Re: C64/128 Wolf and GS upgrade support

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Supertimer writes ...
> 
> Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net> wrote:
> 
> >     A significant GS upgrade is a tougher challenge than a significant
> >C64/128 upgrade. One thing seems fairly certain, the only way to sell GS
> >users on the idea of a major Speed/Memory upgrade (e.g. 20MHz/32MB) is
> >to include an SVGA Video upgrade on the same board.
  ....
> 
> Rubywand, the above statement appears to indicate that the C64/128
> accelerators can't access their OS.  From what I have read about these
> CMD accelerators, I have been led to believe that they function with
> all Commodore software.  I thought they had no restrictions and could
> be used like we GS users utilize TWGS or Zip GS accelerators.  I have
> read testimonials of phenomenal success under GEOS (their OS) and
> games of all sorts.  How well do these accelerators perform?


     Last summer this topic was discussed here with Jason Compton, a C64
spokesman. He commented ...

>>

The 20mhz '816 board actually does a surprisingly GOOD job of running
old
software, and that compatibility is of primary concern since there's
really no SuperCPU-only software right now.

It is true that anything that calls undocumented opcodes will likely
fail,
but most applications and a surprisingly high percentage of games work
just fine.  Some don't work quite the way you'd like them to at 20mhz,
but
others get a very enjoyable speed increase.  And GEOS has been patched
to
run beautifully.

 ....  CMD's done a great job with the SuperCPU.

<<


     My statement was in reply to a comment by Marc Walters which seems
to ask why no A2 maker would produce a GS upgrade similar to CMD's
SuperCPU. The answer is that a comparable GS upgrade is more difficult
to achieve.

     As the statement implies, C64/128 users do not lose much when their
basic OS is not entirely functional vis-a-vis the SuperCPU. For one
thing, they can arrange to have a better OS running on the new board.
For another, many old C64/128 games and other wares are either unuseable
or gain little added attraction at accelerated speeds. Users can run
these the usual way, with no acceleration and few regrets. SuperCPU is,
really, aimed at new wares and a new OS yet to be developed.

     Were we still at the II+ stage, we could afford to put up with
similar problems. But, we have gone far beyond the II+ and now have a
large, complex OS with many hardware-specific dependencies. We also have
many good, but sophisticated, wares which depend upon the OS. As things
stand, we would insist that the OS work well with any new high-speed
large-RAM plug-in; and, that will take a good bit of work to pull off.



Rubywand