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Post by David Murray on Mar 16, 2005 10:13:50 GMT -5
Okay.. We can't get to the user-port, we can't get to the data/address bus, we can't get to the cassette port or other CPU port lines.. But there has to be a way to connect the DTV to the outside world. I have a few ideas, only they are just that.. ideas.. before I go digging into it, I'd like some input on if they are worthwhile.
What about the joystick port? I know somebody did some kind of test earlier and said they couldn't get the joystick ports to output data.. But since they are part of the keyboard CIA, wouldn't the kernel automatically keep setting them as read-only on the data direction register since it scans the keyboard 60 times a second? Maybe we need to try it disabling interrupt routine and see if we can output anything.
What about the IEC port? Would it be possible to connect a DTV to a C64 or other device and send casual data through the IEC rather than just disk I/O.
I'm thinking, for example, if you wanted to call a BBS and use the DTV as your terminal. Even if it had to go through aanother Commodore or even a PC to get to the modem/internet it might still be an interesting thought. I've never programmed the IEC port before, I've always used the kernel jump tables and never looked at the hardware side of it. Also, could the IEC port be used for more than one DTV to talk to each other? So if you wanted to make a special two-player game (something like modem wars or flash attack or heck even battleship) and needed to send little bits of data to one another.. could that work? --DavidM
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Post by Jeff Ledger on Mar 16, 2005 21:14:40 GMT -5
Right on the money! It's been my contention for a while that the DTV could be a suitable replacement for our aging C= gear if a method of connecting it to the outside world is established, and if we had a modern way to store data. The existing IEC channel is perfect for bringing data in, but some USB thumbdrive storage would be perfect. I wish I had more experience with chip-level hardware to help more here... Jeff
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Post by Jeff Ledger on Mar 16, 2005 21:42:43 GMT -5
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