Two CPC's in One? - Flik v1.02

[ComSoft6128]

A utility that enables 6128 users to swap between the two banks of 64K memory in effect creating two 64K AMSDOS environments.
In this video I will "FLIK" between two BASIC programs - Galactic Invaders and Waves.

From the Amstrad Action issue 89 covertape - " In response to a reader's request, we've put this great little utility for 128K owners (written by Richard Moulton) on the covertape It lets you hold two programs in memory at once, and flick between them with a single keypress in effect, splitting your 128K CPC into two 64K machines.
Once ifs loaded, all you have to do is press CTRL. SHIFT and TAB together, and the two environments will be exchanged. So. for example, you could have a word-processor in one bank, and a game of Tetns in the other The only proviso is that the disk drive should not be in use when you flick. Apart from that: have fun!"


So, two questions - From the software and hardware angles how hard (impossible?) would it be to fully implement this as an option on the 6128?

To explain - most BASIC programs will Run OK using this utility but (non BASIC) games won't.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pkLcWc_GzE


Links:

https://cpcrulez.fr/applications_util-flik.htm

https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=15001

https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=3130

https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=14003


Not emulated - original hardware and software.

Please note that  the aspect ratio for this YouTube video is 16:9 but the CPC monitor
has an aspect ratio of 4:3 so you may wish to adjust your viewing device accordingly.

[pelrun]

It would need hardware, and that hardware would look mighty similar to the Multiface-2

[Bryce]

If they did it completely in software back then, then you could do it without hardware changes today. You'd just need to integrate the code into the firmware so that the function always existed.

Bryce.

[ComSoft6128]

For the PCW at least two commercial programs operated in a similar fashion - FLIPPER by Software Imperative and THE NETWORK by Creative Technology Ltd.


Links:

https://cpcrulez.fr/applications_disc-flipper.htm

http://www.habisoft.com/pcwwiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=aplicaciones:manuales:manual_the_network.pdf

https://archive.org/stream/8000_Plus_Issue_056_1991-05_Future_Publishing_GB/8000_Plus_Issue_056_1991-05_Future_Publishing_GB_djvu.txt

http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/47036/Flipper-3/

[pelrun]

They did it in software back then, but with plenty of limitations - hence why it only really worked with simple BASIC programs on both sides. Doing it fully requires catching things like CRTC and gate array configuration, which definitely needs hardware support.