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Forums > C64 Coding > Spindle and Sparkle demos not launching
2024-10-29 21:01
mankeli

Registered: Oct 2010
Posts: 146
Spindle and Sparkle demos not launching

Can someone explain why demos using Sparkle or Spindle loaders can't be run from 1541U by selecting the launch file and using "mount & run"?

You got to use "Run Disk" for the whole image. 99.9999% of the C64 demos can be launched with mount & run, and somehow this only seems affect those aforementioned loaders.
 
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2024-11-09 13:23
tlr

Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 1791
Quote: Quoting tlr
; This is because some drive mechanisms will feel bad when going
; directly from step 10 -> step 00 (i.e track 18 -> reset routine)

What does “feel bad” mean? What happens to the drive mechanism when the DOS reset routine does a %10 -> %00 on track 18?


feel bad = to be in an undefined state

See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepper_motor#/media/File:Stepper..

e.g, if you are physically in state #1 and directly change the magnets to go to state #3 you might move partially, in the wrong direction, or not at all in some cases.

This will correct itself by stepping a few times, but then everything might end up one track off. This then needs to be detected by interpreting the track field in the sector header.
2024-11-09 18:14
chatGPZ

Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11390
Quote:
e.g, if you are physically in state #1 and directly change the magnets to go to state #3 you might move partially, in the wrong direction, or not at all in some cases.

BTW - VICE (and i believe also 1541U) will always step "up" one half track in that situation, as this seems to be what the odd loader (i forgot the name of that demo) expects
2024-11-10 03:04
Martin Piper

Registered: Nov 2007
Posts: 726
Quote: feel bad = to be in an undefined state

See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepper_motor#/media/File:Stepper..

e.g, if you are physically in state #1 and directly change the magnets to go to state #3 you might move partially, in the wrong direction, or not at all in some cases.

This will correct itself by stepping a few times, but then everything might end up one track off. This then needs to be detected by interpreting the track field in the sector header.


Looking at the normal 1541 DOS routines, I've been wondering how the stepping would handle disks with sector headers that have deliberately wrong track numbers.
Are there any real world examples of disks that used wrong track numbers for sectors?
2024-11-10 03:13
chatGPZ

Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11390
There are originals that do this. I remember something with directory on 18.5 (which the DOS can handle fine due to the +/- 0.5 stepping)
2024-11-10 03:19
Sparta

Registered: Feb 2017
Posts: 49
Quoting tlr
feel bad = to be in an undefined state

See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepper_motor#/media/File:Stepper..

e.g, if you are physically in state #1 and directly change the magnets to go to state #3 you might move partially, in the wrong direction, or not at all in some cases.

This will correct itself by stepping a few times, but then everything might end up one track off. This then needs to be detected by interpreting the track field in the sector header.


Thanks! Since I already added the DOS read BAM call to resolve the drive reset/powercycle/DMA load problem it also makes sense to implement a stepper bit fix.
2024-12-02 03:07
Quiss

Registered: Nov 2016
Posts: 43
Quoting Krill

Here's a hypothetical but quite realistic scenario:

1. File is loaded from directory track T18.
2. Stepper bits are at %10.


I don't see anything in the ROM that would touch the lower two bits of $1c00 as long as the head is already reading from the track we need. Thus, the stepper bits can still be %00 even after loading the file, right?

Thus, a more simple scenario would be:

1. Drive is turned on, head happens to be near track 18. During powerup, $1c00 is $ff, but then the motor gets turned off (ROM init code at $f259). This cuts power to the coils, the head coasts to track 18.
2. User does load "*", 8. Drive re-energizes the coils by putting $f4 into $1c00 (ROM code at $f982). This doesn't do anything, since the activated coil is opposite to the motor position. Head is still on track 18. File loads. (Even though the coils are in an invalid state.)
3. File is executed, loader initializes and tries to step somewhere, but ends up on the wrong track.

Just saw this happen in The Demo Coder, albeit in an emulator. (Thanks to Trident for helping me debug!)
2024-12-02 12:06
Krill

Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2981
Quoting Quiss
a more simple scenario would be
Indeed, bottom line being that the stepper bits can be in an invalid state even after having DOS-loaded a file living on the directory track.

Quoting Quiss
During powerup, $1c00 is $ff, but then the motor gets turned off (ROM init code at $f259). This cuts power to the coils, the head coasts to track 18.
Note that the ROM init code does not only turn off the motors, but also sets the stepper bits to %00.
F25E: 29 F0     AND #$F0
F260: 8D 00 1C  STA $1C00       ; port B, control port
This does not change the overall scenario, only minor details of it.
Current emulators usually don't implement head inertia when moving, thus any "coasting" is not emulated.
The head may move by a half-track on start-up (or later) even in an emulator because of that ROM init code resetting the stepper bits to %00, the stepping being performed whenever the motors are turned on (during init or after).
By the same token, the head may not move, but the stepper bits/coils be reset from %10 to %00 and become invalid.

Last time i checked, only the venerable CCS64 passed this test, but Denise is moving fast! =)
2024-12-02 15:27
chatGPZ

Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11390
Micro64 also emulates head-movement inertia (including bero typical overengineering) iirc
2024-12-04 08:48
ChristopherJam

Registered: Aug 2004
Posts: 1409
Quoting mankeli
This happens on U64 too. (Ultimate 64 Elite V1.43 - 3.11) Aerial Core for example doesn't work with mount & run, it needs run disk.


Aerial Core was the very first demo I attempted to run after I received my 1541u-II+ - I was a bit disturbed when it didn't work haha
2024-12-05 07:21
Bitbreaker

Registered: Oct 2002
Posts: 508
Quoting Quiss

Just saw this happen in The Demo Coder, albeit in an emulator. (Thanks to Trident for helping me debug!)


Thanks for pointing me to this and doing all the debug work! Meanwhile i added a cheap fix for Bitfire (just use the latest commit from github), by simply stepping to track 17, where i bogus-read a sector by job code before loading the dir-sector from track 18 and start the loader.
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