PETdisk MAX
Entry posted by bluejay
785 views
I ordered a bunch(2) bet goodies from Michael Hill at bitfixer.com; a PETdisk MAX and a ROMulator. The former is a floppy drive emulator that plugs into the PET's IEEE-488 port, the latter is a RAM/ROM replacement daughterboard that plugs in between the motherboard and the 6502.
When I got my PET 4016-N, I immediately knew I had to upgrade my RAM to 32k and have some form of disk drive. The thing is, Commodore punched holes through where the 8 extra 4116 SRAM chips would go on the motherboard to prevent people from doing... exactly what I was trying to do; upgrade the RAM to 32k. I could have used a bunch of jumper wires to restore all the missing traces, but the last thing I wanted to do was to short something out on a $500 computer. I discovered something called the PetVet, and its successor; the ROMulator. Created by Michael Hill at bitfixer.com, it's an FPGA based device that serves as a RAM and ROM replacement for the Commodore PET, or really, any 6502 based computer, which means it'll also revive PETs with bad ROM or RAM. Hill also made a neat gadget called the PETdisk, a floppy drive emulator for the Commodore PET. Priced at just $40, it's much more reasonable than an SD2PET or a genuine Commodore floppy drive. The catch is, it's out of stock. However, Michael designed a newer model with more functions and with a cheaper price tag ($30); the PETdisk 2.0, or the PETdisk MAX. I gladly ordered one of each.
So, here they are. From the left, the ROMulator, PETdisk 2.0, and a little thingy that plugs into the option ROM slot of the PET to provide the juice the PETdisk MAX needs to operate. And of course, the little cable to connect the ROM power thingy to the PETdisk MAX itself.
The PETdisk MAX has a bunch of haphazardly mounted devices on its rear; a Micro SD card interface and what's apparently a little WiFi module (more on that later--much later). This device was only very recently finished, so there is no documentation available for it yet, and the firmware is to be updated in the near future. There is also a 24 pin edge connector on the very back so you can connect other IEEE-488 devices to your PET while leaving the PETdisk MAX plugged in.
The ROMulator has a socket on the top where your 6502 goes in, and the ROMulator plugs into the socket on the motherboard where the 6502 originally was. There is also a pin header for plugging into an RPi for programming purposes. There is also a 4 position DIP switch for ROM configurations.
Here it is, all plugged into the PET. The red wire is just long enough to reach from the ROM socket to the PETdisk MAX.
Yay, 31743 bytes free! Now I can run all the (not so) awesome PET games that require 32k!
...or I could downgrade to BASIC 2.0 because why the hell not.
All the standard commands work, you know, LOAD"FILENAME",8 and stuff. However, BASIC 4.0 disk commands such as DIRECTORY, DLOAD, and DSAVE does not seem to work; I get a DEVICE NOT PRESENT error. Perhaps the issue will be resolved in a future firmware upgrade. Also worth noting is the fact that the current firmware ONLY supports PRG files. No SEQ, No REL, no D64. Just PRG.
All in all, both the PETdisk and ROMulator are a must for every PET owner. I, admittedly, don't own an SD2PET so I don't know how good it is, but I don't think it's three times as good as the PETdisk MAX. I think now would be a good time to note that the PETdisk MAX can utilize that WiFi module for using a web server as a network drive. Not a feature that I will use myself, but it's something the PETdisk MAX has but the SD2PET doesn't. As for the ROMulator, there's really no question as I've yet to find a competing product; and also the fact that it does its job well. Oh, and also the fact that bitfixer is located in the US is a plus, since the folks that make the SD2PET and stuff are over in the UK.
You can't buy the PETdisk MAX at the bitfixer store at the moment (as of January 25th, 2021); Michael hasn't updated the website yet. However you could try and contact him to see if he has any to sell.
Well, there you are. If you own a PET, don't hesitate to snag these. They're awesome.
-
1
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
2 Comments
Recommended Comments