Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Episode #139 - covers my Retrochallenge 2011 Winter Warmup entry

Be sure to check out Episode #139 of the Retrobits Podcast, which I devote to the SFD-1001 drive, IEEE-488, and my Retrochallenge 2011 Winter Warmup entry!

Highlights:

  • The SFD-1001 drive and cable are functional and working well.
  • I've been able to "chain" two BASIC programs together to make a more "complex" program; however, string variables may not be preserved when loading one program from another. More research required.
  • My proposed first-pass method to move a program from the Internet to the SFD-1001 involves using an emulator to create a TAP (virtual cassette tape) file of the desired program, using another utility to turn that TAP file into a WAV file, recording the WAV to a cassette tape, then loading that program from that tape onto the PET 2001 using the C2N cassette deck. Finally, the program will be stored from the PET to the SFD-1001. Whew! Morse code goes faster!
Another week and a half to finish! Hoping for a success!

2 comments:

Nathan Beckstrand said...

Hi Earl,

Please see Jim Butterfield's wonderful article series about linking basic programs linked below.

It can be quite complex but also very powerful. The pitfalls you ran into and the workarounds are explained in detail. Have fun!

Nathan Beckstrand

Loading And Linking Commodore Programs by Jim Butterfield (Part 1,) Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

Earl Evans said...

Awesome! Thanks for that!

- Earl