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From: Amigoat on 26 Nov 2009 23:20
On Nov 25, 10:44 am, Alan Jones <ala...(a)nospam.mchsi.com> wrote

>
> I'm using the 64 COMAL 2.0 cartridge with Super Chip (a ROM containing
> the C128 and other packages) on a 128 DCR with REU and Ramdrive.
> Everything works.
>
Alan - Is the Super Chip somehow related to the C128 package for the
Comal cartridge or does it simply work with the cartridge?

Ernie

From: Alan Jones on 27 Nov 2009 16:11
On Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:20:03 -0800 (PST), Amigoat <echorny(a)gmail.com>
wrote:

>On Nov 25, 10:44�am, Alan Jones <ala...(a)nospam.mchsi.com> wrote
>
>>
>> I'm using the 64 COMAL 2.0 cartridge with Super Chip (a ROM containing
>> the C128 and other packages) on a 128 DCR with REU and Ramdrive.
>> Everything works.
>>
>Alan - Is the Super Chip somehow related to the C128 package for the
>Comal cartridge or does it simply work with the cartridge?
>
>Ernie

Packages are like extensions to the COMAL programming language. They
can add new commands, capabilities, or just procedures (subroutines).
Packages can be loaded from disk or used directly from a ROM or EPROM
plugged into a vacant socket on the COMAL 2.0 cartridge. Packages in
ROM are obviously more convenient. However, it takes more user skill
to create packages, and even more to burn an EPROM.

The COMAL Users Group, U.S.A., Ltd. was the US importer and supporter
of COMAL. They published "COMAL Today", which I considered one of the
best features of COMAL. They produced and sold one 16K plug in ROM
that was a collection of several packages, including the C128 package.
"Super Chip" was simply the name that they called this 16K ROM. Super
Chip was quite popular, and was the only such plug in ROM ever
marketed.

COMAL 2.0 is a 64K+ cartridge bank switched in 16K segments. The base
system is 64K and includes several packages. The base
system/cartricge can also bank in additional 16K blocks of ROM, for
more ROMMed packages. There were several versions of the COMAL 2.0
cartridge sold. The first was a rush job with four sockets holding
four 16K EPROMS. The most common cartridge had three sockets, the
first two contain 32K ROMS, and the third vacant for expansion, e.g
Super Chip. The four socket cartridge could also be modified to use
up to 4 32K EPROMS. This is the cartridge I use, although I never
used the additional capacity beyond Super Chip. The last cartridge
version, that I call cost reduced, was just a 64K ROM soldered to the
cartridge board, with no sockets (not sold in the US AFAIK).

I am mot familiar with VICE, nor how it works with COMAL. To my way
of thinking, it must be able to use multiple 16K ROM images, user
supplied, that the user could add or delete, just as ROMS could be
plugged into a vacant socket. I suspect the VICE/Comal is like the
limited cost reduced cartridge. :(

Finally, while I have taken this thread down the C64/COMAL 2.0/Super
Chip path, I hope the OP continues to search for the true 128 Commal
cartridge, and perhaps gets that version working with VICE.

Alan Jones





From: Amigoat on 29 Nov 2009 22:34
On Nov 27, 4:11 pm, Alan Jones <ala...(a)nospam.mchsi.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:20:03 -0800 (PST), Amigoat <echo...(a)gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> >On Nov 25, 10:44 am, Alan Jones <ala...(a)nospam.mchsi.com> wrote
>
> >> I'm using the 64 COMAL 2.0 cartridge with Super Chip (a ROM containing
> >> the C128 and other packages) on a 128 DCR with REU and Ramdrive.
> >> Everything works.
>
> >Alan - Is the Super Chip somehow related to the C128 package for the
> >Comal cartridge or does it simply work with the cartridge?
>
> >Ernie

>
> The COMAL Users Group, U.S.A., Ltd. was the US importer and supporter
> of COMAL.  They published "COMAL Today", which I considered one of the
> best features of COMAL.  They produced and sold one 16K plug in ROM
> that was a collection of several packages, including the C128 package.
> "Super Chip" was simply the name that they called this 16K ROM.  Super
> Chip was quite popular, and was the only such plug in ROM ever
> marketed.
>
> Alan Jones

Alan -

Thanks for that explanation. I was somewhat confused as I believe
there was a 'Super Chip' for the C128 which fit into the internal
empty ROM socket and which did things like disk directories, disk
copying etc.

Obviously this was unrelated to COMAL as I now see.

Ernie
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