Saw this on CSDB and it blew my mind, it's the most funky / fastest I've ever seen a 1541 load.. https://csdb.dk/release/?id=209982&...+Csdb-LatestReleases+(CSDb+-+Latest+Releases) I've not looked at the limitations (if any) but it just is soo bloody cool..
I took a look at this speed enhancer months ago when it first appeared as a post in many FB groups and I tried it with an emulator. My jaw simply dropped on the floor. Then I thought I had to test it on the real thing with the 1541u2+ but since then I never found the time to perform the tests. And I forgot it. Now thanks to Paul it'll be the first thing to do during the retro weekend. It's amazing how fast it is withe examples.
It's just a stunner, I thought my retro Replay on the 1541 Ultimate + was fast but this is just another level and the funky noise it makes just adds to the class of it.
If I remember well, that's how you use it. The transwarp loader modify the way the c64 access the 1541 drive, I.e. modify the I/O serial routines of the Kernal. So it gets up to 50x as fast as the original transfer speed. It's still under the 1.0 version but as soon as it gets more stable and reliable one should make a ROM out of it, just like Jiffydos or one of its many variations.
To be fair I've not made a disk of my own as yet, just used the demo disks supplied, I've looked at the actual software, and it basically is a front end for Windows that makes a disk image that patches the loader on the disk via a command line. I've noticed that some titles don't like it but the guy making it, Krill, is updating it all the time, but I suspect like all fast loaders it will have some titles that don't like it..
Well, "bootable" is a weird term for a C64 - the disk is bootable but not in the sense of Atari 8-bit machines where you just keep a function key pressed and the computer search automatically for a bootable disk in the drive or boots from cassette recorder. On a C64 "stock machine" you need to type at lease LOAD"*",8,1 [ENTER] in order to start the loading from disk (btw you can press SHIIFT/RUN-STOP to automatically load the first program on tape (but you have to press PLAY on the Datassette). When you prepare a disk for Transwarp, the utility puts the loader (i.e. the fast loading routines program) as the first program on the disk. So when you type the loading command it just starts from there, load and run the transwarp and then you can load the programs recorded therein. Paui is right when he says that it will probably be incompatible with multi-load and multi-disk titles as they usually have their own fast loaders. Other programs will not work due to memory conflicts and so on. But the performances shown by this tool is great when you load single and large PRGs. And there's tons of games or software that come in single files.
Not a correction of what Paul has said. Just two lines of explanation for Klyde who's a beginner with the C64.
No problem Alex, yes, bootable wasn't the correct term as there is no real autoboot for the C64 as it runs as a file system at all times. As you say, you can tell it to load the first executable with the LOAD"*",8,1 but primarily its file based so if you LIST the directory on the disk you can pick individual files to load and use wildcards to cut the typing down. If you had SPELUNKER as a file you could just type enough of the name so it only matches that file and type LOAD "SPEL*",8,1 to load it and then type RUN when its loaded. There are fancy shortcuts to all this but best to learn the original normal way first.
And the DOS of the C64/1541 disk drive also specifies that in order to load the _first_ PRG file on a disk the right command is: LOAD":*",8,1 or LOAD"0:*",8,1 - Using the "*" only, it should load the _previous_ PRG file that you may have loaded before. Since when you turn on the C64, no PRG was loaded before, then using the asterisk only works all the same to load the first PRG in the diskette. The 8 parameter tells the C64 to load a program from the device 8, which is the serial disk drive by default. Device 1 is the cassette recorder, 9 is the second disk drive, if any. 4 is visually the printer but of course you cannot LOAD from it! The final "1" tells the C64 to load the PRG file in the same memory address specified in the first two bytes included in the PRG, yes they have a header of two bytes. Otherwise, if "1" is not included, the PRG is loaded from $0801 which is the starting memory address for BASIC programs as well. If you use LOAD"$",8, you can load and then LIST the directory of a diskette.
