1994 by GEnie ========================================================================== This file is brought to you by The Commodore 64/128 RoundTable on GEnie This file may be published or excerpted in User Group newsletters providing credit is given in this manner: "Copyright 1994 by GEnie From the Commodore 64/128 RoundTable File#:#####" This file maybe be distributed, if distributed whole and unaltered, on , croll, uit ? non-profit BBSs or non-profit networks. For more information on GEnie call by modem: 1-800-638-8369 (8-N-1 300/1200/2400) Enter: HHH Then reply: xtx99018,commrt Then enter: Commodore And enjoy! ========================================================================== Master of Ceromonies, GEOS-TIM and his co-host Lou Schonder venture off into Yet another direction... Hardware Spotlight! Tonights Guest is Peter Fiset of Performance Peripherals Inc. Peter will be discussing among other things, SPEED!! Yes FLASH8 is a reality! Read on to learn more! =========================================================================== Okay....Showtime...we will be going into lsten only mode........ Welcome to the GEOS DEN. Tonight the spotlight is on. . Hardware ! ! ! The hardware designed by Peter Fiset. We will be talking about Peter's new products, as well as some of his previous hardware innovations. Lou Schonder is our co Host tonight.. Glad to have you cohosting tonight Lou! Happy to be here, Tim! I'm dying to hear all about Peter and his creations! :) Hi Peter, we are certainly glad to see you in the GEnie RT tonight. Well thank you for having me. Lou, has quite a diverse background in hardware. We should have some great questions to ask you , Peter Well the message I want to get out is that the FLASH8 is here from Germany. So perhaps we should begin here. Yes, that is where we are going, but I have a couple questions about how you started in Commodore computing. How, and when did you start using 64/128's? In 1984 I was working on a masters in Computer Systems engineering at Rensselaer Polythechnic Institute. My project was to bring the TMS32010 to a more useful form. From this work Texas Instruments created the TMS32025 a very powerful Digital Signal Processor. Well of course we used a C64 a the server for the assembler to the evaluation board. I was so intrigued with the C64 that I decided to start making products for it! :> We're glad you did! :) Using a C64 as a server....LOL I like that !!! The first was the EM256K a page mode memory expander. I sold a few dozen before I realized that it wouldn't be useful without hooks into the operating system of the C64. Thus I set out to write a complete RAMDOS for the product, which I actually finished and had working, as a 1541 emulator. Do you mean actual "hooks", Peter? Hooks, meaning software hooks enabled by hardware kernal override! Thank you, Peter! So this EM256K project was done part time and finished in 1989. Then I had to go to market with it. So I approached sopme of the companies that were advertising for C64 products. Software Support showed strong interest but said I had to make the unit bigger for them to consider it worth selling, and in addition give it battery backup! So I did that too. After completing the project I also approached Creative Micro Designs (CMD) to see if interest was there. They were so much closer too! Well I rememeber Doug you said that you were going to make one at CMD but that you would certainly take a look at the one I had finished already. So I went to see CMD. Well, they liked it very much indeed. But they wanted to make it compatible with JiffyDOS. I said great. So we went to work together creating what eventually became the RAMDrive, and the RAMLink. :::: APPLAUSE :::: But that is a long story and one that perhaps can wait. Ultimately I decided to create products that I could market on my own in addition to the RAMDrive. These are the BBGRam and the BBU, and BBRTC so far. Your description covered quite a few of my questions, so let's get right into the hardware that we are focusing on tonight. It is something the Europeans have been using for a while...It is Flash 8. You are planning to sell it in the North American C64 market. What is Flash 8? Well it is similar in some respects to the TURBO MASTER from Schnedler systems. But it runs at 8 Mhz! I was not involved with the design of the FLASH8 but I have some idea of the techniques used in its operation. 8 mhz would certainly be great with the 64 !!! Zipitydoda! Could match a 386 Yes, considering the 6502 is similar to a RISC processor. It would bew more like a 30 Mhz 8088. Peter, You mentioned last week that the FLASH 8 has internal memory capability making it sort of like a combination RamDrive/Speedup cartridge. How much memory can the FLASH 8 support and what type of memory is it? (SIMMs, etc.) The FLASH8 does have a memory expander built in. It is set up for 256K or 1Meg Bytes of additional DRAM. It uses ZIP chips like the RAMDrive and BBGRam. Peter, is the memories operating system ROM based or does software need to be booted to activate it? There is a fast (70ns) ROM on the card that controls the operation. So you simply plug the unit in and it runs! The Schnedler system had some problems with some programs. Does Flash 8 have any of compatibility problems with software that you know of? Yes there are software incompatibilities. Some are related to illegal op-codes that many C64 programmers have used in the past. I am not aware of the full extent of the incompatibilities. But there are different modes of the unit that can be used to overcome. Some of the problems. This is a complicated issue, and I need more expereience myself with this issue. But I know that there are modes of operation which allow for 100 % compatibity. This 100 compatible mode is similar to the way JiffyDOS claims 100% compatibity! Like JD you disable the unit when there is a problem that cannot be overcome by the other high speed alternate operating modes of the FLASH8. Are there specific programs, that you know of, that would work well with Flash 8 ? YES YES YES! How about GEOS, my favorite. :D GEOS is completely compatible with the FLASH8. GEOS at 8 MHz! What a sight THAT will be! YES YES YES refers to my excitement at the speeds GEOS runs at. Yes, that excites me...but GEOS use does bring up another question. What hardware does and doesn't work with the Flash 8? Good point. The 17xx REUs are not compatible with the FLASH8. BUT My BBGRam is! So for memory expansion under GEOS the BBGRam is the answer. Additionally I am aware of work being done to make the BBGRam work as an REU emulator for use with programs in addition to GEOS. This will be great but I cannot tell the completion date for the BBGRam REU emulator. We will have to see! That will be great having the Emulator. Where does the Flash 8 plug into? Will it interfer with a Swiftlink? Oh yes, I am aware that modems do work with the FLASH8, although this has been not in direct experience but I was told by the makers of FLASH8. I belive that Swiftlink is working. Again I don't own a SL myself though. The SL operates out of I/O1 or I/O2 like the BBGRam, and this is why it should be successful. The FLASH8 plugs into the expansion port. For use with the BBGRam a small two way expander is used to attatch both. Snogpitch has a question You mentioned the FLASH8 works with the BBGRam, but does it work with the BBU? Or even the older RamDrives? FLASH8 does not work with the RAMDRive nor the RAMLink. The BBU will work with a GEORAM 512K expander, not the 17xx REU though. Ok, thanks. Peter, how about compatibility with JiffyDOS? The BBU is a battery bakup unit for the 17xx REUs or GEORAMs. It is also very affordable at $61.97. The BBU is useful with many other programs in addition to GEOS. The FLASH8 has an internal disk speed up in ROM similar to JD; so that JiffyDOS is not needed. In addition drive ROMs are not required with the FLASH8 to speed up drive access. The FLASH8 is sooooo fast that drive speed is less of a consideration. All this is included without additional costs. That does sound impressive When will the FLASH 8 be available, and where? Well the manufacturers are pushing me to get the news out. And they certainly are available. But we are still negotiating actual sale price. I would estimate that the FLASH8 is going to retail for $289.00. But this price is subject to change depending on cost from the manufacturers. Perhaps in a week I will be taking orders! But I have to hold off temporarily. Doug Cotton has a question. What devices will the 'disk speeder' work with? Good question Doug. I am not aware of any that it does not work with. I do not have an FD from CMD though. So will it speed access to an HD or FD? Sorry Doug, I also do not have access to an HD either. Peter your hardware innovation has been a welcome sight to Commodore users. Are you still developing any hardware that we may see in the near future? If so, can you tell us anything about it? Well yes. I don't imagine I will ever stop making "things" for the C64/128. The most interesting is a compatibility card for the 64NET program coming from Australia. I think that the 64NET will be the next "killer" application for the C64/128. 64NET allows the use of a IBM PC or compatible as a server! Imagine having access to the PCs harddrive for save megabytes of information. This program is available as a shareware program to try and requires a "key code" to make it a complete system. These "key codes" will be available from Performance Peripherals, Inc. I would like to set up another conference to discuss the 64NET and my involvement with it. Perhaps this could be in a couple weeks. The news to date is that 64NET also is GEOS compatible! At the moment we have a tenative Feb. 7th date for the next P.P. inc. conf I am adding many special compatibility enhancements which I can discuss at a later date. Doug has a question I knew those IBM's would be good for SOMETHING! ;) LOL giggle Yup. When did 64NET become GEOS-compatible? This is something they've been talking about being in development, but I wasn't aware it was working yet. Yes, GEOS compatibility is a very recent development. As I said it is only news to me also. I am expecting a new version to arrive here for me to test myself. But I am told that I is working already. That's great How does it work with GEOS? 1541 emulation? Or something larger? Sorry, I don't know the details; for these reasons I would rather wait to discuss them in open conference. We'll have the conference soon. Feb. 7 sounds good. Okay, I'll hold those question until your next forum. :) Peter, if someone wanted to order one of your products, what is the address? Or the order phone number? The address at PPI is: Perfomance Peripherals Inc 5 Upper Loudon Road., Louodnville, NY 12211. Tel/FAX 518-436-0485. People can order the BBU, BBGRam and BBRTC from dieHard the magazine published by LynnCarthy Industries. Their number is 208-383-0300. Well, Peter, I realize you have some other things you needed to do, and we have kept you longer than planned Well I appreciate the on-line time. Thank you Tim and Lou. Thank you for joining us tonight, Peter! Our pleasure, Peter! Thank you for speaking tonight! We are looking forward to the February 7th conference. And yes thank you for coming Yes. There will be a lot more to talk about. I look forward to this! How does the flash 8 uses the up to 1 meg ram is has? There's a patch to use it under GEOS. Will it work on a c128 in 64 mode? The one I tested would not. Maybe that has changed. Peter? Raymond, excellent question, I am sorry I should have told you the FLASH8 is for the C64 only. I hope I mentioned that! It won't work at all on the 128, or only in 64 mode? Not C128 in C64 mode. oic Well, it certainly has been informative, Peter.... Definitely don't want people to expect it to work with the C128. That is something I am trying to improve on the design. But, don't expect that in the near future. Will that mean the 128 will go at 16 mhz? 2 X 8 Tim, don't get GREEDY now! ;) Maybe plug into the empty socket inside? No, I'm GEOSdy its a VLIR thing Any other questions? Do you have a Bulletin Board set-up on genie? I would like to get a bulletin board going. Perhaps, I can help the users best this way. Does the RAM in the flash 8 used like a georam? Everyone could benefit with the Bulletin Board. Yes, it is not like an REU, Raymond. I really should end here. I was only going to go to 11 PM. Do you have to adjusted the flash 8 for every 64? Thanks for coming everyone. I hope it was informative. Thanks Peter...you were Please feel free to leave E-mail at my genie address: P.FISET Okay. Well, thanks for staying this long, Pete. I'm sorry we kept you, I know you have some German contacts to make tonight and we don't want to keep you from them Thanks Tim. I'll be going. Please send E-mail for more questions. OK All. Thanks again. Night Pete Bye. ** has left.