Re: RFC : SOME IDEAS FOR THE APPLE II FPGA'ers

mdj wrote:

Michael J. Mahon wrote:


When, exactly, does the flicker occur? When the computer switches
to another RAM bank?


Yeah, when the softswitch gets hit. In practice, it doesn't matter
*that* much I spose, but copying a 3.5" disk using the expansion RAM
results in several of these glitches that I'd rather do without.

I'll go ahead with my experiment (involving moving a couple of
big monitors--ugh) and see how it looks.


.. I'm using efficiency to refer to the complexity of the proposed
solutions; to me the simpler the design the easier it is to build, the
more likely it'll happen. Poor choice of language to illustrate my
point, but it's inefficient to my thinking to expend a large effort
(plus a lot of rather useful programmable gates) on only solving
individual problems, when it can be done once, for similar effort/cost
and be reusable.

For sure, keeping the complexity down so that a project can fit in
a human mind is almost always *the* critical factor.


Good--that's great, as long as the game port, cassette port(s), and the
venerable speaker is also perserved. ;-)


Every single connector sans auxiliary slot, and slot zero. I'd provide
both keyboard encoders so the board can be fitted to either a Apple
II/II+ or IIe, although people using the original chassis might have to
desolder the 9-pin game port from the board.

....and by "game port", I refer to the 16-pin DIP socket that has
the strobe and four annunciator signals, too. ;-)

Funnily, I consider it a bit 'wrong' to use the original chassis. My
II+ sits in a cupboard and never gets turned on. I pull it out
occasionally to show an interested party the funky made-in-ireland disk
]['s plus the marvel that is the one-man-effort motherboard inside. My
original generation gear is sort of a 'shrine' if you like ;-)

I see what you mean. I guess I've become so accustomed to having a
Zip Chip in place of the processor, stuff plugged into the internal
game port, lots of cards, and some scope probes hanging out, that I
don't have much fear about keeping the main board in pristine condition.

In my original ][+, I put the shift key mod in "blue wires" under the
board, added the Videx SoftSwitch mod, modded the keyboard encoder board
to do auto-repeat and added the Cntl-Reset switch to it. Most of my
"daily" machines have their speaker circuits modified to provide
transformer isolation and a volume-controlled headphone jack.

I expect to keep a few machines in "original" condition, but when
faced with the choice to "modify for utility" vs. "preserve for
posterity", I've always opted for utility. ;-)

IIe's do practically everything the original machine does, have nicer
keyboards, weigh less, break less, do more. It's my favorite machine
ever made by any company, and I continue to use it frequently. I have
no problem at all popping it's motherbard + some of it's slightly more
exotic components out in favour of a replacement.

Completely agree--on all points.

Of course, what I would do, is transfer my IIe to the 'shrine' with the
II+, grab one of the other platinum chassis I have lying around, and
replace it's empty accessible motherboard. They are still dime a dozen,
make sure you have spare cases ;-)

Right!

Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of a software emulation,
like DOSMASTER, though I realize that it would be no replacement for
the occasional Disk ][ grinding. ;-)


Hmm, you could always sample the sounds, chuck em on the FPGA, and have
it emulate the noises :-) That would be cute. I'd rather just pull out
a real one now and again - the sound of the disk ][ 'scraping' bits of
the disk is music to my ears, particularly when it's caught in some
wierd synchronised quarter track mode.


You see, listening to protected games boot was fun, but I consider it
relatively inessential. Deprotecting games was always a lot more fun
for me than playing them, anyway, and once they are deprotected, then
a software virtualization scheme like DOSMASTER works fine for most
purposes. Then there's the real Disk ][ when it's needed...


I feel the same way about the protection schemes, and actually think
the ingenuity of them deserves preserving.

I can appreciate that--and, practically speaking, that appreciation
requires keeping a Disk ][.

In a way, I'd hate to see protected disks go away, since then it would
be difficult to demonstrate deprotection! (BTW, much less effort
has gone into what it takes to actually *reproduce* those very peculiar
disks. Some copy programs made a valiant effort, but spiral tracking
was always a problem for them.)

The deprotected titles are
more convenient, when you're using physical disks, but a lot still
don't lend themselves to DOSMASTER style software since although they
restore the standard DOS sector format and are easily duplicated, they
often don't use DOS3.3 as an OS at all. Consider something like Prince
of Persia, which was to my mind, the absolutely pinnacle of 8-bit Apple
II entertainment titles. Did anyone ever get around to imaging the 3.5"
version of that? It would surely be very simple to hack, as it worked
just fine on the UniDisk 3.5" and must employ a very simplistic
protection scheme, if any at all.

Good point. Some games had *very* different program loaders.

Also, the vast majority of hacked versions out there are needlessly
"graffiti'd" and it's probably less effort to virtualise the disk ][
and use Copy II+ to rearchive them all from originals than it is to
rehack everything cleanly.

I find the hack screens a bit offensive nowadays, unworthy of my
'archival' grade ideas of preservation.

Actually, they were pretty offensive then, too. But ego was the
prime mover of many deprotectors, so the hack screens are a kind
of tax on other users that supported their efforts. ;-)

And yes, in the end it's a fairly superfluous 'enhancement' - but one I
picked as a potential use case for my vapourware motherboard :-)

I see your point. In fact, I'd enjoy booting protected disks, too--
especially to hear them seeking!

Interesting. I supposed that many of the high-quality monitors were
universal, but you are in a position to know.


To be honest I haven't looked at many as yet, you might be right. I'm
getting environmental enough these days that I'd rather not collect
them if I can avoid it. I've found 5-10 year old CTV's with SCART
connectors useful replacements for the interim assuming you use RGB,
but I'd rather ditch those as well!

Yes, my earlier remark about being branded an "environmental terrorist"
was at least partly a result of observing the growing restrictions and
costs of disposal of CRT devices. I have a few shelves full, and am
a little concerned about what my heirs (stuckees) will do with them.
;-(

-michael

Music synthesis for 8-bit Apple II's!
Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it is seriously underused."
.

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