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Radiant
Registered: Sep 2004
Posts: 639 |
Release id #21140 : Super Tape Turbo
A lot of my old tapes had this turbo loader on them.
Which was the most widely used tape turbo loader, and how does tape turboing work? |
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MagerValp
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1056 |
Tape turbos work just like drive turbos - they replace the kernal protocol by a faster custom protocol. Many, but not all, tape turbos use the same protocol, and are therefore compatible with eachother. I have no idea which was the most spread, but they seem to have been very local. Where I grew up everyone used Mr Z's Turbo 250.
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Radiant
Registered: Sep 2004
Posts: 639 |
So the tape engine can be run at different speeds, then? I fail to see how reading speed could depend on anything other than the speed at which the tape is moving, or is it possible to store data on the tapes in different ways? |
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Radiant
Registered: Sep 2004
Posts: 639 |
And yeah, Turbo 250 was the Other<tm> loader. Btw, who was this Elgar dude? |
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tlr
Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 1714 |
Most tape turbos (all those mentioned here) are based on Turbo Tape 64. The differences between them are in the size of the data they can handle. The king of them all was Turbo 250 which can load data from at least $0801-$ffff (but only save $0801-$ff3b).
The kernal tape routines actually store the data twice on tape (!). One full copy, and then one more full copy for verification. Also it uses a very conservative bit rate.
Turbo Tape 64 improves on this by reducing the data to a single copy + a simple eor checksum. It also raises the bit rate considerably. The drawback is ofcourse sensitivity to head alignment and general tape noise, i.e ?load error.
There is probably an article about it in an early issue of 64'er somewhere... |
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Zyron
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 2381 |
If I remember correctly files saved with Turbo 250 can't be loaded with Turbo Tape 64, you always get a ?LOAD ERROR. |
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tlr
Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 1714 |
Ah, maybe he tweaked the protocol aswell. I was almost sure they were compatible, but I didn't use tape that much myself as I got a disk drive quite early on.
Are Super Tape Turbo and Turbo Tape 64 compatible then? |
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Zyron
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 2381 |
I'm not sure, don't think I've ever checked that. Once I got Turbo 250 I never used anything else since it could load everything no matter which turbo it was saved with (with a few exceptions).
There was another turbo I used called Turbo II which flashed the screen in black/red & had sound which made it perfect to use when alligning the tapehead. |
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tlr
Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 1714 |
Ok, so what you were saying was, Turbo 250 can load any files saved with Turbo Tape 64, Super Tape Turbo and friends, but what it saves can't always be loaded using those, yes?
It might be that Mr.Z optimized the loader a bit further so it can handle slightly faster speeds somewhere in the protocol.
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Zyron
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 2381 |
Quote: Ok, so what you were saying was, Turbo 250 can load any files saved with Turbo Tape 64, Super Tape Turbo and friends, but what it saves can't always be loaded using those, yes?
It might be that Mr.Z optimized the loader a bit further so it can handle slightly faster speeds somewhere in the protocol.
Exactly. |
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The Overkiller
Account closed
Registered: Mar 2002
Posts: 342 |
<-L ..... aahhhh so much time passed ... :) |
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Twoflower
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 434 |
Hmm, I got my collection of old turbos somewhere, and as far as I know, they were all compatible with eachother. The only turbo which wasn't is the one from the Action Replay. The first one I used was the Flash 70, later Super Tape Turbo then the Turbo 250 and lastly the Turbo 250 with colorflashing.
Were there any other turboformats which actually differed? I mean with the pulses and stuff |
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cba
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 932 |
Quote: Hmm, I got my collection of old turbos somewhere, and as far as I know, they were all compatible with eachother. The only turbo which wasn't is the one from the Action Replay. The first one I used was the Flash 70, later Super Tape Turbo then the Turbo 250 and lastly the Turbo 250 with colorflashing.
Were there any other turboformats which actually differed? I mean with the pulses and stuff
Nobody seems to talk about the amazing
ABC Turbo
or the first turbo loader I used called Yellow Turbo.
Niels |
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Zaz
Registered: Mar 2004
Posts: 33 |
I started out using something called "Turbo Tape 64" by Stephan Senz (Freiburg) or similar... there was seldom a filename on it but you could recognize it by the green text/black bg explanation of commands. It could load 120 blocks. For larger files (or files with autostart), it was necessary to use "Copy 190".
Then the Super Tape Turbo, making it possible to load/save 202 block files (with some pokes to change the BASIC end). There was also another turbo circulating my area by the name "fredde turbo" (no message when run) which also loaded 120 blocks but with screen flashing, making it possible to see the sync pattern for the start of a file on the tape, making it easy to find the start of programs by lots of small fast-forward steps.
Then of course the pinnacle of Mr.Z's Turbo 250 arrived... and later a disk drive.
Nostalgia only gets better with age, doesn't it? :)
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