[Coco] Putting cartridge images in CoCo SDC Flash, without a programmer.

[Richard Goedeken]

Thanks for sending the information on flashing ROM images to the SDC.
Figuring this out has been on my to-do list for a long time.

Richard

On 07/06/2015 07:37 PM, Zippster wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> One of the guys on the list was asking about getting Program Pak code into
> the unused flash banks on the SDC, to be run from there.
> 
> I’ve always used an EPROM/FLASH programmer for this sort of thing, but gave
> it a try as if I didn’t have one, since Darren’s great SDC supports writing
> the flash directly.  It is definitely doable.
> 
> Here is the procedure I used in case anyone else is interested.
> 
> 1) Download the .ccc file you want to put in a bank. (I used the recently
> added Super Logo from the archive).
> 
> 2) Use a hex editor to add the preamble (header), and postamble to the file
> as specified by DECB Preamble (5 bytes) 00, 40 00 (2 byte size of code, 16k
> in this case), 40 00 (load address) Postamble (5 bytes) FF, 00, 00, 40 00
> (last to bytes are exec address, may not be needed)
> 
> 3) Rename file to .bin and copy into a .dsk image using CoCoDskUtil
> 
> 4) Put the .dsk image on the SD card and boot up the SDC in the CoCo
> 
> 5) Use the following commands to load the image and write to the flash bank
> (bank 7 in this case)
> 
> DRIVE 0, “IMAGE.DSK” CLEAR 200, &H4000 LOADM”CCCFILE.BIN” KILL MEM @7 WRITE
> MEM @7,&H4000,&HC000,16384-256
> 
> Your bin will be in the flash bank at this point.
> 
> To run it from the SDC-DOS prompt, type…
> 
> RUN @bank_number, R
> 
> Depending on the image it may not want to run at first (Super Logo didn’t),
> but since we used RUN with the R option, simply press reset (our flash bank
> will still be selected), and type EXEC &HC000.
> 
> Super Logo flashed this way boots perfectly when autostart is jumpered and
> the flash bank is selected on the DIP. Using the RUN @bank from the SDC-DOS
> prompt required the above reset and EXEC, but it works.
> 
> Anyway, I thought this was pretty neat, and although there may be a
> smoother way, I thought I’d share this so people without EPROM programmers
> can use the flash banks for cart firmware.  :)
> 
> - Ed
>