Running Roms On Commodore 64

[lisalover1]

I just recently got a Commodore 64, and I am quite new to the retro computing scene, so I was wondering if I could get some questions answered. First off, what is the easiest way to run roms on a C64? From what I hear, there are some really impressive tech demos and homebrew games for the system, and I want to be able to play them on my C64. Second, on a related note, if I have a floppy drive for the C64, can I just put a C64 rom onto a floppy disc on a Windows machine and it will play on the C64? Or does the system take a proprietary floppy disc format?

[jamesk]

I'm assuming you mean disk images and not ROMs..

 

Check out the uIEC/SD from Retro Innovations.

http://store.go4retro.com/products/uIEC%7B47%7DSD.html

 

Second, on a related note, if I have a floppy drive for the C64, can I just put a C64 rom onto a floppy disc on a Windows machine and it will play on the C64? Or does the system take a proprietary floppy disc format?

 

I'm 99% certain that you can't do that, although I've never tried.

[bigbee99]

Second, on a related note, if I have a floppy drive for the C64, can I just put a C64 rom onto a floppy disc on a Windows machine and it will play on the C64? Or does the system take a proprietary floppy disc format?

You have to use a 1541 Commodore disk drive to write any file you wish to use on a C64. A PC 5 1/4 will not work. You can however make a cord that will allow a PC to write and read from a 1541 using a DOS program call Star Commander. There are other programs, I am sure, but Star Commander is the only one I know off hand. There are several different cords as well. X1541, XE1541, XM1541, XA1541 (different cords for different machines). I have not had much luck with them. I have constructed both my cables, an X1541 and an XE1541. I have seen it work though. I wonder if my 1541ii drive has anything to do with my trouble. I have not tried in a while but the cords are fine. You can order cords from the Star Commander page or find them on eBay.

 

http://sta.c64.org/sc.html

 

B

[desiv]

I also should be able to create C64 disks from images using my new Kryoflux (www.kryoflux.com) USB attached controller.

Of course, I have to find a PC 5 1/4" drive first, which I might have today...

And then I have to wait for the "write" version of the software (it's read only (create images) currently), which is in private beta and should be released soon.

 

Can't wait to test those features...

 

desiv

Edited July 21, 2011 by desiv

[amiman99]

If you have an Amiga 600 or 1200 then I can help you. I made a cable from 1541 disk drive to my Amiga computer, with supplied software it works great.

I like Amiga 600 and 1200, because of PCMCIA port, you can transfer files from PC to Amiga with ease.

I had NO luck with PC solution.

The other solution, costs about $40, sd2iec adapter. Put files on SD card, lunch sw, choose disk image, run software. http://www.nkcelectronics.com/sd2iec-boar2.html

This hw works really good, got it installed internally.

[TMR]

i've been using an XE1541 cable with an old Windows 98SE machine (in DOS mode) and a breezeblock 1541 for years and before that a 486 laptop with the original X1541; the settings need a little tweaking for each PC, but after that it should be fine. If memory serves, the XA1541 is the beast to look at, it works with just about any PC parallel port and doesn't need to be in DOS for the timings (the next generation is the XU1541 which isn't finished yet but connects the 1541 via USB for those machines without parallel).

 

As for the SD card solutions, if the purpose is to run demos please bear in mind that SD2IEC and the devices based on that design won't correctly run many of the best productions out there because they don't emulate the 1541's processor and RAM. The 1541 Ultimate is currently the best solution and subsequently the most expensive too, but it does pretend to be a drive, a Commodore RAM expansion beefed up to 16Mb, an Action Replay or Retro Replay freezer/fastload cartridge and a second SID at the same time.

[20ohm20]

I use one of these with the optional switch to run ROM's on a C64. It works with up to 256kB ROM's and having a TCP/IP enabled C64 is a hoot.

[dwane413]

I can't remember how well this works, but Big Blue Reader can read some MS-DOS disks. This is from their website:

 

Big Blue Reader: Written for the Commodore 64 and 128 which allows the 1571/1581/CMD floppy disk drives to read and write MS-DOS 5 1/4 inch and 3 1/2 inch disk.

[Hatta]

I can't remember how well this works, but Big Blue Reader can read some MS-DOS disks. This is from their website:

 

Big Blue Reader: Written for the Commodore 64 and 128 which allows the 1571/1581/CMD floppy disk drives to read and write MS-DOS 5 1/4 inch and 3 1/2 inch disk.

 

I've used that. It requires a 1571 (recommended anyway) to read/write MS-DOS disks. 1541 drives don't have support MFM encoded disks. At the time I was trying to write a bootable DOS 3.2 floppy but couldn't figure out a way to 'sys' it.

 

I think you'd have some trouble dumping C64 disk images to physical disk like this. You'd have to copy the disk image to a MS-DOS floppy. Then run BBR to copy the disk image to a C64 disk. Then run another program to write the image to disk. You'd need at least 2 drives, or one 1571 and a mass storage device.

 

An X1541 type cable is the cheapest option. A 1541U is the expensive but easy option. There are other ways (if you want you could xmodem the disk image and then write it, etc), but you end up jumping through lots of hoops. A uIEC is a pretty good middle ground. It will run most games, except for the copy protected ones. For those, you can use the SD card to transfer the disk image and dump the disk image from the Commodore.