======== Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm Subject: COMP.SYS.CBM: General FAQ, v3.1 Part 8/9 From: brain@mail.msen.com (Jim Brain) Date: 13 Aug 1996 01:10:25 -0400 X-Posted-By: YPost, version 0.08 Archive-name: cbm-main-faq.3.1.p8 Comp-answers-archive-name: commodore/main-faq/part8 News-answers-archive-name: commodore/main-faq/part8 Comp-sys-cbm-archive-name: main-faq/part8 Version: 3.1 Last-modified: 1996/08/12 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents (for this file) --------------------------------- 13. Enhancements 13.1. How do I increase my disk drive's transfer speed? 13.1.1. What is a Fastloader? 13.1.2. What is a ROM replacement? 13.1.3. What are the disadvantages to using a drive enhancemenat other things can I do to speed up the drive? 13.2. How do I expand my disk drive's capacity? 13.2.1. What is a Hard Drive? Who sells them? 13.2.2. What is 64NET? + 13.2.3. What is SERVER64? 13.3. How do I expand my computer 13.3.1. What is a Ram Expansion Unit? 13.3.2. What is a geoRAM Unit? 13.3.3. What is battery backed GeoRAM (BBGRam)? 13.3.4. What is a RAMLink? 13.3.5. What is a RAMDrive? 13.3.6. How do I expand my C128 Video RAM? 13.3.7. How do I expand my C64 internally? 13.3.8. How do I expand my C128 internally? 13.4. How do I increase my computer's speed? 13.4.1. How do I increase my Commodore 64's speed? 13.4.2. How do I increase my Commodore 128's speed? 13.4.3. Can I speed up other Commodore computers? 13.5. How do I increase my computer screen's resolution? 13.5.1. How do I increase my Commodore 64's screen resolution? 13.5.2. How do I increase my Commodore 128's screen resolution? 13.5.3. How do I increase other CBM computers' resolutions? 13.6. How do I increase my computer's serial transfer speed? 13.7. How do I increase my computer's sound quality? 13.8. What other ways can I expand my Commodore computer? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13. Enhancements If you like to tinker with your Commodore to get the best possible performance out of it, these suggestions and products may help you in your quest. 13.1. How do I increase my disk drive's transfer speed? Since the introduction of the Commodore VIC-20 and the slow serial bus, Commodore owners have been plagued by slow disk access. There are two ways to allevaiet this problem, fastloaders and ROM replacements. 13.1.1. What is a Fastloader? The Commodore 1541 drive and any drive attached to a VIC-20, C64, Plus 4, C116, or C16 suffer from very slow read and write times. This is caused by Commodore's haste in "economizing" the IEEE-488 bus used in the PET series of Commodore computers into the serial bus. The IEEE-488 bus transferred 8 bits of data at a time, and performed some synchronization steps, or handshaking, between bytes. Commodore reduced the path to 1 bit but kept most of the original handshaking, most of which is redundant when transferring 1 bit at a time. Early on, some developers noted that, since the 1541 drive was intelligent enough to execute a program loaded into its RAM, and the Commodore operating do disk I/O could be bypassed, they could write software that spedby modifying or completely changing the protocol used on the serial bus. This is the idea behind fastload cartridges like FastLoad, Mach 5, etc... 13.1.2. What is a ROM replacement? As programs became more complex, some programs would not operate with this approach. Thus, the developers then rewrote parts of the Commodore operating system on both the computer and the disk drive, and replaced the parts of them that did disk I/O with new pieces of code. This is the idea behind JiffyDos and others. The basic idea in speeding up the disk drive is to use more than 1 line to transfer data, effectively doubling the transfer speed. Then, reduce synchronization requirements in the protocol to a bare minimum, as synchronizing time is time not being used to do transfers. The fastload cartridges are handicapped somewhat by the need to transfer the portion of the program that runs in the disk drive to the drive using the slow speed evry time the drive is used. This can be alleviated somewhat, but the replacement operating system replacement products like JiffyDos win the race since they do not need to load code into the drive, as it is already there. 13.1.3. What are the disadvantages to using a drive enhancement? The products are not 100% compatible, as they sacrifice reliability for speed somewhat. That means that a program that does not load due to an error while using a fastload product will probably load without the fastloading enabled. Also, some programs can not handle the change in loading or reading speed, so these enhancements yield about 90% compatibility. 13.1.4. What other things can I do to speed up the drive? You can also increase the speed of disk drive operation by organizing consecutive parts of a file on disk to fall a certain number of disk sectors apart. This is called the interleave or interleaving factor. Normally, a 1541 disk drive space consecutive parts of a file 10 sectors apart, but you can change that a little to minimize the time needed to find consecutive parts of a file. Also, the C128 in 128 mode hooked up to a 1571 or 1581 has a built-in fastloading scheme called burst loading. Therefore, if you are in 128 mode and hooked up to a 1581 or a 1571, you already have this feature. mode reverts back to the old slow serial routines, and the 128 in any mode using a 1541 cannot use the burst load routines. 13.2. How do I expand my disk drive's capacity? Software Support International sells the 1541 RAMBoard, which will increase you 1541's memory. SSI used to market a similar board for the 1571, but they have depleted stock and no longer carry it. You can also expand your disk drives on board RAM capacity, and use that extra memory for better archiving performance. + 13.2.1. What is a Hard Drive? Who sells them? + A hard disk drive is a non-removable ramdom access medium similar that + allows one to store very large quantities of data. Hard disk drives + are mandatory on most newer computer systems, but are usually optional + for Commodore 8-bit computers. However, the faster load time, the + greater capacity, and the ease of use make them desirable. CMD sells hard drives for the Commodore 64 and 128. They range in sizes from 50 Megabytes on up. In comparison, a Commodore 1581 drive holds .8 Megabytes. + 13.2.2. What is 64NET? If you have access to an IBM of some kind (preferrably with a hard drive), you can use a product called 64NET to hook the drive up to the Commodore. 64NET consists of a cable which connects the CBM User Port and the IBM Parallel Port together, and a program that runs on both machines. The program on the IBM is a standard application, but the CBM part is a wedge, so it should integrate seamlessly with some programs. There is now just one copy of the product. Registered users simply receive a 64NET.KEY file that enables SAVING. There is a student discount of AUS$40.00. The product is at version 1.82.62 and has full OPEN/CLOSE/READ/READST support, can support 4 gigabyte IBM partitions, and have a built-in off-board monitor which includes some dos wedge functions. The IBM programs have link-based helpsystems and will run on any IBM machine. The registered version allows saving of files, wheras the PD version does not. The registered version also contains support for GEOS. The registered BETA version is availabwith upgrade to final version free) for AUS$50.00, while the unregistered version is free. These prices do not include the cable that is required for operation. The cable, program, and more information ived from Paul Gardner-Stephen at gardners@ist.flinders.edu.au. Also, the system can be ordered from: In Europe: Performance Peripherals Europe Germany +49 2227 3221 Michael Renz +49 2227 3221 And in Australia from: Russell Alphey +61 3 4278558 (A/H r.alphey@dce.vic.gov.au Paul Gardner-Stephen +61 8 277 7479 (A/H) Versions are available for the C64 and C128, and a C65 version is close to completion. + Also available is an Software Development Kit (SDK) with a CBM + cross assembler. + 13.2.3. What is SERVER64? SERVER64 is a product like 64NET, in that it allows you to use an IBM PC unlike 64NET, SERVER64 does not require a connection to the user port and a special boot program be run. Instead, the system uses an X1541 cable to attach the Commodore 64 serarallel port. The product is available at: ftp://ccnga.uwaterloo.ca/pub/incoming/SERVER64.ZIP Documentation is available at: ftp://ccnga.uwaterloo.ca/pub/incoming/SERVER64.TXT Both are expected to move temulation directory soon. 13.3. How do I expand my computer's RAM capacity? 13.3.1. What is a Ram Expansion Unit? The original form of RAM expansion available to the C6e the Commodore REUs (Ram Expansion Units). These REUs plug into the cartridge port, and provide 128K (the C=1700), or 512K (the C=1750) of additional RAM. This RAM is not true system RAM however; simply adding a 512K REU to your system does NOT mean that your word processor will suddenly be able to edit 512K larger documents. A REU will only be used by a program that was written to take advantage of an REU. As a caveat on this, you can use your REU as additional RAM for a RAMLink . ...
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