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2012-08-16 09:19

Didi

Registered: Nov 2011
Posts: 487

Checking for alternate drives and fastloaders

How to detect if a non-1541-compatible drive is attached or a fastload-cartridge is attached? Do all alternate drives and fastload-cartridges alter the standard loading vector at $0330/$0331? Is it enough to verify the values of $0330/$0331 as a check?

2012-08-16 12:09

6R6

Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 245

Quote: How to detect if a non-1541-compatible drive is attached or a fastload-cartridge is attached? Do all alternate drives and fastload-cartridges alter the standard loading vector at $0330/$0331? Is it enough to verify the values of $0330/$0331 as a check?

There are several ways to detect certain disk drives.

Send a initialize message to the disk drive with "ui" - this will reset the drive.
Then you read the error channel and search the text string you get for the numbers "1541". If no "1541" then drive
is not a 1541.

Another way is to do a m-r in the disk drive rom area c000-ffff and compare some bytes you know are identical for all revisions of the 1541 drive. (There are some small tiny differences).
For example at $e5c4 you will find "1541" for 1541 and
"1570" and "1571" for 1570 and 1571.

(>8:e5c4 31 35 34 b1 )

Alternate drives such as 1570,1571,1581, cmd fd, cmd hd and clones of these does not change the vectors at 0300-0332.
Neither do the iec devices.

Fastload cartridges, ide64 and cmd ramlink will change these vectors.

Jiffydos and other c64 kernals will change the vectors.

I never check what type of fastload cartridge is attached.
And i never check the vectors at 0300-0332 to determine anything.
I only use the methods described at the top.

2012-08-16 12:39

Didi

Registered: Nov 2011
Posts: 487

OK thanks, that's too much for the small project I want to do.
I guess I will just prompt the user for using software fastload or not.

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