Re: final cartridge for vic 20

On 9/6/2015 12:59 AM, Marko Mäkelä wrote:
> Hi Jim,
>
>
> This sounds very much like my 3-chip Vic Flash Plugin 
> http://www.iki.fi/~msmakela/8bit/vfp/ which never went beyond the 
> prototype stage, with the exception that we only used a 4MB flash and 
> 32kB SRAM. With more flash and SRAM, you would probably not want to 
> bother with any compression at all (which I did bother with, because 
> the original version only had 512k flash).
Yes, I have an older email response from you in response to didier where 
you talked about your design.  I was hoping to use some of the SW source 
you created.
>
> I would love to contribute to this.
I can send any or all parts of it.
>
> The default configuration of the CPLD should map one 8kB page of the 
> flash to BLK5 when the system is reset. The menu software (or the 
> bootloader of it) would live there.
It does.  Though I have not set the register map in stone, the config is 
as follows:


     Config 1:
     0-1: RAM Config (00 = absent, 01 = ROM, 10 = RAM R/W, 11 = RAM RO)
     3:2: RAM high bank
     4: 0
     5: 0
     6: 0
     7: reset unit - write only  (does not currently save register 
values, which it should, so I am looking at my Verilog)

     Config 2:
     1-0: BLK1 Config (00 = absent, 01 = ROM, 10 = RAM R/W, 11 = RAM RO) 
$2000
     3-2: BLK2 Config (00 = absent, 01 = ROM, 10 = RAM R/W, 11 = RAM RO) 
$4000
     5-4: BLK3 Config (00 = absent, 01 = ROM, 10 = RAM R/W, 11 = RAM RO) 
$6000
     7-6: BLK5 Config (00 = absent, 01 = ROM, 10 = RAM R/W, 11 = RAM RO) 
$a000 // default is BLK5 ROM enabled.

     Bank Hi Reg:
     1-0: BLK1 high order bank bits
     3-2: BLK2 high order bank bits
     5-4: BLK3 high order bank bits
     7-6: BLK5 high order bank bits

     RAM1/2/3 Bank Reg 7:0
     BLK1
     BLk2
     BLK3
     BLK5
>
> I found the Vic Flash Plugin register map in the source code.
>
> bankreg = $9800 ; ROM bank switching register (A20..A13, default value 
> $00)
> cfgreg  = $9801 ; configuration register (default value $40)
>     ;; b7 == 1 => I/O2 disabled until RESET
>     ;; b6 == 1 => BLK5 write protect (default)
>     ;; b5 == 1 => RAM at BLK5 (instead of ROM)
>     ;; b4 => 0=3k (RAM1-3), 1=8k (BLK1)
>     ;; b3 == 1 => master RAM enable (BLK2,BLK3 is always enabled)
>     ;; b0 => A21
Well, I might be able to support this register mapping, but it does 
differ somewhat from the current one I am using.  I was able to test 
that all of the Verilog is working fine, and I can map ROM and RAM and 
R/O RAM into each BLK, and either put different banks or the same bank 
into multiple BLKs.  The initial register set can support all of the 
above functionality, but I have had a request to offer a way to map RAM 
into IO2 and IO3 for extra capability, so I am considering how I might 
do that in the same way (adding them individually requires 3 more 
registers, which I can do, but then I'm at 11 registers, and I was 
hoping for a binary value.  I am considering doing something like:

reg0: config: aaaa:bbcc
aaaa = memory map location:
0000 = RAM1/2/3
0001 = BLK1
0010 = BLK2
0011 = BLK3
0100 = BLK5
0101 = IO2
0110 = IO3
bb: nothing at present.
cc = config:
00 = absent
01 = ROM
10 = RO RAM
11 = RW RAM
reg1:  7:0 low order bits of bank
reg2:  7:0 high order bits of bank

I could also do 2 config registers for 2 bits per slots (14 bits of data 
needed), and then 14 registers (low/high bank registers for the 7 memory 
banks.).  This is probably the easiest to implement.  My only concern:  
I doubt there would ever be a need for more than 12 bits per bank 
register (4096 8192byte banks, or 32MB of FLASH or RAM), so using a 
whole register for a high bank seems overkill. Right now, only 2 bits 
are needed per bank hi register.

>
> While I have not spent any time on C= stuff in the past, I would love 
> to participate in this project. I think that the first step would be 
> that you modify VICE so that it emulates the new hardware.
I'm happy to obtain help.  Well, since I have the prototype right here 
and I can test with the real hardware, VICE is not as much a need for 
me.  As you can see, still trying to decide what register layout makes 
the most sense from a programming point of view.
>
> I hope someone has usable 6502 file system code. Given that the flash 
> is only 8MB, it could be mapped to something like 128 tracks with 256 
> sectors each, in a 1541-style layout.
Thomas Giesel's (sp?) EasyFlash already contains a 6502 FLASH ROM 
programming code, so it should be easy to adapt.

Hppy to send a unit for development.  It is a Xilinx XC95144XL, 
MX29LV640 and AS6C8008 on the card.  ISE WebPack would be useful to 
modify the CPLD.

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