Of The Phoenix (1981)(Phoenix Software) & Global Thermonuclear War (19xx)(-) & Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, The (1984)(Infocom)" disk or others that have problem, like Transylvania 1984 (loads, you can play but you get a long series of "I don't understand" from the parser without touching a key (in regular core it works flawlessly)...

[virtuali]

I noticed that some games that seems to not work, are instead loading *very* slowly with this updated core. For example, Ultima IV boot disk, converted from SDK with the dsk2nib utility on Github.

- standard core, in DSK format, loads very fast

- standard core, in NIB format, loads slower than the DSK version, but not too slow

- updated core with write support loading the same NIB file, loads extremely slow

[Newsdee]

"Birth Of The Phoenix (1981)(Phoenix Software) & Global Thermonuclear War (19xx)(-) & Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, The (1984)(Infocom)" disk

Thanks, this disk in particular is a very useful test case... it prints out disk access info on the bottom right.

I did notice the core was a bit slower; at first I thought it was due to the un-enhanced disk speed,
but comparing this disk with an emulator at 1x speed shows its much slower than the original.

If anybody wants to help eyeball the code, the branch is here: https://github.com/alanswx/Apple-II_MiSTer