I got my 64nic+ in the mail yesterday - hopefully will get to play with it this weekend.

But i noticed there are lots of toggle switches & jumpers - is there any "for dummies" guide on how to configure the card e.g. to look like a RR-NET with a 16KB cartridge image in the eprom?

Or do I need to wade through that 21 page thread on this forum charting the history of the card's development?

cheers

jonno

S1: RR-NET or STD register mapping (RR-NET flips the upper and lower halve of the 16 byte CS8900 register file)
S2: EPROM ENABLE (drags CE of EPROM low)
S3: C64/C128 EPROM MODE (C64 mode drags ROMH/ROML pins low)
S4: IO1/IO2

Jumpers:

$dx10: short this line to set bit 4 of CS8900 address to 0
$dx20: short this line to set bit 5 of CS8900 address to 0
$dx40: short this line to set bit 6 of CS8900 address to 0
$dx80: short this line to set bit 7 of CS8900 address to 0

(Thus, using the jumpers, you can configure the 64NIC+ to appear in any 16 byte address range in an IO bank. This means you can use two or more units at the same time, in the same bank)

Jim

So if I want a 16KB EPROM image to appear at $8000-$BFFF, and to be comptable with RR-NET code,
I should have:

S1 set to "RR-NET"
S2 set to "EPROM ENABLE"
S3 set to "C64 MODE"
S4 set to ???

and the $dxx0 jumpers all removed?

S4 should be on IO1
All of the $dxx0 jumpers should be installed ($dx00-$dx0f)

Note the difference in direction for the legend and the switch position: This picture:

http://www.jbrain.com/vicug/gallery/nic/c64nic_1?full=1

Shows a 64NIC+ on STD, EPROM, 128MODE, IO2

Jim

Jim

Cheers for the info.

Assuming I have the same 16KB image duplicated, should I be able to use 27c256 in the EPROM socket even without the hex switch (S7) attached?

And if I did, would S3 then enable/disable that? i.e. so with S3 set to 64 mode (down), a C64 would boot up with the EPROM visible at $8000, and with S3 128 mode (up) the C64 would boot up with $8000 being RAM (but with the cs8900a still visible at $de00)

Yes. It will default to selecting the highest bank of the EPROM.

S2 enables the ROM, so it would have to be on, but yes, if S2 is on, S3 should do as you suggest. However, as all of that was added late in the game. Testing is much appreciated.

Jim

Has anyone built a image with utilities etc on it yet for the eprom.

I will be incommunicado from tomorrow till Wednesday night. See ya.

_________________
Have Fun!!

I had a go tonight.
First test was aborted when having programmed a 27c256 and gone to insert into the socket, I realised the socket is for 32 pins. I then reread the lemon64 thread and saw the note on JP4. I didn't want to fiddle with cutting traces or soldering pads, but I found a 29c040 and programmed it up with a file consisting of 32 copies of my 16KB "nb65" cart image.

I then inserted the eeprom into the cart, put the cart into my c64, and powered up.

Unfortunately it didn't work

With the switches as outlined above (and an eeprom in the socket) my C64 basically hangs on boot up. If I disable the eeprom (with either of S2 or S3) it boots into BASIC. But the code on the eeprom doesn't seem to work.
The code in the eeprom starts like this:

;first let the kernal do a normal startup
sei
jsr $fda3 ;initialize CIA I/O
jsr $fd50 ;RAM test, set pointers
jsr $fd15 ;set vectors for KERNAL
jsr $ff5B ;init. VIC
cli ;KERNAL init. finished
jsr $e453 ;set BASIC vectors
jsr $e3bf ;initialize zero page


;set some funky colours
LDA #$04 ;purple

STA $D020 ;border
LDA #$00 ;black
STA $D021 ;background


This code seems to work OK in VICE. I assume if it's starting to run at all, it's not getting as far as the "STA $D020" line, since the border/background colours when the C64 hangs are the normal startup blues (with no text anywhere on the screen - just the 2 blues).

Not sure what could be going on here. I assume that if I'd completely botched the burning of the eeprom, then the C64 wouldn't see the "CBM80" autostart signature and would just do a normal boot? A

The problem was those last 2 JSRs (which were carried over from when my cart image was meant to be an 8KB image with BASIC still usable). I am guessing that the $e453 or $e3bf routines must call into the main BASIC routines normally at $A000..$BFFF, which is of course replaced by the cart image.
Once I deleted those, and reprogrammed the 29c040 I was able to boot my cart image, which
1) initialised the cs8900a
2) got an IP address via DHCP
3) downloaded a file via tftp
4) executed that file (which itself called other routines in the cart to pull more data down from the net)

Yay!

I would try a simple 16kB game cart and make sure all works. I just tried battlezone here, and it works fine.

Jim

some screenshots:
cart startup screen
cart switch & jumper settings
running ping
running gopher
running telnet

Good deal!

Jim

I picked up a 64NIC+ at ECCC and want to try it out. The CS8900 networking portion works perfectly!

For the ROM socket, I have a few questions...

1) If I understand this thread correctly, I need to use a minimum 16K EPROM i.e. a 27C128. For larger EPROMs, put the desired image in the top bank. Is that right?

2) If I wanted to use netboot65, should I combine nb65_std_cart.bin with the 8K BASIC ROM to fill the 16K?

3) Jonno, is the nb65_std_cart.bin on the sourceforge site the latest?

4) For a 28-pin EPROM, should I put in the rightmost or leftmost part of the socket? (I should know this, but still car-lagged).

Yes and Yes

I would do that.

[/quote]
Put it as far *AWAY* from the switches as possible. you'll also need to cut and solder the other side of JP4, or run a wire from pin 32 to pin 30 (to put Vcc on the 27128 pin 28)

Thanks Jim, I got it working just fine.