Hi all, I was watching something a while back on YouTube about the oliver twins and they stated that they had a device going from their 6128 or 664 that went from the printer port to the spectrum so that if the spectrum crashed they didn't loose all their code etc.
I'm quite keen in trying to use my amstrads (464's and a 6128) in the way they would have been "back in 'day" when they were released. I am looking to start learning how to code on these machines using BASIC, ASM and possibly even C. So, I'm wondering if anyone has any knowledge on the creation of these devices. I'd like to send my code to a 464 to then test my code on. I am aware there are a few slight differences in the BASIC versions, so that will be a fun thing to learn.
Does the printer port just send out 7bit ascii characters in binary across the data lines to be interpreted by the device receiving it?
i.e. can I send raw parallel 7bit binary from the printer port of the sending cpc to the expansion port of the receiving cpc.
If so, this must mean that there is a way of having the memory on the receiving computer available to the expansion port (makes sense for ROMs and RAM expansions I suppose) and being able to write directly to it. Although that would then mean that the memory would have to be filled using compiled ASM? you couldn't just send raw binary data, or could you?
As you can tell i'm rather new to using these computers in a way other than: run"disc"
I'm just having some brain farts and thinking up experiments to have a play with my amstrads really.
So far I've only made simple things like a modern control pad and attached a 3.5" floppy drive to my 6128 (i'd like to work out how to do it to a 464 too but I realise that requires making a DDI device).
If anyone has some wisdom for me on what i'm looking to do, It would be great to learn from you.