Does anyone use or have (or had) a Inicron ROM-RAM-Box (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Inicron_ROM-RAM-Box)?
The reason I'm so interested is the BOOSTER.ROM (http://www.inicron.de/) (under Downloads) that comes with it for the 512kb version. It lets you use ROMs in the space above 0-15 (it says up to 32). I've disassembled this and played with it in WinAPE (it seems to got into any normal ROM slot) and have some idea of the theory behind it but am not sure how it actually worked in practice.
Has anyone used this or know exactly how it does it in real life?
I own the RRB.
You should place the Booster at ROM #15, else ... just use 15 :-)
You will not be able to use it with WinApe, since it supports only 0-15. But you can use it with a real RRB - and also with the Symbiface-2.
Doesn't ROM slot 15 then over-ride the AMSDOS...?
And if you put it in 15, can you then use normal ROMs in positions 16 to 31 (like Maxam, Protext etc) and do they work normally?
I did notice that it double initialises, but couldn't understand why. I did see the extra code from the ROM-Gen and discounted it (there is stuff like checksums etc).
Quote from: redbox on 20:03, 03 December 10
Doesn't ROM slot 15 then over-ride the AMSDOS...?
And if you put it in 15, can you then use normal ROMs in positions 16 to 31 (like Maxam, Protext etc) and do they work normally?
I did notice that it double initialises, but couldn't understand why. I did see the extra code from the ROM-Gen and discounted it (there is stuff like checksums etc).
No Amsdos is (usually) located at ROM#7.
Yes, you can use everything in 16-31. But if you use a DOS replacement it always should have a ROM# smaller than 7.
Well, it does double initialize, but it know what's going on, so due to the firmware you can omit a double initialization, but the second time it just displays the sign on string, but doesn't do it job twice (which could result in a loop, and that would screw the system).
Quote from: TFM/FS on 22:40, 03 December 10
No Amsdos is (usually) located at ROM#7.
Yes, but for some reason I thought that 15 overrides slot 7 or that you put something in 15 to 'protect' 7 - obviously not.
Quote from: TFM/FS on 22:40, 03 December 10
Yes, you can use everything in 16-31. But if you use a DOS replacement it always should have a ROM# smaller than 7.
Well at least I am on the right track then. As far as I can see, it patches the firmware with some of it's own code so that it also searches 15 to 31 when doing KL FIND COMMAND etc. - but I haven't narrowed it down to specifics yet.
I too can patch the Plus system to initialise a ROM in slot &84 (slot 4 in the Plus cartridge) but for some completely unknown reason the OS doesn't like it and reboots continually. It can't be checksuming or anything because I have previously patched the OS successfully so I'm starting to think it's something to do with the hardware and they way that the Plus substitutes &80 to &83 into slots 0, 1 and 7 and maybe it only allows direct addressing for &84 upwards, which would mean it work work for games but is no good for expansion ROMs.
I hope I prove myself wrong though as a cartridge with the OS and expansion ROMs would be great!