DPC+ over 32K?

[Evilarinho]

Hello, does anyone know if there is any possibility that one day DPC+, in Batari Basic, will support more than 32K?

 

Thanks

[+Karl G]

I doubt that will ever happen. It's possible that someone will port a more modern scheme such as CDFJ+ along with support for larger cart sizes, but I don't think anyone is working on that right now.

[+splendidnut]

The general focus of new Harmony/Melody developments has been on the CDF/CDFJ/CDFJ+ scheme which is more C/ARM focused.  If you're interested specifically in having DPC+ like abilities, you might want to investigate that further in this club:

 

 

 

[+SpiceWare]

11 minutes ago, Karl G said:

I doubt that will ever happen. It's possible that someone will port a more modern scheme such as CDFJ+ along with support for larger cart sizes, but I don't think anyone is working on that right now.

RL had kept me away from 2600 for a while now. I've recently been able to get back into it and am currently working with the others on some enhancements to CDFJ+.  We have new drivers finished that support cartridges with:

• 32K ROM & 8K RAM
• 64K ROM & 16K RAM
• 128K ROM & 16K RAM
• 256K ROM & 32K RAM
• 512K ROM & 32K RAM

32K ROM uses a driver that's compatible with the Harmony/Encore/Melody.  64K and up require new hardware, so use another version of the driver. And yes, the Encore does not support the larger sizes as its memory beyond 32K cannot be used to run custom ARM code.

 

 

We've added the ability to optionally use LDX # and/or LDY # as fast fetchers, which can be very helpful in kernels with tight timing.

 

We've also added an optional fast-fetcher offset.  By default the fast fetcher overrides LDA #$00 thru LDA #$23 while any value from $24-$FF will load into A like normal.  If you set the offset to $80 then LDA #$80 thru LDA #$A3 will be used for the fast fetchers, while $00-$7F and $A4-$FF will load into A like normal.

 

I'm currently in the middle of migrating the CDFJ tutorial over to CDFJ+. I hope the get Part 3, the first entry with actual code, online within in the next week or two. 

 

I'm also wrapping up the final updates to Stella to support the new features.

 

 

 

No matter the size of ROM the 6507 can only access 7 banks of 4K, or 28K total. Anything beyond that is only accessible to the ARM, so I don't know how useful CDFJ+ would be for bB development.

 

I do plan to resume work on SpiceC after getting the CDFJ+ tutorial wrapped up. SpiceC will be similar to bB in that the kernels will be written for you, but different in that C will be the language you program in instead of BASIC. I'd held off on working on SpiceC in part because I knew we had plans to add support for larger cartridges to CDFJ, such as for @cd-w's awesome port Zeviouz that was in need of additional ROM to hold the levels.

[+Karl G]

@SpiceWare  Since you quoted me, to be clear, my answer about it probably never happening was specifically about the OP's question about larger than 32K support for the DPC+ kernel in batari Basic, and not aimed at any other ARM work you and others are doing. I just know that almost certainly no one is going to make updates to the DPC+ kernel in bB.

[grafixbmp]

I would be more interested in 64K with DPC+ only. no Bb.